Signing the agreement with LSU AgCenter Chancellor Bill Richardson is Louisiana Cattlemen’s Foundation Chair Barbara Litteral. Standing from left to right are LSU AgCenter vice chancellor and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service Paul Coreil, LSU AgCenter assistant vice chancellor and assistant director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station Phil Elzer, Executive Vice President of the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Foundation Robert Joyner, foundation member Terry B. Ardoin and LSU AgCenter vice chancellor and director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station John Russin.(Photo by Johnny Morgan. Click on photo for downloadable image.)

The LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Foundation finalized a limited lease and use agreement on May 24 that allows the foundation to rent LSU AgCenter property at the Dean Lee Research Station in Alexandria to manage their cattle.

LSU AgCenter assistant vice chancellor for research Phil Elzer said the lease agreement will allow the cattle producers to enhance opportunities for adding value to beef cattle by providing a location for demonstration projects.

“This agreement will allow cattle producers to directly participate in demonstration projects using their own animals,” Elzer said.

The agreement will also allow producers to be directly involved in designing demonstration programs that can be reproduced at their farms.

“We see this agreement as a way to provide producers a location to gain hands-on experience with specific management practices designed to add value to their animals,” Elzer said.

This is one of three similar agreements made possible by the LSU AgCenter downsizing its beef cattle operations due to budget cuts.

“Other areas where we have lease agreements are for sugarcane and cattle at the Iberia Research Station at New Iberia and for a haying operation at the Rosepine Research Station that closed last year,” Elzer said.

Barbara Litteral, Cattlemen’s Foundation chair, sees the agreement as a way to improve the branding of Louisiana beef.

This agreement will allow for heifer development on forage and animal traceability system studies, she said.

Johnny Morgan