Meetings

Beef Cattle SPA Workshops to be Held

Vernon...Ranchers are feeling the pinch of higher input costs.  Couple this with the potential of lower calf prices over the next few years and the situation quickly becomes serious.  Ranchers should begin now to identify those costs on their ranch that are too high so they can change.  Then, as calf prices fall over the next several years, as analysts predict, the ranch will be able to profit.  For commercial ranchers to prosper in low prices, it is imperative that they know how their operation is performing from both a production and financial standpoint. 

To assist ranchers in determining these numbers as well as other performance measures, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service is offering three Beef Cow-calf Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) Workshops.  Dates and locations include:  April 22 at the Young County Arena in Graham, Texas, April 30 at the Management, Instruction and Research Center, 7945 Grape Creek Road in San Angelo, and May 7 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center south of Vernon.  Each workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m.  These are working workshops where the ranchers will be assisted in completing their own analysis.  SPA provides ranchers an opportunity to analyze their ranch operation from both a production and financial side.  SPA facilitates the comparison of an operation's performance between years, producers, production regions, and production systems.  SPA is intended to be used as an annual tool by the cow-calf producer.

These are intensive workshops with the intent being ranchers completing the analysis for the 2007 calf crop.  Registered participants will be sent forms to organize data before the conference.  Confidentiality of the producer’s data will be maintained.  Individual conferences will be held with producers.  Each ranch will be provided an assistant and a computer.  It is important to register early so you can be advised on how to organize your data for the SPA analysis.

The registration fee is $50 per ranch and includes the software, educational materials, lunch and refreshments.  Interested persons can obtain additional information or register by contacting Stan Bevers, Extension Economist, at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon at (940) 552-9941, extension 231 or Bill Thompson, Extension Economist, at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo at (325) 653-4576.