Beef Extension Intern – Tucker W.

Week 9 & 10

On Monday of Week 9, Tyler and I took all the AI school materials out to the shed at beef unit. It was good to finally put away AI school stuff and move on to the next activity. On Wednesday of that week I left for Block & Bridle Convention in Lubbock, TX. While there on Saturday listening to speakers for various areas of animal agriculture, I was able to tweet some interesting quotes and facts from the speakers. I think the MSU Beef Cattle twitter is a great what to get bits of information out to producers, who believe it or not are on social media, along with getting correct information to our consumers. So make sure to follow us @MSUBeefCattle for updates and info.

Week 10 was a slow week were our main task was getting Dr. Karisch moved into her new office two doors down. It took a crew of us to get her moved, but we were able to get it done in one afternoon.  Now our main event is to get ready for the BCIA sale coming up.

Beef Extension Intern-Tucker W.

Week 8

A.I. School finally came around this week.  It felt like every week I did something to prepare for the fall A.I. school. I think this goes to show the amount of time and effort that goes into Extension programs for producers across the state. Early in the week I was able to put the last bit of information into the binders for participants. On Wednesday, Tyler Braud and I went and gathered all the supply’s needed from the storage unit. We sorted through the boxes to ensure we had all the necessary equipment going to each unit and also paper goods for the meals. Thursday was spent working on last minute things to prepare for participants coming that night and also a trip to Wal-Mart, which proved to be an adventure with Mrs. Mari. Thursday night once A.I. school started I just helped ensure participants went to the right stations along with setting out reproductive tracts. Friday and Saturday I helped participants to ensure they were passing A.I. rods into the cows properly at the dairy unit while another group was at the beef unit. A.I. school was good success now it’s on to preparing for our next event the BCIA sale.

Beef Extension Intern-Tucker W.

Week 7

This week was a shorter week for me. I enjoyed Monday off at the State Fair in Jackson with my family. I always enjoy going to shows and seeing young people and their livestock projects because I know I would not be where I am today without those experiences.  On Wednesday Mr. Crow asked me to clean the trailer out that he took the pigs in to the judging contest on Saturday of the fair. Thankfully that didn’t take as long as I expected due to the high powered hose at the MAFES shop near the dairy. Friday was spent proofing and finalizing the BCIA sale catalog. I had to check to make sure EPDs and pedigrees were correct and also make sure each page was formatted correctly. I often receive sale catalogs and until now did not truly realize the amount of time and effort that goes into them. I’m sure this next week will be extremely busy with AI school coming up.

Extension Beef Cattle Intern- Tucker W.

Week 5

Week 5 started off finishing up the last little bit of preparing A.I. school binders. Tuesday evening I went with Dr. Karisch and her graduate students to the Noxubee County Cattlemen’s meeting at Tanner Farms in Shuqulak. Dr. Karisch did her presentation on “Culling the Cow Herd” for the local cattlemen.  Her presentation was very informative, and it was nice to see what she does outside the office educating the producers. We also got to see some of the bulls that would be in the Tanner Farms Production Sale later this month. We were also treated to a steak dinner which is always nice. On Wednesday I inventoried all the supplies needed for A.I. school, so we could order the necessary material. Next week will also be another exciting week with the Mississippi State Fair starting in Jackson.

Beef Extension Intern- Tucker W.

Week 4

This week was spent continuing AI school preparation. Monday I went to Bost and picked up the publications we had ordered the previous week. Now that we had all the necessary publications in hand we could get those hole punched and placed in to binder for AI school participants, which I did later in the week. Also on Monday I had to gather materials to replace signs that Extension uses at various events. Mrs. Mari and I made new posters for the signs so they can be used at the upcoming AI school.

Beef Extension Intern- Tucker W.

The first week of my internship consisted or preparing and attending Cattlemen’s College at Town Creek Farm in West Point. This is an event hosted by Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association along with MSU Extension Service and other sponsors. It is day filled with workshops and speakers informing cattlemen about all different aspects of the industry. To prepare for the event I gathered things to hand-out at the ADS/Extension booth along with our display and tables. Once I got to Cattlemen’s College on Wednesday Dr. Karisch and Ms. Graves had already had the booth set-up so, I helped keeping the booth stocked with materials we were handing out along with helping Mrs. Leanne Peters at MCA with various jobs. I also got to listen in on some of the speaker’s presentations on marketing cattle, herd health and forages which were very informative. Overall the event was a success with over 160 participants from across the southeast. Here are some pictures from the day thanks to Mrs. Leanne Peters and Mr. Sammy Blossom:

Discussing marketing weaned calves at the sale barn

Discussing herd health practices

Brangus bulls out on pasture.

My second week was spent mostly in the office preparing for the upcoming A.I. School. Dr. Karisch was out of the office all week attending a conference so Mrs. Mari Quinn and I got a head start on preparing things for the upcoming A.I School in October. We went ahead and printed all the needed material for participants along with putting it in binders. I also inventoried the MSU Extension Service publications that would be used so we could ensure we had enough for each participant. Now we are just waiting for the publications we ordered and we be able to complete the binders.

Catching up with Christa Gilfeather

South Farm maximizing efforts with CattleMax

The week of March 3^rd, I made my way down to the South Farm to help out with their relatively new online management program, CattleMax. CattleMax makes recording keeping extremely easy and accessible. Changing record keeping methods is a long process for any business, but in the end I believe this system will save time here at the Beef Unit once implemented. I was able to enter information on individual cows, groups of cows (according to breed), breeding information, and semen tank logs. Learning the quirks of the system was surprisingly enjoyable to me! Good record keeping will only help a farm especially when management decisions must be made. I look forward to hopefully working on this project again.

Sunning and shinning while doing A Little A.I.-ing

Spring break ended on the South farm!  Friday and Saturday I was lucky enough to help assist individuals going through Mississippi State University’s Artificial Insemination School. My main task along with Allie, was to instruct persons in the correct method of loading of an artificial insemination gun. The process starts at the tank – retrieval of the semen straw (liquid nitrogen—I almost forgot how cold it is!), to the water bath (95 degrees Fahrenheit), then to the paper towel (blocking UV light), cutting the straw, to finally inserting the straw of semen in the A.I. gun and lastly guiding the sheath over the A.I. gun. I really enjoyed working with people from all over the country who have a passion for betterment of the cattle industry! What a great way to end my break!

More and More Preperation! -Allie Vidak

This week we prepped for the BCIA sale. There were a lot of last minute things to get together to make sure that the trip down there, as well as the sale go smoothly. One task was to go through the shed and organize and take an inventory of items for the dinner that BCIA hosts the night before the sale. Along with inventory, we FINALLY finished the 700+ catalogs for sale day! What a relief that was! Now the waiting game begins to leave for the sale. Here’s hoping that we have an awesome sale again this Spring!

Bull Sale and Artificial Insemination School- Chelsea Freeman

Note: This post is a delayed posting from the week of February 17.

This week we prepared for the Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA) bull sale which will be in Raymond, MS. The sale is March 6th at the Hinds Community College Bull Sale Test Center. I am so excited for this event because it’s my first bull sale to be a part of! We put together the sale catalog to send out to producers across Mississippi along with ear tags and information for consigners of the sale. We also inventoried supplies for the artificial insemination school. If y’all couldn’t tell from my previous posts, I love AI school and I am really looking forward to it over spring break! It was nice to be out of the office too! Stay posted for pictures from the sale and AI school!

A.I. School is upon us…-Allie Vidak

This week we prepared for the upcoming Artificial Insemination School. We have worked to put binders together that include information on various topics ranging from nutrition to sire selection to heat detection. We also placed the presentations from the various presenters in the binders so that all participants can take home as much information as possible. Along with the binders, we began to take inventory for the hands on part of the school. If you would like more information on the 2014 Spring A.I. School, please see the website, but do note that there are only a few seats still available!

http://msucares.com/livestock/beef/aischool.html