01/07/2013 Livestock forum scheduled next month in Madison By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter State officials have scheduled one meeting out of a series of gatherings focused on statewide livestock production at Madison Livestock Auction on Feb. 27. Representatives from the state Agriculture Department and SDSU Extension Service have scheduled two dozen meetings with agricultural producers at livestock sale barns across South Dakota from mid-January into March. Walt Bones, state agriculture secretary, announced the meeting schedule in late December, calling the gatherings the Next Generation of Livestock Production forums. Bones said state officials want to discuss the challenges and benefits that the state would have in increasing the number of livestock in South Dakota. According to Heather Gessner, an Extension livestock business management specialist, officials from the ag department and South Dakota State University will use some parts of the forums to learn about the challenges that producers face in entering the livestock industry. "We want to listen to and discuss any ideas that the participants have to help bring that next generation into the industry," Gessner said. "We also want to discuss what we can do to increase the revenue from livestock production for everybody." State officials want to discuss what the state and ag producers can do to expand calf-feeding operations in South Dakota instead of shipping feeder calves outside the state. They also want to hear what producers have to say about ensuring that a beef-processing plant in Aberdeen has enough livestock and that the new cheese plant in Brookings will have adequate supplies of milk to meet production demands. Gessner said that some counties could consider joint efforts so their producers can receive the benefits of increased livestock production. All of the forums are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. but times are subject to change. Along with the Feb. 27 Madison meeting, other forums in the Lake County region include Bales Continental in Huron on Feb. 6, Glacial Lakes Livestock in Watertown on Feb. 8, Magness Livestock in Huron on Feb. 26, Mitchell Livestock on March 5, and Sioux Falls Regional on March 7. For more information, call Sarah Caslin at the S.D. Department of Agriculture at 605-280-4833 or visit http://sdda.sd.gov.

©Madison Daily Leader 2013