BeefTalk: Do You Know When Your Cows Will Calve Next Spring?

BeefTalk: Do You Know When Your Cows Will Calve Next Spring?

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Need Help With Cow Data? Need Help With Cow Data?

Instead of reactionary decisions, reproductive patterns and cow production are monitored and utilized as part of a management plan.

The last open cows were shipped to town and all the cows left at the ranch are confirmed pregnant.

Statistics from the CHAPS program managed by the North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association (NDBCIA) show that 93.5 percent of the cows returned to the wintering facilities are pregnant. The open cows are sorted and sent.

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Marbling to Top the Market

Marbling to Top the Market

Becky Mills

Angus Beef Bulletin

It was a case of good news, bad news when Donny Stephens got the closeout sheets from his first experience with retained ownership. Eight years ago, the Marion Junction, Ala., producer and his wife, Pat, sent a load of steers to Decatur County Feedyard, a Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB)-licensed feedlot near Oberlin, Kan.

“They gained great but didn’t grade as well,” Stephens recalls. “We had a lot of Selects and not as many Choice cattle. That headed us in the direction of Angus.”

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A ’steak’ in the future, Intercollegiate meats judging

A ’steak’ in the future, Intercollegiate meats judging

Amanda Nolz

Tri State Livestock News

They arrive at the packing plant, dressed in lab coats and hard hats. Gloved hands grip pencils and clip boards. The group is lead by two coaches, ready to mark certain carcasses to be judged and graded. As SDSU’s 2008 Intercollegiate Meats Judging Team enters the cooler, they are ready for a long day of work.

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Acorns Can be Deadly

Acorns Can be Deadly

SAM BARRINGER, DVM

WVU Extension Service, Veterinary Sciences

Acorn/Oak Toxicity

During periods of decreased forage availability, cattle may seek out acorns as a food source. Acorns can be an important part of the diet in the fall; however, acorns have the potential to cause fatal poisoning. When forage is low, cattle seek out acorns as food. Ingestion of too many acorns can lead to poisoning. The goal of this article is to provide some basic facts on acorn poisoning and alert farmers to be aware of a potential problem.

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TCFA: Cattlemen Urged To Speak Out Against The Growing Threat Of Animal Rights Activism

TCFA: Cattlemen Urged To Speak Out Against The Growing Threat Of Animal Rights Activism

cattlenetwork.com

If animal rights activists achieve their agenda, many livestock producers will go out of business and ultimately people will starve.  However, the danger of activists advancing their cause through the federal government is greater than ever and livestock producers must take a more aggressive stand to protect their industry, animal agriculture advocate Steve Kopperud said at the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Annual Convention in Grapevine.

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UK study quantifies gains from tobacco settlement money

UK study quantifies gains from tobacco settlement money

Gregory A. Hall

CourierJournal.com

A University of Kentucky study evaluating $209 million in spending from tobacco settlement funds for agricultural diversification concluded the results have been positive in many areas, but said there wasn’t enough data to measure the effectiveness of some efforts.

The study of money awarded between 2001 and 2006 included three areas – $100 million in county-level projects, $86 million in specific agriculture economic development projects and $23 million in an infrastructure loan program.

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“Marketing and Producing Natural Beef” Seminar Dec. 10 in Loveland

“Marketing and Producing Natural Beef” Seminar Dec. 10 in Loveland

Thefencepost.com

Colorado State University (CSU) Extension will be hosting a program titled “Marketing and Producing Natural Beef” on December 10, 2008 located at The Ranch in Loveland, CO. The program will be held in the 1st National Bank Building from 8:15 a.m.-5:30 p.m. The first session by, Dr. Tom Field, NCBA, will set the stage with ideas and considerations when changing from a conventional to an alternative beef program. The rest of the morning will be devoted to marketing natural beef, participants will receive marketing ideas from producers who are currently focusing on natural beef and learn what has and has not worked. A natural beef lunch will be served, during which Dr. Dawn Thilmany, CSU Ag. Economics Professor, will discuss consumer meat buying behavior.

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Beef council: New cuts of beef offer more value

Beef council: New cuts of beef offer more value

Chicago Daily Herald

With food prices rising, beef promoters are pushing new cuts of meat to offer restaurant customers lower-priced steaks from meat that might otherwise have become hamburgers or roasts.

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Using Sire EPDs In Cow-Calf Production

Using Sire EPDs In Cow-Calf Production

cattlenetwork.com

A large segment of the beef cattle industry is adopting expected progeny differences (EPDs) as a valuable selection tool in improving calf productivity. EPD is the difference in performance (measured in pounds, percent, inches, etc.) expected in progeny, or offspring, of individual sires. Calf weaning weight is greatly influenced by genetic potential for growth; therefore, verification of how reliable weaning weight EPDs are on commercial cow herds needs to be studied.

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Rumors rock cattle market

Rumors rock cattle market

Amarillo-area case linked to mad cow disease

Kevin Welch

Rumors linking mad cow disease and Amarillo stung national cattle markets this week.

The Reuters news agency reported cattle futures “plummeted” Wednesday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange after rumors spread about mad cow disease returning to the U.S. and a woman “being treated for the disease in an Amarillo hospital.”

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Back in the saddle with BEEF

Back in the saddle with BEEF

JILL MOON

The Telegraph

Last year, the Simmonses began to wonder, “Where’s the beef?” after sales tapered off for Texas longhorn livestock.

Scott and Dara Simmons own SS Backwards Longhorns LLC, which started as simply a cattle ranch from where Scott sold and traded cattle. He said he loves the mystery of breeding longhorns and seeing how their horns will grow. But when kill buyers stopped purchasing the cattle, the Simmonses had to find another way to make money on them or lose them.

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Salad Days May Be Waning For Valley Beef Farmers

Salad Days May Be Waning For Valley Beef Farmers 

Tom Mitchell

As owners of beef cattle are being reminded, good times don’t last forever.

After enjoying several years of good prices for their product, beef producers are starting to see at least a temporary end to their profession’s salad days.

Like most industries, the beef trade is affected by the overall state of the economy, say agricultural officials and beef farmers. And lately, they say, the fiscal health of the nation has hampered their livelihood.

“We’re just another industry imbedded in this larger economy,” said Bill McKinnon, executive-secretary for the Virginia Cattlemen’s Association.

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Cattle Preconditioning: Cattle Vaccination & Immunity

Cattle Preconditioning: Cattle Vaccination & Immunity

cattlenetwork.com

Developing immunity in cattle requires an effective herd health program. A primary component of ev­ery herd health program is vaccination to stimulate the immune system of cattle prior to significant natural exposure to disease-causing agents. A basic understanding of how the immune system responds to a vaccine is important to understanding how vaccines function.

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Q&A: I have a calf that was born a week ago and the cow has one teat that is very large and not giving milk. Should I milk the cow out orlet the calf take care of it?

Q&A:   I have a calf that was born a week ago and the cow has one teat that is very large and not giving milk. Should I milk the cow out orlet the calf take care of it?

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

A:   In most cases, the calf will nurse the quarter. The next alternative if to milk out the quarter by hand. If it is too bad, sometimes the quarter will be lost. Udder and teat structure of cows for the cow/calf producer is important as in most cases they don’t have the time or facilities to milk a cow out on a daily basis, which what will need to be done if the calf does not nurse the quarter.

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The Rights Of Animals

The Rights Of Animals

Newsweek

California voters have put the animal-rights movement squarely in the mainstream. Will we all soon be vegans?

The notion that animals should have rights was widely ridiculed when it was first advocated in the 1970s. Now it is getting more respect.

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