Video Feature: Drovers’ TV 4-6-2010

A discussion on cattle feeding and beef quality assurance, What to look for to make cow herds more efficient, Monitoring feed intake for selection and detecting health problems early.

The Changing Face of the Animal Health Industry

The Changing Face of the Animal Health Industry

Troy Smith

Angus Beef Business

What is it with the animal health industry? Just about the time livestock producers think they have a handle on product names and their suppliers, things change. A manufacturer combines with another to expand its product line, or one company buys out a competitor. Mergers and acquisitions seem to occur at an increasing rate. It gets confusing.

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Steve Cornett: Ban Toyotas?

Steve Cornett:  Ban Toyotas?

Beef Today

Steve Fogelsong, president this year of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and I were talking about the latest intramural checkoff squabble when he said,  a bit gruffly I must admit, “There are a hundred more important things I’d rather we were talking about than this infighting.”

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Are You Ready For An Agriculture Emergency?

Are You Ready For An Agriculture Emergency?

Bovine Veterinarian

The 2007 Ag Census from the USDA indicated that there were 656,475 operations specializing in beef cattle ranching and farming, and 31,065 cattle feedlots, for a total of 687,540 beef operations. In 2007, there also were 57,318 farms in the United States that specialized in dairy cattle and milk production.

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Timed Breeding of Cow Herd Saves Labor, Improves Genetics, Says Missouri Beef Specialist

Timed Breeding of Cow Herd Saves Labor, Improves Genetics, Says Missouri Beef Specialist

Extension.org

The first question was easy after a talk at the Cooper County Cattlemen’s Association meeting. “You mean that if I have a job in town, I can breed all of my cows on one day?”

“Yes,” said David Patterson, University of Missouri Extension beef specialist. Cattle producers can artificially inseminate all of their cows in a single morning. Producer also can pick the day, such as a day off work.

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Iowa Congressman Informs 4-H Leaders of Real Agenda of HSUS

Iowa Congressman Informs 4-H Leaders of Real Agenda of HSUS

AgriMarketing

Congressman Steve King (R-IA) today released a statement objecting to the presence of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) at a recent National 4-H Conference. King’s purpose is to inform 4-H leaders and members of the extreme anti-animal agriculture agenda of HSUS.

"The Humane Society of the United States is a political machine masquerading as an umbrella organization for local humane societies," King said.

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National Organic Program’s New Organic Standards Exempt Beef Cattle from Pasture

National Organic Program’s New Organic Standards Exempt Beef Cattle from Pasture

Meat Trade Daily

Should organic ruminants such as a dairy cows and beef cattle—which have evolved to eat grass—be permitted to be kept in feedlots or should they be required by USDA organic regulations to obtain at least a portion of their feed directly from pasture?

According to the USDA’s new organic pasture rule, released in February 2010, pasture grazing is required in organic dairy production, but organic beef cattle may be exempt from obtaining any of their feed from pasture during the last four months of their lives.

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The Truth About Grass-Fed Beef

The Truth About Grass-Fed Beef

Allison Aubrey

WBUR

What’s old is new again. Across the U.S. farmers are turning back to a traditional method of cattle raising: Feeding cows on grassy pastures instead of troughs filled with corn. A decade ago, there were only about 50 grass-fed operations left in the United States. Now, there are thousands and the numbers are growing.

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Going Above and Beyond

Going Above and Beyond

Sara Gugelmeyer

Hereford World

Tennesse Livestock Producers is recognized for commitment to marketing Hereford feeder cattle.

“I feel like a turtle on a fence post; I’m up there where everybody can see, but somebody had to help me get up there.” — Darrell Ailshie

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Japan stands firm on mad-cow related beef-import restrictions

Japan stands firm on mad-cow related beef-import restrictions

Jae Hur and Ichiro Suzuki

The Wichita Eagle

Japan’s position on restricting U.S. beef imports following the discovery of mad cow disease in the country in 2003 hasn’t changed, a minister said, after the countries agreed today to continue talks on the issue.

"At the moment, unfortunately, there’s some distance between Japan and the U.S., like a parallel line," Japan’s Agriculture Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu told reporters after a meeting with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Tokyo Thursday. "To overcome this difference, there is no objection to continued dialogue," Akamatsu said.

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Livestock conference coming to Roseburg

Livestock conference coming to Roseburg

The News-Review

Beef quality, marketing, mineral nutrition and new forages will be the focus of several presentations that will be given during the Spring Livestock Conference that is scheduled for April 17 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

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Kansas working to include ag in emergency plans

Kansas working to include ag in emergency plans

Southwest Farm Press

When it comes to emergency management in the United States, agriculture has been a relative newcomer to the table. But efforts are under way to bring agriculture into emergency plans – right down to the county level.

When it comes to emergency management in the United States, agriculture has been a relative newcomer to the table. But efforts are under way to bring agriculture into emergency plans – right down to the county level.

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14.6 Percent of Bulls Didn’t Make the Grade at Soundness Clinics

14.6 Percent of Bulls Didn’t Make the Grade at Soundness Clinics

University of Missouri

Bull breeding soundness clinics were held in southwest Missouri during mid-March. The results show that 18 of the 123 bulls (14.6 percent) didn’t make a minimum score good enough to qualify as a satisfactory potential breeder.

"This is a higher rate than the average of the last 7 clinics dating back to 2005. That average is 10.3 percent," said Eldon Cole, a livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension.

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AG Organizations Unite to Protect Missourians’ Right to Raise Animals

AG Organizations Unite to Protect Missourians’ Right to Raise Animals

AgriMarketing

Agricultural organizations throughout the state have banded together in support of legislation to protect Missourians’ rights to raise animals.

Missourians for Animal Care, a diverse coalition representing farm and ranch families, veterinarians, pet breeders and agricultural input suppliers, is working with legislators to advance a constitutional amendment to present to voters defending the rights of animal owners in the state.

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Have we got it right on meat and greenhouse gas emissions?

Have we got it right on meat and greenhouse gas emissions?

Tom Levitt

The Ecologist

Analysis showing lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with intensive livestock production could pose a challenge to our views on best farming practice

When it comes to livestock, meat production and climate change the dominating argument amongst environmentalists has been that intensive, factory-style farming is bad for animal welfare and has a bigger negative environmental impact than extensive alternatives.

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