BeefTalk: Review This Spring’s Calving Distribution Report Card

BeefTalk: Review This Spring’s Calving Distribution Report Card

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Most producers cull the open cows, make managerial adjustments and anticipate a better calf crop next year.

While memories of the calving season are still fresh in your mind (and your calving book is your reference book of choice), now is the time to review this year’s calving distribution. Evaluate how your management is working.

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Mexico, Canada Largest Markets For US Beef

Mexico, Canada Largest Markets For US Beef

Thebeefsite.com

The US Department of Agriculture has released the monthly export data for meats and poultry which shows that February was a good month for beef and pork and a difficult month for chicken — owing primarily to Russia, according to Steve Meyer and Len Steiner.

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Cattlemen & Politics

Cattlemen & Politics

Gary DiGiuseppe

American Cattlemen

How many cattlemen can say they might have launched a politician’s career?  That’s the story offered by Kevin Carstensen, an Odebolt, Iowa cattle feeder who’s been promoting producer interests in the political arena since the early 80s. One of his first public actions was to testify in front of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission on measures designed to protect the state’s waters; afterwards, he says, “I sat down in Steve King’s construction company office and related some of my experiences with the EPC and the DNR, and he to this day attributes that three-hour conversation we had one afternoon in his construction office of getting into politics.” King, of course, is now U.S. Rep Steve King (R-Iowa).

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Interesting questions about the placenta

Interesting questions about the placenta

Bill Beal

Angus Journal

The placenta is a remarkable organ that provides the fetus with nutrients and gas exchange during pregnancy. During a recent laboratory dissection of the reproductive tract from a pregnant cow, college students posed some interesting questions about the placenta. The answers demonstrate how vital and complex placental function can be.

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Season Stretcher, Profit Killer, Be proactive. Don’t let vibrio steal your calves, time and money.

Season Stretcher, Profit Killer, Be proactive. Don’t let vibrio steal your calves, time and money.

Katrina Waters

The Cattleman

Reproductive diseases are like thieves to cow-calf producers. Without warning, they sneak in and steal calves (through infertile or aborting cows), create longer breeding seasons and add to labor and management costs.

One of these thieves is the often undetected Campylobacteriosis — also known as Vibriosis or vibrio — a somewhat mysterious, always costly disease.

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Reports Detail Why Veterinarians Enter, Leave Rural Practice

Reports Detail Why Veterinarians Enter, Leave Rural Practice

Bovine Veterinarian

Two special reports appearing in the April 15, 2010, edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) offer some interesting insight as to why veterinarians choose to practice in rural settings – and why some of them choose to walk away.

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Stronger Economy Could Mean Better Meat Prices

Stronger Economy Could Mean Better Meat Prices

Linda H. Smith

Beef Today

Orders for semi-trucks is one harbinger of how the economy is doing as they indicate whether more or fewer products will be moving, says Ann Duignan of J.P. Morgan. The number ordered in 2009 was down 33% from a year earlier, and January 2010’s total was down 18% from last year and the worst month for sales since January 1992.

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Idaho beef industry to help feed the hungry

Idaho beef industry to help feed the hungry

KTVB

Where’s the beef?   Well, it’s coming.

Idaho’s beef industry is stepping up to help feed the hungry by providing a steady supply of meat to the Idaho Foodbank.

This program is the first of its kind in the nation and officials say it will allow them to meet the USDA’s nutritional recommendations for meat for the first time.

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Take Steps To Improve Docility And Safer Handling

Take Steps To Improve Docility And Safer Handling

BEEF Magazine

Range cows need to step out and cover the country when asked to. However, ranchers also need to be able to approach and handle their cattle safely and without a fight. That’s why docility is so important in breeding decisions.

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Organic food no picnic

Organic food no picnic

DR. GIFFORD JONES

CANOE

So-called ‘healthy’ food has its drawbacks as well

"Do you ever buy organic food?" I asked my wife. She quickly answered, "No."

Then I asked, "Why do some people buy it?"

She replied what most people say, "Because it’s free of pesticides."

But is this true? And with increasing food prices is it prudent to spend hard-earned dollars on organic farm products?

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2009 a mixed year for food-borne pathogens

2009 a mixed year for food-borne pathogens

USA Today

Rates of one of the most feared food-borne illnesses, the E. coli O157:H7 infection, dropped by 12% compared with the previous three years, says the report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s FoodNet surveillance system. Shigella, a food-borne pathogen associated with person-to-person contact, dropped by 27%. Because of yearly fluctuations, the CDC averages the prior three years for comparison.

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Harsh winter, leaner cattle boost beef prices

Harsh winter, leaner cattle boost beef prices

WLS

A harsh winter in the U.S. has led to leaner cattle, and that has caused a spike in beef prices.

The Department of Agriculture says beef and veal production is also down worldwide.

Cattle futures have risen more than 20 percent since December.

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USDA seeks comments on controversy surrounding confining organic livestock

USDA seeks comments on controversy surrounding confining organic livestock

AGWeek

The new USDA organic pasture rule strengthening the requirement for grazing and pasturing livestock may not apply to beef cattle and other ruminants in meat production. In fact, the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) is seeking comments from farmers and consumers on a proposal to allow some level of confinement in feedlots for, as an example, organic beef cattle during the last four months of their lives during the “finishing” period prior to slaughter (when industry standards would feed them mostly grain/corn).

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Beef is Big Economic Engine in Southwest Missouri

Beef is Big Economic Engine in Southwest Missouri

David Burton

University of Missouri

The State of Missouri is a major player in the United States beef industry according to Eldon Cole, a livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension.

MU Extension, in cooperation with the Missouri Beef Industry Council, summarized data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture and figures support the claim that beef is big in Missouri — especially in the southwest corner of the state.

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Should Organic Cattle Finish on Grain?

Should Organic Cattle Finish on Grain?

Julie Hanus

UTNE

According to the USDA’s new organic standards (released in February), organic dairy cows must get at least 30 percent of their dry matter intake from pasture. No exceptions. Producers of organic beef cattle, however, can put their animals in feedlots for the last four months of their lives. You know, standing on concrete, eating grain, packing on the pounds. I have a word for this, and it is lame.

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