Webcast: “Genetic Defects — The Old, The New and The Misunderstood”

Webcast: “Genetic Defects — The Old, The New and The Misunderstood”

Sue DeNise, vice president of genomics research and development for MetaMorphix Inc. (MMI), Davis, Calif., and Mark Gardiner, president of Gardiner Angus Ranch, Ashland, Kan., will join Kansas State University’s (K-State’s) Dave Nichols for the first in a series of live web programs designed to provide timely and factual information.

The first webcast in the series, “Genetic Defects — The Old, The New and The Misunderstood” will air at 8 p.m., Monday, Feb. 16. Anyone with Internet access can log on to http://www.kstate.tv/kla to view the webcast.

DeNise will address the science of defining genetic defects and the development of reliable tests. Gardiner will discuss the role and responsibility of seedstock and commercial beef producers in mitigating the impact of genetic defects in the beef cattle population. The program will include approximately one-half hour of discussion. The remainder of the program will be reserved to respond to questions e-mailed from viewers. The webcast is free of charge.

For those unable to view the program live, a full-length video will be available at http://www.kstate.tv/kla and http://www.kla.org or contact Brett Spader at brett@kla.org.

Baxter Black, DVM: AIN’T RANCHIN’ FUN

Baxter Black, DVM:  AIN’T RANCHIN’ FUN

Well, it’s calvin’ season across the broad expanse of Bovamerica. Some, below the Little Ear Parallel began a few weeks ago and others, north of Calgary are still waiting for their pipes to thaw.

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BeefTalk: Feed the Cows and Feed Them Right

BeefTalk: Feed the Cows and Feed Them Right

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Beef Cattle Nutrient Requirements Beef Cattle Nutrient Requirements

If more time was spent discussing the nutrient requirements of beef instead of the merits of different management systems, all the cows would be better off.

Winter continues to pummel us with extreme cold, wind and snow. A normal winter, if there is such a thing, occasionally gives us a breather, but not this year.

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Improving Cattle Comfort In Wintertime

Improving Cattle Comfort In Wintertime

cattlenetwork.com

Managing stress in the winter time can pay dividends with improved performance in the feedlot. Cattle respond to cold stress by expending more calories to maintain body temperature. There are several ways that cattle battle combat cold temperatures. One method is through internal and external insulation. External insulation is effected by hide thickness (breed and genetics) and hair coat. The temperature at which cattle begin to use additional energy to maintain body temperature is called the lower critical temperature.

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How to dehorn calves to minimize pain

How to dehorn calves to minimize pain

There are things you can use that cause calves less discomfort when dehorned

Todd Duffield

The Manager

Removing horns reduces the risk of injury to handlers and other cattle. So choosing whether or not to dehorn calves isn’t debatable. But how you dehorn calves is open for criticism and discussion.

Agricultural practices, such as keeping hogs in farrowing cages, are under increasing public scrutiny. Nonfarmers may view common management practices such as dehorning

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The transformation of agriculture today

The transformation of agriculture today

The Cattle Business Weekly

Livestock agriculture has undergone a series of striking transformations. Production is more specialized-farms usually confine and feed a single species of animal, often with feed that has been purchased rather than grown onsite, and they typically specialize in specific stages of animal production, say James M. MacDonald and William D. McBride in their joint USDA ERS report summary.

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Upgrade Your Cattle Handling Facilities

Upgrade Your Cattle Handling Facilities

Mick Kreidler

Beef Today

Working cattle is a task made much easier and safer in a well-designed handling system. A good handling system has many advantages, ranging from improved cattle health and production to labor savings and less stress on you and your cattle.

If you’re thinking of building new facilities or upgrading your existing system, help is available from your local Extension office or from publications available on the Internet.

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Cattle producers, buyers hopeful that fortunes will improve

Cattle producers, buyers hopeful that fortunes will improve

DAN PILLER

DesMoines Register

Cattle producers and buyers at the annual Iowa Beef Expo joked that while this year’s cattle sales likely wouldn’t bring record prices, the high cost of feeding corn during the last year makes them likely the most expensive animals ever raised.

“I hope the worst is over,” said cattle producer Dan Johnson, who raises about 1,000 head near Cushing in Woodbury County. “People tend to eat at home more in a down economy and that usually means more supermarket meat sales. I hope that happens.”

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Residual Feed Intake and Profitability

Residual Feed Intake and Profitability

Deke Alkire

The Noble Foundation

Most cattlemen have felt the impact of rising input costs over recent years. Although prices moderated or fell at the end of 2008, perhaps one of the most noticeable increases last year was feed prices. Typically, feed makes up the greatest portion of non-fixed costs for cow-calf producers and 65 percent to 70 percent of total beef production costs. Therefore, seemingly small improvements in feed efficiency can result in dramatic cost reductions. This reality, along with new technology, has led many researchers to take a new look at feed efficiency.

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Historic shorthorn breed has its Montana supporters

Historic shorthorn breed has its Montana supporters

PETER JOHNSON

Great Falls Tribune

Shorthorn cattle originated in England more than 400 years ago and were brought to the young United States in 1783. Settlers valued the breed for its meat and milk and willingness to pull wagons across the prairie and plows across the field.

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Beef demand study reveals importance of product convenience, nutrition, safety

Beef demand study reveals importance of product convenience, nutrition, safety

AG Professional

A comprehensive study conducted by agricultural economists at Kansas State University and Michigan State University revealed areas in which the beef industry can concentrate its efforts to strengthen beef demand, despite a sagging global and U.S. economy.

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Webcast Feb. 20 will provide tips on conserving nitrogen in feedlots

Webcast Feb. 20 will provide tips on conserving nitrogen in feedlots 

The Grant Tribune Sentinel

    A webcast Feb. 20 will offer tips on conserving valuable nitrogen from cattle feedlots and confinements.

    The webcast, sponsored by extension, will feature experts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Michigan State University explaining strategies to conserve nitrogen for beneficial reuse and conservation and feeding strategies that allow more nitrogen to be retained in stored manure.

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Recession squeezes farmers on two sides

Recession squeezes farmers on two sides

As prices have risen for feed and fuel, demand has dropped for crops and livestock

Marti Maguire

The News and Observer

Even in hard economic times, it might seem the state’s farmers could take refuge in the simple fact that laid-off workers and nervous 401(K) watchers still need to eat.

But the global economic downturn has reached farmers of all stripes in a state where farm-related businesses generate $70 billion a year, more than any other economic sector.

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Survival of the feedlots

Survival of the feedlots

The Cattle Business Weekly

The United States’ smallest cattle herd in 50 years will likely force feedlots out of business and possibly a packing plant or two. The 1.544 million head decline in 2008 in cattle numbers is the equivalent of the annual marketings of 10 to 15 large feedlots and the throughput of the largest beef plant.

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U.S. Cattle Herd Reduced to 1959 Level

U.S. Cattle Herd Reduced to 1959 Level

Wisconsin AG Connection

Last Friday’s USDA semi-annual Cattle Inventory Report pegged the Jan. 1 U.S., cattle herd below trade expectations and at a 50-year low. According to the Brock Report, that should help to put a floor under beef cattle prices, although the cattle market still faces a struggle overcoming weak beef demand.

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