Milk EPD and Calf Performance in Beef Cattle

Milk EPD and Calf Performance in Beef Cattle

AgriLife Extension

In a long-term study, Oklahoma State Univ. researchers bred crossbred cows to Angus or Hereford bulls that were either very high or very low for milk expected progeny differences (EPDs). The difference in High and Low Milk EPDs for Angus sires was 27.3 lb. Heifers from these matings were born over a 5-year period (1989 through 1993). When the heifers were 6, 7, and 8 years old, milk production was measured, and weaning weights of their calves were compared.

FULL STORY

Land O’Lakes Announces Executive Changes in its Purina AG Business Units

Land O’Lakes Announces Executive Changes in its Purina AG Business Units

AgriMarketing

Land O’Lakes President and CEO Chris Policinski today announced a number of management changes taking place within his Senior Strategy Team.

FULL STORY

Kiefer Sutherland, Others Roped Into Cattle Scam

Kiefer Sutherland, Others Roped Into Cattle Scam

KCAL

A San Joaquin County cattle salesman is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers, including actor Kiefer Sutherland.

Prosecutors say Michael Wayne Carr of Linden had agreements to buy steers in Mexico for his customers and sell them for profit in the United States. Carr allegedly took $869,000 from Sutherland and $177,000 from a New Mexico couple in those deals.

FULL STORY

Illinois firm takes e-coli precautions

Illinois firm takes e-coli precautions

KRVN

While lawmakers prepare to introduce legislation to mandate greater E. coli inspections of ground beef and national media fuels the debate on the need for greater testing and safety procedures, one regional Illinois-based processor, Valley Meats, has taken a major pre-emptive move and has instituted a series of state-of-the-art testing and treatment technologies to eradicate harmful pathogens into their product stream.

FULL STORY

Grazing Gets A Makeover

Grazing Gets A Makeover

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

If you want to talk to a beef producer who really knows how to manage pastures, you can’t do much better than Missouri’s John Wood. Forages are more than just one part of his herd’s feed regime; they are the only part.

FULL STORY

Cattle feed: What do those vitamins, minerals and additives really do?

Cattle feed: What do those vitamins, minerals and additives really do?

TERRI ADAMS

The Prairie Star

If cattle are not eating enough, what ingredient can a producer add to their diet to stimulate appetite?

One answer is salt. Salt acts as an appetite enhancer at low levels of inclusion. It is also an appetite suppressant at higher levels.

FULL STORY

If You Liked Bovine Growth Hormone, You’ll love Beta Agonist

If You Liked Bovine Growth Hormone, You’ll love Beta Agonist

Martha Rosenberg

News Blaze

While researchers and scientists investigate the cause of our diabetes, obesity, asthma and ADHD epidemics, they should ask why the FDA approved a livestock drug banned in 160 nations and responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown and 10 percent mortality in pigs, according to angry farmers who phoned the manufacturer.

FULL STORY

Options vary when marketing cattle

Options vary when marketing cattle

CLAY COPPEDGE

Country World

Livestock producers have many options when it comes to selling cattle, but a Texas AgriLife Extension beef specialist suggests that producers start at the beginning, by producing a good animal.

"You don’t have a lot of options if you don’t first produce a quality animal," Texas AgriLife Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Jason Cleere said. "Once you get a good animal, then you can look at the next step."

FULL STORY

A Different Kind of Feedlot

A Different Kind of Feedlot

Troy Smith

Angus Beef Bulletin

Certainly, no two cattle feeding operations are alike. Most of them, however, are similar in appearance. Most of them, and especially the bigger operations, have that typical feedlot “look.” When describing it, people might mention a feedmill and stores of feedstuffs. They’re likely to mention rows of cattle pens divided by alleys from which feed is delivered to fenceline bunks.

FULL STORY

Manage calving season for optimal results

Manage calving season for optimal results

Jerry Little

Amnews.com

Providing sound management during the calving season can mean more live calves. Excessive losses can mean the difference between a year’s profit or loss for a beef producer.

FULL STORY

Dry-Aged, Wet-Aged Beef :: What’s the Difference?

Dry-Aged, Wet-Aged Beef :: What’s the Difference?

Christopher R. Raines

Pennsylvania State University

In the simplest terms, dry-ageing of beef is the refrigerated, open-air storage of beef and is typically reserved for the rib and loin sections.  Alternatively, wet-ageing is the refrigerated storage of beef in vacuum-sealed plastic bags and is generally applied to a broader variety of beef cuts.

FULL STORY

What Is the Matter with M-COOL?

What Is the Matter with M-COOL?

Max Thornsberry

Beef Today

Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for  meat has become the law of the land, and you would think a pig had been stuck with a sharp butcher’s knife considering all the squealing coming from the beef packing industry and its trade associations.

FULL STORY

Producers may want to reconsider heifer breeding weight targets

Producers may want to reconsider heifer breeding weight targets

TROY SMITH

The Prairie Star

How big should replacement heifers be at breeding time?

The rate of postweaning growth among heifer calves has long been considered an important factor affecting age at puberty.

Research conducted during the late 1960s and through the early 1980s indicated puberty occurs at a genetically predetermined size, and only when heifers reached an appropriate weight could high pregnancy rates by achieved.

FULL STORY

Greenhorns get a lesson in herding cows

Greenhorns get a lesson in herding cows

Kim Underwood

Winston Salem Journal

Cow wrangling at the Children’s Home yesterday took an exciting turn when some of the cows took detours.

"I have learned that cows have their own mind," volunteer wrangler Dallas Brewer said. "It’s like herding cats."

FULL STORY

John Harrington: It’s Raining Feeder Cattle

John Harrington:  It’s Raining Feeder Cattle

DTN

Between on feed data, cold storage inventories and livestock slaughter totals released on Friday, it was very easy to overlook an extraordinary statistical picture painted by the National Feeder Cattle Summary.

FULL STORY