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18th Annual Dakota Feeder Calf Show Set
North Dakota Ag Connection - 09/27/2016

The 18th annual Dakota Feeder Calf Show is set for Oct.15 in Turtle Lake.

Cattle will be accepted at the Turtle Lake weighing station before 10 a.m. and exhibited as groups of three or four head. The spring-born steer calves consigned to the show then will be fed to market weight at the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center's feedlot.

The NDSU Extension Service is partnering with the Dakota Feeder Calf Show on the show and feedout project to provide cattle producers with an opportunity to experience retaining ownership of cattle beyond the cow-calf phase of production. Producers who consign their calves to the feedout program will receive performance and carcass data.

"While controlling prices is difficult, we can control the type of cattle we raise," says Karl Hoppe, are Extension livestock specialist at the Carrington Research Extension Center. "That's why knowing how well your cattle grow and what type of carcass they produce is important. The Dakota Feeder Calf Show feedout project gives cattle owners information on how their calves perform in the feed yard and on the calves' carcass value."

The show and feedout are an entry-level way of learning about these options with three or four calves instead of the entire herd. Cattle producers have used the feeding and carcass information to select bulls that will improve the feedlot value of their calves.

Darwin Chesrown of Turtle Lake is a veteran of the Dakota Feeder Calf Show. He has consigned calves to the show every year.

"I like to see the gain and carcass changes that result from different bulls," he says. "We have changed our breeding program because of what we learned. And it still is changing since we are always looking at different bulls."

During the 2015-16 feedout, the calves gained an average of 691 pounds in 215 days, with a total feeding cost (excluding interest) of 77 cents per pound of gain. The average sale weight was 1,325 pounds. The calves were fed with a market weight break-even point of $142.68 per hundredweight.

"It's the variation among cattle that makes this project educational and a real eyeopener," Hoppe says.

In the 2015-16 feedout, the spread in net return per head between the average of the top and bottom five herds was $200.21. The spread becomes more noticeable between the top and bottom herd: $349.96. Weight gain per day of age was 3.47 pounds for the top-profiting herd and 3.24 for the bottom herd.

"Small differences in production have a huge impact on profit," Hoppe says.

Feedout project staff will gather data on the rate of gain, feeding costs and other characteristics during the trial. After the calves are marketed, the staff will collect and provide information to the entrants on carcass weight, meat quality and value.

Producers will be assessed an entry fee of $20 per calf. Dakota Feeder Calf Show officials will present awards to producers at the end of the trial.

For more information or to preregister calves, contact Hoppe at 701-652-2951 or Chesrown, Turtle Lake Farmers Union Oil, at 701-448-2356. Cattle may be registered the day of the show, but the feedout is limited to 180 head.


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