Maybe There Is a Reason (or 10)

Maybe There Is a Reason (or 10)

- Economics drives genetic and management decisions in the beef industry.

 by Larry Corah, Certified Angus Beef

In the early 1960s, excitement over the “new breeds” was starting to permeate the beef industry. Grown tired of the poor growth performance and “wastiness” of English breeds, producers welcomed change.

The effect of the Continental breed influx was staggering. By the next decade, registrations for Angus, Hereford and other English breeds were in a dramatic downward spiral. The new blood kept on coming until more than 80 breeds of cattle were being used somewhere in this country in the 1980s. The “rainbow” beef industry had been created.

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NCBA to Host Employee Management Conference

NCBA to Host Employee Management Conference

Cattle Today

Denver, September 7, 2007 — The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is teaming with Kansas State University and the National Pork Board to offer the “Employee Management For Production Agriculture Conference,” Oct. 11-12, 2007.

The conference will be held at the Kansas City Airport Marriott Hotel near Kansas City International Airport. The meeting begins with registration at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11, with the program set to begin at 10:00 a.m. The conference ends Friday afternoon after 1:00 p.m. industry workshops for beef and pork producers.

General sessions will cover topics such as working with diverse cultures in agricultural businesses, and dealing with difficult economic conditions.

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Starting Cool Season Stocker Cattle

Starting Cool Season Stocker Cattle

Cattlentwork.com

As the days get shorter and the weather cools off, it is time for many of you to start thinking about buying and starting stocker calves for cool season grasses and wheat pasture.  Although wheat grazing may be down this year due to high grain prices, we have had a great year for grass, and there should be lots of cool season pasture available.  Proper processing and starting can eliminate a lot of health problems before they strike.

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Cull feeding attractive this winter

Cull feeding attractive this winter

Western Livestock Journal

The marketing of cull cows this year could require some strategic planning in order to maximize return. In previous years, feeding cull cows through the winter and into spring made good sense, particularly for producers who had inexpensive feed available. Premium white fat cows, sold in the first quarter of the year, have traditionally commanded a premium at the auction market. This year, however, cull prices are slipping and could be further impacted as continued drought in the southeast adds to cull numbers and feeding cost increase, making wintering costs prohibitive. The combination of factors could lead to an increase of cows coming to market this fall, dropping the average sale price. Another unknown is how many cows will be shipped from Canada once the border is opened to cattle born after March 1, 1999, a move that is expected to come before the end of the year.

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NALF concludes Visions Quest Round 2

NALF concludes Visions Quest Round 2

High Plains Journal

The cattle-feeding and carcass-data-collection phases of Visions Quest Round 2, the North American Limousin Foundation’s cattle-feeding and carcass-discovery project with Colorado State University, concluded Aug. 2 at the Swift and Co. packing plant in Greeley, Colo. Data analysis recently began, and it promises to provide critical lessons for the breed’s long-term success in providing the most profitable genetics and crossbreeding solutions for commercial cattle producers.

“We were impressed with these cattle,” said Kent Andersen, Ph.D., executive vice president for NALF. “They have demonstrated how Limousin and Lim-Flex producers are addressing the needs of today’s beef industry.”

The 311 head (including a “control group” of 10 Angus steers) in the project averaged 1,316 pounds of liveweight at harvest, with an 864-pound average carcass that dressed at about 66 percent. With backfat and ribeye area averaging 0.5 inch and 15 square inches, respectively, the typical Yield Grade was 2.5. Forty-one percent of the cattle graded Choice.

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Interval Feeding Of Protein Supplement To Cows On Range

Interval Feeding Of Protein Supplement To Cows On Range

Cattlenetwork.com

Dry, pregnant beef cows grazing low quality warm season pastures in late summer, fall, and early winter are usually supplemented with high protein supplements.  It would be desirable to feed the supplement at less frequent intervals (than daily) to reduce labor and equipment costs.  A study done at OSU in the 1990’s has indicated that cows fed the same amount of total 40% crude protein supplement either 3 or 6 days per week perform similarly.  Interestingly enough, similar research was reported almost 40 years ago with similar results.  Below in table 1 are the results of the most recent experiment.  Cows were fed 21 pounds of protein cubes per week from November 17 until March 9.  From March 10 to April 22, cows were fed 28 pounds of supplement and only 17.5 pounds per week from April 23 to May 15.

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Cattle industry wary of TB threat

Cattle industry wary of TB threat

By ROD WALTON

Tulsa World

Oklahoma’s cattle industry retained its tuberculosis-free status despite a close call earlier this year, but positive tests in neighboring states have kept ranchers and inspectors on edge, a government veterinarian said Friday.

Losing the TB-free certification could have cost the industry millions of dollars in mandated testing for several years.

“We were certainly concerned,” said Rod Hall, a veterinarian who also oversees inspectors for Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. “We’re trying to be very diligent.”

Two cows in a Cimarron County herd tested positive for TB last spring, according to reports. The federal government could have stripped Oklahoma of its TB-free designation if another confirmed case was found in another herd.

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Fescue can solve, cause some cattle problems

Fescue can solve, cause some cattle problems

News Leader (MO)

Fescue has helped make southern Missouri one of the most important beef cow-calf areas in the United States, according to Eldon Cole, University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist.

“Until fescue hit this country in the 1950s and 60s, forage quantity was sparse in this area, especially after frost and freezing weather arrived in the fall,” said Cole.

But even as good as fescue is at bridging the forage gap from early fall until late spring, Cole says there can be some alarming performance problems at other times.

This is especially true with the endophyte-bearing fescue plants.

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Iowa State Fair beef cattle winners

Iowa State Fair beef cattle winners

Des Moines Register

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Round Valley’s 8,000-acre Masut Ranch a federally certified organic ranch

Round Valley’s 8,000-acre Masut Ranch a federally certified organic ranch

By BEN BROWN

The Ukiah Daily Journal

In Round Valley, years of hard work are paying off as the Masut cattle ranch enters its third year of operation as a closed-herd, organic ranch.

Masut rambles across 8,000 acres of land west of Covelo, incorporating parts of the flat valley floor and the oak and pine forests in the surrounding hills.

Despite the size of the ranch, Masut is a very small operation. The only permanent employees are Cattle Manager Ben Fetzer, Scott Vaughn and Moe, Fetzer’s cattle dog.

Between the three of them, they manage between 300 and 400 cattle on the 8,000-acre ranch, with only occasional help. Fetzer said the corrals and fencing on the ranch were designed with a small staff in mind.

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Mini cattle: A better fit — and cute, too

Mini cattle: A better fit — and cute, too

Smaller ranches give rise to more manageable breeds

By Jim Downing –

Sacramento Bee Staff Writer

Ranchettes have replaced working ranches in much of California, and now there are pint-sized cows to match.

In the past two years, Bev Boriolo, 72, and her husband, Don, have built a herd of 12 miniature Hereford cattle, all well under 4 feet tall.

The couple, who live on a grassy 30-acre parcel near Plymouth, are raising animals for a small but growing niche in the livestock business: little cattle for little ranches.

The smallest of the miniature breeds stand less than 3 feet tall, full grown. They’re cute, they keep the weeds down, and, as Boriolo says, “they’re as sweet as the dickens” — something she attributes to their small stature.

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College Offers Degree in Master Ranching

College Offers Degree in Master Ranching

Associated Press

By LYNN BREZOSKY

KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Once upon a time, in the Wild West, all it took to raise cattle was land, grass and cowboys who knew how to rope the critters. Now, it may take an MBA.

Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Institute for Ranch Management is offering what university officials call the first ever masters degree program for ranchers — sort of a Harvard Business School for cowboys. In addition to graduate-level business courses, students are schooled in rangeland specialties, including animal nutrition and wildlife management.

During a Friday noon session over brown bag lunches, a laptop computer beams a long list of letters and numbers. It’s an equation, Les Nunn tells his colleagues in cowboy hats, for getting the most beef out of your pastures’ grass. Nunn’s Power Point presentation, “Searching for the Economic Optimum Stocking Ratio,” follows another student’s profit loss analysis of a government incentive program for land conservation and another’s stab at formulas for sharing land between hunting lessees and livestock.

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Environmentalists have a beef with livestock industry

Environmentalists have a beef with livestock industry

Cattle raisers reject study that links business, global warming.

By Asher Price

AMERICAN-STATESMAN

For years, environmentalists in Texas have linked power plant emissions to global warming. But new studies suggest another factor contributing to Texas’ ranking as the U.S. leader in greenhouse gas emissions: cows.

This month, an article in the British medical journal the Lancet said people should eat 10 percent less meat, or, put another way, limit meat consumption to about one small hamburger per person per day to help stave off global warming. The article was the latest in a batch of reports to draw a connection between livestock and global warming.

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Beef Market Conditions Threaten Tyson Foods Profits

Beef Market Conditions Threaten Tyson Foods Profits

By Kim Souza

THE MORNING NEWS

Beef sales represent 48 percent of the total revenue earned by Tyson Foods Inc.

In the first nine months of the year, the Springdale-based meat giant posted $9.4 billion in beef sales compared to $8.8 billion a year earlier. Operating revenues over the same period were $34 million versus losses of $44 million the year before.

Now it looks as if those gains are in jeopardy as the company winds down its fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Earlier this month, Tyson Foods CEO Dick Bond told investors he expects to report profits in all four of the company’s operating segments in the quarter that ends next week. He plans to do this despite deteriorating beef margins and export disruptions to South Korea.

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Seven Days To Healthier Calves

Seven Days To Healthier Calves

Cattlenetwork.com

Reduce labor, treatment time and improve feedlot performance with extended therapy

LENEXA, Kan. (Sept. 21, 2007) – When Quentin Harper switched to a 7-day extended therapy antibiotic on arrival to control bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in high-risk calves, he decreased the number of pulls by 30 percent – an impressive number that not only means healthier calves, but also savings in time and labor.

 “Now, we can go through our pens and doctor in less than half the time,” says Harper, who manages the family-owned preconditioning yard Bob Cluck Pens in Gruver, Texas.

Harper switched to EXCEDE® (ceftiofur crystalline free acid) Sterile Suspension, an extended therapy antibiotic, in those high-risk calves on arrival about 3 years ago at the recommendation of his veterinarian. Using an extended therapy antibiotic that maintains therapeutic blood concentrations of up to 7 days vs. 3 days results in healthier calves that start eating at the bunk faster, resulting in more weight gain and better carcass value.

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70-70-0 cattle targeted by SimChoice

70-70-0 cattle targeted by SimChoice

High Plains Journal

Seventy percent USDA Choice or higher, 70% USDA Yield Grade 1 and 2 with no “out” cattle has often been discussed as an important goal for cattle harvested in the US beef system. The last NCBA Beef Quality Audit presented industry averages at 57% Choice or higher, 52% Yield Grades 1 and 2 and a whopping 22% high discount “out” carcasses. With more than 1 in 5 carcasses discounted for excess fat, insufficient marbling, heavy or light weights and other defects, the number of dollars lost to the US beef business is immense.

“SimChoice is a new concept source and age verification program with a long term goal of identifying cattle that have superior marbling and cutability in combination, in other words the 70:70:0 the beef industry is craving,” said American Simmental Association Director of Field Services Marty Ropp. Ropp further indicated, “With the cooperation of our new service partner Micro Beef Technologies through their CattleLog division, we are designing systems that can identify and then reward cattle with distinct end product value (70:70:0) as well as qualify for available age and source premiums.”

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