Programming: Cow-Calf Profitability Conferences Winter 2024

While University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension has had many good programs focused on beef cattle, we felt that these programs have typically be somewhat fragmented and lacked cohesion: Various specialists from different departments would present on their respective topics.  While programs like this have been valuable, we wanted a program where all the presentations were tied together and focused on what farmers had the most impact on to improve their profitability.  Hence the Cow-Calf Profitability conferences were born.

In 2019-20 we held in-person Cow-Calf Profitability Conferences, which were organized and planned with Kenny Burdine, Greg Halich, and Jonathan Shepherd.  We had conferences at five locations, but unfortunately the rest were cut short by Covid-19 in early March 2020.   We supplemented this with a webinar version during the winter of 2020-21.  After a couple years we decided to have the in-person conference again to target locations that we didn’t get to in 2019-20.  

We held this all-day conference at the following locations in 2024:

March 1           Wayne County Extension Office

March 11         Warren County Extension Office

March 12         Hardin County Extension Office

March 14         Madison County Extension Office

Attendance per Location:

Monticello                  28

Bowling Green           22

Elizabethtown             28

Richmond                   44

We had eight presentations including an introduction that set the stage and provided context for the rest of the webinar that included:

1. Key Profit Drivers for Cow-Calf Operations
2. Managing Overhead Costs on the Cow-Calf Operation: Focus on Hay Production
3. Hay Production Costs and their Impact on Cow-Calf Profitability
4. Understanding Breeding Stock Depreciation: How much is too Much for a Bred Heifer?
5. Strategies to Reduce Fertilizer Use on Cattle Farms
6. Keys to Profitable Cow-Herd Management
7. Tax Management Tools and Strategies
8. Bale Grazing, Methods to Avoid Overgrazing, and Soil Biological Activity

An evaluation of each presentation and individual session was conducted at the conclusion of each program in order to evaluate the program quality and impact. Despite the fact that attendance represented a 7-hour time commitment, over 95% of respondents indicated they would attend the conference again in the future. Evaluation results for individual sessions / topics are reported in Table 1. A 5-point scale was used for evaluation purposes and attendees were asked to rate both the quality of the presentation and the likeliness of use.

Table 1. Evaluation Ratings by Presentation Topic

Here are a few representative comments from the evaluations:

“This was the best overall presentation series I’ve observed yet. Very well done”

“Excellent sessions providing a great learning opportunity for those of us out here on the farms trying to manage our operations”

“This program was excellent! Hope to attend more of the same”

“Appreciate the painful truths ($) regarding some of the management choices we make”  

“Breaking even is impossible for small operators using standard commercial methods so I really will benefit from the strategies that were shared in this programming”

“Overall this is the best educational program I've attended - information was applicable versus overly theoretical”

And our favorite comment from Tennessee which we are currently exploring:

“Have a way to arrange for paid consultations”

Kentucky Cattlemen’s Board member Andy Bishop sent the following email after the conference:

“I wanted to reach out and say that I am really enjoying this webinar series. I even had my daughter watch it last night with me and she wants to go back through and watch it again. Thank you for the information”