Cattle Diseases: Cancer Eye

Cattle Diseases:  Cancer Eye

Cattle Today

Bovine ocular neoplasia includes a variety of benign and malignant skin tumors of the eyeball and eyelids.  Benign tumors are growths that do not spread to other parts of the body and do not tend to grow into surrounding tissues.  They can cause local problems with eye function, but do not affect the rest of the body.  Malignant tumors are growths of cells that spread to other parts of the body and tend to invade surrounding tissues.  Clearly, it is in the cattlemen’s best interest from an economic, humane, and public perception standpoint to treat or market cattle with cancer eye  as soon as practical.

FULL STORY

Baxter Black: Animal Care Givers VS. Animal Activists

Baxter Black:  Animal Care Givers VS. Animal Activists

To: Directors of HSUS, PETA, and the Farm Sanctuary

The first step in engaging an issue is to have the ability to understand your ‘opponents’ point of view. I have watched your criticisms as we in animal agriculture have become more productive.

Your criticisms range from a distaste of raising chickens in cages to promoting a vegan lifestyle and degrees in between. I have visited with each of you on the telephone and I can’t paint you all with the same brush but I can include you in the same picture.

FULL STORY

The Cattleman’s Guide to Problem Solving

The Cattleman’s Guide to Problem Solving

by: Stephen B. Blezinger, Ph.D, PAS

Part 1

There is absolutely no place where Murphy’s Law is more applicable than on the farm or ranch. The old saying of “what can go wrong, will go wrong” comes true on farms and ranches around the world on a daily basis. This is also not a new phenomenon by any stretch and has been true since the domestication of the first cow or the first time a furrow was plowed in the soil. If it can die, get sick, break, fail, collapse, sink, explode, you name it, it has or will happen on the farm.

This is one reason why farmers and ranchers are so resourceful. Or are they resourceful because of these occurrences – it’s really a chicken or the egg type of thing. It really doesn’t matter though since having to persevere in the face of adversity or make things work when everything is going wrong is the state of the producer where he or she are growing plants, animals or both.

FULL STORY

Team provides veterinary care in Ecuador

Team provides veterinary care in Ecuador

Morehead State University

Dr. Philip Prater, associate professor of veterinary technology, accompanied by three students, spent 12 days in Ecuador giving hands-on assistance to the farmers in the rain forest and the mountainous regions of the country, and educating them about ways to improve the health and productivity of their herds.

The MSU fourth-year veterinary technology students who participated in the Ecuador program were: Stephanie Phelps, Mason, Ohio, senior; Becky Rector, Burlington senior; and Tim Wells, Portsmouth, Ohio, graduate student.

The trip was funded through grants from the Partners of the Americas (Kentucky-Ecuador Partnership), the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association Foundation and MSU’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

FULL STORY

Managing The Early Weaned Calf

Managing The Early Weaned Calf

cattlenetwork.com

The procedures described in this section were developed from three studies conducted at the Range Cow Research Center at Oklahoma State University.  Two studies were conducted with spring-born calves early weaned in April and May while the third study involved fall-born calves early weaned in December.  A total of 64 calves were early weaned in these studies.

The most critical time is the first two weeks after early weaning.  Calves must overcome the stress of weaning and learn to eat feed very quickly.  However, with good management to reduce stress and to provide palatable feed, early weaning is not as risky as might first be feared.

At the time of early weaning, all calves should be vaccinated for blackleg and malignant edema.  Consult your veterinarian for other suggested vaccinations.  If it is possible to administer vaccinations a couple of weeks prior to weaning, Pasteurella vaccine may also be considered.  It is probably a good idea to vaccinate two weeks prior to early weaning anyway because immunity will be established by weaning time and calves will not be subjected to the added stress associated with vaccines, injections and handling at weaning time.  All calves not intended for breeding replacements should be implanted.

FULL STORY

Beef Ration Rules of Thumb

Beef Ration Rules of Thumb

Ropin’ the Web

This factsheet can both guide producers through a feed test and help them understand the results.

With a feed test in front of you, look at the following rules and compare them to the feed test. Remember, these are rules of thumb, which means they hold true most of the time, but variations in management and cow type will affect the end result.

These rules of thumb should not be considered a replacement for balancing rations with proven software, but rather an aid to understand the feed and where it fits in the management.

FULL STORY

Producers are told to work together

Producers are told to work together

Terry Anderson

Midwest Messenger

Manhattan, Kan. – Just when U.S. beef producers are making some recovery efforts in the world market, the rest of the world is aggressively moving ahead.

When beef consumption around the world is making steady increases, consumption of other meats has kept a more rapid pace.

And when American beef producers should be working together, they aren’t.

That’s what K-State ag economist Ted Schroeder told those attending the Beef Stocker Conference in Manhattan.

FULL STORY

Seven beef clinics update producers

Seven beef clinics update producers

Tri State Neighbor

BROOKINGS, S.D. – Producers can learn about the South Dakota Certified Enrolled Cattle program and the Premise Registration program at a series of seven clinics on beef quality assurance and critical management.

The series will be held in towns across eastern South Dakota this fall and winter to help producers who seek training and information.

FULL STORY

South Korea, US open beef trade talks

South Korea, US open beef trade talks

Mercurynews.com

SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea and the United States opened beef trade talks Thursday on Washington’s demand for greater access to the Asian nation, which is maintaining stringent quarantine regulations citing concerns over mad cow disease.

The two days of meetings in Seoul come one week after inspectors found a recent U.S. beef shipment contained bone that is banned, and South Korea suspended further American beef imports.

South Korea agreed last year to import only boneless U.S. meat from cattle less than 30 months old because it is believed to be safer from mad cow disease. That partially lifted an almost three-year ban imposed on American beef after the brain-wasting disease was discovered in the U.S.

FULL STORY

Vaccination Benefits & Limitations For Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)

Vaccination Benefits & Limitations For Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)

Cattlenetwork.com

While BVD vaccinations have been available for many years, we are still no closer to eliminating BVD than we were 20 years ago because vaccination alone is not sufficient to eliminate BVD from an infected dairy herd.

Current modified live and killed BVD vaccines are generally effective at preventing the majority of overt clinical disease associated with acute infections, but these vaccines do not fully protect against fetal infection.

FULL STORY

Savvy Producers Can Survive Hay Shortage

Savvy Producers Can Survive Hay Shortage

by: Patti Drapala

MSU Ag Communications

Mississippi State — Management plans that include alternative feeding strategies for livestock and horses will be the key to survival for producers facing severe hay shortages this year.

A dry spring followed by an early summer drought caused producers to miss several hay cuttings, said Jane Parish, beef specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Rain in some pastures after July 1 renewed producer interest in making a hay crop, but dry conditions swiftly returned later in the month in many areas of the state. Hay harvests and yields varied throughout Mississippi because of varying moisture conditions, she noted.

 “Producers in eastern Alabama experienced even more severe lack of rain, and some Mississippi producers sold them hay,” Parish said. “It’s a situation where some people have plenty of hay and some don’t.”

FULL STORY

Redmond, Ore.-area cattle ranch finds strong market for Kobe beef

Redmond, Ore.-area cattle ranch finds strong market for Kobe beef

Trading Markets

Looking at an 1,800-pound bull at R.L. Freeborn’s 200-acre ranch north of town, it doesn’t look much different from a typical Black Angus bull.

But Shadosha is a full-blooded Japanese Wagyu breed of cattle, said Freeborn, managing partner of Redmond-based Kobe Beef America LLC.

Wagyu, which means Japanese cow, is bred for its fatty marbling throughout the muscle and its rich, buttery taste, Freeborn said.

FULL STORY

Cow Country Congress scheduled Oct. 19

Cow Country Congress scheduled Oct. 19

The Palestine Herald

Last year Anderson County hosted the Cow Country Congress, but Madison County will host the 2007 Cow Country Congress on Oct. 19. Registration will be 8:30 to 9 a.m. at the Windy Hill Ranch in Madisonville.

Tour topics include: Forage Testing, Supplementing Cattle on Sorry hay, Crossbreeding Systems, Working Pens Facilities, Winter Pasture Establishment, Purchasing Bulls and Replacement Females, Country of Origin Labeling,, Beef Cattle Market Outlook, Internal and External Parasites.

Topics this year are very timely topics that can assist you with the bottom line of your operation.

FULL STORY

Navigating the Meat Case

Navigating the Meat Case

KPTM TV

Have you ever paused in front of the beef case in your favorite grocery store, overwhelmed at the choices available? Armed with a little knowledge about the options — like grain-fed, grass-finished, certified organic and natural beef — meat case shoppers can make an informed decision and feel good about taking home the type of beef that best fits their family’s needs.

“Rather than feel overwhelmed, consumers should be excited that beef producers are providing a variety of choices to fit our varying lifestyles and tastes” says Janet Anderson, M.S., R.D., food safety expert and director of the Safe Food Institute. “The key to navigating the meat case is to understand the differences and similarities between the various choices of beef.”

FULL STORY

Cattle Identification: State Premises Registration Stats As Of 10/2/2007

Cattle Identification: State Premises Registration Stats As Of 10/2/2007

Cattlenetwork.com