Sustainable Beef Cattle Production: Ranch to Ribeye

Montana’s largest industry is agriculture, with livestock valued at approximately $1.6 billion in 2016 (USDA, 2017).  Overall, cattle and calves in Montana made up 42% of the cash receipts in 2016 (USDA, 2017).  With approximately 1.5 million head of beef cows in Montana (USDA, 2018), we have the potential to have a large impact on beef production in the United States.  As the agriculture sector and land availability continues to shrink in the United States, new methods need to be developed and introduced to beef cattle producers to maintain sustainability.  Over the last 8 years, average farm size has steadily increased and the number of farms has steadily decreased (NASS, 2018).  Although the average farm size has increased, the total land in farms has steadily declined (NASS, 2018).  Therefore, less land is available to produce needed food for the increasing world population.  According to Tillman et al. (2012), global per capita meat production has increased more than 60% in the last 40 years.  Even with a steady decline in farm size, production efficiency continues to increase.  Therefore, there is an urgent need for continued sustainable beef cattle production to help negate the loss in cattle numbers to increase the supply of beef products to keep up with increasing demand. 

In 2014, a survey was distributed to Extension Agents in Montana to determine the needs of producers and ranchers in their communities.  Extension Agents wanted additional programs and meetings to provide information related to grazing management (64% of Agents), forage feeding (62% of Agents), and cow reproduction (52% of Agents).  Research areas that were indicated to be important were: grazing management strategies (3.74 out of 5), grazing impacts on forage quality (3.76 out of 5), nutrition impacts on reproduction (4.09 out of 5), and nutrient supplementation strategies (3.94 out of 5).  The areas of importance indicated by the survey have major impacts on sustainability and beef cattle production. 

Beef production tours have been conducted previously, but without the educational sessions.  The partnering of the educational sessions and beef production tours will provide an excellent opportunity for Extension Agents to gain classroom and hands-on knowledge and experiences in sustainable beef cattle production.  Principal Investigator Van Emon will work with several Extension Agents (Elin Kittelmann (former), Callie Cooley (former), Molly Hammond (former), Colleen Buck, and Kari Lewis) as program collaborators to address the program goals. However, due to the COVID pandemic and the departure of three of our extension agents, we were unable to conduct the tours. We decided that we would provide educational sessions through the Montana Nutrition Conference and Livestock Forum. Funds will be focused on the 2022 conference to aid in speaker travel and conference fees.

Additionally, five videos were uploaded and are public on YouTube. These public videos have been viewed 55 times since being made public. Therefore, these videos are not only available to Extension Agents throughout Montana, but also the world. This is much needed information for sustainable beef production and will aid in educating all those interested.