For
immediate release
May 7,
2008
For
more information, contact:
Tracey
Koester, NDSA member services director • tkoester@ndstockmen.org
Julie Schaff Ellingson, NDSA
communications director • stockman@ndstockmen.org
(701)
223-2522 • www.ndstockmen.org
Junior
Beef Expo will have a reproductive focus
The 2008 North
Dakota Junior Beef Expo will emphasize heifer pregnancy and reproduction as
part of its Cattlemen’s College, said North Dakota Stockmen’s Association
(NDSA) Member Services Director Tracey Koester. The multi-breed junior beef
field day will be at the Upper Missouri Valley Fairgrounds in
As part of the
program, Dr. J.J. Hovde of Hovde
Veterinary Clinic in Sidney, Mont., will demonstrate pregnancy ultrasound on
several heifers and determine their calves’ fetal age and gender. He will also
offer tips to help prepare a heifer for breeding and maintain her pregnancy.
After Hovde’s presentation, Dave Dockter,
a Select Sires beef specialist, will discuss prebreeding
nutrition, estrus synchronization and sire selection.
“Reproduction is
one of the most economically important traits on a ranch,” Koester said.
“That’s why the Junior Beef Expo Planning Committee wants to equip youth with
the information they need to ensure their show heifers become productive cows
and profit centers for their herds.”
The Dectomax Carcass Merit Contest will also be offered. It
will include an ultrasound evaluation of all steers and a two-grid analysis of
the animals’ carcass traits. Following the results from the Centralized
Ultrasound Processing Lab, each steer will be ranked based on profitability
measures on a high-quality and a high-cutability
grid.
The Junior Beef
Expo will also include photography and showmanship contests, a junior show,
silent auction, scavenger hunt and coloring activity.
All exhibitors who
hold NDSA memberships or family memberships will have a chance at a $100
drawing. All exhibitors will have a chance at five $100 prizes from Agweek and receive show premiums, an exhibitor t-shirt and
free meal tickets.
The Junior Beef
Expo is open to youth through age 21 and is sanctioned by the North Dakota
Junior Point Show Association.
Entry forms, rules and applications for a $200 Junior Beef
Expo Scholarship can be downloaded from www.ndstockmen.org. To be eligible for
the scholarship, which is being donated by Mark and Sonya Owan
of Williston in memory of Richard Jensen of Williston, youth must be at least
enrolling high school seniors and have participated in the show at least two
years. The entry deadline is June 2.
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