Don’t vary routes of administration
Geni Wren
Bovine Veterinarian
Physicians are known for their oath of “first, do no harm” to their patients. Though this is not in the veterinary oath, these words should be taken to heart, especially regarding the administration of drugs.
Using unapproved routes of administration in food animals can lead to ineffectiveness of the drug, residue violations, injection site reactions, food safety and quality issues and illness or death in the animal.
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What is JBS Thinking?
Steve Cornett
Beef Today
What can JBS be thinking, trying to buy Pilgrim’s Pride?
Don’t they know the Obama Administration’s trust-busters have been sitting there waiting for just such a nice, fat dove to land on the fence wire so they could display their marksmanship to their fellow populists ?
Not that I don’t feel for the Pilgrim’s folks in bankruptcy. I always thought Mr. Pilgrim was a nice guy, even if he is from the fowl industry.
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Heterosis—Ignored or Forgotten
Dr. David Daley, California State University-Chico, Chico, CA
SimTalk
So why are we still talking about heterosis? I remember attending a cattlemen’s meeting in 1967, in Bangor, California (population of 194!) when I was nine years old. Our Farm Advisor gave this very clear, simplistic report on crossbreeding — and the data was irrefutable.
Crossbreeding generated economic returns for commercial beef producers. The following spring, my Dad purchased the first Angus bulls to be used on a herd that ran very heavy to Hereford, with a smattering of “Durham” (Shorthorn) influence. It was not necessarily a popular decision with all of the neighbors!
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Add pounds to calves with timely vaccinations, de-worming
By David Barz, D.V.M.,
Livestock Roundup
I think I set a record! This is the first year in the 35-plus years I’ve lived in South Dakota that I have had to mow my lawn every week.
Usually by the Fourth of July my mower sits idle until fall when I use it to rake leaves. Not only did the rains make more work for me, but it really produced an abundance of pasture grass.
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In the Genes of a Hereford, the Essence of Cow
DENISE GRADY
New York Times
Scientists have achieved what they describe as a major milestone in animal genetics: decoding the genome of the cow.
The findings provide “tantalizing clues to explain ‘the essence of bovinity,’ ” according to an essay in the journal Science, which is publishing several articles on the work.
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Pedigree…what’s it mean to you?
Pat Goggins
Western AG Reporter-9/4/2009
Before you can consider answering that, you have to consider usage, don’t you? In the cattle business, whether you are a commercial or registered breeder, you are paying attention to the EPDs and performance background along with the history of that pedigree. You study that, and it helps you make your decision on usage .
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10 Keys to a Profitable Herd
Bill Barksdale
DTN/Progressive Farmer
Don Hubbell leans hard on a soil probe, forcing it into the stubborn ground of his Ozarks pasture. He withdraws the instrument, deposits its contents in a bucket, then moves to other spots and repeats the process nearly a hundred times.
Taking soil samples isn’t particularly stimulating. But it’s a key step in maintaining herd profitability, says Hubbell, who runs about 40 beef cows on 95 acres of grassland near Bethesda, in northeast Arkansas.
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Lower Beef Cow Harvest Expected
Angus Update
U.S. beef cow harvest seasonally increases into the fall as individual producers make an economic decision as to which animals they will carry over the winter months in order to have a calf the following spring. The decision is informed in part by the current profitability of the operation, expectations for calf prices in the future, as well as expectations for input costs and, therefore, future expected margins.
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Q&A: Will cows eat edible bean straw, and what feed value would this have?
Dr. Jerry Volesky, Associate Professor of Agronomy, University of Nebraska
A: Not much information on edible bean straw.
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Virginia Simmental Field Day Scheduled for October 7
Dr. Scott Greiner, Extension Animal Scientist, VA Tech
The historic Stuart Land and Cattle Company will host the Virginia Simmental Field Day on October 7, 2009 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Stuart Land and Cattle, located in Rosedale has been operated by the same family for 235 years and is the longest continuously running cattle operation in the United States.
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Climate Change Report Published
Hoosier AG Today
A study published in the online version of the journal Science says human-generated greenhouse gas emissions have helped reverse a 2-thousand year trend of cooling in the Arctic, prompting warmer average temperatures in the past decade that now rank higher than at any time since 1 B.C. One of the report’s co-authors, David Schneider, a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, says, "It‘s basically saying greenhouse gas emissions are overwhelming the system."
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JBS Versus JDB?
John Harrington, DTN Analyst
Brazilian beef giant JBS SA is set to announce as soon as next week the acquisition of Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. for a price of roughly $2.5 billion, say people familiar with the matter. The deal would pull the second-largest chicken company in the U.S. out of bankruptcy court and shake up the global meat business.
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Carcass Merit in the Real World
Sean McGrath, P.Ag.
Walter& Associates, LLC
While most primary beef producers still market their product as live cattle, rather than as beef the connection between beef demand and live cattle prices is inherently obvious. More cattle are now being source verified, direct marketed or owned through the feeding process.
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Stretch pasture while capturing cull cow value
Justin Sexten, Extension Specialist, Animal Systems/Beef
As cool season pastures begin to slump and isolated showers get more isolated, producers begin to consider methods of stretching forage resources. Extending pastures is accomplished in one of two ways: grow more forage or decrease stocking rates. Since the planting window for summer annual pastures has passed and moisture is scarce, growing more forage will be difficult. However, decreasing stocking rates can be accomplished while improving market opportunities of cull cows.
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Weaning with a plan
Miranda Reiman
Children starting school are a lot like calves getting weaned. Each individual is different. For some, the experience is more stressful than for others, but careful preparation by their caretakers can help make the whole experience much more productive. “Producers need to plan way ahead of the time period when they will start weaning, while also paying attention to their calves throughout the production system,” says Max Irsik, Extension veterinarian at the University of Florida. Watching indicators like the cow condition, range quality and general calf health can help producers decide on the best time to wean.
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