Cattle breeding, genetics and health are among topics to be covered in Beef 201: Beginning Rancher Development, a workshop slated May 19-21 at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

UI Extension beef educators are “trying to serve beginning farmers and ranchers in the Northwest, to help them kick off their business as a rancher or just help them to expand or improve their profitability,” Phil Bass, associate professor of meat science, said in a news release.

A three-year, $479,000 grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture funds the program, which started with two multi-day workshops in 2024. Bass is principal investigator.

Ranchers who participated in 2024 are encouraged to attend this year, as content will be new, according to UI.

While last year’s workshops included intensive training in beef fabrication, that portion will be scaled back, encompassing basic identification of popular retail cuts.

“Beef fabrication has the tendency to draw the crowd in,” Bass said. “They’re very curious, but it’s not really helping their business. We need to back off on the meat so we can focus more on the raising of the cattle.”

Lauren Christensen, a veterinarian and assistant professor specializing in mixed-practice production medicine, is slated to present for nearly a full day on livestock health. Participants can have soil and forage samples from their operations analyzed.

Other Beef 201 team members are UI’s Jessie Van Buren, Michael Collie, Audra Cochran and Brett Wilder.

A $20 fee includes lunches and refreshments, and several ranch tools. Bass said a second multi-day workshop will be held if demand warrants, as was the case in 2024. He can be reached at pbass@uidaho.edu.

Experts from UI’s meat science team will be available to travel to participants’ operation sites to make assessments, according to UI. New ranchers also may be paired with experienced mentors in the industry.

Also under the grant, several smaller one-day workshops are planned around the Northwest.