K-State Vet Urges Cattle Producers To Watch for Pinkeye

K-State Vet Urges Cattle Producers To Watch for Pinkeye

It shows up every year and to the unlucky cattle that contract it, Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), more commonly called pinkeye, is incredibly painful and if left untreated, can lead to loss of the eye, a Kansas State University veterinarian said.

“Pinkeye is usually caused by the bacteria Moraxella bovis,” said K-State Research and Extension veterinarian Larry Hollis. “However, we’ve found that in many cases – especially the extremely difficult cases – another bacteria, either Branhamella ovis or Mycoplasma bovoculi, is also present.”

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Get Calves Ready for the Long Haul

Get Calves Ready for the Long Haul

Jeffrey N. Carter, University of Florida

Transporting beef calves post weaning to a feedlot facility is quite stressful. Short-term but significant reductions in feed and water intakes can result. Data compiled in Texas feed yards over seven years showed that healthy cattle consumed more feed during the first seven, 28, and 56 days after arrival than their non-healthy counterparts. When feed intakes are low, i.e., less than one percent of body weight, it is nearly impossible to formulate any kind of diet that will adequately meet animal requirements.

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Change, opportunity and challenge in beef industry

Change, opportunity and challenge in beef industry

 Lori Weddle-Schott, U of M Extension Beef Center

Farm and Ranch Guide

 “The only constant is change.”

I have heard my husband, Avery, the fearless one of our family, recite this to me, our children, friends and family as we face daily challenges. Avery calls this opportunity; at times I call it “chaos.”

Change is hard for many of us. The older we get the harder it gets to change.

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Carcass Ultrasound & DNA Technology: A Progress Report

Carcass Ultrasound & DNA Technology: A Progress Report

Carcass Ultrasound 101

The science and technology that has infiltrated the beef cattle business within the past decade is mind boggling. The tools available to seedstock breeders and commercial producers seem to grow by the day. In a competitive business world, breeders can find themselves marketing the science before anyone really knows if the science will impact the market.

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Weaning Nutrition and Management

Weaning Nutrition and Management

Dr. Mark A. McCann, Extension Animal Scientist, VA Tech

One time-tested method of adding value to a calf-crop is to retain the calves post-weaning at a minimum through a 45-d preconditioning program.  The 45-d length is required to participate in many special sales or programs and is viewed as the “gold standard” of having cattle ready for a forage based stockering program or directly into a feedyard.

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Early Weaning for the Beef Herd

Early Weaning for the Beef Herd

Dr. Glenn Selk, Extension Cattle Specialist, Oklahoma State University

      This section could probably be titled "What to Do If All Else Fails".  Certainly no one ever plans to find himself with a group of cows too thin to breed.  It does happen, however, and early weaning of calves at six to eight weeks of age is an effective way to get high rebreeding rates, even in very thin cows.

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First Ever Woman Senate Ag Committee Chair?

First Ever Woman Senate Ag Committee Chair?

Beef Today

The U.S. Senate could see its first-ever woman Agriculture Committee chairman, all due to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

When the Senate returns to work next Tuesday after its August recess, it will need to fill the now vacant Kennedy chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has chaired this committee during Kennedy’s illness

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US Vets Respond to Report into Intensive Production

US Vets Respond to Report into Intensive Production

Thebeefsite.com

In the spring of 2008, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Production issued the report Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America. Considering the importance of the US food system and the ramifications of minor or major proposed modifications, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) believes it is crucial to closely and carefully examine the Commission’s research and methodology and the implications of the report.

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Occupations on the decline

Occupations on the decline

Jimmy Isaac, Wes Ferguson

News-Journal

Meat packing, some other trades see thinning ranks

Is the mom-and-pop meat market going the way of the horse and buggy?

"Used to be one in every town, but it’s fading fast," said Billy Tevebaugh, whose parents founded the Tevebaugh Meat Packing Co. as a custom slaughterhouse in the early 1960s. "Times have changed."

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USDA Announces Additional Weight Category for Livestock Indemnity Program

USDA Announces Additional Weight Category for Livestock Indemnity Program

USDA

The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) today announced it will add an additional weight category to the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) for non-adult beef cattle, non-adult dairy cattle and non-adult buffalo/beefalo.

The over 400 pound category will be split into 2 categories, 400 to 799 pounds and 800 pounds or more. This change will ensure that the assigned market values for non-adult beef cattle, non-adult dairy cattle and non-adult buffalo/beefalo over 400 pounds reflect the statutory requirement for the payment to be 75 percent of the market value for the livestock.

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Consortium offers information on DNA testing and selection

Consortium offers information on DNA testing and selection

John Maday

Drovers

DNA testing and marker-based selection are some of the most rapidly evolving and potentially important new technologies in livestock production, and the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium has compiled a list of information resources.

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Towards greener grazing

Towards greener grazing

Emissions from cattle and sheep are significant contributors to planetary warming. But how close are we to creating low-emitting livestock? Kevin Morrison reports.

A herd of cattle grazing lazily in the pasture is a common portrayal of the countryside, but underlying this seemingly innocent scene is a more sinister story of belching bovines adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

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Organic Beef 2.0: the Greenest Cow, Perhaps?

Organic Beef 2.0: the Greenest Cow, Perhaps?

PR.com

The Spanish never dreamed that, centuries later, they would play a role in two different kinds of revolutions. Owing to changing climate and palates, the Conquistadores are directly involved in both the grass-fed and the sustainable ranching revolutions in the beef industry. USDA scientist Ed Fredrickson believes Criollo cattle, brought to the new World by Spanish explorers more than 400 years ago, will provide a viable alternative for modern ranchers faced with these multiple challenges.

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Cattle Health and Husbandry Experts Promote Cattle Well-Being

Cattle Health and Husbandry Experts Promote Cattle Well-Being

Oregon Natural Resource Report

Leaders from academia and the beef industry are announcing the formation of an independent advisory group to focus on beef cattle health and well-being. The North American Food Animal Well-being Commission for Beef (NAFAWC-Beef)—which includes world-renowned experts in animal well-being—will advocate for increased research funding for animal well-being, facilitate the communication of research results in a more timely manner, advance best management practices in cattle health and welfare, and serve as an unbiased, science- and production- based group to address concerns about animal well-being.

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