Phil Hoffman, agribusiness leader from Trenton, was elected vice chair of the advisory committee of the University of Missouri Thompson Farm.
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Phil Hoffman, agribusiness leader from Trenton, was elected vice chair of the advisory committee of the University of Missouri Thompson Farm.
George Gates, farmer from Bethany, was re-elected chair during the semi-annual meeting at the farm near Spickard on Tuesday.
The group adopted revised bylaws that define membership. The committee provides suggestions for further research and for political support for the farm. The research farm, a part of the MU Agricultural Experiment Station, conducts beef and forage research for cattlemen of the state.
David K. Davis, superintendent of the farm and of the MU Forage Systems Research Center at Linneus, said research farms must now become largely self-sustaining from farm sales, given state budget cutbacks.
Davis noted that improved cattle prices the last couple of years have helped the economic outlook of the farm.
?The Show-Me-Select program has been very good to us,? Davis said. The farm sold 18 bred heifers for a net profit of $17,875 at the SMS sale at Green City in December 2002. Another 19 head of bred heifers sold at auction netted $16,104.
Initial research to develop the Show-Me-Select program was conducted at the farm located west of Spickard by David Patterson, MU beef specialist from Columbia. The SMS program is now available statewide to help beef producers achieve a higher success rate with first-calf heifers added to their herds.The program has become a value-added program for Missouri beef herd owners.
Davis reported the farm also received $54,837 for 82 steer calves used in a MU feedlot study last winter and this spring at the university?s South Farm at Columbia.
Davis added that he hoped future feeding studies could be conducted at the Thompson Farm when an out-of-date feedlot at the farm can be upgraded.
John Gardner, associate dean for research and extension at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Columbia, reported on the financial constraints on the farm budget by reduced state appropriations. The U.S. Congress is considering federal appropriations this week.
Davis reported preliminary applications for USDA Rural Development Administration grants are underway. Those funds might be used for research facilities.
In answers to questions about possible joint research with Northwest Missouri State University at Maryville, Gardner said preliminary visits had already been made before presidents of the two universities announced plans to discuss a merger.
?More discussions and possibilities need to be explored,? Gardner said. ?Their farm is primarily a teaching farm and not a research farm.?
Patterson said that cooperative research, using the beef herd at the teaching farm at Southeast Missouri State University at Cape Girardeau, is already under way.
Patterson reported that Thompson Farm is playing a large part in a continuing study of simplified techniques for farm use of artificial insemination. For the first time this year, all cows and heifers in the Thompson herd were bred using timed AI. By synchronizing heat cycles of the females, all can be bred on the same day without time consuming heat detection, he said.
A workshop to explain timed AI will be planned for this fall. The advisory committee asked that the program include a panel of farmers who use artificial insemination.
Rob Kallenbach, MU extension forage specialist, expressed concern that drought at the farm this summer may prevent a stocker-cattle fall-grazing study. Limited rainfall has slowed growth of fescue pastures to be stockpiled for the study. The study was cancelled last fall when pastures were too short to stockpile.
By Duane Dailey