BeefTalk: Commercial Beef Production Benchmarks for 2014

BeefTalk: Commercial Beef Production Benchmarks for 2014

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

What is beef production? That question often is asked, and the answers are very varied because of a very diversified beef industry that encompasses vast amounts of space.

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Cull cows provide more than ground beef for burgers

Cull cows provide more than ground beef for burgers

The Western Producer

Cull cows have achieved record prices in the last few years and are an important part of the entire beef complex. They end up at packing plants, where more than 40 percent of product is marketed as whole muscle cuts, depending on how valuable ground beef might be in the current market.

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Is sexed semen the next reproductive standard?

Is sexed semen the next reproductive standard?

Burt Rutherford

BEEF

Reproductive technology in beef cattle is advancing by leaps and bounds. Is your management prepared to take advantage of it?

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Accelerated Genetics Tailors Conference for Emerging Leaders

Accelerated Genetics Tailors Conference for Emerging Leaders

 Kari Stanek

Any dairy or beef farm owners, herdspeople or employees are eligible for this conference, and the event is designed for persons who have not previously attended. Accelerated Genetics believes in educating producers, so they can help cultivate food production for the growing global demand.

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Behind the Scenes at the UA Animal Sciences Meat Sale

Behind the Scenes at the UA Animal Sciences Meat Sale

Heather Hoch

Tucson Weekly

There’s no pretty way to slaughter and butcher an animal, but there is a way to do it as humanely as possible. That’s the way that Sam Garcia and his team of students and workers at the UA Animal Sciences department seek to go.

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Lameness – Identification and treatment important for public perception

Lameness – Identification and treatment important for public perception

Feedlot Magazine

As cattle navigate across pastures or fields, frozen ground or muddy conditions due to winter precipitation can set in motion the opportunity for injury or infections in the foot. Identifying affected cattle, as well as determining the cause and best course of action are essential not only for animal welfare, but also to keep cattle performance on track.

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Time to replace toxic fescue, when beef prices are good

Time to replace toxic fescue, when beef prices are good

Craig Roberts

University of Missouri

Good beef prices give herd owners a chance to upgrade pastures to remove toxic fescue. “Replant pastures when prices rise or you will be stuck with bad grass when prices drop,” says Craig Roberts. “Beef profits give a window that is not guaranteed to last,” says the University of Missouri Extension forage specialist.

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US beef issues contribute to current cattle price declines

US beef issues contribute to current cattle price declines

Jon Condon

Beef Central

While there’s a combination of reasons why Australian slaughter cattle prices have slipped substantially in the past fortnight, some of the impetus behind the trend can be traced to recent events in the US market.

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Reduce the Effects of Bloat Throughhrough Management

Reduce the Effects of Bloat Throughhrough Management

Stephen B. Blezinger

Cattle Today

Every year about now, thousands of head of cattle are turned out on lush, green pastures that have sprung up after a long hard winter. Maybe this description is a bit of an exaggeration but the basics are accurate.

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The tale of the missing homozygotes

The tale of the missing homozygotes

Mary Soukup

Drovers

It is known and widely accepted that reproductive traits and fertility are among the most, if not the most, economically-valuable traits when it comes to selection strategies in the beef industry.

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Seedstock Marketing 101

Seedstock Marketing 101

Troy Smith

Angus Journal

They say experience is the best teacher. The wisdom behind that well-worn proverb has been embraced by educators responsible for developing seedstock-merchandising classes offered

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How much water does it take to produce a pound of beef?

How much water does it take to produce a pound of beef?

Beef Producer

"While higher numbers cited may have been accurate 30 to 40 years ago," Capper says, "the modern beef industry is so efficient in the way it feeds, breeds and cares for the animals that it is able to use far fewer resources today than ever before"

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2015 Heifer Synchronization Protocols

2015 Heifer Synchronization Protocols

AgriMarketing

With calving underway, next year’s calf crop may be the last thing cattle producers are thinking about, but according to Robin Salverson, SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist, it’s never too late.

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How to treat bloat in cattle

How to treat bloat in cattle

Todd Vineyard

Wise County Messenger

Normally this is the time of year that our winter small grain pastures are getting ready to make significant growth, and bloat should be on our minds from a management standpoint.

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Beef producers strongly support checkoff

Beef producers strongly support checkoff

Logan Hawkes

Southwest Farm Press

While cattle producers are still reeling from multiple years of drought and resulting  higher feed costs and a shortage of available forage, the industry postures for herd expansion and is experiencing modest gains in product demand, and the U.S. cattle industry looks to the future with a good measure of optimism.

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Journagan Herefords Go to School Every Day

Journagan Herefords Go to School Every Day

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Marty Lueck was once described as the sort of cattleman who could look at a picture of one of his Hereford cows and tell you where she came from, her age and, more times than not, who her parents were.

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Genetic resistance to parasites: An option besides chemicals?

Genetic resistance to parasites: An option besides chemicals?

Cassidy Woolsey

As cattle evolved over the centuries, so did technology. No longer are cattle relying solely upon their genetic resistance to survive. Instead, technological approaches have been made to improve production in cattle.

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Lameness – Identification and treatment important for public perception

Lameness – Identification and treatment important for public perception

Feedlot Magazine

As cattle navigate across pastures or fields, frozen ground or muddy conditions due to winter precipitation can set in motion the opportunity for injury or infections in the foot. Identifying affected cattle, as well as determining the cause and best course of action are essential not only for animal welfare, but also to keep cattle performance on track.

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New beef processing plant in panhandle

New beef processing plant in panhandle

KLKN

Investors in a proposed beef processing plant say they are close to choosing a site in the western Nebraska panhandle for the project. Investors told reporters Tuesday that they have been meeting with officials from Gering and Bridgeport to discuss the cities as potential sites for the processing plant.

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NCBA encourages dietary guideline comments

NCBA encourages dietary guideline comments

Ken Anderson

Brownfield Network

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is urging producers and consumers to submit comments on the dietary guidelines report. Kristina Butts, NCBA executive director of legislative affairs, says it’s important that producers make their voices heard.

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