An expert at branding

An expert at branding

Rikki Schierer

Interior News

When a 600-pound animal is barrelling towards you, there is no time to be scared.

So says Harold Kerr, who for 40 years has been a cattle brand inspector in the Smithers area and since 1993 he has been the area supervisor from Prince George west.

Full Story

DNA could help identify stolen cattle

DNA could help identify stolen cattle

Stuart Dyson

KOB Eyewitness News 4

Cattle rustlers are stealing cattle from ranches in remote regions of Socorro County, while law officers grow desperate for clues. The rustlers have struck at three ranches in a far flung stretch at the foot of the Ladron Mountains, between Magdalena and Bernardo along Riley Road. Ladron means "thief" in Spanish, and these mountains are proving why they still deserve the name.

Full Story

Cattle groups sue to stop water rule in Florida

Cattle groups sue to stop water rule in Florida

Reuters

Two cattle groups filed suit in Florida on Thursday to overturn U.S. water pollution rules that also are challenged by Florida state officials and businesses as ruinously expensive.

Full Story

Hiding the Truth About Factory Farms- My Thoughts

Hiding the Truth About Factory Farms- My Thoughts

Farmerswife30

This editorial in the New York Times has been getting a lot of attention on Twitter today. Of course I couldn’t find a place on the website to comment on the article, so I’m doing it here. The article talks about the legislation in three states to make it a crime for an undercover video to be taken on a farm.

Full Story

Hiding the Truth About Factory Farms

Hiding the Truth About Factory Farms

New York Times

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.

Editors Note: If you read this artile, please also note to next article in response to this editorial

A supermarket shopper buying hamburger, eggs or milk has every reason, and every right, to wonder how they were produced. The answer, in industrial agriculture, is “behind closed doors,” and that’s how the industry wants to keep it. In at least three states — Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota — legislation is moving ahead that would make undercover investigations in factory farms, especially filming and photography, a crime.

Full Story

BeefTalk: The Yellow, the Green and Anthrax

BeefTalk: The Yellow, the Green and Anthrax

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Last week, we were looking for grass, and this week we got it. If you listen carefully, you can hear the grass growing, tree buds starting to burst and the anthrax spores mingling.

Full Story

Beware of the horn fly

Beware of the horn fly

Gayle Smith

Tri State Livestock News

With summer fast approaching, ranchers need to start thinking about fly control. Studies have shown the presence of flies feeding on cattle during the summer can cause an average of 4 percent reduction in weaning weights.

Full Story

Grass Farming on the Bluffs Above the Mississippi River

Grass Farming on the Bluffs Above the Mississippi River

George Hall

GoodFood World

The benefits of pasturing cows so the animals get fed by grazing grasses and legumes as opposed to grain-feeding and the “crippling expense of annual cultivation and grain harvest” associated with confinement have been demonstrated.

Full Story

Who Protects the Animals?

Who Protects the Animals?

MARK BITTMAN

New York Times

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.

Getting caught is a drag.

Just ask Kirt Espenson, whose employees at E6 Cattle Company in western Texas were videotaped bashing cows’ heads in with pickaxes and hammers and performing other acts of unspeakably sickening cruelty.

Full Story

Arizona rancher endorses organic beef

Arizona rancher endorses organic beef

Hope Hunt

North Platte Bulletin

It might seem that an organic cattleman and robust capitalist would have nothing in common. But, cattleman Paul Schwennesen of the Double Check Ranch in Winkelman, Ariz. strives to embody both.

Full Story

Creep feeding calves in a high cost and high price environment

Creep feeding calves in a high cost and high price environment

Loretta Sorenson

Tri State Livestock News

Creep feeding has traditionally been profitable during cycles when calf prices were high and feed costs were low. University of Lincoln-Nebraska extension beef specialist Rick Rasby says the current scenario – high calf prices and high feed costs – is one beef producers haven’t previously encountered.

Full Story

Understanding ruminal fermentation and digestion

Understanding ruminal fermentation and digestion

Sara Thissen

The Cattle Business Weekly

The biggest agricultural focus has been on the cattle prices this year, as many cattle producers are selling their livestock at record prices. Looking at this spring’s calf crop and forward thinking to the fall sale season, there will be many sold while some will be retained.

Full Story

Cutting Feed and Reproduction Costs

Cutting Feed and Reproduction Costs

Bovine Veterinarian

New strategies to reduce the cost of production include more efficient nutrient use by the animals and improvements in their lifetime production efficiency.

Full Story

Maximizing Animal Welfare in Kosher Slaughter

Maximizing Animal Welfare in Kosher Slaughter

Temple Grandin

The Jewish Daily Forward

There are legislative attempts around the world to require stunning of animals prior to religious slaughter. I do not get involved in the politics of this issue, but the following discussion may help clarify where there are problem areas.

Full Story

Investing in Farm to Fork Infrastructure

Investing in Farm to Fork Infrastructure

Ashley Lukens

Honolulu Weekly

Senate Bill 249 proposes the state takeover of Oahu’s last remaining slaughterhouse in the face of its impending closure and lack of alternative private investors.

Full Story

U.S. Failure on S. Korea FTA Would Cede Market to Beef Rivals

U.S. Failure on S. Korea FTA Would Cede Market to Beef Rivals

Bomi Lim and Stephen Engle

Bloomberg

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said failure by Congress to pass a free-trade agreement with South Korea would hand an advantage to rivals such as Australian beef exporters.

Full Story

U.S. plans to lift restrictions on Canadian beef

U.S. plans to lift restrictions on Canadian beef

Canada.com

Canadian cattlemen may want to circle Nov. 19 on their calendars.

That’s the effective date of the U.S. government’s final rule to restart trade in older live cattle and their beef products, barring interference from political or legal wrangling.

Full Story

Culling cows may be option with limited forage supplies

Culling cows may be option with limited forage supplies

Donald Stotts

Southwest Farm Press

Cattle producers faced with limited forage supplies because of drought or wildfire should be evaluating whether or not it is time to cull poorer producing cows.

Full Story

Don’t let horn flies steal performance this summer

Don’t let horn flies steal performance this summer

The Cattle Business Weekly

As I write this article the third week of April, I can still see snow.  The mid April snow storms experienced by much of the region make it hard to believe spring, let alone summer will ever come. 

Full Story

Piney Woods Cow Congress set

Piney Woods Cow Congress set

Jacksonville Daily Progress

This year’s Piney Woods Cow Congress will feature management strategies for livestock producers to reducing losses, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Full Story