Ohio Fights Back Against HSUS

Ohio Fights Back Against HSUS

Steve Cornett

Beef Today

Without predicting a lot of success for their efforts, let’s congratulate Ohio agricultural leaders and legislators for at least taking a stand against the Humane Society of the United States.

 Both houses of the legislature rushed through a proposed constitutional amendment which would create a Livestock Care Standards Board that one would hope could serve as something of a Solomon board to finally apply science and common sense to the animal rights juggernaut.

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Wickard Faces Tough Task at FSA

Wickard Faces Tough Task at FSA

Gary Truitt

Hoosier AG Today

As Hoosier Ag Today.com reported, on Tuesday the White House has appointed Julia Wickard as the new State Director for Indiana Farm Services Agency. For the past 4 years, Wickard has served as the Director of the Indiana Beef Cattle Association, prior to that she was Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture for the O’Bannon and Kernon administrations.

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Cattle Wart Removal Techniques

Cattle Wart Removal Techniques

Steve Janovic

ezine@articles

The development of the wart requires 2 months or even more. After one year, the warts begin to retreat. The skin areas most frequently affected are found on the head, on the shoulders and on the neck. As it has been mentioned before, the size of the affected skin area is conditioned by the age of the animal. In addition, the duration of the viral infection also depends on how old the animal is. The main problem is that this virus becomes a herd problem soon after the first animal gets infected. This is yet another reason why a cattle wart removal treatment must be found as soon as possible.

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Many Factors To Consider When Selecting A Vaccine

Many Factors To Consider When Selecting A Vaccine

AGnetwork.com

Building immunity and preventing disease are integral parts of achieving dairy wellness on your operation. Incorporating demonstrated vaccines into a well-designed vaccination protocol helps enhance the cow’s immune system response to disease, thus keeping cows healthy. This in turn helps deliver optimal growth and production while minimizing costs associated with disease.

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Getting Cows Bred In July & August

Getting Cows Bred In July & August

cattlenetwork.com

One of the most challenging aspects of spring calving is trying to determine when to calve to maximize reproductive rate. Reproductive efficiency in a cow herd is most accurately measured by the term "percent calf crop weaned" which is calculated by dividing the number of calves weaned by the number of cows that were in the cow herd when the breeding season began the previous year. The two factors that affect the ability of a cow to wean a calf is pregnancy rate and calf death loss.

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Perspectives on beef cattle efficiency

Perspectives on beef cattle efficiency

The Cattle Business Weekly

"Efficiency" was an underlying theme of presentations offered during the 2009 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) symposium held in Sacramento, CA, in early May. Speakers talked about the challenge of higher production costs, the importance of matching cow type to the production environment and the potential advantages crossbreeding can bring to a commercial cow-calf operation. They talked about minimizing input costs, optimizing production output and how important production efficiency is to maximizing profit.

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Quality Should be Factored in the Price Equation

Quality Should be Factored in the Price Equation

Miranda Reiman

Cattle Today

Part 2

Feeders bid on cattle by penciling out the highest price they can pay and still maintain a shot at profit. Packers need a certain number of cattle harvested through their plants, bought at a particular price, to stay afloat.

That cost/sales formula follows beef as it continues toward consumers.

Distributors have buying equations down to a science. They must be responsive to supply and demand, because they want to make money but their customers must thrive, too.

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Livestock Transport Standards Being Developed

Livestock Transport Standards Being Developed

Thebeefsite.com

The US’s leading animal welfare monitoring and humane-labelling programme for food products – American Humane® Certified – will convene a panel of experts in animal handling, animal science, veterinary medicine and transportation equipment manufacturing to develop improved welfare standards for design, technology and monitoring of livestock transportation. American livestock transportation equipment that meets the standards will be recognised with the American Humane Gold Award.

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Virginia Angus Association to Host Presidential Tour

Virginia Angus Association to Host Presidential Tour

Cattle Today

The Virginia Angus Association will host a “Presidential Angus Tour” Aug. 23-25, 2009. Attendees will have the opportunity to take pleasure in Virginia’s well-known Southern hospitality, view some outstanding cattle from premier breeders in the state and experience some of the United States’ historical landmarks. This tour will include stops at several Angus farms in the Northern and Central Virginia as well as stops at two presidential homes—Monticello and Montpelier.

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Cattle Locked Out From Water Source, Die From Dehydration

Cattle Locked Out From Water Source, Die From Dehydration

KRLD

Nearly two dozen valuable beef cattle died in Denton County apparently because a locked gate kept them from getting to water last week when temperatures were 99 or higher each day.

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Meet Curt Pate, ‘cow whisperer’

Meet Curt Pate, ‘cow whisperer’

Pat Kopecki

Wilson County News

Many people might remember the movie “The Horse Whisperer.” Now meet the man who served as an equine technical advisor for the 1998 movie — Curt Pate. Because of Pate’s teaching technique, some people have called him “the cow whisperer.”

Pate has been an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Professional Horseman, a featured clinician at AQHA Regional Experiences, and a rodeo announcer.

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Charolais rancher, Pioneer

Charolais rancher, Pioneer

Sarah Gustin

KXNET

"I started seeing articles about them and people talking about these Charolais. I started scouted around looking at different herds and different bulls. I bought my first bull and after the first calf crop I couldn’t get into them fast enough." moo 1959 the year Joe Doll got his first taste of Charolais cattle. Doll was one of the first Charolais producers in the state.

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Beef advocate to head USDA office in Indiana

Beef advocate to head USDA office in Indiana

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

An advocate for Indiana’s cattle producers will head the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency in Indiana, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced.

Julia Wickard is also the former director of the state Commission for Agriculture and Rural Development.

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ARS Sheds Light on Fescue Toxicosis

ARS Sheds Light on Fescue Toxicosis

Thebeefsite.com

US – New research from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their university colleagues is shedding light on the relationship between chemical compounds and fescue toxicosis – a disease that affects grazing animals and costs the US cattle industry an estimated $600 million annually.

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Better Cattle Through DNA Testing

Better Cattle Through DNA Testing

Ann Toner

Nebraska Farmer

Technology is more accurate prediction tool.

DNA technology has the potential to help cattle producers refine their seedstock selection and to provide a more accurate look at the future feedlot or herd performance potential of their calves.

That was the upshot of a recent DNA technology briefing held for cattlemen and breed association representatives at USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center.

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