Market steers and heifers are selling at historic levels right now. Part of it is because the number of cattle on feed is at a 60-year low, and you don't turn cattle numbers around nearly as quickly as with hogs, since you only get one calf per year, not 8 or more twice per year.

Mark Hilton, a vet in the Purdue University Large Animal Clinic, heads up a program called Integrated Resource Management. It's to help producers look through their entire beef operation and figure out ways to be more efficient.

Feed me for less! Part of Mark Hilton's message with the Integrated Resource Management program is to help farmers feed their herd for less money during the winter, using outside-the-box methods.

"Cattlemen are selling market animals for more than they've ever sold them before, and yet we hear some say they're barely making any money," Hilton notes. "Their costs are incredibly high. One thing we're trying to do with this program is help them figure out lower cost ways to feed their animals and still accomplish the same result."

A field day at the Southern Indiana Purdue Ag Center near Dubois is slated for August 31, from 2 to 6 p.m. with dinner following. The entire focus of this field day is Integrated Resource Management.

If you're in the program, Hilton visits with you once per year and goes through every aspect of your operation. His insights aren't limited just to animal health issues. He looks for ways where you could perhaps cut costs and still accomplish the same goals.

"One of them is extending the grazing season," says Jason Tower, superintendent of SIPAC. He will be involved in the field day. SIPC will hold its own field day on a broad variety of topics in September.

Hilton also hopes to introduce farmers at the field day to limited grazing. Some may already know about it, or use it, but others don't use it. His immediate goal is to help them cut down on the costs of winter feed, so they can begin to see a bigger profit margin while cattle are at high sale prices.