The Iowa Beef Center with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will offer an Advanced Calving Clinic to help Iowa cattlemen and women prepare for a successful calving season and subsequent breeding period. The clinic will be offered on Thursday, Feb. 19, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., at the Iowa National Guard Armory in Denison, located at 12 North 35th Street.

Erika Lundy-Woolfolk, extension beef specialist with Iowa State, said the clinics will feature a variety of learning sessions and opportunities to share questions and experiences. Session topics will cover essentials from conception to calving, including strategies for managing dystocia with practice using the life-size calving model, neonatal calf health and care, beef cow nutrition basics and calving distribution management.

¢â‚¬Å“Whether you ¢â‚¬â„¢ve calved 10 cows or 10,000 cows, there ¢â‚¬â„¢s always a new technique to learn to help you get one more calf born alive, ¢â‚¬ � she said. "Attendees of previous Advanced Calving Clinics have reported substantial satisfaction with the program, estimating an average benefit of $1,480 per operation."

Lundy-Woolfolk also noted that the life-size calving model is a popular hands-on feature of the clinics.

¢â‚¬Å“Dr. Terry Engelken from the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine will help participants with tips and tricks for handling difficult delivery situations, ¢â‚¬ � she said.

Iowa State cow-calf specialist Randie Culbertson will present a session on improving rebreeding success, and Lundy-Woolfolk will lead a presentation on pre-and-post-calving nutrition.

Because the sessions are designed for individual hands-on learning, attendance is limited to 50 participants, and preregistration is required. Thanks to generous sponsorship from Boehringer Ingelheim, ISU Extension and Outreach Crawford County, and Blazin ¢â‚¬â„¢ ¢â‚¬Å“B ¢â‚¬ � Ranch, this Advanced Calving Clinic is offered at no cost to attendees.

A light meal will be served to registered participants at 5 p.m. Those interested in attending should register by Feb. 17 by contacting the ISU Extension and Outreach Crawford County office at 712-263-4697.

For more information, contact Lundy-Woolfolk at ellundy@iastate.edu.