Ag department urges cattle monitoring

Ag department urges cattle monitoring

The Greeley Tribune

The Colorado Department of Agriculture encourages cattle owners to monitor their herds for Bovine Trichomoniasis, a costly, yet preventable, infection that can affect dairy and beef cattle.

Bovine Trichomoniasis — trich — is a venereal disease of cattle caused by Trichomonas foetus. The T. foetus infection causes fertility problems, such as early embryonic death or abortion of the calf, and is asymptomatic in bulls. Infected bulls can infect cows during breeding season; the infection will clear in cows but there is no cure for infected bulls.

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Beef Management Tips

Beef Management Tips

Dr. John B. Hall, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, VA Tech

November Beef Management Calendar

Spring Calving Herds

    * SECURE ENTIRE WINTER FEED SUPPLY NOW

    * Body condition score cows and separate thin cows

    * Market calves at graded sales, telo-auction or as off-farm truckloads

    * Background calves for sale in December, if possible

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Cow falls 200 feet onto van; Michigan couple escape injury

Cow falls 200 feet onto van; Michigan couple escape injury

By Jaime Adame

Wenachee World

MANSON — A cow fell about 200 feet off a cliff Sunday and landed on the hood of a minivan passing by Rocky Point about one mile east of Manson, officials said.

Charles Everson, Jr. and his wife Linda escaped injury.

“It was just ‘bam’— you just saw something come down and hit the hood,” Charles Everson said this morning from his hotel room in Manson.

He and his wife are in the area from Westland, Mich., near Detroit, to celebrate their one-year anniversary, he said. They were on Highway 150 headed back to their hotel after attending a church service.

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Hay Buyers Want Quality At Auctions

Hay Buyers Want Quality At Auctions

E+Hay Weekley

Hay growers should focus on what ideal customers would want before selling their hay by auction, according to auction market experts. “Try to harvest at the quality that will be desired at the marketplace,” says Dan Martens, a University of Minnesota extension educator for Stearns, Benton and Morrison counties, who is based in Foley. “Try to get the hay put up in good physical condition. Aim for the best you can for quality parameters, such as good moisture content and the best relative feed value (RFV).” Since 2001, Martens has analyzed results of the Quality Tested Hay Auctions held in Sauk Centre. He says some people question whether auctions are accurate market indicators. He believes they give growers a read of what people are thinking.

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“Country Gold” And U.S. Beef Again Capture Japanese Consumers

“Country Gold” And U.S. Beef Again Capture Japanese Consumers

USMEF

U.S. beef was a big hit at the Country Gold Music Festival Oct. 20 in Kumamoto, Japan. A booth and cowboy-themed “restaurant” at the festival, was sponsored by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) and helped generate excitement about U.S. beef among more than 20,000 music fans at the show.

As it did last year, the USMEF booth proved to be one of the most popular destinations for consumers at the event, and provided more evidence that U.S. beef continues to be popular with many Japanese, according to Greg Hanes, USMEF Japan director. About 800 servings of U.S. ribeye roll, from 40 blocks of ribeye with a specially-formulated “rub” and slow-cooked in barbecue pits, sold out before the event was finished.

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In The Cattle Markets: The Big Keeps Getting Bigger

In The Cattle Markets: The Big Keeps Getting Bigger

Cattlenetwork.com

Federally inspected dressed weights for all cattle and steers set record highs recently.  For the week ending November 3, all cattle dressed weights averaged 794 pounds, 1.4% higher than last year and 4.0% higher than the five year average.  At 864 pounds for the week ending October 20, steer weights were 2.1% (or 20 pounds) heavier than last year and 4.2% higher than the five year average.  All cattle and steer weights have been increasing dramatically for the past twenty years (see graph) – around 5 pounds per year on average.

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Buyers Continue to be Selective

Buyers Continue to be Selective

MFA Health Track

I just read a marketing summary put out late last week by Corbitt Wall with USDA AMS. In summary feeder calf prices last week were all over the board from $5 lower to $5 higher, but the one consistency that remained this week in the calf market is that buyers continue to be more selective for health, quality, lot size, and their preference for steers.

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R-Calf: 10 Reasons Preliminary Injunction Against OTM Rule Is Justified

R-Calf: 10 Reasons Preliminary Injunction Against OTM Rule Is Justified

Cattlenetwork.com

Billings, Mont. – Eleven cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have been detected in Canadian-born cattle, seven since the beginning of last year, yet on Nov. 19, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to implement its OTM (over 30 months) Rule, which would open the Canadian border to imports of live cattle born after March 1, 1999, along with their specified risk materials (SRMs) intact. These SRMs are banned in all animal feeds in Canada, but not in the United States. Beef products – from all older Canadian cattle – also would be allowed into the United States as a result of the OTM rule.

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A Q&A with John Stika, Certified Angus Beef

A Q&A with John Stika, Certified Angus Beef

by Steve Suther

John Stika has served as president of Certifi ed Angus Beef LLC (CAB) since November 2006. He came to CAB’s Manhattan, Kan., office in February 1999 as assistant director of its Feeder-Packer Relations Division. Subsequently, he became director of that division, then director of the Packing and Supply Development divisions.

In 2005, he became vice president for business development, and he helped lead the company’s sales divisions: Retail, Foodservice, International and Value-added Products.

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When Is The Best Time To Deworm?

When Is The Best Time To Deworm?

Cattlenetwork.com

The simple answer is whenever the cattle are going to go onto “new” pasture or range.

 “New” means the cattle have not grazed there during the last 4 to 12 months. The parasite eggs do not remain infective for long extended periods of time (particularly over summer or over winter—too hot or too cold for the eggs to survive).

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Animal Care – A Cattle Industry Priority

Animal Care – A Cattle Industry Priority

Ropin’ the Web

            Take home message

    * Treating farm animals humanely is the right thing to do.

    * Responsible animal care, like environmental care, is necessary for long-term industry growth and sustainability.

    * Public concern for the care of farm animals is growing, especially for those animals raised in intensive or confinement situations like feedlots

    * Low stress animal handling makes good economic sense.

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Cattle Owners Encouraged To Monitor Herds For Infection

Cattle Owners Encouraged To Monitor Herds For Infection

Cattlenetwork.com

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The Colorado Department of Agriculture encourages cattle owners to monitor their herds for Bovine Trichomoniasis.  “Trich” is a costly, yet preventable, infection that can affect dairy and beef cattle.

Bovine Trichomoniasis is a venereal disease of cattle caused by Trichomonas foetus (T. Foetus.)  The T. foetus infection causes fertility problems, such as early embryonic death or abortion of the calf, and is asymptomatic in bulls.  Infected bulls can infect cows during breeding season; the infection will clear in cows but there is no cure for infected bulls.

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Fall Armyworms Add Insult to Injury

Fall Armyworms Add Insult to Injury

Cattle Today

First, it was the drought. Then, it was the heat. Now, it is insects. Alabama cattle producers have been battling problems since last summer.

Fall armyworms are appearing now in pastures in Alabama. Dr. Kathy Flanders, an entomologist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, says the chronic pest has been discovered in fields in Coffee, Walker and Macon counties.

Flanders says it’s typical for the first reports of fall armyworm damage to come in about this time of year.

“Droughty conditions create a favorable environment for fall armyworms,” Flanders said. “During the dry summers of 1999, 2000 and 2006 we saw many bermudagrass and bahiagrass fields that were damaged as early as July. Subsequent generations of the pest did damage in August and September in those years.”

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Meat shippers await benefits of U.S.-Colombia trade pact

Meat shippers await benefits of U.S.-Colombia trade pact           

American Shipper

Meat exporters welcome the benefits that will come after Congress ratifies a U.S. free trade pact with Colombia.

   “U.S. red meat products exported to Colombia will be more competitive to other products due to the preference of U.S. pork consistency by large processors and the higher quality of U.S. beef products compared to domestic or other imports,” said Ricardo Vernazza-Pagnini, director of Central and South America and Global Strategic Coordination for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, in a statement.

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A Harvest of hope: Farmer vows to return to fields

A Harvest of hope: Farmer vows to return to fields

‘In here, I’m healthy,’ man says of combine

Jonnie Taté Finn

Argus Leader

HILLS, Minn. – Here, sitting atop a John Deere combine harvesting corn in a windy field, he’s just Conley Van Wyhe: a farmer, husband and philanthropist.

But take a closer look, and you notice how his younger brother, Darwin, stands ready to catch him if he falls down a special staircase getting in and out of the combine. How his right arm can’t turn the machine’s motor switch and how his left hand grips a knob on a modified steering wheel.

At first, Van Wyhe is loath to talk about his ailment.

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