CattleCal podcast launched for cattle ranchers

The new podcast CattleCal discusses cattle research. It is co-hosted byPedro Carvalho, UC Cooperative Extension feedlot management specialist.

Cattle ranchers have a new source for cattle research news from UC Cooperative Extension. CattleCal podcast is produced by Pedro Carvalho, UC Cooperative Extension feedlot management specialist; Brooke Latack, UC Cooperative Extension livestock advisor; and Richard Zinn, UC Davis professor in the Department of Animal Science.

The podcast episodes range in length from 8 to 30 minutes. Ranchers can listen to the research updates on Spotify on demand on their computers or mobile devices. 

In the latest episode, Carvalho and Latack discuss the article "Influence of Levels of Supplemental Urea on Characteristics of Digestion and Growth Performance of Feedlot Steers Fed a Fat Supplemented High-Energy Finishing Diet," written by Zinn, et al. in 1994.

We asked Carvalho, who is based at the Desert Research and Extension Center in Holtville, a few questions about the CattleCal podcast.

Who should listen to CattleCal?

The podcast was developed to share information related to the cattle business. Although our main focus is the beef producer, we are also bringing people who work in the cattle business to share information about their careers (what they do, and how they arrived in their current job), which I think will be great for undergraduate and graduate students who are looking to work in our field.  

What do you hope to accomplish with the podcast?

I want to bring scientific information clearly and easy to understand for the cattle producers, answer questions related to beef nutrition and management, and share stories from people who work in our business to inspire others who work and are thinking about working in the cattle business. 

In episode 2, Brooke Latack, who hails from Michigan, discusses her job as a UC Cooperative Extension livestock advisor, including her favorite and least favorite parts of the job.

What is the schedule for new episodes?

The goal is to have one episode every week, on Wednesday, divided into four different series. The first two weeks are going to be with a guest who works in the cattle business. The first week is the “Career Call” and the “Research Call” in the second week. The third week of the month, we will have the “Feedlot Research,” and in the last week of the month, we will bring Dr. Richard Zinn, who has been working for UC Davis for over 35 years, to answer questions from our listeners related to feedlot nutrition and management. This is going to be the “Quiz Zinn” series.

What are upcoming topics?

In April, we have two podcasts with Dr. Fernanda Ferreira, an assistant cooperative extension specialist in population health & reproduction. Fernanda talked about her career and the project that she is conducting on the use of beef cattle semen in dairy herds. We will have our research brief, an episode where we summarized scientific research related to feedlot production. In the first six episodes of this series, we will be presenting topics related to protein nutrition. In the last week of the month, we have the Quiz Zinn. 

Richard Zinn answers Quiz Zinn questions the last week of each month.

How can people access the podcast?

Right now, it is only on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6PR02gPnmTSHEgsv09ghjY, but we have created an account in Apple podcast, so we should be sharing it there soon, as well as other media. We have the CattleCal page on Instagram and Facebook as well. And also, a monthly newsletter where we summarize everything that is in the podcast in a written version. The newsletter comes out the third week of the month. 

One more question. Why did you name it CattleCal instead of CattleCall?

Two reasons. One is because there were two other Cattle Call podcasts, and we also decided to use one “l” to be more related to California. Initially, it was going to be “Beef” instead of “Cattle,” but because we will also talk with people from the dairy industry, we decided to change it to “Cattle.”

If you have questions, comments or suggestions for the CattleCal podcast or want to send in a Quiz Zinn question, contact Carvalho, Latack and Zinn at cattlecalucd@gmail.com, via the website http://cattlecal.sf.ucdavis.edu or Instagram @cattlecal.

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings the power of UC to all 58 California counties. Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition, economic and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu and support our work at donate.ucanr.edu.

Read more