BeefTalk: The Stress and Strength of the Prairie

BeefTalk: The Stress and Strength of the Prairie

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Beef production on the prairie takes place within an environment that is not always kind. In fact, the prairie environment might aptly be described as harsh.

Producer expectations do not always hold up, stressing us to the point that our joy of life may be compromised in our misery. In the end, we need to survive the stress to get to our strengths.

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Angus Association Issues Research Update on Hydrocephalus

Angus Association Issues Research Update on Hydrocephalus

Jonathan E. Beever, Ph.D.

Earlier this year the American Angus Association, via Dr. Steffen at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, posted a request for reporting of calves having a phenotype referred to as hydrocephalus. As Dr. Steffen described in the request, these calves have a severe phenotype that includes an extremely large cranium with little or no brain and spinal cord present. Prior to the posting of this request, 15 calves matching this phenotype had been submitted. Since that request, there has been continued reporting of additional calves.

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Importance of calving distribution and planning for synchronization

Importance of calving distribution and planning for synchronization

Ivan G. Rush

Tri State Livestock News

I hope everyone is braving the late winter weather as well as possible. I know conditions are really tough in much of the northern high plains causing stress on cows, calves and people. I am always hesitant to discuss calf losses due to blizzards as I am fearful someone that is not familiar with the cattle industry or those that are opposed to our industry, will pick up those comments and exploit them as “see those cattlemen are not caring for their cattle.”

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Montana horse bill vetoed

Montana horse bill vetoed

Cattle Business Weekly

Montana’s Governor Brian Schweitzer has vetoed a bill that would encourage the horse processing industry to establish itself in the state.

HB 418 prohibits Montana courts from granting injunctions to stop or delay horse processing plant construction based on permit or licensing challenges, or on environmental grounds.

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Strategies of supplementation

Strategies of supplementation

Rick Rasby

Angus Journal

We have discussed in this column supplementation strategies and how to determine if the diet is deficient in protein, energy, minerals, etc. As producers strive to keep input costs in check, there may be some ways to continue to attack fuel and labor costs that are related to the nutrition program. How you deliver a supplement, especially if the diet is deficient in protein, may lead to a reduction in input costs.

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More questions than answers surround area cattle deaths

More questions than answers surround area cattle deaths

Steve Miller

Tri State Livestock News

The first cows started dying Feb. 28 on Avery and Elizabeth May’s ranch on Potato Creek east of Kyle, SD.

In the weeks that followed, more cows dropped dead, without first showing any obvious symptoms. Most of them were big, healthy cows, Avery said. “There’s no warning,” Elizabeth said. “They just drop.”

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Challenges of a rural vet

Challenges of a rural vet

Christina Macejko

DVM NEWSMAGAZINE

Dr. Shelley Lenz, owner of the Killdeer Veterinary Clinic in Killdeer, N.D., refuses to be typecast into the role of overworked, underpaid rural veterinarian.

She opened her solo practice, an equine and small-animal haul-in facility, about a year ago in an area that has a definite shortage of rural veterinarians.

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Cap and Trade Program may cause problems

Cap and Trade Program may cause problems

The Cattle Business Weekly

Climate-change legislation recently introduced in Congress establishing a cap-and-trade system to help offset greenhouse-gas emissions raises many concerns for U.S. farmers. South Dakota Farm Bureau president, Scott VanderWal from Volga, says that “Agriculture will certainly be at the table as cap-and-trade is discussed, but it will be difficult for farmers and ranchers to come out ahead financially.”

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Mintert Named Assistant Director of Purdue Extension Service

Mintert Named Assistant Director of Purdue Extension Service

Hoosier AG Today

  James R. Mintert, Extension state leader and livestock marketing economist at Kansas State University, has been named assistant director of the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service. Mintert succeeds Thomas Jordan, who has returned to his prior assignment as Extension weeds specialist.

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Cow-Calf Profitability

Cow-Calf Profitability

Mark A. McCann, Ph.D., Animal & Poultry Sciences, VA Tech

One does not have to spend a great deal of effort in reviewing 2008 beef cattle receipts or production expenses to recognize the direction of cow-calf net returns. While there are many economic outlooks available to cattlemen for 2009 and beyond, it is rare that they drill deep enough to project net returns to cow-calf producers.

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Vet medicine requires hands-on student lessons

Vet medicine requires hands-on student lessons

The Cattle Business Weekly

There may be more than one way to skin a cat, but when it comes to goats, in one University of Nebraska-Lincoln classroom, the method really matters.

“There’s a right way to skin a goat and a wrong way to skin a goat,” said John Kammermann, smiling, as he begins teaching the second semester of Veterinary Anatomy, a required course for students in UNL’s Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine.

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There No Generic Formula to Sound Herd Health

There No Generic Formula to Sound Herd Health

Clifford Mitchell

Cattle Today

Cattlemen, over the years, have worked diligently to produce the best product possible. Different philosophies have developed different components of the management scenario. Keeping all of these components working together in harmony is still a challenge for most operators.

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Death Tax relief passes Senate

Death Tax relief passes Senate

The Cattle Business Weekly

The Senate passed an amendment on Death Tax relief in a vote on the budget resolution last week. The Senate voted 51 to 48 to pass the amendment sponsored by Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jon Kyl of Arizona as well as Senators Ben Nelson, Chuck Grassley, Mark Pryor, Pat Roberts, Mary Landrieu, Mike Enzi, Susan Collins, and John Thune.

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Surge in Abandoned Horses Renews Debate Over Slaughterhouses

Surge in Abandoned Horses Renews Debate Over Slaughterhouses

New York Times

Emaciated horses eating bark off trees. Abandoned horses tied to telephone poles. Horses subsisting on feces, walking among carcasses.

As the economy continues to falter, law enforcement officers in Kentucky and throughout the country are seeing major increases in the number of unwanted and neglected horses, some abandoned on public land, others left to starve by their owners.

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New cattle breeds for Louisiana climate

New cattle breeds for Louisiana climate

Delta Farm Press

Beef and forage producers turned out for the recent Acadiana Cattle Producers 2009 Spring Field Day held at the LSU AgCenter’s Iberia Research Station, Jeanerette, La.

The field day was the latest in a joint effort among the LSU AgCenter, Louisiana Cattleman’s Association, and Louisiana Forage and Grassland organizations.

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