The High Plains Dairy Conference be Tuesday and Wednesday, March 3-4, at the Embassy Suites, 550 S. Buchanan Street in Amarillo, Texas. (NMSU photo)Dairy producers are always seeking ways they can improve their operations both in terms of productivity as well as sustainability. One place they can learn the latest ways to do so is at the High Plains Dairy Conference.

The 2020 conference will be Tuesday and Wednesday, March 3-4, at the Embassy Suites, 550 S. Buchanan Street in Amarillo, Texas. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. with the seminars starting at 8 a.m.

The conference, held every-other-year, provides dairy producers in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma with seminars that apply to issues faced in the High Plains region.

“We strive to provide practical information to the producers,” said conference co-chair Robert Hagevoort, New Mexico State University’s Extension dairy specialist. “We want them to consider the take-home messages as they drive home and see if some of the information is applicable to their operation.”

Presenters and panel discussions focus on issues that the producers deal with including groundwater situation on the High Plains, nutrition and animal health, reproduction and transition cow management, young-stock management, and workforce development and training, as well as the dairy economic and legislative outlook.

“Our producers like panel discussion because they hear different viewpoints about issues,” Hagevoort said. “There will be panel discussion or round-robin presentations on water and cropping, dairy legislative update and animal health.”

One of this year’s hot topic is the newest version of the National Milk Producer Federation’s Farmers Assuring Responsible Management program that was implemented on Jan. 1. A panel discussion on the perspectives of the producer, veterinarian and customer will be led by NMPF senior director Emily Yeiser-Stepp.

“Every version of this third-party verification program has improved how the industry is operating,” Hagevoort said. “It is a continuous process to ensure that producers and their employees are doing things in a responsible manner – specifically as it relates to the care of the animals.”

Further detail about the conference agenda is available at http://highplainsdairy.org/.

Online registration is available at the website. Early bird registration fee before Feb. 17 is $275 per person. A one-day fee for March 3 is available for $150.

Those who choose to mail the registration form should send it to High Plains Dairy Conference, Attn: Charlotte Bruna, 244 Cyclone Lane, Waterville, Kansas, 66548. Questions can be addressed by calling Bruna at 785-747-6313.