Angus Leader, Visionary, Vance Uden Passes

Angus leader, Visionary, Vance Uden Passes

 

. . . Vance was a member of the American Angus Association, for which he served on the board, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Nebraska Angus Association and the Methodist Church.  He was well known as a cattle judge for all breeds, judging at all the major cattle shows, helped many young people start an Angus herd, was a strong supporter of youth, and showed carloads of bulls at the National Western Stock Show for 35 years. Vance always had time to visit and help anyone, he enjoyed giving pasture tours, and never turned down a livestock judging team that wanted to come for a work out. He had love of God, love of family, love of country, and love of Angus.

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Video Feature: Purdue Students Study Marketing by Sponsoring Cattle Sale

Baxter Black, DVM: AMERICA’S FUNNIEST FARM VIDEOS

Baxter Black, DVM:  AMERICA’S FUNNIEST FARM VIDEOS

It’s curious why more cows aren’t featured on America’s Funniest Home Videos. Maybe it’s because we cow guardians always have our hands full of hay forks, reins, twine cutters, squeeze chute handles, syringes or up the back of a cow!

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Dos and Don’ts of Livestock Carcass Disposal

Dos and Don’ts of Livestock Carcass Disposal

Beef Today

This year’s spring flooding and blizzards have caused many livestock deaths. Methods of disposing of dead animals include burning, burying and composting, but burning and burying have drawbacks, according to Chris Augustin, area nutrient management specialist at North Dakota State University’s Carrington Research Extension Center.

One of the problems is finding a suitable burial site during flood times, he says. When burying dead animals, you need to avoid areas with sandy soils and shallow water tables.

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Mineral Programs for Beef Cows Grazing Pasture

Mineral Programs for Beef Cows Grazing Pasture

Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Science, Animal Science, University of Nebraska

After salt and supplementation of magnesium oxide in grass tetany areas, mineral supplementation programs can vary. Soils mineral profiles impact mineral profile in the forage and therefore impact the minerals that need supplemented. Also, forage maturity impact mineral composition. The 1996 NRC for Beef Cattle suggests there are at least 17 minerals required by beef cattle. There are minerals that interact with one-another and therefore impact their utilization and these need to be factored into a supplementation strategy.

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California Senate to Discuss Feed Drug Ban

California Senate to Discuss Feed Drug Ban

Thebeefsite.com

Senator Dean Florez will take the next step in a campaign to ban all non-therapeutic antibiotics from the feed of cattle, pigs and poultry in the state tomorrow.

North County Times reports that one of the state Senate’s leaders wants to ensure that cattle, poultry and pigs raised in California are not routinely given antibiotics, a practice consumer advocates say can lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria.

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Eyes are windows to a cow’s soul, or whatever cows have

Eyes are windows to a cow’s soul, or whatever cows have

 By Tspears

 Ottawa Citizen

I suspect this will surprise no one who has worked with cattle. But the University of Guelph likes it. Their researchers have discovered it’s actually the whites of their eyes that are important when it comes to determining a cow’s temperament.

Their study, published in the Journal of Animal Science, found that the higher the proportion of white you can see in a cow’s eye, the more anxious the animal is.

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Cattle rustling thrives in bad economy

Cattle rustling thrives in bad economy

Lamar James, Arkansas Extension Specialist

Delta Farm Press

Hard economic times have led to a drastic increase in cattle rustling across Texas and Oklahoma — and Arkansas could be next, warns Tom Troxel, Extension professor of animal science for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

In 2008, more than twice as many head of cattle were stolen in Oklahoma and Texas than in 2007, according to a trade organization.

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America’s Cattle Farmers and Ranchers Support Wildlife, Ecosystems

America’s Cattle Farmers and Ranchers Support Wildlife, Ecosystems

PRWEB

New survey data show that America’s cattle farmers and ranchers are raising a lot more than just cattle on their ranches. From endangered species to native trees and grasses, America’s farms and ranches are hosting, and often actively supporting wildlife, natural ecosystems and the environment.

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It’s Russian roulette in beef cattle industry

It’s Russian roulette in beef cattle industry

 Jonathan Manthorpe

Vancouver Sun

Russia has spent the equivalent of $8 billion during the past four years to import breeding cattle and establish a beef and milk industry, but has precious little to show for it.

Last year, Russia produced a scant half of the three million tonnes of beef consumed by the country’s 140 million people, and domestic production was down significantly from 2000.

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Watch for Grass Tetany

Watch for Grass Tetany

Dan Goehl

Grass tetany, or hypomagnesemia, is a metabolic disorder that can affect adult beef cattle. This syndrome is a result of low magnesium levels in the circulatory and nervous systems, and it is most common when lactating cows graze lush green pastures including annual ryegrass, small grains (i.e., oats, rye, wheat), and cool-season perennial grasses (i.e., tall fescue).

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Beef Producers Slaughtered By Economy

Beef Producers Slaughtered By Economy

 Chris Hurt

Axcess News

Much of agriculture is taking a big hit from the recessionary economy, and the beef sector is no exception as weak retail demand has lowered finished cattle prices. The magnitude of the hit is hard to measure precisely, but consider that late last summer the price outlook for the first quarter of 2009 was for finished steers to average about $94 per hundredweight. As the economy weakened, cattle prices fell and only averaged $81.50 in the January to March quarter.  A reduced price of $12.50 per hundredweight represents a revenue reduction of $750 million in the first quarter alone.

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HSUS wants food-animal housing changes in Ohio

HSUS wants food-animal housing changes in Ohio

Christina Macejko

DVM NEWSMAGAZINE

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is targeting Ohio’s farming practices in an effort to change housing requirements for farm animals.

Jack Advent, executive director of the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA), says the association, the Farm Bureau and the Food Producer Groups sat down with HSUS in February to see if there was any potential for dialogue before the issue went to a larger scale.

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K-State Beef Research Examines Effects of Breeding for RFI in Heifers

K-State Beef Research Examines Effects of Breeding for RFI in Heifers

Thebeefsite.com

With feed costs such a significant portion of beef production, animal scientists at Kansas State University recently finished a study on heifers that were sired by bulls chosen for their genetic residual feed intake (RFI) merit.

What they found, said Jennifer Bormann, a researcher with K-State Research and Extension, was that although RFI has been shown to be moderately heritable, heifers that were sired by bulls with low RFI merit performed no differently than heifers sired by bulls with high RFI merit.

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Familiar ground, Angus CEO discusses Challenges

Familiar ground,  Angus CEO discusses Challenges

“History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”— David C. McCullough

            On April 9 we announced the identification of a genetic defect affecting our Angus population — neuropathic hydrocephalus (NH). As members and breeders, we are going to define ourselves by the reactions and responses that we take to our latest challenge.

            As a breed, when we look at who we are, we should look back to little more than 30 years ago. The year was 1978. As an organization we were challenged by a changing marketplace. A decade before, in 1968, the American Angus Association recorded 406,310 registrations. In 1978 we recorded 222,608 registrations.

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