The New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service and Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension will co-host the annual Southwest Beef Symposium Friday, March 11, and Saturday, March 12, at the Quay County Fairgrounds, 1500 W. Route 66 Blvd., in Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The two-day event is designed to provide producers an opportunity to learn about the latest issues and innovations that can help them better navigate the ever-changing beef industry and keep them up-to-date on information to aid with day-to-day management of their operations.
Markets, the economy and property rights issues, as well as dealing with ongoing drought, will be some of the topics covered this year. The symposium also will precede the NMSU Tucumcari bull test sale March 12.
Registration will be $75 per person if received by Tuesday, March 1, or $95 at the door. Checks should be made payable to NMSU and mailed to Marcy Ward, NMSU-ACES Extension Animal Sciences and Natural Resources, MSC 3AE, Box 30003, Las Cruces, NM 88003. Full registration details and more information can be found at https://nmbeef.nmsu.edu.
The program will start at 9 a.m. March 11 with a concurrent trade show and dinner that evening. On March 12, the event will run from 7:30 a.m. to noon.
The March 11 schedule includes cattle market issues and outlook by Kristin Marshall, research analyst and broker with New Frontier Capital Markets; controlling input costs by Tom Davis from Cibolo Creek Ranch; 30 x 30, land and private property issues by Margret Byfield, executive director with American Stewards of Liberty; value of pregnancy testing and new technologies by Ky Pohler, Texas A&M Department of Animal Science associate professor and chair of the Pregnancy and Developmental Programming Area of Excellence at the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; weather outlook 2022 by Dave Dubois, state climatologist at NMSU; La Nina and range management technologies by Casey Spackman, NMSU Extension range specialist; and testing forage quality in West Texas and New Mexico by Kent Mills with Hi Pro Animal Nutrition.
The March 12 program includes determining bull fertility: past, present and future with George Perry, Texas A&M AgriLife Research cattle physiologist and associate professor; the paternal influence on pregnancy loss in the female by Pohler; heterosis - as valuable as ever by Craig Gifford, NMSU Extension beef cattle specialist; and generations with the Tucumcari Bull Test by Houston McKenzie from McKenzie Land and Livestock.
Following the symposium, the 61st annual Tucumcari Bull Sale will take place at 1 p.m. March 12 at the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center at Tucumcari, located two miles east of the city on Highway 54. For more information, visit https://tucbulltest.nmsu.edu/.
For more information, contact Ward at maward@nmsu.edu or 575-644-3379 or Bruce Carpenter, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, at bruce.carpenter@ag.tamu.edu or 432-336-8585.