BeefTalk: The Transition Zone Not a Good Calving Time
Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service
Calving season is winding down for many producers, but the last two weeks were tough. The problems were coming from many directions. In all aspects of life, there always is a transition zone.
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Losses increase for cattle feeders and packers
Greg Henderson
Drovers
Cattle feeding margins declined $7 per head last week following a $1 per hundredweight decrease in cash fed cattle prices. Average losses are now more than $81 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.
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Livestock Disaster Protection Act introduced in the House
Bovine Veterinarian
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) supports the efforts of Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) in introducing legislation that would provide a safety net for livestock owners across the nation. Under the Livestock Disaster Protection Act – the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) would be extended for five years and would apply retroactively to cover losses in fiscal years 2012 and 2013.
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Cattle thefts spur new interest in livestock branding
Judy Keen
USA Today
The Kleiboeker family has been farming in Lawrence County, Mo., since the 1860s and never felt the need to brand their cattle. Until now.
A rash of cattle thefts in the area spurred John Kleiboeker and his wife, Robyn, to design a brand — the letter K, a C, an inverted C and an F for Clover Creek Farms — and register it with the state.
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‘Ag gag’ legislation undercuts First Amendment
Ken Paulson
Indianapolis Star
Imagine Upton Sinclair with an iPhone.
Sinclair went undercover in 1904 to document squalid conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking plants, leading to his muckraking novel The Jungle. His reporting led to new public health laws two years later. In today’s social media world, Upton’s expose would have gone viral. Sure, we would have lost a classic book, but just consider the retweets.
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Mobile Slaughter Units To Come To MT
Ashley Sanchez
ABCFOX Montana.com
A Missoula-based company is trying to create the first large-scale mobile slaughter unit in the state. The owner of the business said the idea is to keep local food in Montana, and save ranchers time and money along the way.
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Feedlots may return to profit – after three years
Agrimoney.com
The end is nigh, after three years, for the feedlot downturn which is expected to prove evident again in data on Friday, showing a decline in cattle placements, as operators attempt to stem their losses.
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Investing in a New Light
Miranda Reiman
Angus Beef Bulletin
Many people have a distinct strategy for purchasing a new pickup. They want certain features; they’re willing to pay more for this, but not that. They figure value and how much it’ll be worth for resale X-number of years down the road.
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Mountain Top Angus – a dream realized
Suzane Stewart
The Pocahontas Times
At the ripe old age of 23, Clover Lick native Ben Wilfong set out to do the unthinkable – start a farm with nothing.
“It was something I always wanted to do,” he said. “[I] wanted to come home and be at home all the time, so I started a journey that everybody told me I couldn’t do because I didn’t inherit anything. I had to start from scratch. It’s very uncommon.”
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New livestock tracking system will be mandatory
Connect Missouri
The federal government has launched a new livestock identification program to help agriculture officials to quickly track livestock in cases of disease.
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The Beef Blog 