Around
Our State
Steven Bonanno
named dean/
director
Long-time West Virginia
University leader Steven C.
Bonanno has been named
the dean and director of
the WVU Extension Service.
Bonanno
has served
as interim
director of the
WVU Extension
Service since
July 2011. He
has spent his
career working
for Extension, beginning as
a faculty Extension agent in
Pleasants County in 1982 and
as a member of the Extension
administration since 2005.
He is a graduate of Potomac
State College and received his
bachelor’s and master’s degrees
in agriculture education from
the WVU Davis College
of Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Design.
“Extension’s continued
collaborations and
partnerships with our state’s
agricultural community
are a priority and
I look forward
to leading the
charge,”
Bonanno
stated.
Summer 2015
Increase cow/calf net returns through
value-added management
A
lthough markets are trending
slightly lower than last year, 2015
is shaping up to be another impressive
year for cow/calf net returns. Still, cow/
calf producers should
ask themselves if they
are truly taking full
advantage of current
market conditions
and maximizing
calf value.
Maximizing Value
Program, or Calf Pool Program, requires
producers to use quality bulls and
implement a comprehensive herd health
program, which includes vaccinating
calves at least twice prior to weaning
and shipment.
Producer groups may
then choose whether to
wean their calves for 45
days prior to shipment
(Gold Program) or
ship them as vaccinated
but unweaned (Silver
Program).
Maximizing calf
value starts with
generating a superior
In either case,
product – quality,
participating producers
healthy calves that are
have added significant
prepared to transition
value to their calves when
to the next stage of
compared to traditional
Maximizing calf value starts
production. Investing
marketing methods
with generating a superior
in profitable genetics,
(i.e., graded feeder
product.
implementing a herd
cattle sales).
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