Virginia Leader, cattle consultant, Vernon Kindig passes

Virginia Leader, cattle consultant,  Vernon Kindig passes

Vernon Kindig

 

 

The News Leader

Vernon was a graduate of Stuarts Draft High School, Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College and Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. He was employed by the Virginia Angus Association, Abell Industries and Hallwood Enterprises. He also had an American farmer degree with the Future Farmers of America and was a well known beef seedstock consultant and breeder.

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Baxter Black: FUTURE COW

Baxter Black:  FUTURE COW

Amidst the calls that there should be a Greenhouse Gas Tax on ruminant animals (meaning cows; NOT meaning goats, rice, termites or water buffalo), exciting research is being done genetically to address the issue.

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Angus Association issues update on Neuropathic Hydrocephalus

Angus Association issues update on Neuropathic Hydrocephalus

A.I. organizations requested that the American Angus Association provide to the membership the identity of and preliminary test results for Angus bulls tested by Dr. Jon Beever of the University of Illinois to determine whether they were carriers or free of the mutation identified for severe hydrocephalus that Dr. Beever and Dr. Steffen are now referring to as Neuropathic Hydrocephalus (NH).

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Bull Listing

Assisting the Beef Cow at Calving Time

Assisting the Beef Cow at Calving Time

Jack C. Whittier, Department of Animal Sciences, James G. Thorne, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri

Six to 10 percent of all calves born in beef-cow herds in the United States die at or soon after birth. About half of those deaths are due to calving difficulty (dystocia). This multi-million dollar annual loss is second only to losses from failing to conceive.

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Feeding Management for Backgrounders

Feeding Management for Backgrounders

Dr. Greg Lardy, Beef Specialist, North Dakota State University

Starting Calves on Feed

Bunk breaking or training cattle to eat from a feed bunk can be a difficult process, especially if calves have never eaten processed feed before. Also, calves that have only drunk from streams or ponds may not know what a commercial waterer is.

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Put A Lock Down

Put A Lock Down

Kim Watson

Beef Today

Consider taking in lightweight cattle between 300 lb. to 400 lb. that are just pulled off their dams and herded into a backgrounding yard. If you’ve ever tried to manage a group of cattle like this, you know the potential for a coming wreck.

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Making cows count

Making cows count

Black Ink

Cows can’t do math, but their owners should at least do some counting. From financial balance sheets to stocking rates, a precise inventory is a must.

Beyond that, you need cows that are worth owning. Cows that matter, that count because of what they can profitably produce. That’s true regardless of herd size, and it’s true for the U.S. beef industry.

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Age and Source Verification: Implications for Cow-Calf Producers

Age and Source Verification:  Implications for Cow-Calf Producers

Brett Barham, Ph.D., University of Arkansas

As the Japanese and other foreign Assistant Professor – markets reopened to U.S. beef, there is increasing demand for source- and age-verified cattle. These export markets require that age and source claims be documented and verified through a recognized USDA program. These programs include the USDA Process Verified Program (PVP) or a USDA Quality System Assessment (QSA), two separate programs that will meet the export requirements of all our trading partners. Once a producer has decided to market animals as source and age verified, the difficult question becomes which program is the best one to use.

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Grass Tetany May Occur in Mature Cows on Wheat Pasture

Grass Tetany May Occur in Mature Cows on Wheat Pasture

Dr. Glenn Selk, Extension Cattle Specialist, Oklahoma State University

Grass tetany, caused by magnesium deficiency does not seem to be a major problem in Oklahoma although occasional cases are reported.  It typically occurs in beef cows during early lactation and is more prevalent in older cows.  The reason is thought to be that older cows are less able to mobilize magnesium reserves from the bones than are younger cows.

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Selecting a Beef Breed

Selecting a Beef Breed

Dan T. Brown, Extension Animal Scientist, University of Georgia

New cattle producers frequently ask, “Which breed should I choose?” This questions brings cold chills to the spines of many very knowledgeable cattle producers and excitement to the hearts of just as many enthusiastic breeders. The diversity of resources and management capabilities of any operation makes this question difficult to answer. This publication provides accurate, unbiased information for the decision-making process. After reading this publication, you should understand why the only answer is “It depends!”

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DNA Profiling: Contemporary Grouping

DNA Profiling: Contemporary Grouping

cattlenetwork.com

Before beginning data collection, it is important to have a good understanding of proper contemporary grouping. The environment that a calf is exposed to can have a large effect on how well it performs for all of the economically important traits.

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Managing the Calving Season by Altering Feeding Time

Managing the Calving Season by Altering Feeding Time

University of Illinois

The spring calving season is in full swing for many cow-calf producers. This is an important time of the year; the results of management decisions that occurred several months ago are about to be revealed. Many producers will tell you that this is the most rewarding part of cow-calf production, yet they will also tell you that this time of year is also the most tiring.

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Pittsylvania County native a cowboy at heart

Pittsylvania County native a cowboy at heart

Dave Thompson

Godanriver.com

Daniel Lanier may not ride bulls or wear a Stetson and alligator skin boots around his Hurt farm.While he prefers Guns ‘n’ Roses to George Strait and would rather entertain crowds with funny antics than bust his backside falling off a horned beast, Lanier said in his eyes he’s no less of a cowboy.

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Get going with Galloway cattle

Get going with Galloway cattle

Peak Oil

The commercial beef industry, both in the UK and across much of the world, has focussed on continental cattle breeds that require significant consumption of cereals, normally demanding considerable inputs of artificial fertilisers. Systems and cattle breeds have adapted to utilise the abundant cheap cereals, and become reliant on heavily mechanised forage methods, in the latter decades of the twentieth century. As the century closed, significant tracts of uncultivated marginal land in the UK had started to fall into disuse, having become uneconomic for intensively produced beef.

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February Beef Exports Maintain Strong Momentum

February Beef Exports Maintain Strong Momentum

February beef plus beef variety meat exports increased 4 percent in volume, at 145.8 million pounds, and showed a slight increase in value, at $220.5 million, over February 2008. Beef muscle cut exports increased by 9 percent in volume to 90.3 million pounds and 7 percent in value to $172.9 million, while beef variety meat exports dropped slightly in volume to 55.5 million pounds and declined nearly 17 percent in value to $47.6 million.

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