Beef home study courses help improve profits in “The Beef State” and beyond
Dr. Rich Lackaff grew up on a ranch near Bassett. He took the beef home study courses to know more.
People enroll from around the state, the nation and the world to gain the knowledge these Nebraska courses have to offer.
Dennis Bauer, interim district director for the Northeast Research and Extension Center at Norfolk and a beef home study founder, said producer profitability is the goal of the courses. Bauer estimates participants save $15 per head because of the knowledge gained and management skills learned. That’s $9 million collectively, based on the cattle owned by those who have already taken the courses.
“It has far exceeded what we ever dreamt it could be,” Bauer said.
Bauer and a group of extension educators began the home study courses as a way to make knowledge available to people unable to attend extension beef meetings. Their first course, Beef Cow Basics, piloted in 1993.
The original course since has been revised and six more courses added. Educators research and develop materials, reviewed for technical accuracy by a UNL specialist. Seven courses now cover growing calves, beef business, nutrition for the cow herd, cattle on rangelands and feeding corn coproducts. The course on reproduction is undergoing revision.
The home study series is successful because it is built across disciplines, including agronomy, animal science, veterinary science and agricultural economics, Bauer said.
Beef home study enrollments total 5,600 from 40 states and several countries. Thomas, Popejoy and Lackaff are among them.
Thomas, a Lincoln CPA, took a course because he owns some land and said he thinks cattle seem to be the right fit for it. He said he appreciates that the course is self-monitoring, well-organized and academically thorough. “It would be good for people in the business,” Thomas said. “The university needs to do more of that.”
Popejoy ranches with her husband, Lafe, near Raton, N.M. She wants to be able to manage their Black Angus operation should the need arise. “It’s nice to see a different angle of how to do things,” Popejoy said. “It’s very helpful and eye-opening in a lot of ways.”
Lackaff also is veterinarian for his family’s Red Angus cow-calf and yearling operation. He says the five extension beef home study courses he has taken have been helpful. He said he still refers to the extension materials because nutrition and reproduction are closely aligned.
Optional quizzes are graded by educators and help ensure participants understand the material, said Paul Hay, UNL extension educator based in Beatrice. Because the courses are self-paced, Hay said one producer got all his lessons done during waiting periods while hauling grain and checking cattle.
Courses now are used as curriculum for high schools and junior colleges, as continuing education for veterinarians and others, as part of the training for feed company sales representatives, and even to establish credibility for certain farm and ranch loans.
— Cheryl Alberts
Bauer can be contacted at (402) 370-4000.
This article was originally published in the February 2008 Connect newsletter.
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Beef State
A history of Nebraska’s beef industry.
Airing in June on NET Television (Nebraska’s PBS station)
