AMES, Iowa -- With more than 80 people in attendance, conference speakers presented to a full room at the June cattle feeders’ conference hosted by the Iowa Beef Center and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association.
The event, “Cattle Feeders’ Conference: A New Era of Management - People, Cattle, Business,” was held June 10-11, 2009, at the Holiday Inn in Ames, Iowa. Speakers for the event included keynote speaker Don Tyler, of Tyler and Associates, who spoke about employee management issues in agriculture, and Rob Annex, from Iowa State University, who touched on the concept of the livestock industry’s carbon footprint.
Tyler’s keynote address, as well as his talks during breakout sessions, proved to be especially popular as the attendees sought out more information on improving employee relations. Tyler stressed the importance of employer documentation that would express position expectations and clear communication guidelines for employees.
Dan Loy, conference organizer and Iowa State University Extension beef specialist, was pleased with the results of the conference and says the evaluation results completed by attendees were the most positive he has ever seen.
“I think the partnership with the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association allowed us to have quality input from producers in the planning and development of the program,” Loy said. “The result was a high quality program with quality speakers that were timely and on target with the needs of the people in the business of feeding cattle.”
For those interested in learning more about the topics covered, materials from the conference, including speaker presentations and handouts, are now available online at www.iowabeefcenter.org.
The Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, was established in 1996 with the goal of supporting the growth and vitality of the state’s beef cattle industry. It serves as the university’s extension program to cattle producers and is comprised of faculty and staff from ISU Extension and the colleges of agriculture and life sciences and veterinary medicine. Together, the Iowa Beef Center’s members work to develop and deliver the latest in research based information regarding the beef cattle industry. For more information about the Iowa Beef Center, visit www.iowabeefcenter.org.
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