Ranchers Trump Politicians and Activists When it Comes to Cattle Care
Joe Parker, Jr.
The Cattleman
If history is any indicator, then we can be sure of one thing — when the government gets too involved, the problem usually gets worse. Flip through pages of history and you’ll see examples of this time and time again.
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Hydraulic chute/tilt table a great investment
Geni Wren
Bovine Veterinarian Magazine
At the Beard-Navasota Veterinary Hospital in Navasota, Texas, investing back into the practice and in technology has paid off.
One of the most used pieces of equipment has been a hydraulic chute/tilt table used in the haul-in facilities at the practice.
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Apply Simple Concepts to Improve Decision Making
Dr. Jane Parish
Cattle Today
Most cattle producers strive to make good decisions on their operations. Many seek out information, formal or informal education, and advice from trusted sources in attempts to improve decision making.
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Forage quality vs. forage yield
Rick Rasby
Angus Journal
Volatility in the cow-calf industry continues to be a challenge for producers. Although cow-calf producers seem to be in the driver’s seat as a result of low beef cow inventory, overbuilt bunk space in the feedyard and good demand, their annual cow costs continue to rise.
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BeefTalk: Tough Decisions But Cattle Must Pay for Themselves
Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service
The weather continues to make life interesting. I am tempted to say the weather makes life difficult. If that were true, life always would be difficult because, as long as the Earth spins and continues its rotation around the sun, the weather never will be uninteresting or constant.
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Dead Cattle, Devastation in Wake of Western Fires
Flathead Beacon
Cecil and Delores Kolka thought they escaped the worst of the Ash Creek Fire when the 390-square-mile blaze spared their home and several pastures as it ripped through the couple’s Montana cattle ranch.
But when the family went to round up their livestock they encountered carnage — the charred and bloated bodies of an estimated 400 cows and calves killed as the fire torched a series of narrow, thickly forested draws on the nearby Custer National Forest.
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Industry beef with USDA’s ‘Meatless Monday’ puts plan in cold storage
DAVID GOLDSTEIN
Wichita Eagle
Imagine the Department of Education pushing an idea called "Teacherless Tuesday," or the Department of Homeland Security suggesting "Fenceless Friday." The Department of Agriculture, promoter of all things edible, had a plan this week in an in-house newsletter to promote "Meatless Mondays" in the vast bureaucracy’s employee cafeterias.
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Cowards: USDA reneges on support for Meatless Monday
Daily Kos
Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.
. . . You are seeing the last gasps of an industry that is clearly on the brink of extinction. There is no way that our carbon intense/resource intense meat eating habit can carry on into our population stretched, climate challenged future. It’s just too bad that the USDA doesn’t have the cojones to face the inevitable.
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Smaller cattle may fit future better
Calvin Daniels
Yorkton This Week
Sometimes a common theme seems to pop up and take over at times in terms of writing a column on a sector for some 20-plus years, and this month it seems to be the changing view of the optimum size of cattle.
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Bos Indicus Cross Boasts Carcass Quality
Larry Stalcup
Beef
The common rap on Bos indicusis they can’t grade, but Pine Ridge Ranch claims its cross not only provides heat tolerance but provides tender carcasses at 85% Choice, with no Yield Grade 4s and 5s.
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Beef: Grass-fed vs. corn-fed
Sarah Baker Hansen
Omaha World Herald
My grass-fed cow didn’t have a name.
It wasn’t my pet. I never touched it, never fed it, never got within ten steps of it. I knew what the cow looked like, but I didn’t know it.
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When it comes to what to do with damaged crops covered by crop insurance, if in doubt, please ask!
mycattle.com
. . . chopping off nearly dead corn fields for silage/stover just to make a little feed for cattle will be considered as harvesting a crop. The value of that silage/stover will then be deducted from the potential payout from any crop insurance on that farm’s field.
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Pregnancy Checking Your Cows Saves Money
Heather Smith Thomas
Cattle Today
Most beef producers routinely have their cows checked for pregnancy after the breeding season. This is an effective tool to help determine which cows to keep and which ones to sell.
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How & What Will We Feed Cattle?
Troy Smith
Angus Journal
People known to be deep-thinkers are pondering the future of cattle feeding. It’s a risky business, and anyone anticipating long-term involvement has to be thinking about the sustainability of cattle feeding. Of course, the industry as we know it is a product of evolution.
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Vilsack Releases CRP Land Almost Nationwide
Southern Livestock Standard
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack yesterday announced that virtually all farmland enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program has been released for haying and grazing by livestock farmers.
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House Passes Youth Labor Legislation
Beef Today
The Obama Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) withdrew its proposed rule regarding youth in agriculture on April 26, 2012, but some felt that wasn’t enough to provide certainty to the agriculture community.
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Nebraska Cattlemen Struggling with 2012 Drought Conditions
Oklahoma Farm Report
Nebraska Cattlemen Struggling with 2012 Drought Conditions After the southern plains was ravaged by drought in 2011, similar stories that were unfolding last year in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and southern Kansas are happening to the north and east of the 2011 drought epicenter.
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Haying, ensiling immature corn poses challenges
North Dakota State University
Some North Dakota producers may be faced with having to use their corn, sunflower, wheat, barley, oat or other crops for hay, grazing or silage because of this year’s drought conditions.
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Drought Causing Problems for Livestock
Joseph St. George
KWQC
The drought that has plagued much of the country is now affecting farmers in ways beyond crops.
For livestock farmers, the warm conditions are effecting how much cattle eat.
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USDA Withdraws Meatless Monday Support
Joe Roybal
BEEF
Following a whirlwind of afternoon activity on social media generated by an internal USDA newsletter advocating support for Meatless Monday, USDA disavowed on Wednesday afternoon, claiming that the item had not undergone proper approval.
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