Transitioning to a Forage-Finished Beef Enterprise in the Upper South

There has been considerable interest in forage-finished beef in recent years due to increased demand and dramatically increased production costs for conventionally-finished beef. Current livestock producers, especially cow-calf operators who had two of their worst years in recent memory, are looking for alternative enterprises. Forage-fmished beef seems like a natural extension for many of these producers. However, there is also a significant amount of risk involved with this enterprise. Many would-be producers lose interest because there are so many unknowns in the production and marketing processes. What does it take to produce a quality product that consumers want? What type of marketing skills must be developed in order to break into the market? This project will help answer these questions. More importantly, this project will focus on quantifying risk involved with various systems (both production and marketing), and help the would-be-producer determine if the risk is worth the potential reward.