University of Wyoming Extension News

Monthly Archives: November 2011

Cattle evaluation, factors affecting grade quality among Gate to Plate topics

Gate to Plate will focus on beef industry issues.

Live cattle evaluation, ultrasound technology demonstrations and beef carcass grading and more are topics at the Gate to Plate workshop in Laramie hosted by WYOBEEF.

Workshops are Tuesday through Thursday, Jan. 3-5, at the Cliff and Martha Hansen Teaching Arena and at the Animal Science/Molecular Biology Building on the University of Wyoming campus. There is a $100 registration fee, which includes lunches and dinners.

The agenda includes ultrasound technology, USDA quality grading systems, live cattle evaluations, beef harvesting procedures, Beef Quality Assurance, management factors affecting quality grade and a discussion on beef checkoff dollars. The agenda and additional course information are at http://bit.ly/uYpJ4j.

For more information, contact extension livestock specialist and assistant professor Scott Lake at 307-766-3892 or scotlake@uwyo.edu, or extension beef cattle specialist and associate professor Steve Paisley at 307-766-2000 or spaisley@uwyo.edu.

Brucellosis testing and research expanding in Wyoming

University of Wyoming Laboratory Assistant Tracy Dunn performs diagnostic testing for brucellosis at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory. In October, the state veterinary laboratory tested nearly 9,400 animals for brucellosis.

When two heifers on a ranch near Meeteetse tested positive for exposure to brucellosis this fall, technicians from the University of Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory quickly tested more than 320 other cattle in the area in addition to the 250 tested in the source herd and determined that the disease had not spread.

A year earlier, more than 4,200 animals were tested shortly after brucellosis was reported in northern Wyoming, said Walt Cook, who coordinates brucellosis research at UW.

The ability to conduct such rapid testing is one example of how legislative support to combat brucellosis is paying off to the benefit of the state’s cattle producers, Cook said. He said brucellosis is a bacterial disease that can cause domestic cattle, elk and bison to abort their calves. Elk and bison of the greater Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are a reservoir of brucellosis in the United States, so the disease is a concern for cattle producers in that area.

Continue reading →

4-H council offers stipends to work in Johnson County businesses

Jeremiah Vardiman in October met with business owners and parents of the high school students who participated in the intern program.

Organizers of a program that paid stipends to high school 4-H’ers to work in Johnson County businesses want to expand the program in 2012.

The Johnson County 4-H Council raised enough money to pay the stipends for two Buffalo High School students to work at two Buffalo businesses this past summer and fall – one at the Sports Lure and the other at Western Reride, both on South Main Street.

Continue reading →

Innovation draws UW extension’s creativity award

Extension director Glen Whipple, left, presents the 2011 Creative Excellence Recognition Award to Stan Skrabut.

Infusing innovation into extension offices across Wyoming and providing creative training for educators and staff members has earned an instructional technology educational specialist the 2011 Creative Excellence Recognition Award from the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service.

Stan Skrabut, in the Office of Communications and Technology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, received the award Nov. 3 during extension’s professional development conference in Evanston.

Continue reading →

UW Horse Judging Team in photo finish at quarter horse competition

UW Horse Judging Team coach Amy McLean, left, with team members Ruth Uptain, Lacey Teigen, Lisa Eckhardt, Corinna Slingerland, and Stephanie Schroeder.

Their neck-and-neck finish at the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship competition Nov. 16 and the team’s second-place finish at the All American Quarter Horse Congress last month is a storybook tale, said the coach of the University of Wyoming Horse Judging Team.

“Our success is truly a Cinderella story,” said Amy McLean, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science and extension equine specialist. West Texas A&M edged UW out of first by one point during competition in Oklahoma City. Twelve teams participated.

The reserve world champion senior horse judging team competed against the top equine programs in the country, many that have judging team legacies, said McLean.

Continue reading →