Dedication set for byproduct feeds research barn
May 8, 2008Contact Information:
Dr. Vic Ford, Director, Southwest Research and Extension Center, 870-777-9702, vford@uaex.edu, or Sherri Pote, SWREC, 870-777-9702, slblue@uark.edu
Howell Medders, Division of Agriculture Communications, 479-575-5647, hmedders@uark.edu
HOPE, Ark. -- The public is invited to a dedication program at noon, Wednesday, May 14, for the Byproduct Feeds Research and Demonstration Barn at the Southwest Research and Extension Center (SWREC) at Hope.
SWREC director Vic Ford said the new facility will be used in research and demonstration projects on the use of alternative cattle feed ingredients.
A complimentary lunch will be served following brief remarks by Milo Shult, the University of Arkansas System's vice president for agriculture; local cattlemen Ned Ray Purtle and Warren Plyler; Ford and Keith Lusby, head of the U of A Division of Agriculture's animal science department.
"We are pleased to provide this facility for research and demonstration projects to help livestock producers address the high cost of grain," Shult said. "This program is strongly supported by area producers, and I very much appreciate their financial contributions to the building project."
The facility is just east of Perrytown and north of Hwy. 67 at the SWREC feedlot area. Signs will indicate where to turn.
"We are looking for the most efficient ways to use these byproducts," said Assistant Professor Paul Beck, who has been conducting research on use of alternative feed ingredients for several years.
Beck said feed formulations are tested in feedlot feeding trials and trials on replicated grass pastures for feed supplements. Some ingredients being evaluated include distiller's grain and other byproducts of bio-fuels production, corn gluten, rice bran, cotton seed cake, soybean hulls and hominy from corn milling.
"This facility give us the flexibility to purchase byproducts when they are cheaper and store them. It is a model for the type of barn producers might build," Beck said.
Producers who can benefit from the research findings are those who supplement grass and hay diets with blended feeds and those who feed weaned calves in stocker operations to add value to cattle they eventually sell to feedlots, Beck said.
Ford said the following donors contributed to the building construction fund. AgHeritage FCS, Anthony Wood Treating, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, Bancorp South, Clark County Farm Bureau, Clear Lake Farm, CMC Steel Products, Diamond State Bank, FCS of Western Arkansas, First National Bank, Hempstead County Farm Bureau, Hope Concrete Products, Lafayette County Farm Bureau, Nevada County Farm Bureau, Ned Ray Purtle, Southwest Arkansas Equipment Co., and Summit Bank.