News

Revived Armidale Feeder Steer School 2.0 close to being fully-subscribed

Beef Central 23/01/2025

 

THERE has been a tremendous response to the return of the popular Armidale Feeder Steer School, taking place at the University of New England from Monday to Thursday, 10-13 February.

Close to 150 people have already registered for this year’s school, and more than 200 are expected for the event’s dinner. Last available placements are expected to be filled by this weekend.

The Armidale Feeder Steer School was a popular annual event 20 years or more ago, but came to a close with the sunset of the Beef CRC program back in 2012. Back then, each annual workshop regularly sold out in matter of weeks, and it looks like being repeated this year.

The 15-year absence of the school also means there has been a generation of young beef producers who have missed out on the opportunity to attend.

This year’s revived event, dubbed Feeder Steer School 2.0, will feature workshops and presentations from Meat & Livestock Australia, Teys, Angus Australia, CSIRO, Jeff House Livestock, Apiam Animal Health, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, UNE and Northern Tablelands Local Land Services.

With presenters from across the value chain and workshops assessing cattle, the steer school will be beneficial for people working right along the supply chain, trading cattle or breeding calves. Content will cover everything from genetics to pastures, yard weaning to carcase data and transport to nutrition.

Sponsors for this year’s event include Zoetis, Angus Australia, Teys, JBS, Rabobank, Genetics Australia and Local Land Services NSW.

“Sound preparation of cattle entering feedlots is critical to successful performance in the feedlot and minimising health and performance issues,” UNE’s Dr Peter McGilchrist said.

“Feeder Steer School 2.0 will give attendees the knowledge to improve their breeding, feeding and management of cattle destined for feedlots, leading to better animal welfare, feedlot efficiency and profitability along the value chain.”

The program features researchers, buyers, agronomists, meat scientists, livestock operations managers and advisers from across the livestock and red meat sectors.

Some of the key speakers include:

  • Woolworths Greenstock’s Sam Ditchfield – Retailers beef needs from a Greenstock perspective
  • Veterinarian Dr Kev Sullivan – The psychology of cattle – training calves for feedlot entry
  • Lotfeeder Barb Madden – Numbers on feed update & Making custom feeding work for all
  • Geneticist Dr Brad Hine – Immune competence and genomic selection tools for breeders
  • JBS’s Michael Finucan – Matching feeder cattle demands to markets for JBS

It’s anticipated that the Armidale Feeder Steer School will be held every two years in future.

Beef Central will be in attendance next month.

 

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