In 2014, Strive To Be The Kind Of Person Your Dog Thinks You Are

In 2014, Strive To Be The Kind Of Person Your Dog Thinks You Are

Joe Roybal

BEEF

There’s a natural tendency, I think, to look beyond home for measures of success, however. The problem is that such factors often aren’t totally under our control – things like wealth, recognition, material possessions, etc. Inspirational speaker Zig Ziglar used to say that "Money won’t make you happy, but everybody seems to want to find out for themselves."

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Talking Bull

Talking Bull

Dr. Ken McMillan

DTN/The Progressive Farmer

There certainly can be paralysis through analysis. Your best resource, other than a breeder you trust, would be a calving-ease EPD.

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A Forage for Every Season

A Forage for Every Season

Bruce Anderson

South Dakota AG Connection

Think back over the past couple of years. Did you have ample pasture all season long, or were there times when more forage growth would have helped?

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Genomic testing: A beneficial tool for breeders

Genomic testing: A beneficial tool for breeders

Heather Smith Thomas          

Progressive Cattleman

Livestock producers now have the ability to check an animal’s DNA for various traits.

A number of genomic tests have been developed, and most breed associations offer tests to check for certain traits or defects.

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Farmers need to focus on what goes in as well as what comes out

Farmers need to focus on what goes in as well as what comes out

Mike Scott

Forbes

Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.

As the world’s population heads towards nine billion people, it is crucial that the global agriculture sector is able to meet the increased demand for food. But the world’s food production industry is on an unsustainable path – one that mirrors the unsustainable short-termism of the financial sector in recent years – and needs to change radically if it is to feed the world of the future as well as the world of today.

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Burning cows: Extreme weather and America’s perilous food supply

Burning cows: Extreme weather and America’s perilous food supply

Erik German and Solana Pyne

Salon

Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.

It’s a burning cow.

At the height of a crippling drought last year, an errant spark touched off a vast wildfire near Straka’s ranch in the sand hills 200 miles west of Omaha. Fire consumed more than 300,000 acres of Nebraska’s plains in 2012, including one pasture where Straka and her neighbors failed to reach their cattle in time.

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Defined by critics, big ag restarts conversation

Defined by critics, big ag restarts conversation

MARY CLARE JALONICK

The Monterey Herald

Add one more item to the list of chores that Larry Hasheider has to do on his 1,700-acre farm: defending his business to the American public.

There’s a lot of conversation about traditional agriculture recently, and much of it is critical. Think genetically modified crops, overuse of hormones and antibiotics, inhumane treatment of animals and over-processed foods.

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U.S. beef exports gradually expand after mad cow scare

U.S. beef exports gradually expand after mad cow scare

MEGAN PAULY

KANSAS CITY STAR

Beef has long been a quintessential American staple, captured decades ago in the marketing slogan “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.”

These days, however, more and more of the red meat is making its way from farms in the United States to tables in numerous countries abroad, where many diets are incorporating more beef.

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Lost hooves, dead cattle before Merck halted Zilmax sales

Lost hooves, dead cattle before Merck halted Zilmax sales

BY P.J. HUFFSTUTTER AND TOM POLANSEK

Reuters

The U.S. beef industry’s dependence on the muscle-building drug Zilmax began unraveling here, on a sweltering summer day, in the dusty cattle pens outside a Tyson Foods Inc slaughterhouse in southeastern Washington state.

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Protein supplementation for beef cows

Protein supplementation for beef cows

Kevin Gould

Michigan State University

With 2013 corn harvest prices approximately half of those in 2012, cow-calf producers may choose corn for supplementation again. It’s probably the cheapest source of energy on the market if you can feasibly deliver it to the cow herd.

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Mineral supplements for stockers grazing small grains pasture

Mineral supplements for stockers grazing small grains pasture

Gary Cross

MyPlainview.com

Gazing out across a field of green wheat or rye or triticale forage, one might assume the nutritional needs of stocker cattle are being adequately supplied by the forage. However, concentrations of macro- and trace minerals can range from deficient to adequate in these forages.

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Suspended drug sales focus attention on cattle feed additives

Suspended drug sales focus attention on cattle feed additives

Iowa Public Radio

When the people from the drug company came out to visit Tyler Karney at Ordway Feedyard here on Colorado’s eastern plains, he was a little skeptical. They said their product, Zilmax, could put another 30 pounds on an animal in the last days before slaughter. Then he started blending it into the feed for the 6,500 head of Holsteins at this huge feedlot.

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Risk management important to cattle industry in coming years

Risk management important to cattle industry in coming years

Jennifer Carrico

High Plains Journal

Lance Zimmerman, an analyst with CattleFax, told attendees to the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association convention that many emotions have been covered over the past year regarding the cattle market.

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KOMA Beef Conference scheduled for Jan. 14 at Joplin Regional Stockyards

KOMA Beef Conference scheduled for Jan. 14 at Joplin Regional Stockyards

Joplin Globe

The 2014 KOMA Beef Conference begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the Joplin Regional Stockyards on Interstate 44 east of Joplin. The keynote presenter for the evening is Dave Rethorst, Beef Cattle Institute Director of Outreach at Kansas State University, whose topic will be, “Animal Welfare, BQA (Beef Quality Assurance) and Beef Production — How It All Fits Together.”

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U.S. beef promotion and education will focus on Millennial Generation

U.S. beef promotion and education will focus on Millennial Generation

Minnesota Farm Guide

Beef Checkoff organizations see 2017 as an important year for beef sales. It is expected that “Millennials” will begin outspending “Baby Boomers” that year.

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Suspended drug sales focus attention on cattle feed additives

Suspended drug sales focus attention on cattle feed additives

Iowa Public Radio

When the people from the drug company came out to visit Tyler Karney at Ordway Feedyard here on Colorado’s eastern plains, he was a little skeptical. They said their product, Zilmax, could put another 30 pounds on an animal in the last days before slaughter. Then he started blending it into the feed for the 6,500 head of Holsteins at this huge feedlot.

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Cattle producers in Michigan will have the opportunity to become BQA certified and learn about nutritional updates.

Cattle producers in Michigan will have the opportunity to become BQA certified and learn about nutritional updates.

Jeannine Schweihofer

Michigan State University

Michigan State University Extension will offer an Update on Feeding Strategies and Beef Quality Assurance Training on Jan. 29, 2013 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Huron Expo Center in Bad Axe and on Jan. 30, 2014 from 5 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. at the Kent County MSU Extension Office in Grand Rapids. Pre-registration is required and available online. Bring your farm employees that work directly with cattle handling, processing and feeding.

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Supply worries send U.S. cattle prices to record highs

Supply worries send U.S. cattle prices to record highs

Theopolis Waters

Reuters

 Slaughter cattle prices in the U.S. Plains hit their highest level on record on Friday, the result of a smaller herd that already has driven up beef prices, analysts and economists said.

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American meat-labeling rules prompt Canada to threaten sanctions and a trip to the World Trade Organization

American meat-labeling rules prompt Canada to threaten sanctions and a trip to the World Trade Organization

CBC News

Canada will head to the World Trade Organization in coming months to lay the groundwork for possible sanctions against the U-S over its country-of-origin meat-labelling rules.  Ritz says Canada’s pledge to retaliate against a range of U-S products if the rules aren’t scrapped or amended is no idle threat.

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4 Ways To Manage Antibiotic Resistance

4 Ways To Manage Antibiotic Resistance

Burt Rutherford

BEEF

It’s a case, says Terry Dwelle, of being vigilant, judicious and smart. And perhaps, most importantly of all, of coming out from behind the barricades and silos and working together. That’s his prescription for dealing with antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

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