Cattle Health: Livestock Drinking Water Quality

Cattle Health: Livestock Drinking Water Quality

Cattlenetwork.com

Some of Oklahoma received some much needed rain, and summer has arrived. There are still many areas of Oklahoma that did not get enough runoff water to adequately fill the stock ponds. Many producers will be forced to move cattle looking for forage and water. When drought causes a great reduction in surface water available in farm ponds, the issue of quality becomes nearly as important as quantity of water available.

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Why Test for Cattle Persistently Infected With Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Why Test for Cattle Persistently Infected With Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Cattlenetwork.com

PI and BVDV. By now, most cattle producers have at least heard these “buzz words.” If you’ve picked up just about any trade publication, been to an industry meeting or talked to a Noble Foundation livestock specialist, you’ve probably seen or heard the terms before – persistently infected (PI) bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV). Yet, there are still some who have not received, or don’t fully comprehend, the message.

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Anthrax vaccines recommended

Anthrax vaccines recommended

Pierre Argus Leader

PIERRE – Reports of cattle dying of anthrax in neighboring states have prompted South Dakota state Veterinarian Sam Holland to recommend that cattle be vaccinated against the disease.

Two cattle have died of anthrax in south-central North Dakota. The herd near Linton now is quarantined.

Holland said with recent cattle losses in North Dakota and Minnesota, South Dakota farmers and ranchers should get their cattle vaccinated soon.

Anthrax shots should be part of an annual vaccination program for cattle, he said.

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Drought brings new problems for livestock

Drought brings new problems for livestock

By ERIC ZIMMERMAN
Eagle Columnist (TX)

Drought creates many negative aspects for cattle and hay producers. Warm-season annual grasses, such as forage sorghums, sorghum-sudan hybrids (haygrazer types) and various millets can also accumulate nitrates to a toxic level for cattle during periods of dry weather.

Typical nitrate accumulation occurs with excessive N fertilization followed by a period of drought; however, toxic levels of nitrates have been observed in warm-season annual grasses with as little as 50 pounds of N/ac under drought conditions.

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Mooooooving to grass-fed

Mooooooving to grass-fed

Beef that comes from such animals is thought to have health benefits because the cattle are not fed a diet of grain
By Julie Lynem
San Luis Obispo Tribune

At Fair Oaks Ranch, jet-black cattle roam among tall grasses, grazing the 1,200-acre Paso Robles property. The Angus herd rotates through clean, fresh pastures, feasting on Italian rye, clovers, New Zealand chicory and native grasses such as wild oats and filaree. After 18 months, the animals are taken off the pastures, loaded up and shipped to a U.S. Department of Agriculture facility in Creston for harvest.

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US slow to implementU.S. slow to implement cattle-tracking system

U.S. slow to implement cattle-tracking system

BY STEVE STECKLOW THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/158755/

When the first U. S. case of mad-cow disease was discovered in December 2003, then-Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman pledged to hasten creation of a national identification system for tracing livestock quickly during a disease outbreak. She said she asked the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s chief information officer “to make it his top priority.”

Today, more than two years later, the U. S. still has no national ID system for most farm animals, including chickens and beef cattle.

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Angus Show Means ‘More Than Cattle’

Angus Show Means ‘More Than Cattle’

Posted 2006-06-26
By Tom Mitchell
Daily News Record (VA)

Cole Kaufman sat near his cow’s stall anxiously awaiting the start of Friday’s Showmanship round of the Eastern Regional Junior Angus Show.

In the six months since Cole bought the animal from his father, Jeff, the now 900-pound black-and-white Angus heifer that Cole informally calls ‘Oreo’ has almost tripled in weight.

Cole, 11, hoped that judges at this past weekend’s event at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds also would appreciate Oreo’s filling. After all, Cole had logged enough time with his creature.

“I’ve spent about two hours a day, and more since we got out of school,” said Cole, a rising sixth grader at Staunton’s Beverly Manor Middle School.

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Ohio farmers seek to preserve dwindling breeds

Ohio farmers seek to preserve dwindling breeds

Boston Globe

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio –Farmers in west central Ohio are hoping to preserve some breeds of livestock considered endangered by conservationists.

Jerome Kingery has milking Devon cows along with Leicester longwool sheep, Narragansett turkeys, Nankin bantam chickens and Dominique chickens on his farm north of Yellow Springs.

Outside Fort Laramie, Leroy Meyer grazes about a dozen Dutch belted cows among his 60-cow herd.

Both breeds of cattle are considered critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The nonprofit group based in Pittsboro, N.C., seeks to protect livestock and poultry from extinction.

The ranking, the group’s most serious in the livestock category, means there are fewer than 200 of the breed registered in the United States each year and it’s estimated that fewer than 2,000 exist worldwide.

The Leicester longwool sheep and Narragansett turkeys are considered threatened, a ranking just below critical and the Dominique chicken is on a watch list.

“A lot of these breeds represent the breeds that founded our country,” said Don Schrider, a conservancy spokesman.

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August Estate PlanniAugust Estate Planning Seminar can help keep the ranch in the family

August Estate Planning Seminar can help keep the ranch in the family

North Texas e-news
By Tim W. McAlavy, Texas A&M University
Jun 26, 2006

COLLEGE STATION – Ranchers can learn how to reduce their taxes and make effective estate planning decisions by attending an estate planning seminar scheduled for Aug. 9-10 at the College Station Conference Center, 1300 George Bush Drive.

This event will be held in conjunction with the Texas A&M University Annual Beef Cattle Short Course, slated for Aug. 7-9.

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Source- and age-verified replacements are hard to find

Source- and age-verified replacements are hard to find
By Kris Ringwall
NDSU Extension Service
Grand Forks Hearld

DICKINSON, N.D. – The search is on, but one might say, “So what?” The search is for heifers that are verifiable for source and age. There always is a need and one would say there always is a sale ready to be made, but the reality of finding heifers in the spring that are source-and age-verified is difficult.

Through the years, the North Dakota State University Dickinson Research Extension Center has gone searching for heifers. Heifer shopping in the fall is not very difficult. Generally, a set or two of heifers are found that qualify for the center’s needs. The heifers have a documented birth date and source to qualify to fit the center’s needs.

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Beef herd growing quickly in state

Beef herd growing quickly in state
Rusty Evans
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle (TN)

Statistics for the state’s beef industry in 2005 are in, and experts say they paint a rosy picture for the state’s beef cattle industry.

In 2005 the inventory of cattle and calves in Tennessee grew to 2,240,000 head, a 3 percent increase, while the nation’s cattle herd increased only by 1.7 percent. Tennessee’s herd ranks 14th in the nation.

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