Video Feature: Understanding Feed Labels

Producers need to understand the information provided on feed labels if they are tomake informed buying decisions. To assist in understanding the information provided on feed tags, each item will bebriefly discussed.

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Keep track of moldy corn issues this fall

Keep track of moldy corn issues this fall

Russ Daly

Farm Forum

 Dry weather – thankfully – has returned to the region, allowing some “catch-up” for the soybean and corn harvests.  The cool wet weather we had through October has had important implications for the corn crop.  Conditions have been favorable for mold formation on corn ears, and in some cases, stalks, leaves, and husks as well.  Early indications are that a great percentage of the corn crop has been affected-not just in South Dakota, but across the Corn Belt.

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Beef Production in the New Era Do the Old Rules Apply?

Beef Production in the New Era Do the Old Rules Apply?

Dr. John D. Lawrence, Iowa State University

SimTalk

Genetic progress in multiple traits is difficult when the goal is clearly defined. It is even more difficult if the goal is a moving target due to changing consumer preferences or producer-cost structure. Commercial beef producers recognize that genetic decisions should be based on long- term profitability, but they live in a short-term world where profitabil- ity varies widely from year to year due to fluctuations in input and output prices.

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Winter Can Be Brutal, Costly Time of Year for Ranchers

Winter Can Be Brutal, Costly Time of Year for Ranchers

DTN

Del Deterling

Craig Bieber is prepared for the worst when he goes out to check his cows in the dead of winter. Ranching in Leola, a scant 15 miles south of the North Dakota-South Dakota border, Bieber is accustomed to 40-degree-below-zero wind chill factors and 3-foot-high snowdrifts

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Avery’s Take on Grain Feeding

Avery’s Take on Grain Feeding

Steve Cornett

Beef Today

Earlier this week, we took a look at the public perception plight of cattle feeders. Now Alex Avery, co-author of a significant study on the importance of modern agricultural practices, offers this clarification on the role of methane production in fed cattle.

He has a valid point, of course. Different feedstuffs digest differently and if we were to produce the same poundage of beef on grass as we do on grain, cattle would produce much more gas. Alas, that is not the real goal of the anti-beef lobby. They want less beef, period. Getting rid of feedyards is jus their idea of step one.

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Direct Marketing Beef: Pros and Cons, Do’s and Don’ts

Direct Marketing Beef: Pros and Cons, Do’s and Don’ts

C. J. Mucklow Robbie Baird LeValley, Colorado State University Colorado State University

Many ranchers are trying to direct market beef, including ranchers in western Colorado. Our experience with these ranchers and others is outlined in this presentation. There are many valid reasons to use direct marketing. One specifically is to supplement ranch income. Of course, there are also reasons not to direct market beef. Examples include: increased liability, low economic returns initially, and very time consuming.

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Agriculture credit crunch expected in 2010

Agriculture credit crunch expected in 2010

Mike McGinnis

The Cattle Business Weekly

As the Obama Administration and Congress create liquidity, encouraging financial institutions to get credit flowing, commercial banks and farm credit system regulators are aggressively working to mitigate risk.

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Cattle Breeding: Where Is Your Bull?

Cattle Breeding: Where Is Your Bull?

Clyde Lane Jr., Professor – Animal Science, University of Tennessee

cattlenetwork.com

Where is your bull? The breeding season was months ago and the next breeding season is months ahead. Still, the bull is a necessary evil that must be dealt with.

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Range Beef Cow Symposium XXI set for Dec. 1-3

Range Beef Cow Symposium XXI set for Dec. 1-3

The Fence Post

The 2009 Range Beef Cow Symposium is scheduled for Dec. 1-3 at the Casper Events Center in Casper, Wyo. It is sponsored by the University of Nebraska, University of Wyoming, South Dakota State University and Colorado State University.

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Where’s the beef? (Hint: Look in the dog dish)

Where’s the beef? (Hint: Look in the dog dish)

Kim Ode,

Star Tribune

Slowly but surely, grass-fed beef from the Thousand Hills Cattle Co. is becoming a familiar sight in groceries, co-ops, some of the Twin Cities’ top restaurants and even on school lunch trays. Its next destination may be your dog’s food dish.

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Brazilians must apply rules to export from massive farms

Brazilians must apply rules to export from massive farms

The Impartial Reporter

"On my first day I went to the herd of Jose Carlos Dornelles Berta, former President of the Charolais Cattle Society and for the last two years, he has won the Champion Charoliss award. He had 1800 ha of rice and soya and 500 ha of grassland. This is when I realized that walking onto a 60-acre farm was over for two weeks.

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UNL spreadsheet helps plan winter supplementation

UNL spreadsheet helps plan winter supplementation

The Fence Post

An online spreadsheet can help livestock producers choose economical winter supplements, said a University of Nebraska–Lincoln specialist.

Called the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator, the spreadsheet accounts not only for the cost of nutrients, but also for delivery cost, the cost of feeding the supplement and waste loss, said Aaron Stalker, Beef Range Systems Specialist at the West Central Research and Extension Center in North Platte. Producers can access the spreadsheet at http://agmanagerstools.com.

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Frost-Damaged Soybeans Can Be Fed to Cattle

Frost-Damaged Soybeans Can Be Fed to Cattle

Missouri Ruralist

Late-planted soybeans and early frost make for a bad combination. But before giving up on weather-damaged beans and taking a severe market discount, farmers should consider merchandising or utilizing them as beef cattle feed.

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Checklist for Providing Inside Information at Production Sales

Checklist for Providing Inside Information at Production Sales

Beef Today

Seedstock producers can help give their production sale a boost this spring by adding inside information from a comprehensive DNA profile to their offering. They can help add value to their cattle and set their sale apart from the competition while providing customers with as much information as possible on sale cattle.

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The little beef cattle that could

The little beef cattle that could

David Finlayson

Edmonton Journal

Lowline cattle originated in Australia from Canadian animals with a Scottish heritage.

Now the breed is gaining popularity here and animals are being sold back to the U.K.–an ironic twist not lost on Paul Gotaas.

"We had a couple of guys over here and they took some animals back with them, so it’s come full circle," said Gotaas, who runs 130 head with son Darrell at three locations in the Edmonton area under the Big Island Lowlines name.

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