BeefTalk: Flexible Planning Starts With Practical Cow Sort Lists

BeefTalk: Flexible Planning Starts With Practical Cow Sort Lists

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Cowherd planning requires sorting, and it is best done when the cows come home. Don’t join the “I wish I had sorted the cows!” club. Things change. Weather turns colder or harsher than expected, draining feed resources. A mild winter may make everyone happy until drought forecasts show up. Families may change, the help may change or even the boss may change.

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Range Beef Cow Symposium Outstanding Speakers

Range Beef Cow Symposium Outstanding Speakers

Julie Walker

iGrow

Producers who attend the Range Beef Cow Symposium on November 17 -19, 2015 at The Ranch, an event center on the Larimer County Fairgrounds in Loveland, Colorado will have the opportunity to hear leading experts and producers from across the country as they address topics on cattle markets, cattle reproduction, animal health, range management plus many current issues facing cattlemen such as volatility of cattle prices, new technologies and effects on trade.

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Is your refrigerator keeping its cool?

Is your refrigerator keeping its cool?

Drovers

Storing animal health products at the correct temperature is one key aspect of dairy beef quality assurance (BQA) programs, because improper storage can cause products to lose their effectiveness.

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Genomics: Another Tool in the Toolbox for Cattlemen

Genomics: Another Tool in the Toolbox for Cattlemen

Oklahoma Farm Report

Cattlemen have more and more information on their cattle with new advances in science and technology. One of the newest and most exciting tools producers have access to is called genomic technology. Dr.Tonya Amen, Genetic Service Director for Angus Genetics, Inc. said having genomic technology has changed the way and rate in which cattle can be improved.

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Selection for Cattle that are Less Susceptible to BRD

Selection for Cattle that are Less Susceptible to BRD

Alison Van Eenennaam

A Steak in Genomics

The long-term goal of this project is to reduce the incidence of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex through genomic selection. We would not want to challenge our herd to see if they are susceptible or not; too many would end up dead! Genomics helps us select for traits that are difficult to measure or have a low heritability.

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Capture more profit through the winter

Capture more profit through the winter

R.P. “Doc” Cooke

Beef Producer

My buddy Gordon Hazard of West Point, Miss., has likely made more money wintering cattle thru more years than any living Rancher in North America. Hazard has shared his principles and techniques with thousands of producers. A few ranchers have taken Doc’s principles and made successful duplication at their place. Others have left the teaching and a lot of money on the table

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Ranchers Try to Rebuild Beef Herds in North Texas

Ranchers Try to Rebuild Beef Herds in North Texas

Meredith Yeomans

NBCDFW.com

Years of drought forced many ranchers to cut back on their cattle, but there’s a new effort to help them rebuild their herds. "Rebuilding the Beef Herd" was started by the Collin County Agriculture Extension Office.

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Planning to frost seed pasture in 2016? Start the prep work now

Planning to frost seed pasture in 2016? Start the prep work now

Jerry Lindquist

Michigan State University

Improving pastures with late winter frost seedings of certain legumes and grasses can be successful. If the planning and preparation is not started until seeding time however the odds of success may be diminished. Frost seeding of clovers, birdsfoot trefoils, and some grasses such as annual and perennial ryegrass can be a very economical way to improve pasture forage growth and nutritional quality. Frost seeding is usually performed in late winter typically 40 to 50 days before grass growth begins in the spring.

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Super winter stockpiling

Super winter stockpiling

Alan Newport

Drovers

While many of his fellow Floridians are feeding hay four months each year, Jaime “Jim” Elizondo uses managed grazing to completely forgo hay and to build the soil for higher stocking rates.

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Monitoring What’s Left Behind In Your Pastures

Monitoring What’s Left Behind In Your Pastures

Kathy Voth

On Pasture

Sometimes things don’t go as well as you’d hoped even though you were trying your best to manage and meet a particular pasture growth goal.  In this case, Dave is managing his pastures to leave a 6 to 8 inch residual. That’s good for grass regrowth and good for the soil.

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