BeefTalk: Contentious Readability

BeefTalk: Contentious Readability

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Contentious Readability Contentious Readability

We are drowning in paperwork.

This fall, the term “drowning in paperwork” has taken on a new meaning. At least 11 pieces of paperwork have arrived as part of the beef industry’s response to the need to meet various legal requirements for producing beef within the U.S.

Essentially, all 11 documents are the same. They are asking for verification by means of an affidavit or declaration that, as a producer, I understand and comply with the laws that impact the beef business.

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Can Breeding Cows Get More Complicated?

Can Breeding Cows Get More Complicated?

Mel DeJarnette, reproductive specialist, Select Sires

Maintaining a sound heat-detection program and quality heat-detective personnel can be a never-ending challenge in today’s expanding herds. However, as the accuracy and efficiency of estrus detection declines, the value of incorporating estrus synchronization into the reproductive management program increases proportionately.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and confused by the variety of estrus-synchronization protocols available. On the other hand, this variety provides extraordinary flexibility in developing tailor-made reproductive management programs. Let’s start with the basics and discuss how and why these protocols were developed. Once you understand them, they may appear less complicated, and perhaps you’ll find the system that best fits your management approach.

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NDSU Feedout Project Looking For Calves

NDSU Feedout Project Looking For Calves

cattlenetwork.com

The North Dakota State University Extension Service is looking for cattle producers to participate in the 2008-09 Eastern North Dakota Cattle Feedout.

The feedout project involves cattle being consigned to the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center to be fed until they’re ready for harvest. Center staff will give the producers periodic reports on their calves’ feedlot performance. The staff also will provide producers with carcass data after the calves are harvested.

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President and CEO of JBS Swift USA to speak at Montana Stockgrowers’ 124th Annual Convention

President and CEO of JBS Swift USA to speak at Montana Stockgrowers’ 124th Annual Convention

High Plains Journal

Wesley Batista, President and CEO of JBS Swift USA, based in Greeley, Colo., will speak at MSGA’s 124th Annual Convention and Trade Show at the Billings Holiday Inn Grand Montana, Dec. 11 to 13. Convention attendees will have the opportunity to hear Batista speak and ask him questions at the end of the Opening General Session Dec. 12.

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Shelves Empty as Three Plants Stop Beef Production

Shelves Empty as Three Plants Stop Beef Production

Nathaniel Popper

Forward.com

In developments that are already crippling the availability of kosher beef in large parts of America, three of the nation’s five largest slaughterhouses producing kosher beef halted production in the first week of November.

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Country Natural Beef calls off vote on unionizing

Country Natural Beef calls off vote on unionizing

JEFF BARNARD

KGW

Country Natural Beef has called off an election to settle whether workers at feedlots that handle their cattle want to join a union.

The 85 workers at Beef Northwest Feeders feedlots in Nyssa, Boardman and Quincy, Wash., were scheduled to start voting Friday, but Stacey Davies, a member of the board of the beef cooperative, said the election was canceled because the feedlot had reached a settlement with the United Farmworkers Union.

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Forage quality trends lower in 2008

Forage quality trends lower in 2008

High Plains Journal

An analysis of the forage samples submitted to the University of Arkansas, Diagnostics Laboratory in 2008, indicates a troubling trend–forage quality is dropping.

Forage analysis results for Bermuda grass, fescue and mixed grass samples submitted between May and October were compared over the past 10 years, says Dr. Shane Gadberry, assistant professor and ruminant nutritionist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

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Q&A: I’m feeding some beef cows and have some baled corn stalks available to help supplement with alfalfa. What could I mix or feed with the hay and stalks to meet their needed requirements?

Q&A:   I’m feeding some beef cows and have some baled corn stalks available to help supplement with alfalfa. What could I mix or feed with the hay and stalks to meet their needed requirements?

Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Science, Animal Science, University of Nebraska

A:   I’ve seen test results from a number of corn stalk bales. You may be surprised at how variable the protein and energy content were in these bales. I’ve seen protein as low as 2 percent and as high as 7 percent. The variation is likely due to the differences in the amount of stalk that is in tha bale. As the percent of stalk in the bale increases, the lower the quality. The husk and leaf have the greatest protein and energy and as those components are included in the bale at a greater percent, the quality will increase.

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Delaying Stocker Cattle Vaccination A Good Idea?

Delaying Stocker Cattle Vaccination A Good Idea?

cattlenetwork.com

There’s no way around it: co-mingling and transporting cattle stress them. And any stress can lose money. Since that’s the case, University of Arkansas cattle researchers have been looking at several ways to reduce impacts on the animals.

 “Stocker cattle bought from Arkansas market channels are frequently stressed,” says John Richeson, Extension Beef Improvement Program associate. “Without a doubt, that stress negatively affects an animal’s ability to respond to vaccines. Stressed cattle have a weaker immune system and lower response rate.”

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How France hid its own mad cow disease epidemic

How France hid its own mad cow disease epidemic

Ian Sparks

Daily Mail (UK(

The scale of France’s mad cow disease epidemic has been laid bare in a report from scientists.

The revelation that BSE was rife in France in the early 1990s comes a decade after its illegal ban on British beef drove many UK farmers into bankruptcy.

The study was ordered by a Paris judge investigating why nine French citizens died from variant Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of BSE, between 1996 and 2006.

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Bovine practitioners face challenges to profession, industry

Bovine practitioners face challenges to profession, industry

AABP conference brings attendees to Charlotte, N.C., for three days of sessions

JAVMA News

Research funding, agroterrorism, and farm labor were among myriad topics of discussion when hundreds of bovine practitioners came together in late September.

The American Association of Bovine Practitioners’ 41st annual conference ran Sept. 25-27 in Charlotte, N.C., jointly with the meeting of the American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners.

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Creating A Receiving Program For Healthy Cattle

Creating A Receiving Program For Healthy Cattle

cattlenetwork.com

Fall is here – the landscape is colorful, the weather is changing, the calves are bawling, and it is busy time of year for the feedlot! Many of you are already “in the battle” and facing the challenges of fall and for some of you, the fun is just beginning.

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Finalists Named For Dean Of Purdue Agriculture

Finalists Named For Dean Of Purdue Agriculture

Beth Forbes

Hoosier Ag Today

  Three candidates have been selected to interview for the position of dean of the Purdue University College of Agriculture. The candidates are Jay Akridge of Purdue, John Floros of Penn State University and Ramesh Kanwar of Iowa State University. All three will participate in two-day interviews, complete with public seminars, to be held in December.

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Whole Cottonseed for Beef Cattle Rations

Whole Cottonseed for Beef Cattle Rations

R.O. Myer

University of Florida

High availability in the southern USA has generated much interest in the use of whole cottonseed as a feed ingredient for beef cattle rations. Whole cottonseed is high in energy (TDN), protein, phosphorus, and fiber. The high TDN is mainly due to the high oil/fat content of the whole cottonseed. Composition of whole cottonseed is presented in table 1. Be aware that the nutrient concentrations given in the table are average values and it is strongly suggested that the available source of cottonseed be analyzed.

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Things don’t slow down in winter at custom beef operation

Things don’t slow down in winter at custom beef operation

Sharon Thompson

Lexington Herald Leader

The corn and sorghum cane stalks have been mowed down and the fields emptied, but the Congleton farm isn’t slowing down just because winter’s coming.

Curtis and Marti Congleton and their children, Sarah and Tanner, have cattle to tend, freezer beef to sell, sorghum to make and greenhouses to get ready for next spring’s plants.

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