The annual Ram Performance Test Field Day and sale is set for March 16 at the Texas A&M Agricultural Research Station at Sonora.

The educational program will begin after a catered lunch. Topic include domestic lamb industry adjustment assistance; characteristics of successful group breeding services; a pasture to packer overview; and test comments.

More information is available from Drs. Dan Waldron or Frank Craddock at (915) 653-4576, or Don Spiller at (915) 387-3168.

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Local quail enthusiasts are invited to an "evening with quail" on Thursday, February 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Crossroads Inn located at 2019 N. Bryant Blvd. in San Angelo. A variety of quail research projects will be presented.

Those interested are asked to RSVP to Karen at (915) 653-4576.

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Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association directors will meet at the Schleicher County agriculture barn in Eldorado on Wednesday, February 23, beginning at 9 a.m.

Producers will be updated on TSGRA activities in the areas of environmental rights, natural resources/water issues, predator control, education/promotion, and animal health, as well as lamb, wool and mohair marketing. Howard Graves, Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, will be the luncheon speaker.

More information is available from the association office at (915) 655-7388.

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The beef checkoff program is educating the nation's school foodservice directors about beef's convenience and nutrition in a series of regional forums. The participants represent almost 14 million students with more than $351 million in operating budgets. The forums teach the foodservice directors about new beef trends and beef safety and nutrition.

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The Tri-State Chapter of the Grain Elevator and Processing Society, in cooperation with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, is sponsoring the 2000 Grain Elevator Workshop February 17 at the Texas A&M Research & Extension Center in Amarillo. Leading the agenda are presentations on biotech crop acceptance, hantavirus, herbicide and pesticide safety issues, automated aeration, bird problems and industry regulations.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. More information is available from Patrick at (806) 359-5401.

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Eighteen Texas chefs, including some involved in research and development for their food companies, recently attended an intensive beef seminar covering topics from pasture to new products. The event was sponsored by the Texas Beef Council and funded by the checkoff program.

This was the fourth year for the Texas Chefs' Seminar, which annually gives Texas foodservice operators insight into the production processes of the beef industry. Through these seminars, the chefs learn why different cuts have different qualities, the effects on tenderness of electrical stimulation and aging, the benefits of boxed beef and the live animal production process.

The seminar not only helps chefs understand how to handle, prepare and serve beef but also why beef prices vary seasonally and what new trends are driving the industry.

The focus of this year's seminar was on the chuck and round cuts.

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Amarillo's KGNC radio personality, Bob Givens, was recently honored by the state Extension Service professionals' honor society, Epsilon Sigma Phi, with the "State Friend of Extension Award."

Givens is the Farm and Ranch director of KGNC Radio. He devotes two and a half hours of live programming daily to agriculture news.

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National Lamb Feeders Association members, during their recent annual meeting in Kansas City, voted to appoint a two-member task force to explore consolidation with the fledgling National Sheep Association. An NLFA news release says a "compelling factor" in the move was an International Trade Commission recommendation that sheep producers establish a national organization "representative of the entire U.S. industry."

The ITC indicated that it would look favorably toward the existence of such an organization when it conducts its mid-term review of the current 201 trade case on imported lamb.

NLFA members also acknowledged the need for an industry promotion checkoff program, another ITC recommendation, and "expressed their sentiments," the release says, that such a checkoff should be controlled by the NSA.

NLFA elected as its president Bill Salina, Great Falls, Montana. New vice president will be Cleve Dumdi, Junction City, Ore., and treasurer is Clay Drake, Windsor, Colo.