Video Feature: Culling When Feed is Short

Dr. Clyde Lane University of Tennessee, Beef Extension Specialist, discusses this important topic.

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Baxter Black, DVM: BACKYARD ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Baxter Black, DVM:  BACKYARD ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

The phenomenon of Backyard Animal Husbandry is spreading among urban folks with no farm background. They are choosing to raise fowl and small mammals to eat! The economy is the main factor but it apparently appeals to the “Homegrown is Better” mentality.

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Issue 2: How should we treat the animals we eat?

Issue 2:  How should we treat the animals we eat?

Josh Sweigart

The Oxford Press

Issue 2 is about how we treat our food.

It’s also a high-stakes political maneuver to save Ohio’s livestock industry from a radical animal rights agenda, proponents say. Opponents say it’s an effort to flout humane reform.

The constitutional amendment on the ballot in November would create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board to regulate the treatment of animals raised for food.

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Specialty Beef Markets Offer Buffer Against Volatility, At a Price

Specialty Beef Markets Offer Buffer Against Volatility, At a Price

Mark Parker

DTN/Progressive Farmer

Cherie and Kevin Schenker follow Certified Naturally Grown standards to merchandise beef from their Kansas farm. (Progressive Farmer image by Mark Parker)

Most American beef travels a familiar, traditional trail from pasture to plate. Here and there, though, some producers have chosen a road less traveled to meet the more specific needs and wants of consumers.

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Spoiled sweetclover hay can cause livestock bleeding

Spoiled sweetclover hay can cause livestock bleeding

AG Weekly

Spoiled sweetclover hay can cause bleeding problems in livestock, and producers feeding it to cattle are reminded to do so with care.

South Dakota Cooperative Extension veterinarian Russ Daly said sweetclover as grazed forage is not a culprit. Instead, problems arise when this legume spoils during or after the process of putting it up as hay.

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Receiving Management 101

Receiving Management 101

Dan Goehl, DVM

Beef Today

As temperatures decrease, it’s time to think about weaning calves or filling pens with purchased calves. Young, light, freshly weaned calves also bring a unique set of health management challenges to the lot.

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EPA Solutions from a Cattleman’s Point of View

EPA Solutions from a Cattleman’s Point of View

Traci Middleton

Young Cattle Producers Council

The Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov, provides information on ruminant livestock and their impact on climate change.  Their website states that in the United States methane released from cattle accounts for about 20 percent of methane emissions, which breaks down to be 5.5 million metric tons per year. 

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Limousin Releases EPDs From Multibreed Evaluation

Limousin Releases EPDs From Multibreed Evaluation

Cattle Today

Expected progeny differences (EPDs) from the fall 2009 international Limousin genetic evaluation now are available through various features of the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) Web site (www.nalf.org). Pedigree and performance records for more than 2 million Limousin-based cattle in the United States and Canada underpin the latest sire summary, which includes more than 1,800 bulls.

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Urea Supplements for Beef Cattle

Urea Supplements for Beef Cattle

Homer B. Sewell, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri

Urea supplies part of the protein equivalent in many of the commercial supplements formulated for beef cattle today. When soybean meal and other plant proteins are high in price, more urea is used to replace plant protein in the ration of beef cattle and sheep.

Urea is a non-protein nitrogen (NPN) compound. The urea used in livestock feeds is a synthetic compound manufactured on a large scale for fertilizer and feed use.

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Nutrition and potential toxicity of sweet clover hay

Nutrition and potential toxicity of sweet clover hay

Ken Olson

Tri State Livestock News

I wrote about sweet clover in pastures last summer, but am returning to the topic of sweet clover again in this column. Today I am going to focus on sweet clover in hay. The yellow flowers on sweet clover made it very apparent in pastures and hay fields throughout the region this past summer. It produced a lot of forage that was baled into hay.

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Avoiding problems when converting pasture and hay fields to crops

Avoiding problems when converting pasture and hay fields to crops

High Plains Journal

Current economics favor crops over beef cattle, so some producers are putting old pasture or hay fields into crop production. It is simple to use a burn-down herbicide, no-till plant with herbicide-resistant beans and then spray again. But many fields planted this way are showing severe nutritional problems, especially potash deficiency.

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Expert says grass-fed beef business growing

Expert says grass-fed beef business growing

KOTA

Grazing expert Allan Nation says the market for grass-fed beef has grown from less than 50 producers to 1,200 companies.

Nation is editor of the The Stockman Grass Farmer and recently told ranchers at a grazing conference in Kearney that grass-fed beef amounts to about 1% of the market, but the 1% equals about $1 billion.

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Animal ID, Traceability Seen as Way to Boost Consumer Confidence

Animal ID, Traceability Seen as Way to Boost Consumer Confidence

Katie Micik

DTN/Progressive Farmer

Nevil Speer started his speech at the Animal ID Info Expo in Kansas City, Mo., in late August with some not-so-feel-good numbers.

In a 2007 national survey of about 1,000 participants, only 50 percent of consumers said they are confident in their food’s safety. That’s behind their trust in automobiles (83 percent), electronics (80 percent) and pharmaceuticals (51 percent), said the Western Kentucky University agriculture economics professor.

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FFA Challenging the Future, Being Challenged by the Present

FFA Challenging the Future, Being Challenged by the Present

Gary Truitt

Hoosier AG Today

The annual fall migration has begun. Blue and gold jackets being worn by over 50,000 high school students from all over the nation are in Indianapolis this week for the National FFA Convention. Billed as the largest youth convention in the nation, this 4 day event is a life changing experience for many. The theme of this year’s event is Lead Out Loud.

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Is Wagyu for you?

Is Wagyu for you?

Kindra Gordon

The Cattle Business Weekly

If you were writing a "want ad" for your cowherd, calving ease, a docile temperament, and the ability to adapt to the environment would probably be on the required traits list. Along with that, carcass traits – specifically marbling – would also likely rank high in order to command premium prices.

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