Baxter Black: The Trainwreck

Baxter Black:  The Trainwreck

We all face our own addictions; to chocolate, horse training clinics or chewing tobacco. Lonnie’s curse was whiskey. With the help of AA and a loving family, he finally put his demon behind him. But those who know the problem appreciate that the demon waits just around the corner

Lonnie worked for the BNSF Railroad. He and his pardner Paco were called out in the middle of the night to help with a train derailment. Normally Lonnie would have picked Paco up and given him a ride since Paco’s wife worked nights and had their car. Problem was, Lonnie’s car wouldn’t start.

Lonnie had a loving daughter named Lisa who still lived at home. She had a good job, but also the wisdom of a child raised by a compromised parent. Her pride and joy was a classic Thunderbird, 2-seater, painted baby blue. And in spite of her love for her father, she refused to allow him to drive it even after he had been sober for a year. But tonight was an emergency, he explained. His boss had insisted he come. It was 40 miles away. He needed to borrow his daughter’s little Thunderbird. He pleaded with her and promised he’d be careful.

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Storage Life of Livestock Feeds – Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Life of Livestock Feeds – Frequently Asked Questions

Ropin’ the Web

Grains and roughages have varying “shelf lives” depending on how they were harvested, processed and stored. Becoming familiar with how certain processes affect livestock feeds will enable you to retain quality and palatability from these feeds. Being aware of proper storage conditions and recommended shelf life will also help you to reduce waste and maintain consistent performance when feeding livestock.

The only way to know what quality of feed you are feeding is to submit samples for nutrient analysis. Understanding and interpreting moisture level, protein, energy and some macro minerals will enable you to develop a suitable ration for your livestock. Feed test in the fall and keep these tips on storage times in mind so adjustments to the feeding program can be made if necessary.

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Beef Quality Advocate

Beef Quality Advocate

By Clint Peck Contributing Editor, BEEF Magazine

The beef industry must work day to day to keep its eye on the target. That’s the motivation for Carl Crabtree, a Grangeville, ID rancher, in his efforts to make sure Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) programming remains “job one” throughout the U.S. beef industry.

For nearly 20 years, BQA educational programming has reached thousands of beef and dairy producers in nearly every state. BQA concepts have been instrumental in encouraging producers to use the latest in science and technology in producing safe, wholesome and quality beef.

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Cattle Breeds: $35,750 In Scholarships Awarded To Hereford Youth

Cattle Breeds: $35,750 In Scholarships Awarded To Hereford Youth

Cattlenetwork.com

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fourteen National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) members were awarded scholarships totaling $35,750 from the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA). All scholarship winners were recognized at the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA) “Harvest Gala” on Oct. 21 in Kansas City, Mo. Youth recognized were: Cassie Bacon, Amy Berry, Jessie Berry, Jocelyn Butler, Robert Craig, Tyler Cowan, Mason McClintock, Madeline Moore, Roger Morgan, Katlin Mulvaney, Drew Perez, Nicole Starr, Ashley Steckel-Stryker and Brandy Valek.

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Cattle Diseases: Urinary Calculi in Beef Cattle

Cattle Diseases:  Urinary Calculi in Beef Cattle

Bill Kvasnicka, Extension Veterinarian, University of Nevada

Urinary calculi are sometimes a problem in feedlot and range steers, and less often in intact males. Calculi are hard aggregations of mineral salts and tissue cells that form either in the kidney or the bladder. They may produce a mechanical irritation and a chronic bladder inflammation. A more serious complication results when they lodge in the urethra, and partially or completely block the flow of urine.

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What’s Your Goal For This Winter?

What’s Your Goal For This Winter?

Cattlenetwork.com

The current feed shortage has stimulated a lot of “panic buying” of low quality feeds and producers are baling anything that will roll up. We have to ask the question “what is your goal for this winter?” Some people would say “just keep ‘em alive until spring”. In that case, you might be okay. But, if the goal is to maintain a productive herd, some feedstuffs which are very low in their nutrient content will be a problem. If we don’t address this problem, Kentucky beef producers will see the effects of the ’07 drought on their 2008 and 2009 calf crops.

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ASA Introduces New Programs to Capture Value

ASA Introduces New Programs to Capture Value

Cattle Today.com

Bozeman, Mont. — The American Simmental Association (ASA) has recently introduced 70:70 as a new program, to complement SimChoicesv, helping address these multi-faceted value added issues. Jerry Lipsey, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of ASA, stated that, “SimChoicesv is a program designed to add value to age/source identified cattle. Currently, age and source premiums are paid on both feeder and fed cattle. These premiums are substantial because of export requirements, but even without those constraints, the potential to add value by introducing more information and accountability is real.”

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Corn Stalks & A Protein Block…..That All You Got?

Corn Stalks & A Protein Block…..That All You Got?

Cattlenetwork.com

Feeding the cow herd this winter will be a challenge that will have farmers looking at all options for meeting the nutritional needs of their cattle. Corn fields are dotted with large rolls of baled corn stalks, which have prompted even non-farm folks to wonder about this unusual sight. We know from the numerous questions we get that many producers plan to use stalks as a significant part of their winter feeding program.

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Source Verified Cows?

Source Verified Cows?

MFA Health Track

We are starting to hear some rumblings regarding added value in Source Verified cows presumably as a source of lean trim for branded hamburger products that would include labeled for country of origin. This discussion ties in nicely with a long standing debate within the MFA Health Track world as to whether or not producers should enroll replacement heifers into the Health Track program.

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Kansas Producer Overflows with Personality

Kansas Producer Overflows with Personality

The Red Angus Association of America (RAAA) recently named Connie Mushrush their Personality of the Year at the 2007 National RAAA Convention held in Dodge City, Kan., September 26 – 29, at the historic Dodge House Hotel and Convention Center. Joe and Connie Mushrush own and operate Mushrush Red Angus a family operated Red Angus seedstock program located in the Kansas Flint Hills near Strong City. They hold a production sale every spring and operate a feedyard that feeds cattle raised on their ranch as well as cattle purchased from their bull customers. They operate with a strong commercial focus, dedicated to producing functional cattle that excel throughout the beef cycle. The Mushrush’s cattle have performed so well that they earned the RAAA Grid Master Carcass Award this year for a set of calves harvested on the Angus America Grid.

Connie has served as an officer in the Kansas Red Angus Association and is credited with helping develop it into one of the most progressive State Affiliates in the RAAA. She played a major role in hosting the recent RAAA’s Convention, and actively promotes Red Angus in whatever she is doing. She is the creative force behind Mushrush’s promotional ads. One of which featured Joe sitting in a hot tub illustrating how some people are able to relax during calving season.  Another ad showed a cattleman balancing a big round bale on his shoulders vs. Joe standing beside him with a leaf of hay from a small square bale.

Their slogan reads, “Pen after pen, year after year, they work”. Connie is the cornerstone that grounds Mushrush Red Angus and her family. She embodies the consistent strive for excellence that is the focus of their seedstock program. That is why the RAAA is proud to present Connie Mushrush with the Personality of the Year Award for 2007.

Enlist Trouble Shooting Team to Help with Problems

Enlist Trouble Shooting Team to Help with Problems

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

Part 3

Over the previous two issues we have been discussing how to handle or offset potential problems on your farming or ranching operation. Things going wrong is part of standard operating procedure for everyone – its part of life. Taking steps to minimize problems or knowing how to solve these problems when they arise takes some of the pain out of the situation. And hopefully reduces some of the cost.

In this final excerpt we will continue this discussion and attempt to provide some final pointers on handling or preferably preventing problems on the farm.

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Proper cow culling is important to your business

Proper cow culling is important to your business

Western Livestock Journal

Cull cows represent approximately 20 percent of the gross income of any commercial cow operation. Cull beef cows represent 10 percent of the beef that is consumed in the U.S. Therefore, Oklahoma ranchers need to make certain that cow culling is done properly and profitably. Selling cull cows when they will return the most income to the rancher requires knowledge about cull cow health and body condition. Proper cow culling will reduce the chance that a cow carcass is condemned at the packing plant and becomes a money drain for the entire beef industry.

At cow culling time, producers often face some tough decisions. Optimum culling of the herd seems to require a sharp crystal ball that could see into the future. Will she keep enough body condition through the winter to rebreed next year? How old is the cow? Is her mouth sound so that she can harvest forage and be nutritionally strong enough to reproduce and raise a big calf? At what age do cows usually start to become less productive?

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Caution required when using alternative forages

Caution required when using alternative forages

Palladium Item

Wooster, Ohio – Farmers who are looking at alternative forages must be sure they’re providing feed sources with enough protein and energy.

Farmers who are feeding corn stover or soybean stubble bales as a primary feed will need to supplement with a readily digestible protein source, said Francis Fluharty, and Ohio State University animal sciences researcher.

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Maintaining high-energy feed this winter

Maintaining high-energy feed this winter

MARK MECHLING

Zanesville Times Recorder

For livestock producers facing hay shortages this winter, finding alternative forages is not as much of a challenge as providing feed sources with adequate protein and energy for overall ruminant health.

Francis Fluharty, an OSU Extension animal sciences researcher, said that maintaining a high-protein, high-energy combination can be achieved. It just takes a bit of juggling to get the right nutrient balance.

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A taste for beef

A taste for beef

Bill Jackson

Greeley Tribune

Russians, said Skylar Houston, have not yet developed a taste for beef — good beef. The reason, he said, is like many Eastern European countries: Russians don’t differentiate between cattle for milking purposes and cattle for meat. Many cattle breeds are used for both purposes.

So Houston, 40, of Aristocrat Angus of Platteville, accompanied Dawn Velásquez de Pérez from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Montana cattle producers and members of the Montana Department of Agriculture on a trip to Moscow to develop trade leads for the sale of beef genetics to Russian producers.

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