Mike Kasten can tell you exactly what his beef is.

"I keep records on every cow and calf," said Kasten of his Cape Girardeau County cattle operation near Millersville.

Kasten and his wife, Priscilla, operate 2,700 acres. They own 1,400 acres and lease about 1,300 acres.

The majority of the acreage is for pasture and forage for the beef operation, but a small acreage plot is used to produce corn for silage to provide high-energy rations for the beef herd when needed.

Kasten's farm is one of four on the Missouri Beef Tour, to be conducted July 18. The tour, sponsored by the University of Missouri and Missouri Cattlemen's Association, will visit four farm operations in Cape Girardeau County, starting at 11 a.m Monday at the Kasten ranch. The tour will end at the Mike Reiminger Farm near Delta.

In between, the tour, which attracts beef producers from across Missouri and surrounding states, will visit the Maintz Demonstration Farm, an 800-acre Wildlife Reserve near Millersville, and the Art Bodenstein farm near Gordonville.

The starting point for the free tour is south of highway 72 west of Jackson. Tour signs will be placed in the area. Additional information is available by contacting Roger Eakins, of the University Extension Center at Jackson. Eakins is making local arrangements for the tour.

Kasten will discuss all phases of his operation.

Kasten's operation is one of the very few commercial operations in the state that participates in all phases of the University of Missouri performance testing programs.

Kasten said he was in the process of moving to a total fall calving herd. He believes that fescue pastures and his primary forage is better suited for fall calving.

"Our records indicate that we have had a higher breeding rate and much lower death losses in the fall cows," said Kasten, adding that half the calves lost in the spring would not have been lost in the fall.

Kasten leaves the calves with the cows through the spring grazing season. With spring grass, the cows can gain weight and nurse the calf at the same time.

Calves are weaned when they are about nine months old. Spring calves are weaned a lot earlier.

For the Reimingers, Mike and Nancy, row crops come first, with about 300 acres of corn and 400 acres of soybeans following. But the Reimingers have found a place for about 50 beef cows and calves.

"We use homegrown grain and corn silage to feed out the calves for market," said Reiminger. For pasture, they use fescue grass growing on the back side of a diversion levee that adjoins the back of their farm near Delta.

Art and Ann Bodenstein have been farming since 1962. Their farm was initially a dairy operation. Currently they purchase lightweight feeder cattle and "feed them out."

The Bodensteins feed out 900 to 1,000 head of cattle annually. The farm operation includes 140 acres of corn, 40 acres of soybeans and 150 acres of fescue.

The Bodensteins will explain how to accomplish a gain of 1.75 pounds per day.

The overall goal of the Maintz operation is to demonstrate agricultural practices that produce income and benefit wildlife. A variety of warm-season and cool-season grasses and legumes can be found at the site.

There are 68 acres of cool-season legumes which includes red clover, Korean lespedeza, orchard grass, timothy and fescue. The 73 acres of warm-season grass include big bluestem/Indian grass and Eastern gammagrass.

The pasture is leased to a local producer on a per-head agreement.