Highlights from Wisconsin Beef Cattle Feeders Twilight Meeting

A man in a plaid shirt addresses a group of attendees at a livestock shelter during the "Highlights from Wisconsin Beef Cattle Feeders Twilight Meeting."

Beef producers and ag service providers attended a summer Cattle Feeders Twilight Meeting near Menomonie, WI on August 4, 2026. This on-farm, in-person event featured expert presentations from University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension educators, on-farm learning activities, and a host farm Q&A regarding their cattle feeding operation and recent facility improvements.

A speaker delivers a presentation with a projected slide to attendees seated at tables in a wood-paneled room. — Attendees learn about stockmanship and cattle handling from UW-Madison Extension Beef Outreach Specialist Bill Halfman

Wisconsin has an estimated 240,000 head of cattle on feed (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service), making this an important segment of our agricultural economy. Twenty attendees representing all segments of beef production (cow-calf, stocker, and feedlot) learned about stockmanship and handling facility design for feedlots, optimizing corn silage quality for beef cattle, and best chute side practices for vaccination and animal health following Beef Quality Assurance guidelines. Attendees also learned from the Jensen family about their Holstein steer feeding operation, incorporating new technology, and their decision to build a mono-slope barn to improve animal performance and reduce run-off from open lots.

Impactful for attendees

80% of attendees who completed a post-workshop evaluation said they planned to make changes after the workshop. Examples include monitoring silage harvest timing, incorporating more testing for corn silage feeding value, and making changes to their cattle feeding facility.

A group of beef producers and ag service providers standing under a open-sided farm shelter listening to a speaker at a cattle meeting. — Attendees hear about the host farm’s cattle feeding facility.

Participants indicated an increase in knowledge of all topics presented, with specific examples including:

Barn design
Feed lot set up and lot management
Benefits of microbials for silage
Barn design plans, chute pro’s and con’s
Mold in silage
Ear tags that check sick cattle
Limiting injection volume to 10cc in one location

University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension livestock program educators plan to continue to serve this audience through winter cattle feeders workshops and direct marketing beef programs. Be on the lookout for future offerings.