Beef producers should consider shortening the breeding season for their herd. A shorter breeding season can simplify management and improve returns.
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Losing the War of Words
Kevin Murphy
Angus Journal
Farmers sense the need to reconnect with consumers and with those who represent their products to those consumers. Their mounting frustration arises from a sense that their voices are muffled by the layers of people who now inhabit the space between them and the ultimate consumer. Worse yet, they feel they’re missing out on the conversation because farmers, and those speaking on their behalf, are losing in a new war of words.
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The Sure Remedy Few Seem To Want
John Harrington
DTN
The U.S. beef industry is renewing its push to get the U.S. Agriculture Department to act on a years-old request to use irradiation on beef carcasses to kill harmful pathogens such as E.coli bacteria.
On the sidelines of the Worldwide Food Expo here, meat industry officials said on Tuesday that irradiating beef carcasses would be an important tool to lessen contamination. But they also said it would still be one of several steps in the prevention process.
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Importance of building a relationship with a vet.
Sara Gugelmeyer
Hereford World
Veterinarians are getting scarce, especially those willing to come out to your place and look at cattle. But, three veterinarians involved in the Hereford industry say the key to healthy, profitable cattle is having a good veterinarian and developing a relationship with him or her.
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Q&A: How soon after a freeze is it safe to graze Johnsongrass?
Dr. Jerry Volesky, Associate Professor of Agronomy, West Central Research & Extension Center – North Platte, North Platte, NE
Like other grasses in the sorghum family, Johnsongrass can accumulate nitrates and develop prussic acid. The nitrates are usually not a problem in the open pasture situation.
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Multiple pathogens complicate calf scours
Drovers
One of the reasons why calf scours is such a challenging disease for producers is that it can be caused by a combination of two or more pathogens.
“There are four major pathogens that cause calf scours, and a host of minor ones,” says Jerry Olson, DVM, MS, senior veterinarian with Pfizer Animal Health. “In most cases, more than one of the causative agents is involved in clinical scours.”
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Family blog puts a face on animal ag
ROWENA PLETT
Peabody Gazette Bulletin (KS)
Anyone who has ever wanted to learn about the everyday life of a farm and ranch family can go to the Kansas Beef Council Web site, http://www.Kansasbeef.org, where a new blog is posted by Kim Harms of Harms Plainview Ranch, Lincolnville. A link to “Ranch Family Blog” is provided on the home page.
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‘From conception to consumption’
MICHAEL D. BATES
Hernando Today
When shoppers go to the grocery store and pick up three pounds of ground chuck or roast beef, they seldom think of the process leading up to the meat sitting in the refrigerated butcher aisle.
Sam Coleman does. He is involved with the cows that yield the meat "from conception to consumption,’ he says.
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Kansas gov: Taiwan to ease US beef restrictions
JOHN MILBURN
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson said Wednesday that he has been assured Taiwan will soon ease restrictions on imports of U.S. beef.
Parkinson met in Taiwan last week with President Ma Ying-jeou during a trade mission to the island nation. Parkinson said Ma indicated Taiwan would soon begin accepting shipments of U.S. beef, although no timetable was given.
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Timely tips for the beef herd
Brandon Sears
Richmond Register (KY)
Spring-calving cows
— Schedule a pregnancy examination of cows if not done previously. Winter feeding costs can be minimized by eliminating open cows prior to winter feeding.
— Wean calves before cows lose body condition.
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Re-Branding Cattle
Fort Worth Weekly
Well, that calm after the hyphen storm didn’t last long. Here’s Chow, Baby’s latest wild-eyed rant: In case you didn’t know it, Angus is just a breed of cow. Like Hereford, Jersey, Holstein, Elsie. Honestly, the only real difference is that Angus has a huge advertising budget. Thirty years ago, in a truly brilliant feat of marketing, the American Angus Association started advertising its very best cuts as "Certified Angus Beef," a fuzzy label that encourages people to hear "Blah blah Angus blah blah best." Top that with three decades of cross-promoting, licensing, fast-food partnerships, and more advertising, and by now every beef-eater in America thinks all Angus is holy cow.
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Cattleman’s Days scheduled in four Nebraska locations
The Fence Post
Extension educators have planned Cattleman’s Day and Trade Show events for Mon., Nov. 16, 2009, in North Platte at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds; Tues., Nov. 17, 2009, Ogallala, Grey Goose; Mon., Nov. 23, 2009 in McCook, Red Willow County Fairgrounds; and Tues., Nov. 24, 2009, in Imperial, Zion Lutheran Church, said University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator Randy Saner of North Platte.
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Nebraska beef industry summit to cover pricing
KRVN
Beef production and pricing are atop the agenda for the fourth annual Nebraska Cattlemen Beef Industry Issues Summit. The meeting is set for Nov. 17 at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The morning session topic title is “Potential Policies Affecting Beef Production.”
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A world without meat is an unappetising idea
Kate Colquhoun
The Telegraph (UK)
Imagine a world without the cow, pig or sheep. What you’re actually seeing, according to Lord Stern of Brentford , is the future – in which we’ve all turned vegetarian to save the planet.
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The Moral Ferocity of Eating Animals
Dr. Andrew Weil
Huffington Post
Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.
It is a rare human act that is utterly reprehensible. Some glimmer of grace, some hope for redemption shines through nearly all of our efforts.
And then, Jonathan Safran Foer reminds us in his new book, Eating Animals there is factory farming of living creatures.
Perhaps you have seen the film Food, Inc. Maybe you have read the works of Michael Pollan. You may have heard of confined veal calves pumped full of antibiotics and collapsing in their own excrement; or seen the video of bushels of baby chicks, alive and cheeping, dumped into a grinder.
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