Baxter Black, DVM: BSE Tsunami

Baxter Black, DVM:  BSE Tsunami

One of the biggest upheavals in food production in the last ten years was the result of one of the tiniest imaginable scares.

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Researchers Explore Strategies to Time Heifer Puberty

Researchers Explore Strategies to Time Heifer Puberty

Blair Fannin

Cattle Today

Cattle producers typically wean replacement heifers at seven months of age and raise them with limited nutritional input before their first breeding. This managerial strategy is often associated with delayed puberty, particularly in tropically-adapted Bos indicus-influenced cattle, according to researchers.

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Plan Ahead When Using MLVs

Plan Ahead When Using MLVs

By Dr. Ken McMillan

DTN/The Progressive Farmer

After a modified live vaccine (MLV) is mixed it should be protected from light and heat, and used within an hour.

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Prepping for private treaty

Prepping for private treaty

Drovers

Private treaty sales are sales in which the cattle owner negotiates directly with prospective buyers. Like other forms of cattle marketing, direct sales have their pros and cons. Producers considering using private treaty as a marketing channel would be wise to do some advance preparation before implementation to achieve the best results.

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The Cull Cow Quandry

The Cull Cow Quandry

Dr. Richard Raymond

Food Safety News

Some of the most disgusting images of modern agriculture being presented to the American public are those of old cull cows being inhumanely treated and mishandled by workers in the slaughter house pens.

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Management of Young Bulls Before and After the Breeding Season

Management of Young Bulls Before and After the Breeding Season

Dr. Rick Rasby,

University of Nebraska

After removal from the cow herd after the breeding season, yearlings should be kept separate from the older bulls if possible at least through their second winter. Yearlings need to be fed or grazed on a good quality forage or pasture.

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Jean Barton: Recognizing the warning signs

Jean Barton: Recognizing the warning signs

Red Bluff Daily News

I noticed there were new safety signs on the Silencer squeeze chute, because the ranch was being proactive about safety.

"CAUTION stand clear of moving doors & panels."

"DANGER pinch points" on both ends of the squeeze chute.

They told me to look at the shop, and there I found big EXIT signs on the doors and "NOTICE authorized personnel only."

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Media mangles latest biotech innovation—hornless cows

Media mangles latest biotech innovation—hornless cows

Jon Entine

AEI.org

It’s always revealing how the press portrays the latest development in agricultural genetics-soberly or with the rush of hysteria that has come to define media coverage of biotechnology.

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‘The beef industry is where it’s at’

‘The beef industry is where it’s at’

ABBEY LENNON

Calhoun Times

Pink slime stand aside, heart disease, don’t even think about it. Naysayers of the beef industry certainly have their work cut out for them once they meet Sonoraville High School Freshman Makayla Holmes.

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Cow slaughter continues above last year’s rate

Cow slaughter continues above last year’s rate

The City Wire

Total beef production for the year to date is down 1.3% and total slaughter is down 2.1% compared to the same period last year, according to a report from Derrell Peel, extension livestock specialist with Oklahoma State University.

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What lies beneath: Udder and teat scoring and culling decisions

What lies beneath: Udder and teat scoring and culling decisions

Steve Paisley

Tri-State Livestock News

With high prices for hay and limited fall and winter forage, many Wyoming ranchers have had to make several hard culling decisions over the last few months. These culling decisions are often made as general decisions such as by cow age or color, etc.

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The importance of body condition scoring

The importance of body condition scoring

Dave Russell

Brownfield Network

For those wrapping up spring calving, breeding season is still months down the road, but John Grimes, Extension beef coordinator at The Ohio State University says the condition of those cows now will greatly impact breeding. Grimes tells Brownfield that ideally we’d like to see cows with a body condition of 5 to 6 to insure good reproductive performance.

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The Issue of Herd Health

The Issue of Herd Health

John Block

Beef Today

The Congress is working to reauthorize the Animal Drug User Fee Act. This has revived a longstanding dispute over the use of drugs in raising and treating animals.

Critics argue that the use of drugs on animals results in resistance to the drugs.

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Subtle Cues to Health

Subtle Cues to Health

Troy Smith

Angus Beef Bulletin

Considering the experience, research and applied technology to better manage nutrition, as well as the ever-growing arsenal of products aimed at preventing and treating cattle ailments, it would seem the incidence and severity of disease among feedlot cattle should be in decline.

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A growing commodity: Female-run farms on the rise

A growing commodity: Female-run farms on the rise

Wynne Everett

Dansville Online

The number of female farmers has been on the rise for more than a decade, and experts expect that new census figures from the USDA this year will show even larger numbers of women turning to agriculture for a career.

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Where ‘farm to fork’ falls short

Where ‘farm to fork’ falls short

Elaine Corn

Sacramento Bee

If you lived in California, that food was local and still is. New Yorkers and anyone in areas that froze part of the year didn’t care that the food came 3,000 miles to delight the palate and improve human nutrition.

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Vitamin A deficiency in beef herds lingering effect of drought

Vitamin A deficiency in beef herds lingering effect of drought

Jane Fyksen

Agri-View

It’s been a tough calving season weather-wise, what with colder-than-normal temperatures, snow, rain and everything in between. Some beef producers may also be seeing the lingering effects of last year’s drought as well. An earlier-than-normal start to feeding stored feeds last fall due to droughty pastures, coupled with lower-quality hay during the winter feeding period, is resulting in calves showing vitamin A deficiency.

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New livestock identification regulations not burdensome

New livestock identification regulations not burdensome

Penn State News

The new livestock identification program recently launched by the federal government should not place a significant burden on producers in Pennsylvania or the East, according to an expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

The regulations will help agriculture officials track livestock in cases of disease outbreaks, allowing epidemiological investigators to quickly learn from which farm a suspect animal originated, according to John Comerford, associate professor of animal science, who coordinates Penn State’s beef program.

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Cow Slaughter Suggests Continued Liquidation

Cow Slaughter Suggests Continued Liquidation

Wes Ishmael

BEEF

“There is growing evidence that the extended cold weather has increased beef cow liquidation,” says Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist, in his weekly market comments. “Total beef cow slaughter has been up 11.1% the last four weeks after declining early in the year. Year-to-date beef cow slaughter is now down a scant 3.7% from last year…”

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New University of Idaho Extension Educator Knows Beef

New University of Idaho Extension Educator Knows Beef

Cindy Snyder

Times-News

One of the lessons Billy Whitehurst has learned over the years, is that animals don’t lie. Another is that cookie cutter approaches don’t work when it comes to cattle and ranching.

That’s why he is taking a hands-on approach to his duties as the new University of Idaho extension beef educator for the Magic Valley.

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