Video Feature: Estrous Detection

Dr. Allen Bridges details methods for detection of estrus in beef cattle, part of an efficient breeding program.

Grass-Fed vs. Grain-Fed

Grass-Fed vs. Grain-Fed

Fred Minnick

Calf News

Grass-fed beef has long appealed to niche markets across the country, but now mainstream consumers are consciously purchasing grass-fed over grain-fed beef.

Grass-fed hamburger and steak take up chunks of meat-case real estate at the likes of Costco and Wal-Mart. Some analysts say the grass-fed market has surpassed $1 billion in sales, prompting hundreds of producers to switch their grain-fed herds to pasture grazing.

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Neb. beef conference focusing on DNA technology

Neb. beef conference focusing on DNA technology

Action3news.com

Next month’s beef cattle technology conference in Clay Center will address DNA technology’s uses now and in the future.

Matt Spangler is an expert in beef genetics for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. He says the June 7 conference at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center will cover recent advances in DNA technology with respect to beef cattle decisions faced by producers.

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Cattle Insecticide Ear Tag Recommendations

Cattle Insecticide Ear Tag Recommendations

Lee Townsend, extension entomologist, University of Kentucky

Southern Livestock Standard

Insecticide impregnated cattle ear tags have been a popular means of pasture fly (horn fly and face fly) control for over 20 years. The insecticide in them is transferred to the animal’s hair coat as it grooms and rubs. Insecticide protection lasts for 12 to 16 weeks and the fly control program travels with the animal as it goes from pasture to pasture.

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Take a Fresh Look at Rotational Grazing

Take a Fresh Look at Rotational Grazing

Pat Hill DTN

If high fertilizer prices and hay costs are getting you down, it might be time to take a fresh look at rotational grazing. Rethink everything you thought you knew and try something completely different. That’s what Greg Wade did.

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The Next Big Food Scare

The Next Big Food Scare

Gary Truitt

Hoosier AG Today

It is as predictable as ants at a 4th of July picnic: a food-related scare that dominates the headlines and the television news. Last summer, it was H1N1 or, as uninformed called it, “swine flu.” The year before that it was food vs. fuel, where the fear mongers had the world worried we were going to run out of food because we had turned it all into ethanol.

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The beef with producer groups

The beef with producer groups

AG Week

Fuel, to a seemingly eternal fire, between producers and producer groups has been added recently with a proposal to changes in the structure of the Federation of State Beef Councils. The group making the proposal, The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which has housed the federation since the merger of the National Cattlemen’s Association and The National Livestock and Meat Board/Beef Industry Council in 1996, seems to think it should be business as usual.

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Managing the young beef heifer

Managing the young beef heifer

Bovine Veterinarian

The period from calving to three months of age is without question the most critical time for heifer growth and development. Heifers with a history of disease, insufficient nutrition or poor environmental conditions as young calves are likely to experience significant reproduction problems.

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Meet Your Meat on Campus

Meet Your Meat on Campus

Sara Brown

Beef Today

The vast majority of our consumers do not understand where their meat, milk or eggs come from. You can sit there at the computer and type in a number of search keywords, and find a wealth of opinions about the beef industry, farming and agriculture. Some will be accurate, but most won’t. Now, you can sit there and complain about it, or you can do something about it.

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APHIS To Issue Welfare Enforcement Information

APHIS To Issue Welfare Enforcement Information

Thebeefsite.com

The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will begin issuing press releases announcing the outcome of enforcement actions it has taken in response to violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

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Trent Loos: In the spirit of Robert Krentz

Trent Loos:  In the spirit of Robert Krentz

High Plains Journal

On the day that I heard about the death of fellow cattle rancher Robert Krentz of Arizona, I thought to myself, "I need to get down there and do something about this." I am not sure what the right thing is, but after a recent radio program with Gregg Doud as a guest, I have decided now is the time to do something. In case you missed it, Rob Krentz was found murdered on his own ranch in Cochise County, Ariz., on March 27.

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Steve Cornett: Why We Import Beef

Steve Cornett:   Why We Import Beef

Beef Today

First, an important thing. And not just because I’m tired of arguing with anonymouses (anonymice?) about beef imports. I’m also a music aficionado. Something of a connoisseur, if you will. You should go to http://www.rathergood.com/beef where you can find a mighty fine song about beef. Well, maybe not “mighty fine” but for sure mighty interesting. You didn’t see that many cats sing about beef before computers, you know.

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OSU team addresses economic impact of BRD

OSU team addresses economic impact of BRD 

Drovers

A multi-disciplinary team of Oklahoma State University scientists and practitioners is riding herd on one of the most challenging concerns of Oklahoma’s $4.6 billion cattle industry: Bovine Respiratory Disease.

BRD is the most common disease among feedlot cattle in the United States, accounting for approximately 75 percent of feedlot morbidity and 50 percent to 70 percent of all feedlot deaths. BRD causes between $800 million to $900 million annually in economic losses from death, reduced feed efficiency and antimicrobial treatment costs.

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Fears grow as animal disease spreads in South Korea

Fears grow as animal disease spreads in South Korea

Channelnewsasia

South Korea stepped up major quarantine efforts on Monday as a highly contagious animal disease threatened the centre of its livestock industry.

The agriculture ministry said more roadblocks and quarantine posts were set up after the foot-and-mouth outbreak hit a state livestock research institute at Cheongyang, 160 kilometres south of Seoul, on Saturday.

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NCBA Calls for End to Ethanol Subsidies

NCBA Calls for End to Ethanol Subsidies

KRVN

Major livestock and poultry trade associations asked the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday to allow a 30-year-old tax credit and a protective tariff for ethanol to expire at the end of this year.

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