Women in Ag to Present First Herd That! Conference for Livestock Producers

Women in Ag to Present First Herd That! Conference for Livestock Producers
Nebraska Women in Agriculture
Woman on horseback at fence.

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The Nebraska Women in Agriculture program, with the Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance program, will host the first Herd That! Conference on Sept. 15 in Lincoln. The conference will focus on five areas of risk management specific to livestock and feature a live cattle handling demonstration with Temple Grandin, an animal behaviorist and professor at Colorado State University, and Dean Fish, manager of Santa Fe Ranch in Nogales, Ariz.

“We are thrilled to be bringing a new event to our Women in Agriculture programing that is specific to women who raise livestock,” said Jessica Groskopf, director of Nebraska Women in Agriculture. “With Nebraska being one of the largest beef-producing states in the country, and women across our state taking active roles in their operations, there is no better time to launch this event.”

The single-day conference will feature a variety of speakers and topics for attendees to learn from. The workshops and keynotes will offer tools and information that they can take back to their operations to become more successful. During the morning sessions, participants will have the opportunity to learn from industry experts as well as Nebraska Extension professionals. Topics will include market outlooks, family communication, livestock insurance, veterinarian practices and more. 

Grandin and Fish will finish off the conference with a live demonstration focusing on low-stress cattle handling and facility design.

Jesse Fulton, director of Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance, said that animal handling is an important issue for producers to understand and that the conference will offer a unique opportunity to learn from nationally recognized experts on the topic.

“Being able to have Dr. Grandin, the matriarch of low-stress cattle handling and facility design, teamed up with Dr. Fish, a nationally renowned cattle stockman, come to Nebraska to demonstrate the importance and ease of low stress cattle handling is a great chance for Nebraska producers to hear from the industry-leading experts on the topic,” he said. “Just because we are using cattle for the demonstration, doesn’t mean you can’t ask question about other species.”

More information about this event will be released this summer on the Women in Agriculture website, https://wia.unl.edu.