By Madeline Schultz and Lisa Scarbrough
The farm management team with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is offering three Women Marketing Cattle courses this spring.
Evening courses are offered in Decorah beginning April 8 and in Mt. Ayr beginning April 29. An all-day Saturday course is offered in Guthrie Center on May 17. The registration fee is $25.
Cattle and calves are Iowa’s fourth largest agricultural commodity, contributing more than $5 billion in agricultural sales to the economy annually. Women and beginning farmers are finding economic opportunities through beef production.
This women-centered program offers an opportunity to meet area cattle producers and learn with others in a comfortable setting. A team of instructors will provide different perspectives.
“Cattle producers have more marketing options today than ever before. They don’t have to wait and see what they get. Producers now have tools to reduce price risk in the market,” stated Tim Christensen, ISU Extension and Outreach farm management specialist.
This course is about capturing more value from beef production by understanding the true costs of production and developing an overall marketing strategy. Instructors will compare and contrast different market channels and pricing strategies. Sales at weaning, backgrounding and finishing will be discussed. A refresher on carcass value and its relationship to price will be included.
Producers will learn how they can utilize futures prices to help them manage price risk and develop a marketing plan. They will learn more about livestock risk insurance plans, diversification and other risk management tools. Producers will gain new insights and access tools to help them analyze and understand profitability.
The course includes an interactive market simulation activity. Class members will work together in small groups to practice news skills and try out a marketing strategy.
“We will take producers through a marketing year simulation where they will make key decisions and discover how those impact their profitability,” stated Joseph Lensing, farm management specialist.
Courses
- April 8-22, Decorah: Women Marketing Cattle begins at 5 p.m. with a light meal at the ISU Extension and Outreach Winneshiek County office. The course starts at 5:30 p.m. and concludes by 8:30 p.m. each Tuesday night for three weeks. The lead instructor is Joseph Lensing.
- April 29 - May 13, Mt. Ayr: Women Marketing Cattle begins at 5:30 p.m. with a light meal at the ISU Extension and Outreach Ringgold County office. The course starts at 6 p.m. and concludes by 9 p.m. each Tuesday for three weeks. The lead instructor is Tim Christensen.
- May 17, Guthrie Center: Women Marketing Cattle begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 4 p.m. A light lunch is provided during this all-day Saturday program. The lead instructor is Tim Christensen.
Registration for the courses includes meals and course materials. Registration scholarships are available by writing to Madeline Schultz at schultz@iastate.edu.
Funding for this project was provided by the North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture under Award Number 2023-70027-40444.
Source : iastate.edu