Tuesday, April 28, 1998

Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic at Brownwood to mark 20th year

By J.T. Smith / Farm Editor

A full agenda is slated for the 20th Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic on May 7 in Brownwood.

Registration is 7:30 a.m. in the Brownwood Coliseum, with the program to follow at 8:30 a.m. There is no registration fee.

The Extension Service program will feature a top-notch group of speakers throughout the day.

State Rep. Bob Turner will start the morning session with his look at legislative issues and updates on how cattlemen could be affected over the coming months.

Turner will be followed by Tom Woodward of the Decatur-based Broseco Ranch. Woodward will suggest a number of techniques that producers can apply to their herds to glean more dollars per cow.

Scott Elston of the Stephenville Production Credit Association, will talk about lending practices for cow-calf operations.

Dr. Ernie Davis, Texas A&M Extension livestock marketing specialist, College Station, will speak on the 1998-99 cattle outlook. Dr. Steve Hammack, Extension beef cattle specialist, Stephenville, will close the morning session as moderator of a panel featuring morning speakers, Woodward, Davis and Elston.

A sponsored lunch will be catered at noon.

The program resumes at 1 p.m. with the day's final two speakers.

Dr. Dan Hale, Extension meat specialist, College Station, will speak on carcass quality management. Dr. Allan McGinty, San Angelo-based Extension range specialist, will cap off the clinic with a look at cattle stocking rates.

The day's formal program concludes at 3 p.m. with the second trade show and exhibit visits.

Sponsors of the program are TU Electric, Federal Land Bank, Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce and eight area offices of the Texas A&M Agricultural Extension Service.

For more, contact Scott Anderson, Brown County Extension agent, at (915) 646-0386. Or, contact any of the Extension Service offices in one of these eight participating counties: Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, McCulloch, Mills and San Saba.

Guide to finding summer produce

One pleasure of a Texas summer is visiting farms and orchards to pick ripe fruit and berries.

Another is buying baskets of freshly picked produce a roadside stands and farms.

To make it easier to find your "pick-your-own" outlets and roadside stands, the Texas Department of Agriculture has put the Texas Produce Guide on its web site at http://www.agr.state.tx.us which includes about 150 locations in 50 counties.

"The directory is a service for folks who enjoy an outing in the country and want to buy the freshest produce available," says Texas Ag Commissioner Rick Perry.

The <I>exas Produce Guide*i lists outlets by county and product. Each listing contains an operation's name, location, telephone number and the produce available. Outlets are indentified as pick-your-own (pyo), roadside stand (rs) and fresh picked (fp).

While peaches and blueberries are the most plentiful crops, the guide also lists produce ranging from blackberries and sweet corn to strawberries and tomatoes.

Fans of fresh produce also will find watermelons, cantaloupes, beans, cucumbers, okra, apples, plums, nectarines and other crops.

While produce supplies peak in June and July, they vary according to type of produce and production area. Because business hours often change when quantities are low, it's always best to call before driving out.

Among the counties listed on the TDA's web site are Callahan and Comanche counties from the Abilene region.