News Releases

(GREENEVILLE, Tenn.) -- Increasing profits for beef producers will be the focus of the 2003 Northeast Tennessee Beef Expo. Scheduled for October 9, the free event will be held at the Clyde Austin 4-H Center in Greeneville. The event is co-sponsored and coordinated by the UT Agricultural Extension Service and the Agricultural Experiment Station.

Registration and a trade show will begin at 7:00 a.m., and the program will begin at 8:30. Participants are encouraged to preregister with their local Agricultural Extension office by September 29 to receive lunch as part of the program.

The expo is intended to aid producers in identifying and understanding new technologies and information already available that can improve the overall competitiveness of their beef cattle operations. The overall focus is quality management and quality cattle.

Organizers claim that if producers would employ better forage management, better genetic selection, and best marketing practices as well as reduce death loss, then they could add $50 more value to each calf. If that were to occur, an additional $50 million could be realized to the state’s current $380 million of beef production.

Featured speakers include Ken Givens, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and Dr. John Stika, director of feeder-packer relations with Certified Angus Beef. Forage production and storage, when to help a calving cow, and cattle mineral requirements are among the topics to be discussed by UT experts. A weaning demonstration will be part of the afternoon program.

For more information, contact your county Agricultural Extension office, or call the Milton Orr, Extension agent for Greene County at 423-798-1710.

The Clyde Austin 4-H Center is located adjacent to the UT Tobacco Experiment Station off U.S. Highway 70 approximately 5 miles south of Greeneville. Directions and a map are available online at http://www.clydeaustin4hcenter.com/directions.htm.

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Contacts: Milton Orr, Greene County Extension Agent, 423-798-1710;
Patricia Clark McDaniels, 865- 974-7141