Weather doesn’t stop cow-calf fans

BY CINDY TOOPES COURIER STAFF WRITER

February 26, 2007 10:27 pm

— OTTUMWA — Neither rain, wind, sleet nor snow could keep nearly 400 people away from the 36th annual Cornbelt Cow-Calf Conference Saturday at the Bridge View Center.
Organizers said at least 250 tickets were sold at the door and that’s in addition to advance sales.
The conference was a day for researchers and cattle producers to share information and confer with more than70 industry representatives. Eight speakers offered topics such as improving the quality and quantity of pastures, weed and brush management, animal identification and hay harvesting systems.
Dan Loy of Iowa State University presented “Ethanol Co-Products: The Feedlot Perspective.”
Loy said there is a national ethanol production capacity of 5.4 billion gallons per year.
“This dramatic and rapid increase in demand for corn is creating unprecedented change, uncertainty and opportunity in agriculture,” he said. “The cattle industry is just beginning to adjust to changing grain and land costs.”
Loy emphasized focusing on opportunities rather than the “painful reality” of higher costs. The production process for each gallon of ethanol comes with 18 pounds of distillers’ dried grains (DDG) equivalent and that’s where cattle producers may find an opportunity.
The primary cattle feed of the wet corn milling industry is corn gluten feed (CGF), which is typically 16-22 percent protein and is 85 (dry CGF) to 97 (wet CGF) percent of the energy of corn grain.
The primary co-products of the dry corn milling industry are distillers grains with solubles that are either wet, dry or modified (about 50 percent dry matter); or, condensed distillers’ solubles.
“These feeds are typically higher in protein and energy than corn gluten feed because the oil and gluten aren’t removed in the process,” Loy said.
He summarized by saying the ethanol industry is most likely here to stay. He said this change in agriculture brings both opportunities and challenges. He encouraged cattle feeders to “capitalize on the opportunities and manage for the challenges.”
Becky Strunk and her daughter, Kierstin Martin, studied a display outside one of the break-out rooms in the center. Titled “50 years of Beef Production in Iowa,” the display included photos and text about the top stories of each decade.
Strunk and her husband, Matt, have a 200-head cow-calf operation in Davis County.
“This is our first time [at the conference]. We decided to come and see what’s here,” Matt Strunk said. “We raise our own special cattle.”
He said he crosses Tarentaise cows with Angus bulls. The cross “makes very nice calves” and is “going to be something to hear about.”
Young Brandon Reed of Ottumwa works with Simmental cattle and brought his cow and her triplets to the conference. The cow is one he showed as a 4-H heifer and he chose her out of 60 calves.
“I liked her color. And she was tame and white-faced,” he said.
With Reed were his parents, Penny and Randy Reed.
“Triplets happen once in 300,000 births,” Penny Reed said. “She had twins the first time.”
Three calves at once is phenomenal but Randy Reed has a practical spin on the event.
“It’s three times the groceries,” he said.
After many years in the extension service, Ottumwa Mayor Dale Uehling is a cow-calf conference veteran.
“I’m pleased things are going well. This facility is great,” he said. “The only negative thing is the weather.”
He was particularly pleased with the center’s break-out rooms and theater, which the Coliseum didn’t offer.
Jon Elbaum, BVC’s general manager, said “the conference was going great despite the weather.
“Everything lays out well in the exhibit hall and we had no problems with the animals,” he said.
The conference’s general sessions were in the theater, where both projection and sound systems performed well, Elbaum added.
Cindy Toopes can be reached at (641) 683-5376 or via e-mail at cindy@ottumwacourier.com.

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