A Side by Side Profile of Visionary Partnerships
Tracy Rehberg
CALF NEWS
Will Feed Inc., owner Anne Burkholder – recognized for her industry vision and advocacy of Beef Quality Assurance – has turned ranch-to-rail collaboration into the linchpin of her successful feedyard enterprise.
Al Atkins is a 600-head commercial cow-calf producer in the Nebraska Sandhills.
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Beeftalk: What You Want You Cannot See
Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service
Two common thoughts persist within most beef operations as the new year unfolds. Producers become keenly aware that the cows are pregnant and bulls need to be bought for the next calving season.
Calving preparation commences. Bull sale dates fill the calendar. Interestingly, both events involve something we cannot see.
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Will Your Moldy Corn Jeopardize Livestock Health And Performance?
Farmgate
2009 corn will carry a reputation for many years about the significant problems with molds, potential toxins, and the quandary that it put livestock producers in on whether to feed it. The ill-fated growing season resulted in a myriad of mold problems throughout the Cornbelt.
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Don’t Take Your Ultrasound Technician Off Speed-Dial
CUP Lab
DNA. DNA. DNA. Everywhere you turn these days talk in the beef industry is about DNA. The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) centered its annual convention this past summer on the role of genomics in improving selection tools. And even the lowliest cowpoke knows what a SNP, or “snip” is.
It’s enough to make one wonder if ultrasound technology is obsolete.
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Managing genetic defects in beef cattle and crossbreeding and the power of heterosis
University of Nebraska
eXtension Beef Cattle Clearinghouse Community of Practice will conduct 2 webinars. The dates for the webinars are February 11 and Feb 25. Noon, Central time, for 1 hour each.
Speakers will be Dr. Bob Weaber, University of Missouri and Dr. Matt Spangler, University of Nebraska.
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2010 International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare
BCI at KSU
The Second Annual International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare, hosted by the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University on May 19-21, provides an opportunity for all stakeholders in the U.S. Beef supply chain to constructively engage in discussion, debate and dialogue with members of the North American Food Animal Well-being Commission – Beef on the critical welfare issues facing our industry. The depth, range and unique focus of the experts participating in this symposium will provide all attendees with networking and problem solving opportunities.
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Beef Expo Set For Feb. 11-18 in Des Moines
Wallace’s Farmer
Both buyers and consignors, young and old attending the 2007 Iowa Beef Expo, to be held February 11-18, will have the opportunity to take advantage of special "Cattlemen’s Offers" being provided at the country’s largest state beef Expo.
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Grassfed Exchange
Codi Vallery-Mills
The Cattle Business Weekly
An education in production and genetics for today’s grass-fed cattle operations
More and more consumers are demanding specific characteristics from the meat items they purchase. This allows for niche markets to be created and one of the top niche markets in the U.S. right now is grass-fed cattle.
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Feed them right: Proper nutrition vital for beef cows during winter months
Mark Landefeld
Farm and Dairy
Feeding beef cattle during the winter can be a challenging experience if being profitable is one of your goals. Proper nutrition is a key component for a successful cow/calf operation.
Cows go through many physiological changes during a year. The winter/early spring feeding period is one of the most critical times to provide adequate nutrition for the cow because of her needs at this time.
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Revised Beef Basics II Course Now Available
Nebraska Farmer
A University of Nebraska home-study course, called Beef Basics II, that focuses on breeding for profitability has been updated.
The revised Beef Basics II course consists of topics on reproduction, herd health and genetic improvement using the most current university research, says Steve Pritchard, UNL Extension educator in Boone and Nance counties. He chairs the program.
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Cold snap ‘took heavy toll’ on cattle placements
AgriMoney
The "worst combination" of cold and windy weather and weak supplies of calves have slowed the placement of cattle into US feedlots to its lowest since 1998.
Analysts believe that US Department of Agriculture data on Friday will show a 5% slide, year on year, in cattle placed last month, although one broker, Frontier Risk Management, has forecast that the drop could be as much as 16.1%.
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Feedlots Remain in Good Supply Shape
Steve Kay, Cattle Buyers Weekly
AgWeb
Feedlots remain in good shape regarding supplies of market-ready cattle because of larger than expected marketings in December. Feedlots marketed nearly 3% more cattle in the month than a year earlier, according to analysts’ forecasts ahead of this Friday’s Cattle on Feed (COF) report. This is because packers killed an estimated 2.2% more fed steers and heifers in December than in December 2008.
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Q&A: How much feed value does whey from a cheese factory have for livestock?
Dr. Galen Erickson, Associate Professor of Animal Science, Animal Science, University of Nebraska
A: Whey can be fed to cattle and works quite well. The energy value is probably similar to corn or a bit less on a DM basis. If this is condensed whey (i.e, 50% DM or so), then the feeding will be a bit better in terms of energy than dried whey. However, the dried product is easier to handle.
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Disposition, docility, Tripp cattle producer sees both in Red Angus
Loretta Sorensen
Tri State Livestock News
The days when Red Angus cattle were discounted at sale barns are quickly fading away and Red Angus breeder Corey Gall of Tripp, SD can easily explain what made him start cultivating his own 50 head herd of red hides.
“Disposition,” he quickly states. “Add to that the same strong maternal and carcass qualities of this breed and I can’t see any reason not to raise this breed of cattle.”
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Financial advantage of using sexed semen
The Cattle Business Weekly
With the help of retired Texas A&M University Economist, Dr. Jim McGrann, Sexing Technologies (ST) is now offering an Economic Decision Aid for cattle producers interested in using sexed semen. This decision aid is the first of its kind in evaluating the expected return on investment that cattle producers could see when utilizing sexed semen in their AI programs.
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The Beef Blog 