Animal rights vs. research: OSU halts anthrax study
Sharon Schmickle
Minnpost.com
Worried about stepped up activity by militant animal-rights groups, administrators at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater abruptly cancelled an anthrax vaccine study that would have killed dozens of baboons.
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Administering Modified Live Vaccines Prior to Breeding
Dan Goehl, DVM
Beef Today
Ideally it would be given 30 days pre-breeding. I am comfortable giving modified live two weeks pre breeding. Giving it close to breeding in cattle that have previously been vaccinated with modified live is not going to cause a “wreck” but could cause a slight decrease in up front conception.
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Disease Prevention
Gary DiGiuseppe
American Cattleman
There are seven major reproductive diseases in cattle; one of them – Brucella abort us, the cause of brucellosis – has been nearly vanquished. But the others still lie in wait for the opportunity to rob ranchers of profits. B. Abort us still surfaces occasionally and there are other pathogens that show up sporadically.
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Pasture youngest, oldest females separately
Drovers.com
First-calf heifers typically are the toughest females on the ranch to get rebred, says Oklahoma State University Extension cattle reproduction specialist Glenn Selk. These young females, he says, are being asked to continue to grow, produce milk, repair the reproductive tract and have enough stored body energy to return to heat cycles in a short time frame. In addition, their mouths are going through the transition from baby teeth to adult teeth.
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STO Signifies My Challenge As A Beef Producer
Troy Marshall
STO – Strategic, Tactical, Operational. These three letters have come to summarize my main challenge as a beef producer. If you were to take a typical day, list all your activities and then assign them to one of these three categories, how much time would be spent in each area?
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Second brucellosis case found in Idaho cattle herd
CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Tests have confirmed a second animal positive for brucellosis in an eastern Idaho herd.
The disease is highly infectious and can cause cattle to abort.
Idaho State Veterinarian Bill Barton said all animals in the herd have been tested and most results are back.
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Run the Ranch from a Management Plan
ROBERT FEARS
The Cattleman
The ability to develop and execute a ranch management plan is necessary for making a profit. A well-written plan provides a current analysis of finances and production resources, which is used to develop objectives and goals for the following year. The plan also describes how the goals and objectives will be accomplished.
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Russians have no comprehension of beef farming
Meat Trade Daily (UK)
Currently, the share of beef cattle in the total cattle numbers in Russia amounted to only 1,5%. In comparison, the number of beef cows in the world’s most developed countries is at least the same as dairy cows. According to analysts, such a ratio in the European Union is estimated to be about 1:1, while in the U.S. dairy cows make up only 20% of the total herd.
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Jonathan Safran Foer on the Morality of Vegetarianism
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.
Jeffrey Goldberg
The Atlantic
Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, "Eating Animals," is an eloquent exploration of something most sentient humans think about at some point in their lives: Just what exactly am I eating? Or more to the point, "Just who exactly am I eating?" Foer has written an excellent, serious and earnest book, and I spoke to him about his conclusions recently. What follows is an edited version of our conversation.
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Winter Ranch Management Seminar is Jan. 11
KAREN SHIDELER
The Wichita Eagle
The 2010 K-State Winter Ranch Management Seminar will be Jan. 11, held simultaneously at four locations.
The registration deadline is Jan. 6.
The seminar will be from 2:30 to 8 p.m. and dinner will be provided. Featured speakers will include Harlan Hughes, professor emeritus of North Dakota State University, and Kent Anderson of Pfizer Genetics.
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Korean Demand for U.S. Beef Stronger
Hoosier AG Today
Weekly statistics for U.S. beef exported to South Korea show a steady rebound of sales, with the pace in late November reaching the second-highest level for all of 2009 and the highest level since February.
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While climate debate rages, farmers in Iowa are growing food responsibly
Craig Lang
DesMoines Register
Generations of responsible farmers have invested millions of dollars and adopted the latest technologies in order to ensure the safety of the food they grow. These changes are embraced not just because they help a single farmer feed 130 people today versus the 25 each farmer fed in 1950, but because they help us conserve the land and guarantee its continued fertility.
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Improved body condition in beef cows increases conception rates, decreases postpartum intervals
High Plains Journal
Cow-calf operators constantly struggle to find the right balance between optimal body condition scores–which improve conception rates–and keeping feed costs as low as possible.
Research has shown the body condition of cows at breeding and calving plays a major role in the length of the postpartum interval and conception rates. It is generally accepted that a minimum body condition score of five must be achieved and maintained to have good conception rates.
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Reduce risk, increase confidence with more accurate EPDs
Drovers
Since the late 1970s, expected progeny differences (EPDs) have changed the way beef producers make selection and mating decisions. Dr. Matt Spangler, assistant professor and beef genetics extension specialist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says the introduction of EPDs empowered producers to make better decisions, leading to faster genetic progress.
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Cattle producers told to fight myths
Lori Potter
Omaha World-Herald News
Lana Slaten is proud that her Cullman County is Alabama’s top cattle producer. The registered nurse and cow-calf producer was thrilled to recently read in Beef magazine that it also ranks as the 130th largest U.S. beef county.
“Yet I have friends who actually believe beef is not safe to eat,” said Slaten, who is president-elect of American National Cattlewomen.
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