BeefTalk: Wet and Dry; There Is No Constant
Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension
The use of the word “sustainability” often is an indication that someone is searching for a simple, normal approach to life. In other words, the ability to fit in without the pressures of uncertainty.
Posted in Uncategorized
Feed Supply and Demand
Matthew A. Diersen
Livestock Marketing Information Center
In recent weeks people in different livestock sectors have been wondering about the relative price impacts of corn and other feeds. Other people have asked about the longer-run price outlook for feed and for cattle. Having expectations for corn and hay in this setting is necessary as they ultimately feed into the prices for different classes of cattle. For crops using a balance sheet allows for both supply and demand adjustments.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tips To Reduce the Risk of Calf Scours in Fall-Calving Herds
Glenn Selk
Oklahoma Farm report
Fall calving in the Southern Plains has several advantages. One of the least-discussed advantages to fall-calving is the reduction of risk to an outbreak of scours. Neonatal calf diarrhea (commonly called “calf scours”) is one of the most costly disease entities in the beef cattle business.
Posted in Uncategorized
Lean beef: Building on a success story
High Plains Journal
Responding to its market, the beef industry began making important changes in both perceived and actual nutritional properties of its products nearly 40 years ago. Those changes and the resulting impact they have had in marketing beef are more significant than most producers realize.
Posted in Uncategorized
Marbling matters as weaning time approaches
NICOLE LANE
Minnesota Farm Guide
Marbling in cattle — the taste fat — was long considered the feedlot’s responsibility, until research pointed to opportunities all the way back to the ranch. Genetic potential is a key, and deposition of this intramuscular fat links to management decisions much earlier than those final months on feed.
Posted in Uncategorized
County fair teaches life lessons
Tri State Livestock News
Many of you have just finished your county fair. There was a lot of work from both the kids and parents to help prepare the livestock and exhibits. Besides the parents we have the County Extension Agents, judges, cousins, grandparents and other numerous community members involved for the preparation.
Posted in Uncategorized
Cattle producers can add revenue through cost-effective calf management
Mac Young
AgriLife Today
CORPUS CHRISTI – A new Farm Assistance study conducted by specialists with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service reveals cattle producers can add significant net cash farm income to their operations on top of already high cattle prices by implementing cost-effective calf management practices.
Posted in Uncategorized
Maximum Value Comes at the Optimal End Point
Becky Mills
Progressive Farmer
Bill and Claudia Tucker believe in setting the mark high and holding it there. Preconditioning is never optional. Tucker Family Farms is a seventh-generation operation in Amherst, Va., expanded in 1992 to include retained ownership through slaughter.
Posted in Uncategorized
Two Midwestern governors chastise EPA
Ken Anderson
Brownfield Network
The governors of Nebraska and Iowa are not mincing words when it comes to their feelings about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In a conference call with reporters, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman called EPA “the enemy of agriculture”. Heineman says the agency is the biggest regulatory issue that farmers and ranchers face.
Posted in Uncategorized
Webinar to Help Producers Expand Profitably
AgWired
CattleFax will hold another of its popular CattleFax Trends+ webinars at 5:30 p.m. MT, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, and registration is now open. Previous Trends+ webinars have attracted nearly 1,500 cow-calf producers, stockers and backgrounders over the past year.
Posted in Uncategorized
The King of Cattle Forages
Boyd Kidwell
Progressive Farmer
Silage has never gone out of fashion in Bath County, Kentucky, even when the lure of $6- to $8-per-bushel grain made many producers forget about chopping corn. This season, with grain prices down and beef at historically high levels, is a good time to give corn silage a second look.
Posted in Uncategorized
The Surprising Reason ‘Pink Slime’ Meat Is Back
Josh Sanburn
TIME
On Aug. 18, BPI reopened one of its shuttered plants. While production is nowhere near pre-freak-out levels, when the product BPI calls “lean finely textured beef” was estimated to be in 70% of the ground beef sold in the U.S., the company has been gradually regaining business.
Posted in Uncategorized
Beef cattle producers have options with replacement heifers
Blair Fannin
Southwest Farm Press
Beef cattle producers may find themselves on the, well, horns of a dilemma regarding replacement heifers. They can raise them or sell them. They may want to “take the money and run,” says Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist Stan Bevers, Vernon.
Posted in Uncategorized
Rising Calf Prices Warrant Attention to Fetal Protection
JAMIE JOHANSEN
AgWired
“The fetus relies on the dam’s immune system for disease protection throughout most of the pregnancy,” said Jon Seeger, DVM, managing veterinarian with Zoetis. “Without protection, the fetus is at risk of abortion due to infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus, as well as, birth defects or potentially becoming persistently infected (PI) with the bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus that can then shed and continue to infect the rest of the herd.”
Posted in Uncategorized
Using Ultrasound to Market and Manage Cows and Heifers
Robin Salverson
iGrow SDSU
The use of ultrasound in the beef industry is growing but the question remains, “How can it create more dollars in my pocket?” Traditionally open heifers and cows are sold after weaning when cull prices are at the seasonal low. – See more at:
Posted in Uncategorized
Breeding a drought-adapted cow
Robert Fears
Progressive Cattleman
The U.S. has been plagued with intermittent drought throughout its history. One of the most noted was the Dust Bowl drought, a natural disaster that severely affected much of our country during the 1930s. The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936 and 1939 through 1940.
Posted in Uncategorized
How kids’ livestock shows became a cutthroat (and expensive) business
Lydia Depillis
Washington Post
Tiffany LaRue, 17, had not been lucky with her pigs this year. One had its placenta detach, killing the embryos. Another was supposed to have been pregnant when they bought her, but wasn’t. Another, LaRue said, just simply didn’t take.
Posted in Uncategorized
Study examined animal welfare perceptions among public and beef producers
Kerri Ebert
Midwest Producer
What is the relationship between consumer perceptions of animal welfare practices on farms and those of producers? Are popular media accounts of animal welfare practices truly reflective of consumer and producer perceptions?
Posted in Uncategorized
Times to buy or sell cattle
John Grimes
Drovers
Conventional wisdom tells us that the proper strategy to investing in a business or commodity is to "Buy low and sell high!" I have heard that phrase for years and would agree that it is sound advice. However, the current outlook for the beef industry might put a different spin on the traditional investment advice.
Posted in Uncategorized
Southeast Field Day Generates Big Response
GoBrangus
The Southeast Brangus Breeders Association (SBBA) hosted its annual field day at the Draggin’ M Ranch in El Dorado, Ark., August 22-23, 2014. With more than 225 producers in attendance, the event was fun and informative for all who participated and demonstrated a growing interest in expansion opportunities.
Posted in Uncategorized
