Careful Management Necessary For Show Cattle

Careful Management Necessary For Show Cattle

Stephen B. Blezinger, Ph.D., PAS

Cattle Today

Part 2

In the last issue we began exploring some of the basics behind the development of a sound feeding and nutrition program for show cattle. You’ll recall that we discussed many nutritional basics, not just as they apply to animals on the show circuit, but to cattle in general. Remember that show cattle are no different from other cattle in terms of relative nutritional demands with the exception that they are probably better conditioned than the average beef animal and that substantially more dollars are spent to get them to any given point of their production life. Also, because of the high level of body condition of females, it is not uncommon to encounter difficulty in getting heifers bred in a timely fashion due to the excessive internal fat accumulations, especially around the reproductive organs.

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Presidential candidates lack ag knowledge

Presidential candidates lack ag knowledge

Policy specialist weighs in on McCain and Obama

Cattle Business Weekly

Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain has much of a track record on agricultural issues, but differences over trade and energy will give those with farm interests plenty to consider this election year, says Brad Lubben a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension public policy specialist said.

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Researchers Make Pasture Season Last Longer

Researchers Make Pasture Season Last Longer

Thebeefsite.com

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been looking at ways to extend the grazing season so that cattle spend fewer months on feed in the winter.

The livestock industry has been faced with many challenges over the last several years, writes Ryon Walker, University of Minnesota Extension. Production costs increased 25 percent for the cow/calf producer and 56 percent for the cow/calf through the feedlot phase since 2005. These higher production costs are directly due to high feed, fuel and fertilizer prices.

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Beef Checkoff Modernization Act Introduced

Beef Checkoff Modernization Act Introduced

KNEB

Montana Senator Jon Tester has introduced the Beef Checkoff Modernization Act. The bill calls for the amendment of the Beef Act to allow the promotion of beef born and raised exclusively in the U.S. The bill would also allow the establishment of an importers qualified beef council. That council would promote non-domestic beef. Also, the bill would establish new referendum requirements – giving producers more control over the program.

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Testing time for country of origin labels

Testing time for country of origin labels

Montana Standard

Debate over COOL — “country of origin labeling” — has ebbed and flowed in recent years, but now it is time to find out what the fuss has been about, and whether most people even care.

COOL is to start Sept. 30, with supermarkets required to label meat and produce as to where it came from. (If a herd of cattle has more than one source, perhaps born in the U.S., fed for a time in Canada, and processed back in this country, the label would say “Product of the U.S. and Canada.”)

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Agricultural sector to feel pain if bailout fails

Agricultural sector to feel pain if bailout fails

Bob Burgdorfer

Reuters

The global credit crisis threatens the livelihoods of American farmers and meat producers unless the U.S. government implements a financial bailout plan, a top executive of a New York investment bank said.

Virtually anyone in the agricultural sector who needs to obtain loans will be affected — farmers who plant crops, ranchers who feed cattle, and meat companies that process beef, pork and chicken.

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Sustainability Showdown

Sustainability Showdown

Loretta Sorensen

Beef Magazine

Even though there’s a demand for grass-finished and organic grass-finished beef, is it cost effective for beef producers to provide that kind of product?

That’s the question a Midwest beef study hopes to answer. Terry Gompert, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension educator, says a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant is providing funds for a 2008-2009 study involving beef producers in Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota.

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MU: Decoding the cattle genome

MU: Decoding the cattle genome

AG PRofession

As a treasure map may lead to buried treasure, scientists are following genetic markers to predict the genetic makeup of agriculturally important animals. The next generation “map” of genotyping and genome sequencing technologies may identify the traits that underlie the expression of growth, development, reproduction, and the onset of complex disease. This knowledge will revolutionize the livestock industries.

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Environment Plays Key Role In Scours Prevention

Environment Plays Key Role In Scours Prevention

cattlenetwork.com

Aside from calving difficulty, neo-natal diarrhea is the number one killer of calves in Iowa’s beef cow/calf herds. This problem kills thousands of calves every year across the state. Treatments, coupled with reduced gain and growth, also are very costly.

It can be prevented.

Many of the losses from neo-natal diarrhea, or calf scours, can be prevented if producers make a few changes to their management practices,” said Nolan Hartwig, Extension Veterinarian in ISU’s Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department and a collaborator with the Iowa Beef Center. “By keeping calving areas clean and dry, producers can effectively reduce the number of scouring calves on their farms. This may be a tall order, but there are some things we can do with the calving environment that are at least as effective as vaccines and treatments”

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Ligonier cattle farmer promotes organic ways

Ligonier cattle farmer promotes organic ways

By A.J. Panian

TRIBUNE REVIEW

Organic farmer Kim Miller wants to set an example for others.

Miller would rather see 10 farmers working 200 acres each than one farmer operating on 2,000 acres.

“In an economical sense, there’s a big benefit to our society to having farm-based communities,” said Miller, who in the spring bought the property known as the Marker Farm in Ligonier Township. “But farmers these days have to consider changing the way they do things to continue to survive.”

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Finks, commitment to excellence, win award

Finks, commitment to excellence, win award

Cattle Business Weekly

Galen Fink and Lori Hagenbuch grew up on eastern Kansas farms, learning the importance of sound decisions in cattle judging, business and leadership.

Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) honored the Finks on Sept. 13 at the brand’s annual conference. They accepted the 2008 Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

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Limiting Access Time To Hay Can Stretch the Roll

Limiting Access Time To Hay Can Stretch the Roll

cattlenetwork.com

Being in Kentucky a couple months now, I’m picking up on some of the local terminology. One of those local synonyms being “roll” was quickly discovered as I attended my first few meetings. The lack of precipitation again has folks asking how to manage cattle on limited forage resources. In these challenging times, it does not hurt to discuss strategies to conserve precious inputs.

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Specialists trawl internet for rare bulls

Specialists trawl internet for rare bulls

By JON MORGAN

The Dominion

Hereford breeders John Morrison and his sons William and Richard base their most important stock purchases on information gleaned from the Internet. Not for them the clamour of a malodorous stockyard auction. They prefer to sit quietly at home and study a bull’s vital statistics.

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Treatment Of Calf Scours

Treatment Of Calf Scours

cattlenetwork.com

What causes calf scours? As new calves arrive, so does the threat of the common condition known as “calf scours” or neonatal calf diarrhea. Infectious agents such as viruses and bacteria cause this condition. These agents have the common property of causing a net loss of water and electrolytes from the calf’s body via the gut. This causes potentially life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalances that can result in death. The main infectious organisms that can cause diarrhea in beef calves are:

Rota virus

Corona virus

Cryptosporidium parvum

E. coli (K99 enterotoxigenic form)

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Where’s the beef? Farmers reporting rash of cattle thefts

Where’s the beef? Farmers reporting rash of cattle thefts

WSFA

Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks is issuing a stern warning after a rash of cattle thefts.

Steal cattle in Alabama and Sparks says his department will track you down.

In the last two weeks there have been more than 100 head of cattle reported stolen, and for the last six months the total number of missing bovines stands at 208.

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