Baxter Black, DVM: GOOD DEEDS GONE AWRY

Baxter Black, DVM:  GOOD DEEDS GONE AWRY

Most of us in our daily lives have occasion to be a good Samaritan. It’s a tenet in the Cowboy Code; to be kind to the less fortunate, to help someone in need.

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Farmers Take Extra Care When the Cold Rolls In

Farmers Take Extra Care When the Cold Rolls In

SCOTT McCLOSKEY

Wheeling News-Register

It’s all about the cows for three Ohio County beef farmers, who work hard caring for their cattle throughout the sometimes bitterly cold winter months.

"You’re right out there among your cows this time a year … there is a good bit of management that goes into taking care of cattle, they’re not just cows out on a hillside," said local farmer John Miller, who is the Ohio County extension agent of agriculture and natural resources for West Virginia University.

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Keeping out cattle crooks

Keeping out cattle crooks

Jeanne Williams

Temple Daily Telegram

Brand livestock. Register brands with the county clerk’s office. Lock gates, doors and equipment. Keep hay supplies and equipment away from the road. Be a good neighbor.

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Livestock Copes Well With Cold, Experts Say

Livestock Copes Well With Cold, Experts Say

TOM YANCEY

The Greeneville Sun

Some knowledgeable advice on how livestock cope with the cold was provided in interviews Wednesday with several local agricultural and veterinary experts.

Greene County Extension Agent Milton Orr said Wednesday that farm animals are accustomed to being outdoors in cold weather, and generally do well if their need for water and food is met.

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Demand drives cattle outlook for 2010

Demand drives cattle outlook for 2010

Cindy Snyder

Ag Weekly

The $64,000 question facing both beef and dairy cattle producers in 2010 is ‘when will demand improve?’ Many analysts expect to see demand continue to slump in the first half of 2010 after receiving a bit of bounce through the holidays. Consumers ate more at home in 2009. If that trend continues, retailers and manufacturers may have to change how they market items.

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Wisconsin cattle-feeding workshops

Wisconsin cattle-feeding workshops

Drovers.com

University of Wisconsin-Extension will be conducting Cattle Feeders workshops at 11 locations across the state during February. The program provides information regarding finishing and backgrounding cattle, which applies to both beef and Holstein feeders.

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Frigid air tough on farmers, herds

Frigid air tough on farmers, herds

Katelyn Polantz

Exceptionally cold temperatures have added time to farmers’ workdays with chores such as breaking ice so livestock can drink water.

On the beaches of Fort Myers, Fla., cold cows were on Chuck Shorter’s mind.

The 59-year-old Montgomery County farmer vacationed with his wife in the first two weeks of January while longtime friend Matt Harris managed his farm.

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One Health initiative center stage at NIAA’s 2010 Annual Meeting

One Health initiative center stage at NIAA’s 2010 Annual Meeting

High Plains Journal

"One Health: Implications for Animal Agriculture" is the theme of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, March 15 to 17 in Kansas City, Mo.

"One Health is a worldwide initiative focused on the interdependencies of human, animal and ecosystem health, and, with this concept comes significantly expanded roles and expectations placed on animal agriculture and professionals within animal agriculture," states Dr. Tony Forshey, co-chair of NIAA’s Annual Meeting.

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Cow college planned this month in Nebraska

Cow college planned this month in Nebraska

NTV

The annual Farmers and Ranchers Cow/Calf College "Partners in Progress" beef seminar will be held this month in south-central Nebraska.

The event takes place Jan. 19 at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and Great Plains Veterinary Education Center near Clay Center.

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Extreme weather tests livestock, owners

Extreme weather tests livestock, owners

FRANK WALLIS • and KEVIN PIEPER

The Baxter Bulletin

The week’s weather has made bone-chilling work for local cattle, turkey and broiler producers.

That’s big business in the Twin Lakes Area. Baxter and surrounding counties are home to about 200,000 beef cows or calves. About a million turkeys are grown to market weight on a dozen turkey farms in the area. Poultry growers in Marion County produce about 1.5 million broilers each year, according to the Arkansas Agricultural Statistics Service.

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How green is grass-fed beef? Debate ongoing

How green is grass-fed beef? Debate ongoing

Laura Rance

Winipeg Free Press

If Todd Churchill is right, he’s come up with a grass-fed beef production model that could close the door on confinement grain-fed livestock feeding systems.

"In my opinion, confinement livestock is about to be thrown virtually off the bus," Churchill told a Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council strategic planning session Nov. 30. "In 10 years, I think we will see virtually no feedlots in the U.S."

If that sounds a little cocky coming from a 37-year-old farm kid who left a successful career in accounting to take up ranching and meat marketing, well, it is. Those are fighting words in the deepening scientific mud-fest over whether grass-fed beef production systems are better for the planet than intensively raised livestock.

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Cattlemen Advised To Watch Feed During Frigid Weather

Cattlemen Advised To Watch Feed During Frigid Weather

cattlenetwork.com

Cattle producers need to keep a sharp eye on feed amounts and early calves when frigid air moves in, say cattle experts with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

The National Weather Service kept winter weather and wind chill advisories in effect on Thursday. A combination of stiff winds and cold air was expected to send wind chills below zero.

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Beef Industry, U.S. Economy Share Same Solution

Beef Industry, U.S. Economy Share Same Solution

Troy Marshall

BEEF Magazine

I hear a lot of folks who are both discouraged and frustrated by our country’s financial situation. That isn’t a totally irrational feeling; after all, record deficits are now expected to at least triple in the next decade. Coupled with trillions (yes, trillions) of unfunded liabilities, the situation offers every indication that those numbers will increase even more.

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Director Ibach provides update on NDA bovine tuberculosis effort

Director Ibach provides update on NDA bovine tuberculosis effort

High Plains Journal

Nebraska Agriculture Director Greg Ibach provided an update Dec. 22 on the state’s ongoing epidemiological work associated with Nebraska’s bovine tuberculosis case.

"We continue to make positive progress in several areas of the epidemiological investigation," Ibach said, "and we are pleased with the results, to date, that show no additional positive TB cases after 20,000 animals tested."

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Russian cattlemen visit Colorado

Russian cattlemen visit Colorado

The Fence Post

The Colorado Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with U.S. Livestock Genetics Export Inc. (USLGE),  recently hosted a delegation of Russian livestock producers.

The group visited Colorado to learn about livestock practices and herd health management through sessions at Colorado State University and ranch visits.

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