Ultrasounding Heifers

Ultrasounding Heifers

Troy Smith

Angus Journal

Among cow-calf producers who routinely retain home-raised heifers as herd replacements the process often stirs mixed emotions. On the one hand, it’s fun to watch heifer calves develop, consider their parentage, and compare their performance. It’s fun to narrow your picks from the most promising candidates. It can make you anxious. After all, those replacement heifers represent a significant contribution to the genetic improvement of the cow herd. At least, they should.

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2008 Robert E. Taylor Memorial Symposium

2008 Robert E. Taylor Memorial Symposium

Objectives of Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle

Under the direction of the Beef Cattle Reproduction Task Force, a continuing series of programs have been offered since 2003.  The programs have been held in several locations across the United States and provide beef industry professionals the most up-to-date information on cattle reproduction management and research-based findings to incorporate technology and information into beef cattle reproduction systems.

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Survey Reveals Dominance of English Bulls in US

Survey Reveals Dominance of English Bulls in US

Thebeefsite.com

A spring 2008 survey of U.S. producers with 200 or more beef cows confirmed the dominant influence of the Angus breed, but also showed regional variations in breed and trait emphasis. Certified Angus Beef LLC contracted with Drovers, using the magazine’s prequalified list.

According to Certified Angus Beef, the return rate of nearly 5% in the online survey resulted in 1,035 completed forms from 45 states, representing 11,397 bulls. Those returns were cross-tabulated by such variables as breed preference, region and use of postweaning data.

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UT Extension hosting ‘Beef Producers Night Out’

UT Extension hosting ‘Beef Producers Night Out’

The Tennessean

The University of Tennessee Extension will be holding the 10th annual “Beef Producers Night Out” at B.J.‘s Family Restaurant in Pleasant View on Thursday, Nov. 20 beginning at 6:30 pm.

The evening activities will begin with a beef dinner, which will be sponsored by Pleasant View Milling Company, Performance Feeds and Nutrena Feeds. All local beef cattle producers are invited and encouraged to attend.

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Ag Secretary Ed Schafer Announces Cattlemen’s Beef Board Appointments

Ag Secretary Ed Schafer Announces Cattlemen’s Beef Board Appointments

cattlenetwork.com

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced 32 appointments to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board. All appointees will serve 3-year terms beginning Jan. 31, 2009.

Newly appointed members representing cattle producers are: Ted A. Greidanus, Calif.; Phyllis Snyder, Colo.; Kimberly B. Brackett, Idaho; Roland W. May, Kan.; Daniel C. Smith, Ky.; Jay O. Stovall, Mont.; Chris L. Schluntz, Neb.; Wesley L. Grau, NM; Joyce A. Bupp, Pa.; Michael V. Stahly, SD; G. Hughes, Abell, Texas and F. Henry Maxey, Jr., Va.

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Beef feedlot workshop series being offered in NE Iowa

Beef feedlot workshop series being offered in NE Iowa

Mitchell County Press

Cattle feeders are invited to participate in a series of workshops that will cover manure management to marketing risk management. The workshop series will start on Wed. Dec. 10 and continue on Jan. 14 and Feb. 18 all from 9:45 a.m. until 2 p.m. The sessions will be held at Dugan’s restaurant in Floyd, Iowa.

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Economic woes should be reflected in cattle on feed numbers

Economic woes should be reflected in cattle on feed numbers

 John Perkins

The Brownfield Network

Ahead of the United States Department of Agriculture’s cattle on feed report Friday, analysts expect placements, marketings and total on feed to be below a year ago.

The average guess for the November 1 on feed total is 93.9% of a year ago, which would be the lowest in several years due to economic uncertainties and high feed costs. The range runs from 92.0% to 95.0%.

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Pitfalls of packer ownership

Pitfalls of packer ownership

Mary MacArthur

The Western Producer

Ever since a case of BSE was discovered in Canada in 2003, producers, politicians and community leaders have been trying to inject life into the slumping beef industry.

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Report says family cattle producers facing most severe crisis since Depression

Report says family cattle producers facing most severe crisis since Depression

Jennifer Graham,

THE CANADIAN PRESS

A new report by the National Farmers Union is painting a bleak picture for Canadian cattle producers.

The report released Wednesday states that, adjusted for inflation, Canadian farmers and independent feeders are receiving half as much for their cattle as they did from the 1940s through the 1980s. “These half-price cattle are bankrupting family farmers across Canada and creating the most severe crisis in the sector since the Great Depression,” according the 128-page document.

It says that between 1942 and 1989, cattle prices more or less kept pace with inflation. The average price for the 47-year period was $174 per hundred-weight – double the recent average.

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Q&A: My cow gave birth at 3PM on Saturday and the placenta is hanging down and this 24 hours after she calved. Is this normal?

Q&A:   My cow gave birth at 3PM on Saturday and the placenta is hanging down and this 24 hours after she calved. Is this normal?

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

A:   Retained placenta is rare in most cow herds. The placenta is retained when the cotyledons on the placenta do not detatch from the caruncles on the uterus during parturition. This can occur during difficult births (dystocia) in beef cattle. Also, when cows are induced to calve, you will see a higher incidence of retained placenta in the induced cows.

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Packers paying farmers less: study

Packers paying farmers less: study

Cassandra Kyle,

Leader Post

An independent livestock producer today is being paid half of what his or her parents and grandparents received from packers and cattle feeders decades ago, bankrupting family farmers across Canada, a new report from the National Farmers Union (NFU) argues.

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Nearly one million cattle take heavy toll on Arizona’s land, water

Nearly one million cattle take heavy toll on Arizona’s land, water

 John Collins Rudolf

The Zonie Report

If you’re like me, when you go to the local grocery store, you find it fairly easy to slip into the mindset that imagines all those vacuum-sealed cuts of beef lined up in the climate-controlled meat aisle simply popped out of some magical stainless steel machine, a clean, efficient marvel of our technological age.

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Is red meat’s bad name justified?

Is red meat’s bad name justified?

Newsday

Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.

Recent studies give red meat a bad name.

The news for red meat seems to be getting worse and worse.

In December, a survey of more than 494,000 people by the National Institutes of Health found that men who ate more than 5 ounces of red meat each day and women who ate more than 3 ounces had a 51% greater risk of esophageal cancer, 61% of liver cancer and 24% of colorectal cancer than those who ate less than an ounce of red meat daily.

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Colostrum Is Vital Food For Newborn Calves

Colostrum Is Vital Food For Newborn Calves

cattlenetwork.com

Colostrum intake is critical for the newborn calf, says Greg Lardy, a North Dakota State University Extension Service beef cattle specialist.

“At birth, a calf’s immune system is not fully developed,” he says. “The calf must rely on colostrum from the cow until its own immune system is totally functional (about 1 to 2 months of age).”

Colostrum contains antibodies or immunoglobulins necessary to provide the calf with protection from disease.

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Researchers to discuss feeding distiller’s grains to beef cattle in the Southern Plains

Researchers to discuss feeding distiller’s grains to beef cattle in the Southern Plains

Texas A&M

Nutritionists and producers alike will meet for a distiller’s grain feeding update on Dec. 9 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 6500 W. Amarillo Blvd. in Amarillo.

The program will provide up-to-date results of research conducted by university and federal scientists related to the feeding of distiller’s grains to beef cattle in the Southern Plains, said Dr. Jim MacDonald, Texas AgriLife Research beef nutritionist.

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