Cost-share programs and best management practices for cattle operations will be main topics at the 2008 Beef and Forage Field Day, June 12, at the University of Tennessee’s (UT) East Tennessee Research and Education Center-Blount Unit near Knoxville.

Activities will begin with a trade show at 7:30 a.m. Current opportunities for beef cattle producers to enhance their operations will be explored by Mike McElroy, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Then participants can attend morning sessions addressing the use of switchgrass as a potential biofuel and as a forage, bio-solids on pastures and hayfields, and watering systems for cattle. A sponsored lunch will be served to preregistered participants. A 45-minute session on adding value to feeder cattle with process verification programs for age and source will follow.

Preregister by June 6. Contact a county UT extension office or call the East Tennessee Research and Education Center at 865-974-7201. The Blount Unit is on Singleton Station Road, about eight miles south of the UT ag campus in Knoxville off U.S. Highway 129. Further information and a map are available at knoxville.tennessee.edu.