Fly Season is Just Around the Corner

Beef RoundTable

It’s beginning to look like a lot like Spring around the country, the grass is greening-up, cows are bring turned out to pasture, and the fly season is just around the corner.

Principles of handling cattle: Your attitude is contagious

Principles of handling cattle: Your attitude is contagious

Eric Mousel

Minnesota Farm Guide

Attitude is generally defined as: “a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.” The attitude a person has toward animals and people around them will really set the tone for a how a group of animals is going to respond to the principles we talked about.

Full Story

TPP could reversed U.S. beef export trend

TPP could reversed U.S. beef export trend

Chad Smith

Iowa Farmer Today

U.S. beef producers have lost more than $100 million in sales in Japan since Australia and Japan implemented an economic partnership agreement in early 2015. This is not only potential sales, but also actual year over year losses to Australia, which is America’s largest competitor in the beef industry.

Full Story

Managing Your Grazing to Match Your Forage

Managing Your Grazing to Match Your Forage

Victor Shelton

On Pasture

There is new life and activity everywhere; you just have to love spring! Pastures are about as green as they can get this time of year and the grass seems to be growing right before your eyes. Most of our cool season forages are starting the peak portion of their growth curve right now. They can grow so fast during this period that you barely can keep them under control.

Full Story

Dry-chilling beef carcasses

Dry-chilling beef carcasses

Reynold Bergen

Canadian Cattleman

The muscle tissues of healthy animals are essentially free of bacteria until carcasses are skinned. At that point, it is impossible to eliminate the transfer of bacteria from the hide and the environment to the meat.

Full Story

Show Animals: Challenges at the packer

Show Animals: Challenges at the packer

Heidi Carroll

iGrow

Why do youth livestock show animals require extra paperwork when marketed to a packer? The April 6th speaker for the Animal Care Wednesday Webinar was Paula Alexander, Project Manager of Tyson’s Sustainable Food Production and Food Safety Quality Assurance. She outlined some of the basic challenges and what steps a packer takes to address the challenges.

Full Story

I’m Slowly Going Down

I’m Slowly Going Down

Gary Bates

University of Tennessee

Often someone will read about a new forage crop and ask if that crop can make good hay.  It is important to understand that any grass or legume can make a good hay crop.  Or it can make a low quality hay crop.  It isn’t the species that determines whether it is good or bad, but how young or how old the plants are when they are harvested that determine the quality.

Full Story

Giant Greeley meatpacker JBS USA may reorganize, go public

Giant Greeley meatpacker JBS USA may reorganize, go public

Jeff Truchot

Wyoming Business Report

Big changes could be in store for a Colorado plant that is a prime meat-processing destination for Wyoming-raised cattle. The Brazilian parent corporation of JBS USA announced plans on Wednesday for a major reorganization that would see the Greeley-based company become part of a new publicly traded firm to be listed the New York Stock Exchange. That could mean a multimillion-dollar initial public offering in the United States for the meatpacker.

Full Story

Florida home grown beef to hit store shelves

Florida home grown beef to hit store shelves

Rick Elmhorst

Bay News 9

In the past, almost all cattle raised in Florida was sold and sent to feed lots in the Midwest to be fattened up before it was slaughtered. But the ranchers believe there is a strong demand for “grown in Florida” food. The Florida Cattle Ranchers company will send about 25,000 head of cattle to a feed lot in North Florida to be fattened up. That’s possible because more corn is being grown in Florida.

Full Story

Bred Heifer Markets Are Bright Note During Dry Spring

Bred Heifer Markets Are Bright Note During Dry Spring

Lancaster Farming

The old children’s rhyme goes spring showers bring May flowers. In the past few years, Virginia springs have been relatively moist and that precipitation has carried over into May, causing issues getting dry hay made.

Full Story