A typical Trigg County Cattle producer like most in the state, may or may not have a breeding season and generally a few times a year we sort off larger calves, hopefully the market is kind to us but in general there may not be alot of planning that goes into when and how to market calves.  We know that weaning calves on the farm is better from a calf management standpoint and getting them on a good vaccination program will set them up for success later in life.  The reality is even knowing that sometimes it's hard to get motivated enough to make a plan and execute it.  As a general rule most producers would agree, weaned, preconditioned calves will sell for more, the issue is we can't always agree on if it's enough for the hassle.  

The PVAP program run by UK specialist Kevin Laurent was aimed at current cow calf producers just like him who were selling calves right off the cow through the stockyards, they haven't been weaning or preconditioning calves prior to sale time. The idea being to try to incentivize producers to capture cheap, easy weight gain on calves after weaning them and sell it for a premium.  There is a small one time payment per head up to $1000 available for producers who follow the program, the requirements are simple, we need starting weights and records of what was spent on feed, vaccinations etc. and they have to be sold through a preconditioned sale.  We started with 3 producers who completed the program in 2019, all were profitable- maybe not equally but all have either increased the number of calves they were sending or kept sending calves they weaned through a preconditioned sale-  after there is no further incentive payment for them to do so.  we currently have 2 producers enrolled in the program for 2021 and have 2 more planning to.  While there isn't; anything magic about a preconditioned sale, the PVAP program helped us push some producers who were considering trying some of what we talk about in calf marketing but just weren't sold on it over the edge.  I feel that their continued participation is proof positive that it did in fact work- it's not all smoke and mirrors.   My favorite PVAP participant who has been selling at two or more cph sales every year told me "I have't always been happy with what our CPH calves sold for, but I used to always be unhappy with what my calves sold for!"