Let the Old Girls Work

Let the Old Girls Work

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Bob Riser admits to a certain reluctance to cull a good cow, even if she’s past the 10-year mark. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t looking to put wheels under any cow who looks like she’s going to be trouble.

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Consider Hay Quality

Consider Hay Quality

James Neel

Angus Journal

The frequency and amount of rain experienced this past spring and summer in Tennessee and nearby states resulted in a large amount of forage growth. That is the good news. The bad news is that the precipitation interfered with hay harvest.

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BeefTalk: What’s Changing in the Beef Industry?

BeefTalk: What’s Changing in the Beef Industry?

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

What is changing in the beef industry? Reviewing the data from the Cow Herd Appraisal of Performance Software (CHAPS) program, beef herds seem to be fairly constant. The reproductive performance based on cows exposed is remarkably sound, and the output, as measured by age adjusted weaning weight, is holding consistent and maybe even showing a slightly increasing trend.

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Keeping It Consistant

Keeping It Consistant

Miranda Reiman

Cattle Today

After living through the summer of 2012, a farmer in my area might be tempted to plant longer season corn. That year it warmed up early, was a hot dry summer that stretched well into fall. The 117-day varieties out-performed the 112-day ones that are common in central Nebraska.

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What is “Sustainable” Beef?

What is “Sustainable” Beef?

Food, Nutrition and Science

In a recent episode of the TV hit sitcom Modern Family, one of the main character’s neighbors scolded him for being less than “green." While Mitch offered up the fact that he is an environmental lawyer who recycles and drives a Prius, his neighbor one-upped him with his solar-powered house, biodiesel-fueled car and cactus-landscaped yard. Which neighbor was living a more sustainable lifestyle? It depends on your definition of the word “sustainable” itself.

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Decreasing calving losses

Decreasing calving losses

Catalina Cabrera        

Progressive Cattleman

With calving season upon us for the spring-calving operations, producers, ranchers, cowboys and veterinarians are all on alert. Things can go wrong, and no one wants to risk losing the calf, the dam or in the worst scenario, both.

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Fetal Programming of Beef Cattle

Fetal Programming of Beef Cattle

Tom Hamilton

Canadian Cattleman

Beef improvement programs have traditionally focused on genetic selection. Recent advances in genomics has accelerated selection by allowing us to identify key differences in the DNA of an individual animal’s DNA sequence. Wow! — being able to “look” right into an animal’s DNA.

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Be aware as the season for grass tetany nears

Be aware as the season for grass tetany nears

Mark Keaton

Baxter Bulletin

Beef cattle producers can expect grass tetany to become more of a threat to their animals as soon as green grass begins emerging in pastures. Tetany isn’t unique to poorly run cattle and forage operations. It occurs often on better managed farms, where the soil gets high rates of nitrogen and potassium from poultry litter or commercial fertilizer.

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The drought that ate the US herd

The drought that ate the US herd

MATTHEW CAWOOD

Queensland Country Life (AU)

TEXAS, USA, and Queensland, Australia, are half a world apart, but their beef industries are strikingly similar. And not just because of the big hats. Texas in early 2014 has been through the sort of industry-changing drought that is tearing the heart out of Queensland’s beef industry, and can offer a view from the other side.

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Black-hided cattle bring higher prices

Black-hided cattle bring higher prices

The Hennessey Clipper

Cattle prices have been setting new records almost every week this year. Feeder cattle futures have topped $170 per hundred weight and cash feeder prices are making local ranchers smile. The black cattle keep bringing the premiums as well.

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Importance of calcium and phosphorus in the ruminant diet

Importance of calcium and phosphorus in the ruminant diet

Bovine Veterianrian

Calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) are two of the most abundant minerals in the body, which is why they are vital to the discussion of feed testing and ration balancing for cattle. The importance of these minerals and the role they play in the body can help ranchers understand why a balanced mineral program is a notch in the key to success.

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Here’s How To Double Down On Bull And Cow Efficiency

Here’s How To Double Down On Bull And Cow Efficiency

Beef Producer

Redefine animal efficiency and the way we breed for it and we get a very different and arguably more profitable animal, says Johann Zietsman, a ranching consultant from Zimbabwe, Africa.

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Grafting Calves

Grafting Calves

Heather Smith Thomas

Hereford World

Occasionally a cow loses a calf at birth or a calf loses its mother, and you need to “graft” the orphan or a substitute calf onto another cow to raise. Or, a cow might have twins and can’t raise both of them, and you want to put the extra calf onto a cow that lost her own baby.

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Eliminating Grazing Won’t Reduce Impact of Climate Change on Rangeland, Scientists Say

Eliminating Grazing Won’t Reduce Impact of Climate Change on Rangeland, Scientists Say

AgriMarketing

Eliminating grazing won’t reduce the impact of climate change on rangeland, according to nearly 30 scientists in the western United States. The researchers, who work for nine universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, made this argument in a journal article in response to a debate over whether grazing on western public lands worsens ecological alterations caused by climate change.

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Craig Sherbahn, Indiana livestock Leader Passes

Craig Sherbahn, Indiana livestock Leader Passes

Editors Note: Everyone that knew Craig realizes that he was a true master stockman, a leader without peer, who will be irreplaceable in Indiana livestock circles.

Craig Eugene Sherbahn, 61, of South Whitley, died unexpectedly Tuesday morning, January 28, 2014 at his home. He was born July 19, 1952. He graduated from South Whitley High School and received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Education in 1974 and Masters of Animal Science degree in 1977 from Purdue University.

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There are fat cattle, and then there are fat cattle.

There are fat cattle, and then there are fat cattle.

Steve Suther

Angus Journal

It’s a wonder any cattle feeder can judge the marbling inside the ribeye by guessing fat thickness just under the hide. It shouldn’t work, but grid marketing of finished cattle is largely based on this acquired skill

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A different kind of cattle show

A different kind of cattle show

Dave Russell

Brownfield Network

When the cattle walk in to the Champions Center show ring at the Clark County Fairgrounds at Springfield Friday evening for the BEST program’s Celebrity Showdown the real winner will be Make-A-Wish.

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Creating superior carcasses by using technology

Creating superior carcasses by using technology

Drovers

Yield Grade 1 carcasses occur 12.4% of the time in the fed cattle population. Rarer are cattle that grade USDA Prime, approximately 2.25% of the population. What are the chances of a Prime Yield Grade 1? Approximately 0.03% of the fed beef population in the U.S. matches the desired Prime Yield Grade 1 carcass.

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U.S. Beef Herd Is Mostly Black But Changing Slightly

U.S. Beef Herd Is Mostly Black But Changing Slightly

Burt Rutherford

BEEF

An exclusive BEEF survey bears out what anybody who has hung an eyeball on pastures and feedyard pens throughout cattle country has seen — the trend toward a cowherd that is straightbred and black is firmly in place.

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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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