2nd day of Texas A&M AgriLife Hemphill County Beef Conference is in the books

CANADIAN, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – The second day of the Texas A&M AgriLife Hemphill County Beef Conference took place today, only a few months after the wildfires that hit the High Plains earlier this year.

Andy Holloway, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agriculture and natural resources agent for Hemphill County, said the show must go on and may be as important as ever.

The theme for the conference this year is “Better Ranching for Better Life, with panels covering how rancher can rebuild after the wildfires and how Artificial Intelligence can help the recovery process.

“Artificial Intelligence, of course, is more the emerging technology and on our panel this morning, we did have a discussion about the future of the industry and how technology may impact how we raise cattle and how we manage landscapes,” said David Lust Department of Agricultural Sciences at West Texas A&M University. “And so artificial intelligence is a part of that.”

One of the conference moderators, Donell Brown talked more about how ranchers can begin to use AI.

“We’re talking about things from managing invasive species on the ranches to improve the environment, taking care of our water supplies and resources,” said Brown. “Fencing and using virtual fencing like some people are using with their dogs can use. You know, there’s been so many miles of fence destroyed in this fire, that people are now able to put in virtual fencing.”

During the conference the panel also discussed programs that are available to ranchers after the High Plains Wildfires.

“Many of the ranchers here in this county and the surrounding counties that were, they may have lost homes, fences, cattle, to the wildfires, and that’s a that’s a years long recovery.” said Lust. “And so, it’s important, just to know that there’s a lot of support.”

Brown talked more about the responses from the ranchers during the conference.

“It’s better to give than to receive, but there are people here that need to receive. So, we’re providing that opportunity to help those that have really had a challenge here and early 2024 to overcome those and to keep the family and the ranch and the ranch and the family,” said Brown.

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