Video Feature: Shortening the Breeding Season

Video Feature:  Shortening the Breeding Season

Beef producers should consider shortening the breeding season for their herd. A shorter breeding season can simplify management and improve returns.

Tag Programs Offer Market Flexibility for Cattle Producers

Tag Programs Offer Market Flexibility for Cattle Producers

Clifford Mitchell

Cattle Today

The Olympics provide a good look into what it means to be unified and, at the same time, the freedom for athletes to rise above their countrymen. During the opening ceremonies, all the countries are unified under the flag creating a symbol for its athletes. For each competition, individual athletes can distinguish themselves with their achievement.

Full Story

BeefTalk: Source and Age Verification, Ouch!

BeefTalk: Source and Age Verification, Ouch!

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

By placing value on the calf and the accompanying data, the cattle industry has gone the next step in the world of product marketing.

Source and age verification has a bite to it. As producers, many of the management discussions are relatively painless. The discussion is free and opinions often are welcomed. Sometimes a particular view of a subject can change when other opinions are brought to the table.

Full Story

Reviving US feedlots ‘make grab for cattle’

Reviving US feedlots ‘make grab for cattle’

Agrimoney.com

Feedlot operators, boosted by a revival in profitability, last month bought up more than 1.9m cattle  to fatten up for slaughter in a bid to cash in on a booming beef market.

Official data due on Friday will show the number of cattle placed on US feedlots rising last month by 6.6%, or about 120,000 head, compared with March last year, analysts believe.

Full Story

MSU Studied Food Versus Fuel Debate

MSU Studied Food Versus Fuel Debate

KNEB

Michigan State University scientists have waded into the food versus fuel debate. After poring over 17 years’ worth of data, they have concluded that using productive farmland to grow crops for food instead of fuel is more energy efficient.

Full Story

Carnivorous Climate Skeptics in the Media

Carnivorous Climate Skeptics in the Media

James McWilliams

The Atlantic

Earlier this month, the food news cycle took a spin for the better for carnivores concerned with the environmental impact of their diet. Fox News and the Washington Times offered the brightest rays of hope, introducing stories with the headlines "Eat Less Meat, Reduce Global Warming—Or Not" and "Meat, dairy diet not tied to global warming."

Full Story

Cattle Raisers to host ranch gathering at historic Matador Ranch May 13

Cattle Raisers to host ranch gathering at historic Matador Ranch May 13

North Texas e-News

Fort Worth, Texas – Come join the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) for a ranch gathering on Thursday, May 13 at the Matador Ranch in Matador, Texas.  The gathering will begin at 5:30 p.m. with registration followed by a free beef dinner and presentations.

Full Story

May is Beef Month

May is Beef Month

Cherokee Chronicle Times

Whether it’s the All-American hamburger or a thick steak fired up on the grill, Iowans have a love affair with beef. And with the coming season of outdoor activities and backyard barbecues, that relationship grows even stronger. In honor of this, May has been declared "Beef Month" in Iowa.

Full Story

Agri Star committed to buying quality cattle

Agri Star committed to buying quality cattle

Jean Caspers-Simmet

AgriNews

The opening of Agri Star Meat and Poultry’s beef line is good news for Iowa’s cattle industry and the state’s economy, said Bruce Berven, executive director of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association.

"Thank-you for investing in the future of Iowa’s cattle industry," Berven told Agri Star CEO Hershey Friedman at a Statehouse news conference last week to announce the changes at the Postville plant.

Full Story

Beef industry fights hunger

Beef industry fights hunger

CAROL RYAN DUMAS

Capital Press

Idaho’s beef industry has united to help feed more than 110,000 Idaho children, families and senior citizens each month.

Members of the Beef Counts group, which include Agri Beef Co., Idaho Beef Council, Idaho Cattle Association and Idaho CattleWomen Council, will distribute the meat through the Idaho Foodbank.

Full Story

Bison becoming the other red meat

Bison becoming the other red meat

Vail Daily

Bison ranchers are enjoying a rebound in market prices prompted by growing consumer awareness of the alternative red meat. Still tiny in comparison with the beef industry, bison shows signs of a sustainable-growth curve after surviving a market free fall that left producers near extinction over the past decade.

Full Story

Growing herds need more feed

Growing herds need more feed

Delta Farm Press

Cattle and hog herds are increasing. Cattle placed on feed increased to the highest level in 2 years.

Cattle prices are up $5. Livestock herds are still low but feed demand is increasing as herds size grows. Beef exports for February were 28 percent larger than last year. Pork exports during February were 6 percent above last year. Broiler chick placements were 4 percent above a year ago.

Demand for soy meal, corn, wheat and cotton seed meal is growing.

Full Story

Delaware Valley College to hold its 62nd annual A-Day celebration

Delaware Valley College to hold its 62nd annual A-Day celebration

Margie King

Philadelphia Nutrition Examiner

Delaware Valley College in Doylestown will hold its 62nd annual A-Day celebration on Friday, April 23rd through Sunday, April 25th on its campus. The “A” in A-Day originally stood for agriculture but today stands for activity.

Full Story

In Wayne’s own words: Put farmers out of business

In Wayne’s own words: Put farmers out of business

ANDY VANCE

Times Gazette

Sun-Tsu, the legendary military strategist so often co-opted into ’80s business reading material, built his strategy around the basic premise that you must know your enemy to truly defeat him. For that reason, and to keep my blood pressure from ever dipping into the "normal" range, I read Wayne Pacelle’s blog.  

Full Story

Beer is good for the environment

Beer is good for the environment

Paul Hamaker

Examiner.com

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have determined that hops in cattle feed improves the quality of beef and reduces environmental impact of cattle farming. The research was published in Current Microbiology.

Hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria, (HABs) in the cows digestive system produce ammonia. The ammonia breaks down amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of the proteins that make meat (cow flesh).

Full Story