BeefTalk: Got the Calving Book Handy?

BeefTalk: Got the Calving Book Handy?

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Data needs to start somewhere. In the cattle business, it starts with the calving book. The calendar probably will have some notes on it for those once-yearly events. For instance, bull turnout, weaning, cattle sales, branding and calf workings are all examples of annual events.

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Beef cow nutrition and herd reproductive strategies

Beef cow nutrition and herd reproductive strategies

Bob Larson

Angus Journal

An overarching plan for optimum herd reproductive efficiency involves many important factors, including heifer development, management of the mature cow calving and breeding seasons, and appropriate bull management. Because proper herd nutrition touches all these factors, it deserves special attention.

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Arctic cold poses risk to livestock

Arctic cold poses risk to livestock

Aimee Nielson

Drovers

While it may not be the all-time coldest temperature ever recorded—that was -37 in 1994—Kentucky is about to experience some brutal lows and bone-chilling wind. These conditions pose significant risks to livestock, and farmers need to prepare for the extra care the animals will certainly require.

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Mail order semen can improve beef herd

Mail order semen can improve beef herd

Beef Producer

Beef sire catalogs are being delivered to mailboxes all around cattle country. Eldon Cole, a livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension, says there is a certain excitement when the first 2015 artificial insemination catalog arrived.

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Hay list: wrap it right and store it right

Hay list: wrap it right and store it right

Horsetalk

Using net wrap and storing large round hay bales with care goes a long way in minimising losses, a Texas A&M expert has told farmers. Storing bales under cover, rather than leaving them outside, also helps minimise losses, Dr Stephen Hammack told farmers at the recent Blackland Income Growth Conference in Waco, Texas.

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Developing a healthier more profitable calf

Developing a healthier more profitable calf

Progressive Cattleman

Prior to joining Purdue University as a teaching veterinarian, Dr. Mark Hilton said his objective as a practicing vet for 15 years was direct and simple: “My goal as a food animal veterinarian is to never see a sick animal.”

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What Do Farmers Think about Climate Change?

What Do Farmers Think about Climate Change?

Niina Heikkinen

Scientific American

As a sociologist, J. Gordon Arbuckle Jr. spends a lot of time studying what shapes farmers’ views and responses to climate change. It’s a subject that has not gotten much attention, even as more research focuses on how to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and how to make farming more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather.

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Nothing humane about animal agriculture

Nothing humane about animal agriculture

Trent Loos

Loos Tales

As a person who, in my 48 years on this earth, has provided daily care for more than 1 million animals, I think I am qualified to address the topic. The real experts in animal welfare are the farmers and ranchers who actually brave the elements of Mother Nature and get the job done.

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Forecast sunny for cow-calf producers

Forecast sunny for cow-calf producers

AgriView

There’s opportunity for sizeable profit in 2015 for beef cow-calf producers, says Brenda Boetel, University of Wisconsin-River Falls commodity marketing specialist. Boetel spoke last week in Mondovi at one of multiple Cattle Feeder Clinics held around Wisconsin.

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USTR confident in COOL appeal

USTR confident in COOL appeal

Julie Harker

Brownfield Network

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office has defended the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule in oral statements before the World Trade Organization on Monday and Tuesday.

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