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MU Beef Tour to visit farms in Vernon, Barton counties, Aug. 30Missouri The 2008 Missouri Beef Tour is set for Vernon and Barton counties, Aug. 30, according to Rex Ricketts, coordinator of the University of Missouri Extension Commercial Agriculture Program. Car-tour groups will gather at 12:30 p.m., at the first farm, nine miles east of Nevada, Mo., off Highway K. The tour ends with a barbecue beef dinner served by the Liberal, Mo., FFA chapter. Extension specialists will lead the groups between farm stops. Maps will be available at the first farm and signs will be posted at turns. "With the help of Dona Funk, MU Extension specialist at the Cedar County Extension Center, Stockton, the tour committee made arrangements to visit four farms in Vernon and Barton counties," Ricketts said. The first beef operation on the tour is the Green Springs Bull Test station, owned and operated by Kent and Cathy Abele and son Cole. The bull tests allow breeders to use data in sire selection. Up to 11 breeds are included in any one 112-day session. Bulls in the test are mostly from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. Three stops have been scheduled at the farm, Ricketts said. Two will be at headquarters and one at the Abele family's new restaurant. The second beef operation, near Bronaugh, Mo., is at the Bushwhacker Conservation Area, where Wes Spinks will show where 169 steers were backgrounded on native warm-season prairie pastures using patch-burn grazing. One-third of the leased pasture is burned every year, which allows steers to achieve a higher daily gain by choosing to graze burn areas. The land is owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation. MDC biologists Norman Murray and Brent Jamison work with Spinks in carrying out the patch burns and backgrounding process. This year, Spinks grazed 700 yearlings on pastures--400 on prairie pasture and 300 on fescue. At the third stop, Nathan Crabtree has 225 fall-calving cows in the family's farming operation near Liberal, Mo. Seventy-five head are registered Angus cows that are bred by artificial insemination. He retains 90 percent of the heifers to increase herd size. Crabtree is exploring selling Missouri Show-Me-Select heifers in the future. Currently, he sells his calves from his commercial herd as feeders. In addition to the cow herd, Crabtree sells a large volume of hay produced on his farm. At the last farm, Kyle Kirby, brother Scott, father J.D. and one employee make up the work force. Incoming cattle are vaccinated with a four-way shot upon arrival at the Kirby farm and are then put on high-roughage diets and clear water. They are revaccinated in two to three weeks and then turned on pasture. The receiving ration includes distillers grains, ground alfalfa hay, prairie hay and wheat silage. The Kirbys are developing a new facility to start calves in pens using the receiving ration for a few days, followed by turning cattle out on fescue, clover and Bermuda grass pastures. Final stop of the day is a free beef dinner sponsored by FCS Financial, Missouri Beef Industry Council, Missouri Cattlemen's Association, Missouri Department of Conservation and the Frederick B. Miller Fund. For more information about the tour, see http://agebb.missouri.edu/commag/beeftour/. 8/25/08 Date: 8/21/08 Advertisement
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