Fenceline weaning reduces stress

Fenceline weaning reduces stress

Mark Keaton

Baxter Bulletin

Weaning time can be stressful for cows and calves. Spring calving herds soon will be planning to wean the calves. Removal of a calf from its mother is second only to birth in creating stress. Under traditional weaning systems, changes in environment, diet composition, and pathogen exposure can reduce animal performance and result in health problems. In response to these challenges, interest in fenceline weaning has grown in recent years.

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Coming this October: Minnesota deemed TB-Free

Coming this October: Minnesota deemed TB-Free

The Cattle Business Weekly

Nearly five years after detecting bovine tuberculosis (TB) in northwestern Minnesota, the Board of Animal Health has received notification that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will upgrade the majority of Minnesota to TB-Free in October 2010. 

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Blach anticipates optimistic future, especially for cow-calf producers

Blach anticipates optimistic future, especially for cow-calf producers

Kindra Gordon for Angus Productions Inc.

Cattle Business Weekly

Cattle-Fax economist Randy Blach painted an optimistic picture for beef producers as he addressed the more than 600 attendees at the National Angus Conference Sept. 15 in Bozeman, Mont. The conference was followed by two and a half days of tours at several well-known Montana Angus seedstock ranches.

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Strategic Supplementation of Young Cows for Reproduction

Strategic Supplementation of Young Cows for Reproduction

Rachel Endecott, Extension Beef Specialist, Montana State University

Maintaining a yearly calving interval is imperative for a beef cow to remain a profitable calf producer in the herd, and can be a demanding task for young range beef cows. Even with supplementation, young cows experience a period of negative energy balance and weight loss before and after calving, and their response to supplementation may vary from year to year. Poor reproductive performance of first–and second–calf cows is a challenge faced by cow-calf producers in the West.

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Promised a State Lifeline, Family Farms Are Still Waiting

Promised a State Lifeline, Family Farms Are Still Waiting

PETER APPLEBOME

New York Times

John De Maria will never forget the day in May 2006 when Gov. George E. Pataki came to the farm his family has owned since 1939 and announced that it would do something that at times had seemed impossible: it would survive.

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NCBA Members Assist in Push for Common Sense

NCBA Members Assist in Push for Common Sense

KRVN

The providers of food for a growing global population encouraged their elected leaders to sign a letter led by U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) expressing concerns regarding EPA’s stringent regulations void of science and reality. NCBA Chief Environmental Counsel Tamara Thies said their efforts paid off.

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Lucas, Inhofe say environmental regulations threaten jobs, rural America

Lucas, Inhofe say environmental regulations threaten jobs, rural America

Newsok.com

The group heard from representatives of farmer, rancher, water and energy organizations who expressed concerns about regulations on pesticides, herbicides, dust, ozone levels, hydraulic fracturing and other matters.

Tamara Thies, chief environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said the EPA was moving toward the toughest regulation on dust in U.S. history.

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Cook receives Georgia 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award

Cook receives Georgia 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award

Sarah Lewis

M.K. “Curly” Cook, who served 31 years at the University of Georgia, was awarded the prestigious Georgia 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award at the Georgia 4-H Gala in Atlanta in August.

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Tall fescue and Kura clover for beef stockers

Tall fescue and Kura clover for beef stockers

University of Wisconsin

Do orchardgrass, fescue or legume/grass combinations produce more meat on growing, pastured beef animals? Do beef steers, beef heifers or dairy steers show the most gain on pastures? Researchers in the departments of Animal Sciences and Agronomy at UW-Madison recently finished a three-year study to answer these questions.

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Animal-welfare news sways meat consumers

Animal-welfare news sways meat consumers

UPI

News coverage of animal-welfare issues causes U.S. consumers to cut back on meat purchases and spend their money instead on non-meat items, a study indicated.

The university study, the first known examination of how news coverage affects U.S. pork, poultry and beef demand, found increased coverage of pork and poultry animal-welfare issues from 1999 to 2008 reduced consumer demand.

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Feedlot cattle today are far more efficient

Feedlot cattle today are far more efficient

Des Moines Register

Modern beef production is clearly improving. The total carbon footprint to produce one pound of beef was reduced by 14 percent since 1977, according to research by Washington State University. It takes 27 percent fewer animals to produce the same amount of beef now than it did 30 years ago.

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TB Tests For Cattle Moving From Minnesota To Dakota

TB Tests For Cattle Moving From Minnesota To Dakota

Thebeefsite.com

North Dakota is not changing its import testing requirements for cattle coming from Minnesota even if USDA-APHIS grants TB-free status to most of that state and an upgraded status to a section of northwestern Minnesota.

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Cash Rents for Pasture Poised to Rise

Cash Rents for Pasture Poised to Rise

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

In Texas there are a lot of good reasons for landowners to keep pasture rental rates steady. One of the biggest is called an agricultural use exemption and without it landowners can see property taxes go up about tenfold.

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Good Habits Maximize Fertility

Good Habits Maximize Fertility

Mel DeJarnette, reproductive specialist, Select Sires

Have you ever stopped to notice in the morning which leg you put into your pants first, which arm goes into your shirt first or which shoe goes on first? Chances are you go through the exact same routine every morning without realizing it. I tried to break my routine the other morning by putting my right shoe on first instead of the left. I’ll tell you, it screwed up my whole day!

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Wyoming considers revisions to its Veterinary Practice Act

Wyoming considers revisions to its Veterinary Practice Act

Alaina Mousel

Tri State Livestock News

Included in the language defining vet practices would be: artificial insemination; equine dentistry; embryo transplant; massage therapy; chiropractic therapy; acupuncture; and orthopedic malfunction.

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Nebraska Youth Beef Leadership Symposium in Lincoln

Nebraska Youth Beef Leadership Symposium in Lincoln

KRVN

The eighth annual Nebraska Youth Beef Leadership Symposium, Nov. 20-22 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will introduce Nebraska high school students to beef industry careers, current issues and an opportunity to use their leadership skills in a product development activity.

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Livestock groups laud Mandatory Price Reporting bill

Livestock groups laud Mandatory Price Reporting bill

Delta Farm Press

Mandatory Price Reporting Reauthorization legislation has been signed into law, extending reporting requirements of livestock daily markets for five years. The legislation will ensure that family farmers and ranchers will receive fair market value for their livestock.

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Iowans Launch Forage-Testing Project

Iowans Launch Forage-Testing Project

Hay and Forage Grower

A forage testing and feeding project, aimed at helping beef producers deal with this year’s poor-quality forages and prevent calving problems, has been developed by Iowa State University (ISU) Extension beef specialists.

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Helping youth with scholarships is part of NILE’s annual goal

Helping youth with scholarships is part of NILE’s annual goal

TERRI ADAMS

The Prairie Star

Each year the Northern International Livestock Exposition (NILE) raises enough money and receives enough donations to assist 10 students with scholarships to further their education and another 25 students with registered heifers to start their own beef cattle herd.

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Is grass-fed beef healthier than grain-fed beef?

Is grass-fed beef healthier than grain-fed beef?

Cecil Adams

Salt Lake City Weekly

Fans say grass-fed beef represents a trifecta of goodness: not just healthier, but tastier and better for the environment, too. Tempting as that conjugated linoleic acid sounds, you need to consider the implications for the planet, too.

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