Denise Schwab, interim IBC director column
December 2023
With harvest completed, the Iowa Beef Center is back into the busy winter meeting season. This month there will be winter feeding workshops, the ICA Leadership Summit, and our first Iowa Genetics Symposium. This year the Symposium will focus on providing producers the most current information on genetic technology for developing or purchasing bulls. Dr. Randie Culbertson has some great speakers and hands-on activities planned for this event, so if you’re a seedstock producer, make sure you get registered at www.aep.iastate.edu/genetics/ .
Following on the genetics theme, this month I’d like to feature Patrick Wall, our southeast Iowa beef specialist. Patrick grew up on a grain & livestock operation near Bradford in northcentral Illinois. He received his A.S. from Black Hawk East (1999), and B.S. (2001) and M.S. (2003) in Animal Science from ISU. Like most of us, he was active in 4-H and FFA, exhibiting steers, Angus breeding stock, a few pigs and even sheep. This spurred his interest in livestock judging, and he was a member of the All-American team at ISU in 2001.
Patrick started his career as a livestock judging coach and ag instructor at Allen County Community College in southeast Kansas. He then moved back to Ames and spent 4 ½ years at The CUP Lab, helping manage the immense growth in carcass ultrasound in registered cattle at the time. His training in genetics and experience with ultrasound lead him to become the Director of Genetic Improvement for the American Shorthorn Association. During his 4 ½ years there he spearheaded the addition of 3 $Value Indexes for the breed. Patrick joined ISU Extension and Outreach in 2013 as the southeast Iowa beef specialist, but he hasn’t lost his interest in ultrasound. In addition to his Extension job, he also serves as the Executive Director of the Ultrasound Guidelines Council, overseeing the carcass ultrasound program for seedstock in the US, Canada, and parts of South America. I’m not sure how he finds the time, but Patrick also is the President of the ISU Professional & Scientific Council advocating with administration for the 3,700 ISU P&S employees.
Like all our Iowa Beef Center team, Patrick is focused on people and motivated by helping them improve their beef business and lives. He said “How that occurs really doesn’t matter, whether its new genetics, better grazing strategies, smarter financial management, or the positive financial impact for those that have completed Cattle in the Green, a new program I created in 2019.”
Patrick said he is probably most proud of continued success of the Cornbelt Cow-Calf Conference. Many members have attended the conference over the decades and know the reputation of this event. While Patrick inherited the program, he has made several impressive changes including partnering with the local radio station to bring in new business sponsors, and bringing in nationally recognized talented young speakers and artists.
The Cornbelt Cow-Calf Conference (CCCC) is just one of the major beef conferences our team coordinates during the month of January. This year the CCCC is January 26-28, and you can find more information on it at www.Cornbeltcowcalf.com. Just ahead of the CCCC is the Driftless Region Beef Conference in Dubuque on January 25 & 26. The keynote speaker this year is Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, and the full schedule and registration can be found at www.aep.iastate.edu/beef/. For cattlemen in northwest Iowa, be sure to get the Feedlot Forum on your calendars for January 16, at the Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center, IA. Find more information at www.extension.iastate.edu/sioux/. Lastly, for southwest and south-central Iowa producers, plan to attend the Three State Beef Conference on January 17 in Greenfield. As always, the best location to see all the upcoming programs we are working on at the Iowa Beef Center is our webpage www.iowabeefcenter.org. We hope to see you on the road!
The IBC at Iowa State University serves as the university’s extension program to cattle producers. Our center comprises a team of faculty and staff from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. We work together to develop and deliver the latest in research-based information to improve the profitability and vitality of Iowa’s beef industry. If you’d like to be notified of updates on progress of research projects or programs that might be coming to your area, please subscribe to our “Growing Beef” newsletter by following the link on our website, www.iowabeefcenter.org. If you have a question, use our “Ask our Experts” link. Also, feel free to call us at 515-294-BEEF or email us at beefcenter@iastate.edu. You can follow @iowabeefcenter on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
