Body Condition Score with Dr. Rick Machen – April 2015

Body Condition Score is one of, if not the best tool for managing your cattle and insuring the best health possible for the given cycle of life. 

In an ideal world I believe we prepare for profitable ranching in this order:

Dr. Rick Machen
  1. Get your soil healthy and growing (yes soil life grows).
  2. Get the right genetics to accomplish your end goal.
  3. Manage your livestock to build the best forages possible and increase organic matter.
  4. Manage your livestock for the best health given the current cycle of life to the absolute best of your ability.

In this months training we focus on #4, next month we will focus on #1 so watch for that. If we will put in the effort and learn how to visually inspect our cattle and determine body condition score, we will be light years ahead and our cattle will be healthy and happy.  This is a skill that anyone can learn so take the time and watch and re-watch this training with Dr. Rick Machen.

So who is Dr. Rick Machen?  Rick was born and raised in Central Texas. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Angelo State University. He pursued graduate training at Texas A&M University in College Station, receiving his Masters of Science and a Ph.D. in animal nutrition. Rick began his career with a beef cattle research appointment with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science at Ona. After this he returned to Texas to pursue his passion for teaching and natural resource management as an Extension Specialist located in Far West Texas. The Extension Service combined two positions (beef cattle and goat/sheep specialists) and moved Rick and his family to Uvalde.

Rick’s primary role as an Extension professional is adult education in the animal and natural resource arenas. He works closely with county extension agents across the state to develop and deliver educational opportunities with science-based information at their core. He has provided leadership to regional and statewide learning opportunities such as A Gathering of Goat Producers, the Texas Beef Quality Producer Program, Beef Boot Camps for Retailers, Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course, the Bennett Trust Land Stewardship conference, the TAMU Grassfed Beef Conference and Rebuilding the Cow Herd.

With a college career in livestock evaluation as a springboard, Rick has judged at all the Texas’ majors and has been invited to judge junior and open shows in nine other states. In addition to his Extension responsibilities, Rick maintains an active interest in commercial meat goat production and natural resource management for absentee landowners.

He serves on the Professional Advisors Group for the East Foundation, Wildlife Advisory Board for the Southwest Texas Junior College Wildlife Management Program and is an adjunct professor in the Agriculture Department of Angelo State University.

Rick and his wife Debra have a granddaughter who lives with her parents Mallory and Sean Dougherty in Kearney, Nebraska and a son Kyle who lives in The Woodlands.

Body-Condition-Scoring-example

​This training is done on a slide presentation video so you can see examples of cattle in the different levels of body condition score.  The video file is not too large if you have a slower connection it will not take long to download or stream the video and avoid the wait. 

This is an excellent training and you will learn some of the most valuable information you will hear.  After you watch this training you will be able to walk outside and immediately apply this training.  Subscribe today and be able to apply this information in a little over an hour ... or two if you watch it twice.

 
 

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