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Young Stockmen's Academy tours beef, dairy operationsKansas Members of the 2012 Kansas Livestock Association Young Stockmen's Academy met in western Kansas recently for the class's third seminar of the year. The group of 20 spent three days touring beef and dairy operations representing various segments of each industry. Stops were made at Larson Angus Ranch near Sharon Springs and Ferguson Brothers of Kensington. The Larson family explained how they use selective breeding to develop a cowherd that yields premium bulls for their seedstock business. In addition to his commercial cow-calf operation, Jon Ferguson purchases stocker cattle to background until the animals reach about 750 pounds. YSA class members saw how ultrasound was used to group cattle based upon the estimated days to finish at Decatur County Feedyard near Oberlin. A stop at Circle Bar Heifer Ranch near Satanta gave the group insight into how dairy heifers are managed and developed. During a tour of Dairy Ventures near Tribune, the class was able to tour the milking parlor, maternity barn and commodity barn to learn how everything works together to provide a safe milk product to consumers. The tour also included stops at the Tyson beef processing plant in Holcomb and the KLA West office in Scott City. More coverage of the YSA session will appear in next month's Kansas Stockman. The YSA program is sponsored by Vista from Merck Animal Health. Date: 10/22/2012
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