I have been able to move one of my farmers into the IRM program.  He came to me with a few things he needed assistance with in his beef herd and especially his forages,  then I knew I had found the perfect candidate for IRM program. 

We discussed the IRM program, he gathered the needed information, and attended the required 2 (two) ZOOM meetings to become oriented with the program and how it was going to work.  We did a farm visit, set target areas to look for on farm trials, and then he did the majority of the work with our guidance.   

As he tells me every time I see him, I am so honored that I was chosen for the on farm trials. 

We went in knowing that his main goal was to produce more pounds of beef per acre of ground.  He felt that his pasture and hay fields were his problem, but we began looking at his conception rate and weaned calf numbers to see if we could move those numbers closer together in a 60 day window, which he told was his goal, instead of the 90+ days he was dealing with at the present time.

We have been back to the farm, we have ‘preg-checked’ them and I am awaiting the results. 

While visiting with this farmer, we found that his employer was dealing with a 20% cull rate due to low conception.  So he has agreed to take the knowledge that he has acquired through this little study, to his employer to start to improvements in that herd.  So little by little, we will be making big strides again in beef herds in the county.