Kansas State University will host a series of meetings to help beef producers focus on management and profit strategies for the new year.

Bob Weaber, a K-State Research and Extension cow-calf specialist, said this year’s Winter Ranch Management series is titled ‘Corrals, calcium, costs and cows: management and profit strategies for 2018.’  The meetings will be held at four sites in Kansas and will feature presentations and comments by extension educators on profit-enhancing strategies.

The meetings will also feature a popular ‘town-hall’ style question-and-answer session between Kansas’ cattle producers and extension specialists. Weaber sid the series has a history of being a successful stretch of meetings.

Weaber, along with other state, district and local extension staff, will take part in the series to help answer producers’ questions. The specialists will answer a wide range of questions on beef cattle issues including animal health, nutrition, management, genetics and reproduction.

“Over the past few months we’ve received quite a few questions from producers looking for profit tips and tools,” Weaber said. “The Winter Ranch Management series provides another great opportunity for state and local specialists to take our expertise out in the country for a series of impactful face-to-face meetings.

“During the last few years producers have experienced price volatility and increased costs. We believe that producer profit margins will continue to narrow over the next couple of years. Our extension team is here to help with reliable information.”

Meeting topics include facility improvements and bud box cattle processing systems; mineral supplementation strategies; cost; production and profit benchmarking; and optimizing the cow herd through female selection. The Hepler location will feature a talk by Kansas State University rangeland specialist KC Olson on late season burning as a method to aid in the control of sericea lespedeza.

“Early in the year is a great time for producers, to think and plan for the coming year,” Weaber said. “Certainly, it is a good time of year to think about opportunities to reduce costs and enhance revenue streams.”

The Hepler, Kansas meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 13 frpm  5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Community Building located on the south end of Hepler, Kansas. This meeting is sponsored by Merck Animal Health. A $10 fee payable at the door will cover meals and materials. please RSVP by February 6, 2018, to Chris Petty, Southwind Extension District, 620-223-3720 or [email protected] or Keith Martin, Wildcat Extension District, 620-784-5337 or [email protected]

More information on the meetings is available at www.KSUBeef.org.