Van Anne to teach special one-month CSC course

Travis Van Anne, a rancher and veterinarian from southwestern Nebraska, will lead the one-credit course, “Beef Cow Herd Management as Preventative Medicine; A Systems Approach,” (AGRI 270/AGRI 460). Bolze said CSC students do not need to take the course for credit and can choose to attend between one and five sessions.

The class is also open to area residents at no cost and will include useful information for area agriculture producers, who can attend any of the five individual lectures, said Dr. Ron Bolze, associate professor of rangeland management.

Those involved in the ranching community are welcome to attend any or all of the individual classes and pre-registration is not required. Classes are 5:30 to 8 p.m. Mondays in April in Burkhiser Complex, Room 231.

The class topics include: April 2, Orientation and Drought Management; April 9, Terminology and Feedlot Medicine; April 16, Bovine Respiratory Disease Management and Heifer Development; April 23, One Year Management and Vaccination Plan; and April 30, Final Test/Student Group Presentations.

Financial support from the Bill and Virginia Coffee Family Foundation made it possible to bring Van Anne to campus for the second Practitioner in Residence course offered by the Rangeland Management program, said Bolze. The Coffee Foundation also provides funding for the annual CSC Range Day in January, undergraduate research presentations at the National Society for Range Management, and the CSC Range Field Study Tour.

Practitioner in Residence classes allow the CSC range faculty to identify individuals with specific areas of expertise in important subjects and bring them to campus as instructors, Bolze said. The first class in the fall of 2016 focused on prairie restoration and was taught by William Whitney of the Prairie Plains Resource Institute in Aurora.

The course is about timely management techniques to prevent disease in cattle, said Bolze.

“Area ranchers could benefit by gaining increased awareness of a systems approach to beef cattle herd health management,” he said.

In addition to his work as a professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc., Van Anne is a fourth generation rancher who runs the family homestead operation north of Dalton where his mother still lives. He is a board member of the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association and a frequent presenter at veterinary and beef cattle conferences in the region.

Van Anne uses artificial insemination to mass breed his cows, and a specialized software program to track the genetics and history of each of his calves throughout their lives. His ranching practices in calving, breeding, herd management and conservation were featured recently in a story in the “Scottsbluff Star-Herald” written by CSC graduate Spike Jordan.

For more information, contact Bolze at rbolze@csc.edu or 308-432-6237.