Dr. Tamilee Nennich, Purdue Animal Science Department, explains the economic impact, as well as, the signs to watch for when dealing with mycotoxin contaminated feed.
Dr. Tamilee Nennich, Purdue Animal Science Department, explains the economic impact, as well as, the signs to watch for when dealing with mycotoxin contaminated feed.
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Culling Cows
Darrell Rankins, Ph.D., Alabama Cooperative Extension System Animal Scientist
SimTalk
Before any cows can be culled from the herd, a minimum level of performance that a cow must meet to remain the herd must be established. These levels may be different from one herd to the next depending on whether the herd is expanding, shrinking or remaining constant in numbers.
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Right Harvest System, Storage, Feeding Plan Count When Feeding Hay
Boyd Kidwell
Progressive Farmer/DTN
Winter feed is probably your biggest expense in the cow/calf business. And if you’re like most cattlemen, winter feeding means hay—and plenty of it. Today, hay costs to winter a beef cow average $275 to $350.
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Waste not, want not: Companies find uses for leftover animal parts
Greg Latshaw
USA Today
A growing number of companies are turning their attention to creating renewable products — such as adhesives and plastics — from the animal parts that can’t be sold on supermarket shelves.
From plastics made from feather protein to diesel fuel made from fat to organic fertilizer made from poultry litter, the USA’s top meat producers are developing new uses and markets for the animal parts that humans won’t eat, says Tom Cook, president of the National Renderers Association in Alexandria, Va.
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Understanding the BRD Complex
Lori Maude
Southern Livestock Standard
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is an infectious disease complex and one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in stocker and feedlot operations. Understanding the many factors that contribute to the BRD complex is an important step for producers to take in managing the disease. When BRD hits, a perfect storm of stress factors, virus agents and bacteria are at play in the animal’s respiratory system.
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Protect Your Herd From Vaccine Failures
Dan Goehl
Beef Today
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD or pneumonia) remains one of the primary infectious diseases in cattle. Advances in technology have greatly enhanced the quality of vaccines and antibiotics available for prevention and treatment of BRD.
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Mycotoxins and Reproduction
By Don Lamb, Director of Sales, Feed Division, All-West/Select Sires Inc.
Feeds containing mold-produced spores are a growing concern for dairy producers. Mold spores reduce the nutrient quality of grain and produce secondary metabolites, known as mycotoxins. These poisons affect the digestive, immune and reproductive functions of the dairy cow and can allow other diseases to invade from an already depleted immune system.
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Bovine Connection Program
Samantha Mehrotra
KFYR
Cattle producers looking to improve their bottom line may want to consider attending next week`s bovine connection to profit program.
The symposium will feature representatives from the beef cattle industry, speaking on the latest research, new marketing techniques, grazing practices, and other challenges facing producers today.
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EPA’s tightened dust rule proposal worries cattlemen
JERRY LACKEY
Abilene Reporter-News
There are an unbelievable number of issues confronting not only the cattle business right now, but agriculture as a whole, says Colin Woodall, vice president of government affairs for National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in Washington, D.C., but one of the biggest concerns is the Environmental Protection Agency’s dust rule.
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Black Ink – The top line
Steve Suther
The Fence Post
If Wal-Mart were in the cattle business, it would probably serve as an operating definition of “least-cost producer.” People might refer to its cowherd enterprise as the model for slashing expenses.
That’s the way to make more money in this margin business, isn’t it? The simple economic equation is income minus expenses equals profit, so it’s only natural to want to shrink fixed costs. But it might pay to give some thought to the top line.
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Farmers provide for us, protect our Earth
Indianapolis Star
With everyone adding his two cents about how food is raised these days, it’s important that people hear that story from the people who actually do the raising — America’s farmers and ranchers. They are proud of the role they play in raising food.
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The 12 C’s of Climate Alarmism
Paul Chesser
The American Spectator
Today’s report about political developments surrounding the global warming issue is brought to you by the letter "C."
C is for "cattle." The wiggly warming advocates say we’re supposed to stop eating beef because they produce so much methane, which is an even stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.
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Aflatoxin Most Problematic of the Mycotoxins
Stephen B. Blezinger, Ph.D., PAS
Cattle Today
Part 2
In part 1 of this series we began a discussion on the effects of mycotoxins in beef cattle. To review, remember that mycotoxins are chemical agents (toxins) produced by a wide variety of naturally existing fungi. The word mycotoxin comes from “myco” which refers to fungi and the metabolites it may produce that are toxic to other organisms.
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Suit seeks to stop grazing along Upper Missouri
Billings Gazette
A push to end grazing along a 150-mile stretch of the Missouri River would bar about 10,000 cattle from federal lands in central Montana so that the river valley can be restored to more natural conditions.
An Idaho-based environmental group and two Fort Benton canoe outfitters filed a federal lawsuit Friday seeking to revoke grazing permits in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument and force an environmental review by the federal Bureau of Land Management.
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New Web Tool Calculates the Cost of Feed Rations
University of Illinois
Cost of feeding the animal is by far the most expensive part of dairy and livestock production. Historically the list of feedstuffs available to feed animals has been fairly constant (grain, forages and protein supplements). However, with the advent of the ethanol industry and the further processing of grain, the co-products resulting from these processes has opened up a whole new area of feed sources.
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