Monthly Archives: June 2011

Proper hay storage vital to protecting feed quality

Proper hay storage vital to protecting feed quality

AG Answers

After a wet spring and delayed hay harvest, a Purdue Extension beef specialist says it is vitally important for beef producers to store hay properly to reduce nutrient loss.

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Ringworm

Ringworm

Troy Smith

Angus Journal

Don’t you sometimes wonder about ringworm? Well, maybe you don’t lie awake at night thinking about things that cause ugly lesions on cattle.

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Grazing and Stocking Density

Grazing and Stocking Density

Randy Kuhn

Beef Today

From time to time, I have the opportunity to attend grazing field days at neighboring farms or grazing conferences put on by Penn State or Cornell University .  And when it comes to the "round-table" or "open forum" time of the get together, I hear statements like "My Dad used to graze 100 cows on this pasture all season and now I run out after four months with only 90 cows. What’s wrong with my pasture?" 

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More Pounds, More Heat Tolerance

More Pounds, More Heat Tolerance

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Take 90°F, add in about 98% humidity, and when you start to feel like you’re wading through the day you begin to see what cattlemen like Darrel Haynes deal with all summer long.

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High court to rule on meat law

High court to rule on meat law

Neil Nisperos

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

The U.S. Supreme Court in October will weigh in on the fight between the meat industry and farm animal advocates over a California law barring animals that are unable to walk from entering the meat supply.

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Trotter retires from Purdue Extension after 33 years

Trotter retires from Purdue Extension after 33 years

BRADEN LAMMERS

News and Tribune

After 33 years as an educator and Director of Purdue University’s Cooperative Extension Service in Clark County, David Trotter is retiring.

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Oklahoma cattle sales increasing due to drought

Oklahoma cattle sales increasing due to drought

Joplin Globe

Nearly 13,000 head of cattle were sold at the Oklahoma National Stockyards this week, an increase of more than 50 percent over the 8,000 head normally sold at this time of year, according to the Oklahoma National Stockyards.

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Livestock Producer Focuses on GIPSA Rule at Ag Hearing

Livestock Producer Focuses on GIPSA Rule at Ag Hearing

KNEB

Testifying before the Senate Ag Committee Tuesday – Kansas Livestock Association President-Elect Frank Harper explained that free trade – even with its imperfections – is relatively more equitable than regulated and subsidized markets.

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Floods Damaging Montana Hayfields and Forage Harvest

Floods Damaging Montana Hayfields and Forage Harvest

Beef Cattle News

With persistent flooding threatening the successful harvest of forage crops in his state, Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg recently sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking USDA to open Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands for haying and grazing.

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Cattle folks watch stover ethanol warily

Cattle folks watch stover ethanol warily

Dan Piller

Des Moines Register

The cattle industry long ago jumped off the ethanol bandwagon, blaming ethanol for spikes in corn prices in 2008 and then in the last 12 months that cattle feeders say have caused them to spend most of the last four years  in the red.

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Individual cattle management

Individual cattle management

Tom Fanning manages Buffalo Feeders, where individual management leads to increased quality and profitability. This video news is provided by Certified Angus Beef LLC and the American Angus Association. Visit http://www.CABpartners.com or http://www.angus.org for more information.

Wet conditions make haying a challenge

Wet conditions make haying a challenge

Greg Lardy

Tri State Livestock News

The persistent wet conditions in many parts of the area covered by the Tri-State Livestock News will make haying a very challenging activity this summer.

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Steve Cornett:  Get Better or Get Out

Steve Cornett:  Get Better or Get Out

Beef Today

Competition is a frustrating thing. Still, there is a difference between war and business deals. In both, you have two sides. But only in one is “all fair,” and that’s because when you’re at war anything that hurts the adversary helps you. But in business, as often as not, the opposite is true.

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Sexed Semen Offers New Breeding Opportunities

Sexed Semen Offers New Breeding Opportunities

Heather Smith Thomas

Cattle Today

One of the newer developments in the beef industry is use of sexed semen. AI has been used for many years to increase the number of progeny from superior sires, and embryo transfer enables producers to increase the number of offspring from a specific mating.

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Drought to have multi-year effect on rebuilding U.S. cow herd

Drought to have multi-year effect on rebuilding U.S. cow herd

TSCRA

Ongoing drought conditions in the southern Great Plains states make it increasingly likely the rebuilding of the U. S.’ cow herd will take four years or more. For the year to date, beef cow slaughter decreased 4.4 percent nationally while beef cow slaughter in Region 6, which closely corresponds to the drought area, increased 11.7 percent.

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Feeder calf mistakes

Feeder calf mistakes

Geni Wren

Bovine Veterinarian Magazine

Beef cattle nutritionist Mike Hubbert, PhD from New Mexico State University’s Clayton Livestock Research Center, says it’s important to “feed for health” with new calves arriving in the feedlot. “I define feeding for health as: the individual animal is consuming the proper nutrients at the proper units/levels for the promotion of healthy, cost efficient growth,” Hubbert explains.

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Senate Ag Committee Examines Livestock Industry

Senate Ag Committee Examines Livestock Industry

Hoosier AG Today

  Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Ag Committee, says bolstering conservation and other critical Farm Bill programs will help to strengthen the 250-billion dollar livestock industry, a major area for job and economic growth as the Committee moves forward in crafting a new Farm Bill.

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A Yardstick to Cull By

A Yardstick to Cull By

Becky Mills

DTN

Kay Richardson says the decision to cull should be done with an eye toward building the best, most reproductive herd possible.

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Cattlemen Included in Key Survey

Cattlemen Included in Key Survey

KRVN

Cattle producers are being asked to provide their input to the 2011 National Beef Quality Audit. The 2011 NBQA, led by scientists from Colorado State University and Texas A&M University, is designed to collect and analyze information from cooler audits in the packing sector, face-to-face interviews with beef supply chain partners and, for the first time, cattle producers including feeders, stockers, cow-calf operators, and seedstock producers will be surveyed.

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Forage Options For Surviving Drought

Forage Options For Surviving Drought

Fae Holin

Hay & Forage Grower

Producers in the southeastern U.S., where drought is contributing to a short hay supply, should know how much hay and pasture they have available and how much will be needed to get through a dry period, said Dennis Hancock, University of Georgia Extension forage specialist.

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