Video Feature: Dirty Jobs – Birthing a Cow

Video Feature: Dirty Jobs – Birthing a Cow

Mike helps give birth to a baby cow in this clip from Dirty Jobs.

Feeding Beef Cows Based on Body Condition Scores

Feeding Beef Cows Based on Body Condition Scores

Shane Gadberry, Ph.D. Extension Livestock Specialist, University of Arkansas

The amount and type of supplementation required for satisfactory performance in beef herds is greatly influenced by the body condition or body reserves, both protein and fat, of the cattle.

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Preconditioning and Receiving Calves

Preconditioning and Receiving Calves

Johnny Rossi, Extension Animal Scientist, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

R. Curt Lacy, Extension Agricultural Economist, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Mel Pence, Veterinary Field Investigator, College of Veterinary Medicine

Feeder cattle preconditioning is a management alternative growing in popularity among cow-calf producers. Research has shown that medicine costs and death loss are the most important animal performance measures after feed cost in determining cattle feeding profitability.

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Q&A: Who determines the sex of the offspring, the bull or cow?

Q&A:   Who determines the sex of the offspring, the bull or cow?

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

The two sex chromosomes from the female are the same and we will call x and x. The two sex chromosomes from the male are different and we will call x and y.

So whether an offspring is either male or female by the presence or absence of the y chromosome.

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Cattle Management Practices for Difficult Times

Cattle Management Practices for Difficult Times            

Evan Whitley

Nobel Foundation

I can’t remember a time when the grass has been as green, the cows have been as fat, ponds have been as full, and producers have been as worried about their future and the future of agriculture as a whole. The really frustrating part about the predicament we find in mid-2008 is that so many of the contributing factors are beyond our control.

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Dealing with a scour outbreak

Dealing with a scour outbreak

Beef Today

Sometimes, no matter how many preventive measures you take, calf scours show up in the best-managed herds. “Still, you should be prepared for an outbreak every year, developing a program with your veterinarian focusing on detection, isolation, diagnosis and treatment,” says Rick Rasby, University of Nebraska beef cattle specialist.

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Steps For Improving Estrous Detection

Steps For Improving Estrous Detection

cattlenetwork.com

There are six steps to follow for improving the estrous detection rate in a particular herd.

These steps take into account the unique aspects of each herd’s management and the facilities for housing and exercise of cattle. The goal of these steps is to make the best possible use of the dairy producer’s time while watching cattle for estrus.

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Antibiotics Vital to Animal Health and Food Protection

Antibiotics Vital to Animal Health and Food Protection

Thebeefsite.com

The American Farm Bureau Federation is expressing strong opposition to legislation that would remove and restrict important antibiotics for veterinary and farm use.

In a letter to Congress, AFBF President Bob Stallman said the bills (H.R. 1549 and S. 619) would handicap veterinarians and livestock and poultry producers in their efforts to protect the nation’s food supply and maintain the health of their farm animals.

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Mark Keaton: To buy or produce hay?

Mark Keaton: To buy or produce hay?

One of the hardest management decisions for a cattle producer to decide is whether to purchase hay from an outside source or to invest in some or all of the equipment to produce their own.

If you produce your own, you have more control on the outcome. If you depend on someone else, you have to do some planning to be assured of enough hay due to different factors such as the weather.

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Grazing School for Novices grows loyalty of past students

Grazing School for Novices grows loyalty of past students

Robert Burns

Texas A&M

The first lesson Willis Hargraves learned when he retired from the commercial insurance business and started a cattle-raising business was an economic one, he said.

“I said to my wife one day, ‘I don’t know how I lose so much money so fast,’” he said.

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Beef cattle field day set for April 15

Beef cattle field day set for April 15

 The latest research-based information will be shared in Blairsville.

 University of Geprgia

Current cattle farmers and those who want to become one will find useful knowledge at the annual University of Georgia Mountain Beef Cattle Field Day April 15 in Blairsville, Ga.

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Guaranteed tender: Direct marketer uses DNA testing to improve quality

Guaranteed tender: Direct marketer uses DNA testing to improve quality

ROWENA PLETT

Peabody Gazette Bulletin

Recent development of DNA genetic testing has identified specific genes that increase tenderness and marbling in beef cattle.

Dave Ferren of Burns and his partner and brother-in-law John Sharp of Albuquerque, N. Mex., are using DNA testing to produce high quality natural beef from registered Angus cattle.

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Grid Pricing

Grid Pricing

cattlenetwork.com

The only major pricing method that truly rewards improving carcass quality is grid pricing. The components of this method are fundamentally the same as the other two. The difference is that the price is adjusted to Quality and Yield grade at harvest. So, each carcass receives a base price plus or minus premiums and/or discounts. The base price for grids can be set in several different ways with many plants using the USDA’s weighted regional carcass price and others using the previous week’s plant average. The actual “$0.00” block (no further price correction) on a grid, or true base price, assumes a Choice, Yield Grade 3, 650 to 850-pound steer carcass.

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Watch for retained placentas

Watch for retained placentas

Beef Today

The process of calving in beef cattle is defined by three stages, explains Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Extention cattle reproduction specialist.

Stage I occurs about four to 24 hours prior to calving.  The major event during stage I is the dilation of the cervix.  Stage II occurs in about 30 minutes in adult cows and about one hour in first calf heifers (when all goes well) and is the time when the calf passes through the birth canal and is delivered into the world.

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Beef Industry Fights for Room at the Table

Beef Industry Fights for Room at the Table

Wall Street Journal

Recession-Related Weakness Drives the Promotion of New, Cheaper Cuts and a Harder Push Overseas

The U.S. beef industry is trying to fight recession-related woes by promoting new, cheaper cuts from less popular parts of the steer and pushing beef harder overseas.

The industry’s moves mirror those of restaurants, supermarkets and packaged-food companies seeking ways to entice budget-conscious consumers who are dining out less and looking for ways to economize at home.

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