By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Cattlemen’s Assoc. (OCA) is launching a new producer education program this fall, called the Ohio Cattlemen’s Academy.

“Recognizing the importance of serving our individual members across the state, the goal of the Cattlemen’s Academy is to offer informative, hands-on learning experiences as part of a current a current OCA membership,” said Kagney Collins, director of education.

“Each year the program will focus on a different aspect of the cattle industry with a new meeting series that is important to producers in Ohio.”

The OCA is a nonprofit membership organization that represents the business interests and way of life important to farm families that raise cattle. It serves as the voice and issues manager for all of Ohio’s beef cattle business for nearly 60 county affiliates, and communicates through various publications and social media.

As its first series, the Academy will host calving clinics at multiple locations in conjunction with the Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University. Various experts from OSU and the cattle industry will be on hand to instruct attendees and answer questions.

The first stop in this four-topic series across the state will be the Calving Clinic on Sept. 30 in Noble County, at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Caldwell. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

The clinics will be extremely helpful and educational for attendees, and producers will learn a variety of things, such as how to determine calf presentations, calving assistance techniques, calving facilities design, nutritional management of the prepartum cow, and bull selection for calving ease.

According to Collins, this Academy is still in the planning stage. The topics for the remaining three clinics across the state are undecided at this time, but will be announced in the next few months.

The Cattlemen’s Academy calving clinics are free for OCA members. The non-members fee is $75 per family upon registration; the cost includes clinic attendance and an OCA membership. A meal will be provided for each participant, as well.

The clinic is limited to the first 100 registrants. For more information regarding the Academy or calving clinics, email Collins at kcollins@ohiocattle.org or call 614-873-6736.

The OCA was formed in 1951 and serves a membership of more than 2,200 families throughout Ohio and surrounding states.