Baxter Black, DVM: CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE ON THE FARM

Baxter Black, DVM:  CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE ON THE FARM

The week before Christmas the farmer announced to the animals that he would not be giving them the traditional cheese and sausage box. The pig was relieved.

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Trying to Stay Ahead of Change

Trying to Stay Ahead of Change

Steve Weisman

American Cattlemen

If there is one thing that Kenny Rogers, seedstock operator and rancher in Yuma County in eastern Colorado has discovered about the ranching industry since he came back to the family ranch in 1996, it is that change is inevitable. Rogers says with a chuckle, “Nobody likes change except maybe a baby with dirty diapers. Yet we know that the industry is undergoing constant change, whether we like it or not.”

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Pay Attention to Management of Bulls During Development Period

Pay Attention to Management of Bulls During Development Period

Stephen B. Blezinger, Ph.D., PAS

Cattle Today

About this time of the year many producers begin giving thought to the future of their cow herd and what the New Year will bring. One major decision they will make will be whether or not they will need to buy a new bull or bulls to replace current animals in the herd. In many cases these decisions have already been made and bulls have been bought at fall production sales or are currently being bought.

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Foot rot in beef cattle can affect livestock producers’ bottom line

Foot rot in beef cattle can affect livestock producers’ bottom line

TERRI ADAMS

The Prairie Star

While foot rot in cattle is not typically a fatal disease, it can really affect producers’ bottom line, says Connie Larson, research nutritionist at Zinpro Corporation in Eden Prairie, Minn.

“Studies have shown that animals with foot rot don’t perform as well,” she said. “Anytime an animal has a disease or immune challenge, a large portion of the energy is going to be shifted away from production to support the immune system. Immunity has a very high energy demand when animals are sick.”

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Premium Beef is Becoming a Top Choice

Premium Beef is Becoming a Top Choice

Vanessa K. Bush

Any way you slice it, premium beef is becoming a top choice for quick-service and fast-casual restaurants looking to surpass the competition.

As we ease our way out of an economic downturn, premium beef sales at quick-service and fast-casual restaurants are on an upswing. Perhaps because of optimistic news that the country is on the cusp of a recovery, consumers seem to be seeking out more quality and a better value when they eat out—and they’re willing to pay for it.

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How should U.S. tackle climate change concerns?

How should U.S. tackle climate change concerns?

High Plains Journal

Most political pundits will tell you that it is no longer a question of "if" we will get some type of climate change legislation approved next year, but "when." An even more interesting question is: What will it look like? If a bill with such far-reaching implications can actually get approved in a year divisible by two, it will likely look much different than current versions.

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Drought dries up millions for local ag

Drought dries up millions for local ag

Ron Maloney

The Gazette-Enterprise            

Local agricultural losses suffered in the recent drought will likely be above $15 million and could go higher still, commissioners learned this week.

Guadalupe County Extension Agent for Natural Resources Travis Franke told county commissioners that losses experienced by crop farmers are expected to be tabbed at about $9 million in Guadalupe County — a sizeable chunk of a $45 million business.

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Beef: Should it be what’s for dinner?

Beef: Should it be what’s for dinner?

Indianapolis Examiner

We’ve all seen the commercial, but have we really thought about the statement? Should our children be eating so much red meat or red meat at all? These are all questions people are scrounging to find the answers to, but there is no blanket answer. There are significant points to consider when attempting to answer this and many questions like it.

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Using Stockpiled Fescue

Using Stockpiled Fescue

Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources

Ohio Beef Team Newsletter

One question that beef producers might be asking regarding stockpiled fescue is; when should stockpiled fescue be utilized? If fescue was last grazed, clipped, or harvested for hay in early August and has been stockpiling since that point, a considerable amount of plant material will have accumulated by the time by the time the growing season ends and plants go dormant.

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Award-winning cattlewoman: Industrious, neighborly and a mean cook

Award-winning cattlewoman: Industrious, neighborly and a mean cook

CAROL MCGRAW

Sandra and her husband, Dick, run a cow-calf operation on the 48,000-acre Bohart Ranch, which is owned by the State Land Board. In a model partnership, The Nature Conservancy leases the land for conservation efforts, and the Tanners sublease it for ranching in an ecologically sensitive manner. It is part of the Peak to Prairie Conservation effort to preserve the shortgrass prairie of eastern Colorado, one of the least-protected habitats in the world.

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Indiana Releases Third TB Quarantine

Indiana Releases Third TB Quarantine

Muncie Free Press

The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) has released the third, and final, quarantine of three cervid farms that housed animals that tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (commonly called "TB," or more formally known as Mycobacterium bovis).

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Raising the bar for gourmet beef, from farm to fork

Raising the bar for gourmet beef, from farm to fork

PADMA NAGAPPAN

The Daily Transcript

Ranching is in Eric Brandt’s blood. His family has been in the livestock and farming business for three generations, having started in the early 1900s. They own a cattle ranch in Brawley, 125 miles east of San Diego in the Imperial County.

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‘Disappointing’ cattle market may rebound in 2010

‘Disappointing’ cattle market may rebound in 2010

Illinois Farm Bureau

Most cattle producers probably wont view 2009 as one of their better years from a marketing standpoint.

Cattle prices, which struggled to get above the mid-$80 range for much of the year, recently limped toward the year-end finish line and dipped into the high $70s.

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Cattle auction fined, auctioneer bought cattle

Cattle auction fined, auctioneer bought cattle

High Plains Journal

A Billings livestock auction has paid a $31,000 fine for allowing an auctioneer to buy cattle in 2007 and for accounting practices that didn’t fully conform to federal rules.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture levied the fine. Vermillion Ranch Co., doing business as the Billings Livestock Commission Co., did not admit any wrongdoing.

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Veterinary dean honored by California Cattlemen’s Association for work in animal welfare, research

Veterinary dean honored by California Cattlemen’s Association for work in animal welfare, research

DVM 360

Davis, Calif. — University of California’s Dr. Bennie I. Osburn was recently honored by the California Cattlemen’s Association.

The veterinary school dean received the Gordon K. Van Vleck Memorial Award for his contributions to the California beef-cattle industry.

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