Beef certification set for course on May 13

Arkansas ranchers will have an opportunity to either earn certification in the Beef Quality Assurance program or be re-certified during an event led by faculty and staff from the Cooperative Extension Service and Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia.

The May 13 event, which will be held at SAU, has two sessions. The session from 9 a.m. to noon is for ranchers who wish to be BQA certified. The session from 1-4 p.m. is for those who wish to be re-certified.

A meal will be provided at noon, sponsored in part by the Columbia County Cattlemen’s Association, according to a news release.

Participants are asked to call the Columbia County Extension Office at (870) 235-3720 or email jdew@uada.edu to RSVP for the sessions/meal they plan to attend by May 6.

“Participants are welcome to join the morning session only, or afternoon session only, but are welcome to attend both sessions,” said Jerri Dew, Columbia County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

The morning session at SAU’s Agriculture Building will be a BQA Certification Course taught by Keith Gresham, Dallas County extension staff chair; Keri Weatherford, Ouachita County extension staff chair; and Dew.

The afternoon session, at the SAU Showbarn Complex, will be a handson training. It is considered a BQA re-certification course.

Topics and instructors will be:

Vaccines — Daniel Rivera, director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center at Hope;

Pregnancy checks — Charles Looney, professor-cattle improvement for the Division of Agriculture;

Low-stress handling — Hunter Burnett, assistant professor-animal science at SAU;

Forage testing — Jerri Dew, extension service.

“SAU is excited to partner with the Cooperative Extension Service to provide producers with this opportunity,” said Copie Moore, Ph.D., associate professor of agricultural science at SAU.

Moore arranged use of SAU’s facilities for the event.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu or follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch.