NDSU Feedlot School 2025 set for Jan. 22-23

North Dakota State University's Carrington Research Extension Center will hold its annual NDSU Feedlot School on Jan. 22-23, 2025.

This intensive course is for cattle producers, feeders, backgrounders, feed industry personnel, animal healthcare suppliers and anyone else who is interested in learning more about feedlot production, nutrition, waste management and marketing.

"Cattle feeding is a very competitive business," said Karl Hoppe, NDSU Extension livestock systems specialist at the center. "Making cattle feeding profitable is usually a result of doing many things right, not just one thing better."

The Feedlot School helps identify areas for improvement, ranging from feed bunk management to health to business planning to marketing.

"The regional cattle experts who teach at the school provide a good overview of management for North Dakota feeders, and the outreach or interaction with the participants continues for years after the school," said Hoppe.

Feedlot School topics are the following:

• Why feed cattle in North Dakota?

• Facility design and equipment

• Budgets for different cattle feeding scenarios

• Cattle requirements and feeding

• Beef Quality Assurance

• Implants

• Cattle financing

• Feed additives

• Ration formulation

• Feed nutrient analysis and feed testing

• Feedlot diseases and treatments

• Facility management

• Bunk reading and feed delivery

• Manure and nutrient management

• Livestock market outlook

• Price protection with hedging and LRP

• Alternative market programs

• Carcass quality and marketing on the grid

The school also will include a commercial feedlot tour and a tour of the center's livestock facilities.

Instructors include faculty from NDSU's Department of Animal Sciences, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics and the Carrington and Central Grasslands Research Extension Centers, as well as others who have extensive experience working with northern plains feedlots.

For registration information and an agenda of events, visit ndsu.ag/feedlot-school25. The deadline to register is Jan. 5. The registration fee is $200 per person and includes meals, but not lodging. Participants must make their own lodging arrangements.

For more information about the course topics or to be placed on a waiting list for next year's Feedlot School, contact Karl Hoppe at 701-652-2951 or [email protected].

The Carrington Research Extension Center is 3.5 miles north of Carrington on U.S. Highway 281.