BeefTalk: Good Marketing Captures Available Dollars

BeefTalk: Good Marketing Captures Available Dollars

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Cattle producers need to set focused, systematic goals to capture more net dollars. When the discussion rests on the income side, marketing is the focus. Improved marketing to capture the monies available in the market is the key.

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Bringing Young People Home Means Sharing the Reins

Bringing Young People Home Means Sharing the Reins

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Erin Ridpath stands on the edge of a windy, dry Nebraska corn field near Cambridge and she sees into the future. She sees a herd of grazing, black baldy cows, with calves alongside them. She sees new fences and paddocks. She sees her life. And most importantly, she sees the path to get her there.

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Optimize the investment ranchers make in their bulls

Optimize the investment ranchers make in their bulls

Bob Larson

Angus Journal

Bulls play a tremendously important role on cattle ranches. They require a significant monetary investment associated with purchase price, housing costs, feed and veterinary care. They also serve as a source of risk to the ranch, with poor reproductive performance having a great impact on percentage of the cows that become pregnant and the average calf age at weaning.

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Putting average daily gain in context

Putting average daily gain in context

Drovers

Average daily gain (ADG) is a performance measure that many beef cattle producers monitor. Average daily gain is simply the rate of weight gain per day over a specified period of time. For example, if a calf weighs 600 pounds on June 1 and later weighs 750 pounds on July 31 of that same year, then it gained 150 pounds in 60 days. Divide 150 pounds by 60 days, and the ADG comes out to be 2.5 pounds per day.

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Renewed interest in heirloom cattle from Florida

Renewed interest in heirloom cattle from Florida

TAMARA LUSH

goErie.com

An ancient and hearty breed of cattle from Florida could be your next healthy meal.

Known as Cracker Cattle, they are descendants of animals that arrived in Florida with Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon in 1521.

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International Beef Cattle Production Comes to South Dakota

International Beef Cattle Production Comes to South Dakota

South Dakota Ag Connection

Beef cattle production is a global industry. Cattle operations come in every shape and size, says Kalyn Waters, SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist.

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Top 6 Takeaways From National Beef Quality Audit

Top 6 Takeaways From National Beef Quality Audit

Burt Rutherford       

BEEF

In terms of the sheer number of data points and volume of information, the National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) has been perhaps one of the beef industry’s most ambitious efforts.

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OSU Extension expert: Grass not yet ready for foraging

OSU Extension expert: Grass not yet ready for foraging

Tracy Turner

AG Answers

Producers might want to hold off grazing their cattle for a week or so longer than usual because of continued cold weather, an Ohio State University Extension expert says.

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Corn stover: What is its worth?

Corn stover: What is its worth?

Dennis Pennington

Michigan State University Extension

Corn stover is made up of the stalk, leaves, husks and tassels left in the field after harvesting the grain with a combine. This stover can be used to make advanced biofuels or be used as a low quality, emergency livestock feed. There are a number of factors you should consider before you set a price for corn stover.

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Cattle eating habits tracked

Cattle eating habits tracked

Harley Richards

Red Deer Advocate

The animal, which was being finished in a feedlot, was packing on five pounds a day and reached slaughter weight in just 10 1/2 months.

This performance attracted the attention of Basarab, a beef research scientist at Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s Lacombe Research Station, and other researchers.

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Baxter Black, DVM: The Ag Meister

Baxter Black, DVM:  The Ag Meister

I came of age listening to Evan Slack every morning on the radio telling us the current market. “Higher, higher, higher!” he’d say.

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Mob Grazing

Mob Grazing

Heather Smith Thomas

Angus Beef Bulletin Extra

Short-duration, high-intensity grazing — many cattle on a small area of pasture, moved at least once a day or several times a day to a new section of pasture — is often called mob grazing. There are several interpretations of what mob grazing means.

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Baby heifers – which do we keep?

Baby heifers – which do we keep?

Geni Wren

Bovine Veterinarian Magazine

Making the decision on which heifers to keep back for replacements can start as early as that heifer’s birth.

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Artificial Insemination for Beef Cattle

Artificial Insemination for Beef Cattle

Glenn Selk

Thebeefsite.com

Many producers of purebred and commercial beef cattle can profitably utilize artificial insemination (AI) on virgin heifers or on the cow herd or both. Success with artificial insemination requires attention to detail in all areas of herd management. One of the most important factors affecting the success of the program is the manager’s attitude.

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Livestock stewardship: Passion that is more than economics

Livestock stewardship: Passion that is more than economics

Sue Roessler

Farm and Ranch Guide

Agricultural stewardship is a philosophy of life and culture, says Gerald Stokka, veterinarian and associate professor of livestock stewardship at NDSU.

It is something that Stokka is passionate about – and he wants every rancher to know how special what they do everyday really is.

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New USDA ‘rural’ definition stirs up controversy

New USDA ‘rural’ definition stirs up controversy

Sara Wyant

High Plains Journal

A proposed definition of the term "rural" submitted by the Department of Agriculture to Congress last month could have broad implications for small towns across America–and not everyone is happy about it.

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Retained Placenta

Retained Placenta

Heather Smith Thomas

Feedlot Magazine

Most cows “clean” soon after calving, shedding placental membranes within 2 to 12 hours. If it takes longer than 24 hours, it is called a retained placenta. Dr. George Barrington of Washington State University says the cause involves malfunction in normal “turning loose” of tissue attachments between the maternal and fetal sides of the placenta.

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New feedyard verification program predicts genetic value

New feedyard verification program predicts genetic value

The Prairie Star

Verified Beef, a ranch calf certification company, is setting the bar higher with a new, revolutionary verification program.

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OSU Extension, OARDC offer beef cattle artificial insemination school April 30-May 2

OSU Extension, OARDC offer beef cattle artificial insemination school April 30-May 2

Tracy Turner

Ag Answers

Beef cattle producers who want boost their profit potential by increasing success with artificial insemination can attend a school on the subject April 30 through May 2, taught by Ohio State University Extension and Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center experts.

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Traits that pay in the feedyard

Traits that pay in the feedyard

John Maday

Drovers

We often hear that finished weight brings home the green in cattle feeding, and it is true that heavier carcasses earn a bigger check. But what it takes to get cattle to those weights can make an even bigger difference in profitability, says Decatur County Feed Yard owner and manager Warren Weibert.

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