Henry County’s largest commodity is beef at almost $11 million is sales and over 27,000 in cattle inventory. That is more head of cattle than the population in the county. Historically, the county was comprised of tobacco, dairy, and cow calf producers. Since the buyout and milk consolidation, farms transitioned to primarily cow calf. More recently there has been more interest in feeding calves. Some of that transition can be attributed to alternative feeds, like stillage, becoming available. Farmers are seeing it as a way to add more value to their calves. Additionally, with land prices increasing so rapidly, it gives producers a chance to make more profit on less ground.

The most important factor in feeding calves is the ration. Farmers can and do rely on feed mills and nutritionists to help them build that ration, but it is important for them to understand those decisions. The genesis of the class came from a discussion with a local, young farmer interested in cattle ration building. That discussion led to a phone call with Dr. Lehmkuhler who had done a class similar to what I was asking for. Dr. Lehmkuhler sent materials ahead of time and I compiled folders for participants to follow along with. The class followed a long with his presentation and would periodically break to work an equation together. Even though it was a lengthy class with a lot of information, participants followed along very well. There were 15 attendees, with a large portion of them being young farmers. The response to the program was very positive, with comments being made to me weeks after about doing similar in depth programming.