Beef Checkoff talks begin

Beef Checkoff talks begin

Chris Clayton

Tri State Livestock news

Groups quietly look at what changes are possible

Talks are starting among cattle and meatpacker groups over possible changes to the beef checkoff.

The American Farm Bureau Federation hosted a meeting Tuesday in Washington for several groups to explain their individual policies and review recommendations laid out in January to the U.S. secretary of agriculture by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board to change the Beef Promotion and Research Act. Most of the changes proposed by the CBB would require an act of Congress to alter the law.

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Virtual’ fence replaces real thing

Virtual’ fence replaces real thing

Mateusz Perkowski

Capital Press

30-year-old idea becomes reality with help of technological advances

At first blush, the concept of strapping electronic headsets to cattle and controlling their behavior remotely via satellite seems like something out of a science fiction movie.

Perhaps even a low-budget science fiction movie.

When you consider how far USDA researcher Dean Anderson has taken the idea, though, the technology begins to seem a lot more realistic – and useful.

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PETA: People Exploiting Tragic Acts?

PETA: People Exploiting Tragic Acts?

Drovers.com

Following this week’s murder of an abortion doctor in Wichita, Kan., PETA is moving quickly to exploit the emotional and divisive issue of abortion. Always eager for easy publicity regardless of taste, the group is erecting billboards in Wichita, long a hotbed of abortion debate, urging people on both sides of the issue to go vegetarian.

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BeefTalk: Small Cattle Need Muscle

BeefTalk: Small Cattle Need Muscle

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Sometimes big surprises come in smaller packages.

Do you know your cows? Do you have medium-framed, medium-sized cows or smaller- framed, medium-sized cows or smaller-framed, small-sized cows?

The answers to these questions will impact management decisions. The Dickinson Research Extension Center has sorted the main brood cows into two distinct types of cows.

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High Pressure Grazing

High Pressure Grazing

Dr. Bruce Anderson, Professor of Agronomy, Agronomy & Horticulture, University of Nebraska

A big pasture management challenge is keeping grass from heading out, becoming less palatable and low quality. This spring I didn’t do to good. So now I’m going to change how I graze the rest of the year.

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Cattle Nutrition Decision Tools

Cattle Nutrition Decision Tools

Beef Today

Several extension Web sites offer tools that you can download to determine mineral, feed and other supplement needs in your herd.

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Condition Score Cows Early

Condition Score Cows Early

Rick Rasby Beef Specialist, Cow/Calf Management and Reproduction University of Nebraska

Introduction Body condition scores (BCS) describe the relative fatness of a cow through the use of a nine-point scale and is an effective management tool to evaluate nutritional status of the herd. The body condition scoring system allows producers to visually assess their cow herd using a number system that objectively describes the amount of condition or fat reserve of an animal.

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Antibiotics Bill Defeated in California

Antibiotics Bill Defeated in California

Thebeefsite.com

Legislation that would have limited the use of antibiotics by licensed veterinarians to prevent and control disease in animal agriculture was defeated by the California Senate Wednesday afternoon with 15 Senators voting in favor of the bill and 20 voting to oppose the measure.

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Cost-Effective Parasite Strategy

Cost-Effective Parasite Strategy

Sam Barringer, DVM, WVU Extension Service

Internal parasites living in your cattle could be stealing profits from your pocket and they are almost always present on a ranch. So what can a cattleman do to fight this menace? To answer that question and develop a strategy for parasite control you need to answer several other questions first.

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Cattle Pasture Measurement

Cattle Pasture Measurement

cattlenetwork.com

In the later part of April, a beginning level grazing school was offered. As part of that school, participants spent part of Saturday on a farm looking at pastures. One of the topics of discussion was pasture measurement. I believe that it is important for graziers to put some effort into pasture measurement

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Being from a farming family helped instill work ethic in this columnist

Being from a farming family helped instill work ethic in this columnist

By Hope A. Smith

Culpeper Star Exponent

My dad used to have a bumper sticker that read, “Don’t gripe about farmers with your mouth full.” My dad, Chuck Woycik Sr., was a beef farmer for the better part of 46 years before his sudden death at the age of 61. As the daughter of a beef farmer, I have caviar taste when it comes to the beef I eat. You’ll rarely see me order a hamburger from a restaurant because it’s not “home grown.”

Yes, I am a “farm snob.”

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Nebraska’s status may be affected by TB detection

Nebraska’s status may be affected by TB detection

Ken Anderson & Julie Harker

Brownfield Network

Nebraska’s Ag Department is working with USDA as it works to determine whether more than one cattle herd has been infected with tuberculosis. State Ag Director Greg Ibach announced Monday that TB was detected in a herd of beef cattle belonging to a cow-calf producer in central Nebraska’s Rock County. Other beef producers, adjacent landowners, are being notified and testing of other herds will get underway.

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Q&A: What is the average space needed for a small CAFO? Where do we dispose the manure?

Q&A:   What is the average space needed for a small CAFO? Where do we dispose the manure?

Dr. Rick Koelsch, Professor of Biological Systems Engineering and Animal Science Biological Systems, University of Nebraska

A:   Space necessary for housing – Open lot systems will typically provide 200 to 250 square feet of space per animal

Space needed for supporting facilities – difficult to estimate without more information. Key needs will include runoff collection pond, solids settling basin, feed storage and preparation area, equipment storage, and roads for access.

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Shorthorn Paradise- 2009 Shorthorn Junior National Show and Conference

Shorthorn Paradise- 2009 Shorthorn Junior National Show and Conference

Cattle Today

Make plans to travel to Springfield, Ill. for the Shorthorn Junior National Show and Youth Conference, June 29 through July 4, which is themed “Shorthorn Paradise.” American Junior Shorthorn Association (AJSA) members work hard all year preparing for this grand event. Last year nearly 400 junior exhibitors from across the country attended the event.

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Proposition 2 Grows New Offshoots

Proposition 2 Grows New Offshoots

Thebeefsite.com

The seed planted by the Humane Society of the United States in California last November is growing several new offshoots.

Since voters approved Proposition 2 in November several measures have moved quickly from one chamber to the other. Others are now working through committees. In fact, the California Senate Appropriations Committee has now approved legislation that would limit the use of antibiotics by licensed veterinarians to prevent and control disease in animal agriculture.

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