Cow-Calfenomics back in 2019

Cow-Calfenomics is coming to a community near you in January 2019, and registration is now open for the four sessions.
"This year, we have again put together a well rounded agenda with interesting speakers and interactive sessions on management in the Alberta cow-calf business," says Bruce Viney, economics extension specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AF).

This year’s presenters and presentations are:

• Brian Perillat, general manager and market analyst from CanFax, will speak on the cattle market situation and outlook. Brian brings his insight into the beef markets and what the market outlook could be going forward. Brian will also demonstrate and explain how the new CanFax app can help producers make better marketing and planning decisions.
• Bruce Viney will showcase decision support tools for cow-calf and crop enterprise decisions. The Ranchers Return and Crop Returns calculators are tools that have value in analyzing various enterprise feeding and production scenarios. Bruce will also speak to the importance of financial forecasting in building an effective a business plan. He will explore some innovative and easy techniques for producers to use in creating forward-looking business simulations and calculating cost of production. Anyone who is entering in to the business, or analyzing their whole business will find this beneficial.
• Bill Chapman, crop extension specialist with AF, will speak on the crop production enterprise and new cereal varieties that have the potential to increase whole farm profitability and sustainability. The economics of triticale and traditional cereals will be compared.
• Jill Moore, livestock extension specialist with AF, will facilitate an interactive session where local producers will discuss their own successes and failures, and lessons learned on increasing farm profitability. It is so much cheaper and easier to learn from other local producers who have hands-on experience trying new things.
• AF specialists will lead a brainstorming session on opportunity costs and making decisions to improve profitability using case studies to fuel the conversation.

"It’s a full day with a lot of great information that any farm manager can utilize and incorporate into their farm management tool box, wherever they are in their careers," says Viney.
Cow-Calfenomics will be held in four locations in January:

• January 15, 2019 - Vermilion Regional Centre
• January 16, 2019 - Hazel Bluff Hall near Westlock
• January 17, 2019 - Olds College Alumni Centre
• January 22, 2019 - Lethbridge College Garden Court Room

Registration starts at 9 a.m. and the session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Viney adds the importance of industry in this series, “the Alberta Beef Producers continue to recognize the importance of engaging our youth into the industry, having sponsored the registration of students and producers who are 25 years of age or younger. The students and young producers expressed a big thank you to the Alberta Beef Producers.”

Please register by Wednesday, January 9, 2019. The registration fee is $35 - including GST - and includes lunch. Registration for students and young producers - those under 25 - is free and is sponsored by the Alberta Beef Producers.

Online registration for Cow-Calfenomics 2019 will be live shortly, or call 1-800-387-6030 to register. If you are exempt from paying GST, please call 1-800-387-6030 to register.

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry would also like to recognize our partners: AFSC, FCC and the ARECA research groups.