Note: This event occurred in 2001. Please see our news releases section for upcoming events.

Timely Tips, Trade Show, Baxter Black Beef Up Ardmore Cattle Symposium

ARDMORE, Okla. — Producing and marketing beef are becoming more difficult, not easier, as fickle consumerism, unforgiving weather conditions and increased production costs transpire to make life one long headache for area ranchers.

But cattle producers have found they can catch up on the latest in beef production technology, and this year even have it topped off with a heaping dose of cowboy humor, at the Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore on Aug. 11. The popular cattle-info program is co-hosted by the Noble Foundation and the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension.

Organizers think this year’s program will be the best ever. Not only are presenters some of the most knowledgeable beef professionals and specialists from the a six-state area, but the program also includes a trade show and closing remarks from nationally known cowboy poet and comic Baxter Black, who calls himself "head cowboy" of the Coyote Cowboy Company in Benson, Ariz.

Twenty trade show participants have signed up for the program, according to Fred Schmedt, agricultural economist, and Shan Ingram, Education and Special Projects manager, both with the Noble Foundation.

The $25 early registration fee (due by Aug. 6; $30 at the door) includes a steak lunch. The closing comments by Black can be heard by the general public for $30 at the door. A former large animal veterinarian, Black frequently provides syndicated humorous comment and cowboy poems on National Public Radio

Registration and fee should be mailed to Southern Plains Beef Symposium, c/o The Noble Foundation, P.O. Box 2180, Ardmore, OK 73402-2180. Checks should be made to Southern Plains Beef Symposium. Registration for the symposium at Heritage Hall, 220 W. Broadway in downtown Ardmore, begins at 8:30 a.m., with programs starting at 9. For additional information, contact the Carter County OSU Extension office in Ardmore or the Noble Foundation at (580) 223-5810.

Speakers and their topics for the symposium include Eddie Funderburg, Noble Foundation soil and crops specialist, Forage Fertilization — Factors to Consider; Jim Mintert, Kansas State University/Manhattan, Cattle Supply and Demand — Market Outlook Update; Stacy Gunter, University of Arkansas, Stockers vs. Cow-Calf; Bob Long, retired from Texas Tech University, Selection Criteria: Muscle, Fat and Bone — How to Identify Them; and Steve Armbruster, Stillwater, Okla., The Beef Industry — A Glimpse of the Future?

A panel discussion on How to Merchandise Your Product is the final afternoon program. Speakers and their topic specialties include Don Schiefelbein, Westminister, Colo., genetics; Sally Dolezal, Derby, Kan., animal identification and data management; Ken Jordan, San Saba, Texas, marketing; and Gary Johnson, Dwight, Kansas, production management.

Black’s closing comments begin at 6 p.m.

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Symposium Schedule
Baxter Black Photos: Color Tiff (2 MB) | B/W Tiff (736 k)

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

To learn more, check out the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org.

More news releases available at www.noble.org/Press_Release