What determines the success of a beef farm? There are a lot of answers to that question, including animal health, welfare, nutrition, reproduction, and overall performance, environment and facilities, costs and profits, and the people involved in all of these processes. So preparing students to make the most out of a farm can be challenging, but it’s crucial. In the very first episode of The Beef Podcast Show, Dr. Bob Larson shares some great (and inspirational!) thoughts on how to balance performance and costs on a beef farm, especially from a reproduction perspective, and how to better prepare vet students for the practice. The bottom line of today’s exciting conversation is that no matter the situation, there’s always something to be learned and room for improvement.
What you’ll learn:
- Preparing vet students for practicing in rural and urban areas
- The art of teaching vet students
- Animal health, production efficiency, and economics
- How does drought affect beef?
- Cows and heifers: aspects of reproduction
- The elevator speech: increasing the profitability of a ranch
- What would you change in the beef industry if you could?
- Beef podcasts: reception and thoughts
Meet the guests:
Dr. Bob Larson attended Kansas State University, where he received a Bachelor Degree in Animal Science and a DVM. After practicing for a year in southeast Kansas, he returned to KSU, where he focused his work on beef female reproduction and nutrition-reproduction interactions in the department of Animal Sciences and Industry, thus receiving his Ph.D.. Dr. Larson then returned to private practice, primarily in Abilene, Kansas, before joining the University of Missouri and working in the area of beef production medicine. In 2006, he returned to Kansas State University as the Coleman Chair of Food Animal Production Medicine, where he is involved to this day with teaching and research focused on beef cattle health and production. He is board certified by the American College of Theriogenologists, the American College of Animal Nutrition, and the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine – Epidemiology specialty. He has served in a number of leadership roles, including president of the Academy of Veterinary Consultants and the Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association.
