2002 Missouri Livestock Symposium

Press Releases

Missouri Livestock Symposium successful,
dates for 2003 symposium are Dec. 5-6

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Hungry for information, more than 1,200 producers attended the second Missouri Livestock Symposium, Dec. 6-7. By all accounts they left for home loaded with knowledge.

"Every session had fantastic attendance, and in many of the talks it was standing room only," said Garry Mathes, chairman of the symposium organizing committee and a farmer and livestock producer near Green Top, Mo. "The feedback from all participants was strongly positive."

Livestock producers could choose from a wide range of subjects, including selecting beef sires, diagnosing equine health problems, growing high-quality forages, the latest in sheep and goat production, and starting a wind-turbine farm. The 2002 event was the second such gathering, established by a group of northeast Missouri producers and personnel from industry, state agencies and the University of Missouri.

High on the popularity list was Jim Leachman, cattleman and seedstock supplier from Billings, Mont. Leachman Cattle Company directs a 12,000-cow breeding program and a large quarter horse breeding and genetics development program. The ranch is the largest bull seedstock producer in the U.S.

Leachman discussed how to make cattle pay their way, as well as giving his philosophy on breeding horses specifically for ranch use.

"Our feeling is that, over time, the sire is the dominant factor in developing a profitable commercial cow herd," Leachman told the audience. "Choose females that perform well and are low maintenance for your conditions. Develop a feeding program that will make you a low-cost producer.

"Then mate those females to bulls from a supplier that has the genetics you want. After several generations, you will inherit those genetics (the seedstock supplier) has developed."

A second popular session was an interactive television (ITV) hookup with livestock experts from Queretaro, Mexico. Led by Lowell Mohler, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, a Missouri panel and the audience asked a number of import and export related questions to the group of Mexican experts in beef, dairy, horses and sheep and goats.

"Missouri has a history of successfully exporting sheep into many areas of Mexico," said Bruce Lane, livestock specialist with University Outreach and Extension in Kirksville, and one of the symposium creators. "The audience learned that the demand for sheep there is shifting away from sheer numbers. What Mexican sheep producers now need is high-quality genetics to improve their flocks. Sheep producers in Missouri can provide those genetics but must excel at breeding rather than simply producing."

Demand is especially high for the hair-type breeds such as Dorper and Katahdin, said Javier Lara, secretary of the Mexico Sheep Association. "Our sheep herd growth is growing about 1.5 percent per year, and much of that growth is now in the hair-type breeds," Lara said via the internet video hookup. Those breeds don't have the labor costs of wool-type animals, which must be shorn annually. A global wool supply glut has pushed wool values below the cost of shearing.

The Mexican panel told Missouri producers there is interest in high-quality dairy heifers and in beef animals, especially those with Brahman bloodlines adapted to the tropical climate that covers much of Mexico. There is demand for European and continental breeds as well, if color, quality and price is acceptable. Demand for goats is also growing, the Mexican panel said.

Other symposium sessions included horse feeding and horse pasture management, general forage selection and pasture renovation, environmental issues around farming and ranching, goat production, marketing cattle through U.S. Premium Beef, and a new sheep marketing venture, Mountain States Lamb.

"The purpose of this symposium is to expose livestock producers, and anyone interested in getting into livestock production, to some of the brightest minds in the business," Lane said.

Dates for the 2003 symposium are Dec. 5-6!

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