The beef industry is changing in several ways. From markets that offer new opportunities to environmental stresses more managers must tackle, the industry is becoming a moving target of challenges for even the best managers. One way to get a leg up on the industry is education.

The High Plains Ranch Practicum is a unique program that offers producers an eight-day deep dive into the wide-ranging, constantly changing beef industry. From heifer management to pasture productivity, ranchers can give themselves a head start on this competitive market. Host site for the practicum is Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo.

The eight-day training is broken up into four two-day sessions, with the first session June 26-27; the second, Aug. 28-29; the third, Sept. 25-26; and the final session, Oct. 29-30. The cost to attend is $800 for the first person and $600 for each additional attendee from the same operation.

By its very name, attendees should know that this is a hands-on event that gives you information on a range of topics. The agenda covers ranch management, which includes digging up plants to learn more. There are tools for enhancing your grazing program, and they are always presented with an eye toward how to apply the new knowledge in a real-world setting.

Keeping up with the ever-changing beef industry isn’t easy. Having a solid education base on the fundamentals of these topics and seeing those issues in action can provide knowledge to make the most of good times, and weather the bad times.

Teaching the class

Instructors for the 2019 sessions include Dallas Mount, a University of Wyoming Extension educator who has served the southeast area of Wyoming since 2001. His background includes ranch work in the cow-calf, yearling, feedlot and hay segments. He developed the practicum school, and he keeps his hand in with the family operation, which runs a management-intensive grazing operation near Wheatland, Wyo.

Aaron Berger is a Nebraska Extension educator who has served the southern Nebraska Panhandle area as a beef systems Extension educator since 2004. He grew up on a seedstock operation and has worked the seedstock, cow-calf, yearling and feedlot production segments. He helped develop the practicum program, and he lives with his family near Kimball, Neb.

Trey Patterson of the Padlock Ranch Co., Ranchester, Wyo., will also be on hand, offering insight on real-world issues ranchers face.

In addition, the instructors invite alumni ranchers to the program to share application of the principles from the program. The alumni sessions are an opportunity for class members to quiz the ranchers about the application of the class principles, and how they work in the real-world.

You can learn more about the program by visiting the  High Plains Ranch Practicum website.

Sources: University of Wyoming, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The sources are solely responsible for the information provided and are wholly owned by the sources. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.