Video Feature: Beware of Poisonous Hemlock

Poisonous Plant Problems

Poisonous Plant Problems

Troy Smith

Angus Journal

The obvious difficulty drought delivers is a shortage of forage for grazing and, in the absence of irrigation, to harvest as hay. A less obvious problem is the proliferation of undesirable plants that seems to occur. Weeds, including the poisonous kinds, just seem to do better during and after a drought.

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Set objectives, implement health protocol for profitability

Set objectives, implement health protocol for profitability

Red Angus Association of America

As with any successful business endeavor, setting goals and maintaining a program’s health will enhance profitability. Cattle producers and industry professionals explored these aspects of profitability at the “Manage For Profit” symposium that kicked off the annual Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Research Symposium and Convention on June 12 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

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FDA proposes vet prescriptions for water and feed antibiotics

FDA proposes vet prescriptions for water and feed antibiotics

Codi Vallery-Mills

The Cattle Business Weekly

If you missed a meeting, here is a recap of the drafted proposal. The FDA aims to phase in veterinary oversight of therapeutic antimicrobial use, which should be of interest to food animal producers and veterinarians.

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BeefTalk: Good Marketing is Essential to Capture Available Dollars

BeefTalk: Good Marketing is Essential to Capture Available Dollars

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Do not let big numbers fool you. With good marketing skills, heavy calves will capture more value. If there is one concept cow-calf producers have total control over, it is how they market their calves.

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Time Is Running Out On Beef Demand

Time Is Running Out On Beef Demand

Troy Marshall

BEEF

I love the beef checkoff. Perhaps more accurately, I believe in the importance of building beef demand, and I think the programs that have been carried out by the contractors with our checkoff dollars have been tremendous.

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Livestock Grazing And Activist Intervention Still At Loggerheads

Livestock Grazing And Activist Intervention Still At Loggerheads

Jesse Bussard

Beef Producer

Grazing rights are a hot topic of late, from the Grazing Improvement Act currently awaiting consideration in the House of Representatives to the protests of Wyoming ranchers on the intervention of environmental activists in their grazing permit renewal process.

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Extension to hold Beef Producers Summit on Aug. 6

Extension to hold Beef Producers Summit on Aug. 6

Penn State

Farmers who raise beef cattle can receive valuable information designed to help improve their operations by attending an educational event to be offered by Penn State Extension this summer.

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Select Sires Honors Genetic Consultant Of The Year

Select Sires Honors Genetic Consultant Of The Year

AgriMarketing

Jerry Emerich of Select Sire Power was honored as the Select Mating Service™ (SMS™) genetic consultant of the year in front of an audience of his peers at Select Sires’ national SMS Genetic Consultant Conference held in Visalia, Calif., on May 6-9, 2013.

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House farm bill dies in 195-234 vote

House farm bill dies in 195-234 vote

Western Livestock Journal

Thursday, June 20, saw the death of the House farm bill (H.R. 1947). The bill was voted down, 195-234, along largely partisan lines. All told, 171 Republicans and 24 Democrats voted in favor of the bill while 172 Democrats and 68 Republicans voted against it.

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Business Basics Build Success for Family of Cattlemen

Business Basics Build Success for Family of Cattlemen

Karl Wolfshohl

Progressive Farmer

Mark Hazard offers the same advice to young ranchers that he and his dad have followed for decades: Build wealth while you’re young. Enjoy it later.

This isn’t idle talk. He has said it often while seated across the desk from cattlemen applying for loans. Hazard was president of Cadence Bank, in West Point, Miss., from 1987 until 2010.

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Weaning Straegies: Pencil It Out

Weaning Straegies:  Pencil It Out

Troy Smith

Angus Journal

For close to 20 years, cow-calf producers have heard all about the advantages of preconditioning calves. Studies have demonstrated the benefits to subsequent calf health, performance and carcass merit. There is ample evidence preconditioning adds value. It can make a set of calves worth more money. There is no guarantee, however, that preconditioning will make them more profitable.

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Angus breeders honored by the Beef Improvement Federation

Angus breeders honored by the Beef Improvement Federation

Drovers

“The success of the Angus breed has been built by operations, such as the Bradley 3 Ranch, that are committed to excellence,” says Bryce Schumann, Association chief executive officer. “When the entire beef industry recognizes that effort, we could not be more proud. Congratulations to the Bradley 3 Ranch for a much-deserved honor.”

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Don’t let Trich sneak up on your herd

Don’t let Trich sneak up on your herd

Brett Wessler

Bovine Veterinarian

Producers who don’t keep an eye on their herd, paying close attention to calving numbers and herd sizes, may be allowing a serious disease to sneak up on their herd.

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Here’s The Beef: McDonald’s Lets Aussies Track Their Big Macs

Here’s The Beef: McDonald’s Lets Aussies Track Their Big Macs

Courtney Subramanian

Time

Australian McDonald’s outlets are attempting to frame their businesses as being on the cutting edge of the farm-t0-table movement — at least when it comes to providing diners with instant information on the origins of everything from the beef to the lettuce in their Big Macs.

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Quality beef without the prime price

Quality beef without the prime price

The News Tribune

You don’t have to go to some high-end steakhouse or shell out $200 a pound for ultra-marbled Wagyu beef from Japan to get flavorful, tender beef for your next barbecue. Just keep three crucial factors in mind: the grade, the grain and the aging.

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Pharmacologist Creating Research Institute, Animal Health Industry’s Future

Pharmacologist Creating Research Institute, Animal Health Industry’s Future

Newswise

Jim Riviere has big plans for the future of animal health.

Since joining Kansas State University in mid-2012, Riviere has been laying the groundwork necessary for improving the animal health industry.

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Where’s the Beef? Increasingly, it’s not on the dinner table

Where’s the Beef? Increasingly, it’s not on the dinner table

Brian Resnick

National Journal

Beef. While it might have been "what’s for dinner" in a previous age, it is quickly losing its place as a main staple in the world’s diet. Take Argentina for a good example of changing tastes and practices.

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Piedmontese beef’s lower fat, cholesterol entices connoisseurs

Piedmontese beef’s lower fat, cholesterol entices connoisseurs

Lori Corbin

KABC

Some call it "skinny beef": It comes from a type of cattle bred for their prized, leaner meat. It’s sought after by gourmets, and is pretty pricey, but is it really healthier?

Certified Piedmontese cattle raised in Nebraska are uniquely leaner than most.

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Breeding the Perfect Bull

Breeding the Perfect Bull

Smithsonian.com

There once was a bull, an astonishing bull with a handsome, wide muzzle, stunning scrotal circumference and a square frame solid as a sycamore. He was the son of Cherokee Canyon, the grandson of Make My Day—a noble pedigree. The cowboy who designed him, who chose the semen, selected the dam, prepared and inseminated the uterus, named him Revelation.

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