Beef cow-calf producers have a golden opportunity to diversify their market for bred commercial or purebred heifers. Cornell University's annual bred heifer sale normally includes heifer graduates from the Empire Heifer Development Program.

This year's sale, set for Saturday, Oct. 25 at the Beef Teaching and Research Center, Dryden, N.Y., is being expanded to include farm-raised heifers, say Mike Baker, Cornell Extension beef specialist. "Enlisting in this sale is a new way to get the best bang from your marketing dollar," he says.

Ultrasound data will be collected on heifers at the center, and made available for the sale. And there are requirements to assure buyers that the risk of calving difficulty has been minimized and that performance has been optimized. Those requirements include:

For more details on this sale or enrolling heifers in the next round of the heifer development program, contact Baker at 607 255-5923. Or e-mail him at [email protected].