Treating the Missus to a bull sale for her birthday

Treating the Missus to a bull sale for her birthday

Rodney Nelson

Farm and Ranch Guide

It’s funny how certain times of the year seem to sneak up on you and take you by surprise, like calving time, the first winter storm and your wife’s birthday.

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Earth gets spoils of animal composting

Earth gets spoils of animal composting

Andrea Uhde Shepherd and Jessie Halladay

USA Today

When an electrical wire fell on her Springfield, Ky., farm last April and killed 20 beef cattle, Frances Medley figured she would have to bury the animals — the remains had been left too long to be butchered, and her livestock pickup service had closed.

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Inner workings of meat plants

Inner workings of meat plants

Dr. Chris Raines, Penn State University

Meatblogger.org

I admit I had no idea what to expect when it was announced a few months ago that Oprah was “going inside” a slaughterhouse to reveal how meat is made.  The video was fantastic and an accurate a representation of what I have seen in large packing plants dozens of times before.

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Hereford Breeders Believe in Family

Hereford Breeders Believe in Family

Jennifer Carrico

Hereford World

Family roots run deep at GKB Cattle, Waxahachie, Texas. Everyone is treated like family when they drive down the lane. Cow families are also important.

Gary and Kathy Buchholz both have a cattle background and feel that it is important to honor the cow families that have built their herd through the years.

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New Guides in Place for Beef Safety

New Guides in Place for Beef Safety

Cattle Today

New guidance practices for sampling, lotting and testing beef products were released this week at the ninth annual Beef Industry Food Safety Summit, hosted by the Beef Industry Food Safety Council (BIFSCo).

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Bonding an Orphaned Calf to New Mother

Bonding an Orphaned Calf to New Mother

Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Science, Animal Science, University of Nebraska

Q:   I had a cow die after calfing and am trying to bond the calf with a cow that lost her calf. The cow wants nothing to do with the calf any tricks to help?

A:   This can be a challenge to graft a calf to another dam. The sooner after calving of the dam that lost the calf the better.

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Will Meat Replace Grain in Japanese Ports?

Will Meat Replace Grain in Japanese Ports?

Linda H. Smith

DTN

Japanese consumers already were shifting from seafood toward more meat in their diets and the current crisis could accentuate that trend, according to Chris Clague, with Promar Consulting, based in Tokyo.

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It’s calving time again

It’s calving time again

M. Timothy Nolting

The Fence Post

Isn’t that the title of an old country song that goes like this; It’s calvin’ time again you’re gonna miss me. I can see that far away look in your eyes… Well, maybe not. But it is calving time and that faraway look in the eyes of many ranchers is caused by sleep deprivation.

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How Many Animals Will Your Pasture Support?

How Many Animals Will Your Pasture Support?

Southern States

Pasture, like any asset must be managed to achieve optimum performance. However, before you can manage a pasture you will need to know just how many animals of a particular type your pasture might support.

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Why Factory Farmed Meat Is a Threat to Your Health — Even If You Don’t Eat It

Why Factory Farmed Meat Is a Threat to Your Health — Even If You Don’t Eat It

David Kirby

Alternet

Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.

Rick Dove, Helen Reddout, and Karen Hudson aren’t your typical environmental activists. A retired marine from the coastal plains of North Carolina, a mild-mannered farmwife in Washington’s Yakima Valley, and a lighting company employee in a Peoria, Illinois suburb would, at first glance, have little in common.

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Let’s Start The New Year At Ground Level

Let’s Start The New Year At Ground Level

Dr. Jeff Wilkins

American Cattlemen

Here are twelve ways to improve your cattle operation that will pay good dividends for the coming year. . . Implementing these twelve ideas can improve your chances in maintaining a successful cattle operation this time of year.

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Lessons from the feedyard

Lessons from the feedyard

John Maday

Drovers

Wyoming rancher Mike Healy has retained ownership of his calves through finishing for more than 20 years, and has used the experience to adjust genetics and management at the ranch to boost profits.

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Watch for grass tetany this spring

Watch for grass tetany this spring

Steve Paisley

Tri State Livestock News

After a very cold winter, March weather has been mild, and many pastures and meadows are greening up quickly. Grass tetany occurs in all parts of the U.S., and goes by several names: grass staggers, wheat pasture poisoning, magnesium tetany, and grass tetany all refer to low blood magnesium (hypomagnesemia).

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EPA Tries to Dispel Myths about Agency Regulation Plans

EPA Tries to Dispel Myths about Agency Regulation Plans

Roger Bernard

Beef Today

Ask farmers what they think about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and regulations are about all that comes to mind. In many cases, they say, the regulations don’t reflect reality.

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Solution for escalating food costs: let ’em eat iPads

Solution for escalating food costs: let ’em eat iPads

Hembree Brandon

Southwest Farm Press

Starting with the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which set energy prices on their upward spiral, costs for everything have inflated as companies increased the price of their products and services to compensate for the energy component. Once a price is increased, it almost never comes down, but rather rises yet again when the next spike in energy prices occurs

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Joel Salatin: How to Eat Animals and Respect Them, Too

Joel Salatin: How to Eat Animals and Respect Them, Too

Madeline Ostrander

Alternet.org

Joel Salatin is no simple farmer. When he speaks, he at times takes on the air of a Southern preacher, philosopher, heretic, businessman, activist, or ecological engineer.

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OSU Develops Cow Reproduction Technique To Boost Industry Efficiency

OSU Develops Cow Reproduction Technique To Boost Industry Efficiency

Farms.com

Researchers with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center have pioneered a new protocol for increasing pregnancy rates in beef cattle, which is expected to lead to higher production efficiency and cost and time savings for farmers nationwide.

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Calculating Livestock Numbers by Weather and Climate

Calculating Livestock Numbers by Weather and Climate

Science Daily

Ranchers in the central Great Plains may be using some of their winter downtime in the future to rehearse the upcoming production season, all from the warmth of their homes, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil scientists.

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Anthrax found in Central Texas cattle

Anthrax found in Central Texas cattle

BLAIR FANNIN

The Eagle

Sample tissue submitted to the College Station-based Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory has tested positive for anthrax in a Central Texas beef cattle herd, according to agency officials.

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The grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef debate

The grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef debate

Kim Cross

CNN

A large herd’s worth of beef cattle has passed through the Cooking Light Test Kitchen over the past 24 years, almost all of it standard-issue, grain-fed supermarket meat.

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