Beef production grant

Odessa College will announce Thursday a partnership with Sul Ross State University on an educational beef production program through the college agriculture department.

The partnership is offered through a $280,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program, named the Beef Production from Conception to Consumption program, will involve students in the process of raising cattle for slaughter from the field to the actual sale of the meat.

"It's a large grant, and for us to partner with Sul Ross, it's a big deal," Director of Media Relations and Publications Cheri Dalton said.

More than $20,000 in equipment has already been purchased by OC to help students prepare for the program.

"The students will be involved from the very beginning," she said.

The Sul Ross website has released more details on the grant partnership. OC students will perform artificial insemination using the equipment and raise Red Angus cattle. Students who finish the OC associate of applied science in agriculture degree will then move to Sul Ross to receive a bachelor's degree in animal science. OC will teach a computers in agriculture class to help students manage the herds being raised.

Dalton said the three-year grant period will result in a report to the USDA about what the students discovered about the production process.

FOR MORE

>> To learn more about the program, contact the OC agriculture department at 335-6335.