With the agriculture industry in West Central Alberta facing both challenges and opportunities over the next year, a conference being held at Olds College on Feb. 6 will explore ways of moving forward in a productive and sustainable way, say organizers.
The Ranching Opportunities Conference is scheduled to include a producer panel discussion on different calving times and strategies.
Grant Lastiwka, livestock and forage business specialist with Alberta Agriculture, will be a moderator on that panel, which will include producers who are calving their cows at three times of the year: January-February, March-April or May-June. "Each one of those producers will share their reasons for why they are doing it and some of the advantages they feel to calving at those times,î said Lastiwka. "It is a big issue in many ways because people are looking at costs and looking at the economies of scale in terms of addressing those costs.
"In many ways there is no one recipe except your own so you have to decide how best to exploit opportunity. What we are trying to do is allow for an informed decision.
"What we will try to do is to allow for the producers and those in the audience to ask questions and deliver information.î
As well as the producer panel, there will also be a workshop on analyzing forage quality.
"So often when we are dealing with forage quality we need to be able to see past the fact if it is green or not so green,î he said. "In the workshop we are going to get the producers to evaluate some of the different feeds and then we are going to discuss what actually is the value of one versus another.
"We want to discuss what producers should be looking forward to and in many ways why it is important to know what you have.î
There will also be sessions on the beef information exchange system, manure management, and a trade show on overall ranching opportunities in the region and provincewide.
Theresa Dietrich will deliver the keynote address, titled "What Do You Consumers Want?î
"You can do everything right but if you don't market it right and understand what the consumers want, you probably aren't managing that end of the business for a sustainable long-term future,î said Lastiwka, who is a regular advisor to the Mountain View County agricultural services board.
Hosting partners at the conference include Olds College, Mountain View County and Red Deer County.
More information on the conference, including registration details, can be found on Mountain View County's website.
