The beef industry hit an all-time high a few years ago and many producers purchased breeding stock that was very high priced. Now that the market has fallen since then many of the same producers are struggling to make these expensive cows pay for themselves.  Calf prices are struggling, making the cow-calf market a tough one to be a part of.  Seeing some of my producers struggle and try to find ways to better manage their operations and cattle herd, I was able to get some of them involved in the Beef IRM program with the UK Beef Specialists and Kentucky Beef Network to help them along the way.  

With the Beef IRM program we meet the producer wherever they are at with their skill level and try to make incremental steps to increase their profitability and management skills over time.  We want to take them from whatever their point A is to point B and so on.  I currently have 4 producers involved in this program and so far it has been extremely helpful to each individual's operation.  We are vaccinating cattle at the proper times, breeding at appropriate times and more efficiently and hopefully will increase conception rate and weaning weight as we go.  

All producers involved are very happy with program and say they learn something new every time we are on the farm with them.  I hope that this program continues to grow and more producers are able to enjoy the benefits of this outstanding program.  Without this program may of these producers would not have the one on one time to stop and look at their cattle and learn to access body condition, feet and legs, udder quality, etc.  This program allows many learning opportunities for not only the producers but for myself and other producers as well.