BeefTalk: Selling Calves is More Than Hauling Them to Town

BeefTalk: Selling Calves is More Than Hauling Them to Town

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Today’s calves have a reputation that is earned and recorded. The producer may or may not be heavily involved, but the calf buyers are very involved. Buyers know most cattle and have kept track of previous years’ performance. For the most part, the performance history of each load of calves is noted and calls go out to get more calves like those.

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It Isn’t Too Early to Begin Planning for the New Year

It Isn’t Too Early to Begin Planning for the New Year

Dr. Jason Smith

University of Tennessee

For many of us, a new year’s resolution may be to change something that’s been put on the back-burner once we open a new calendar. Or they may also be something that we think of in the spur-of-the-moment as the clock winds down, but really don’t have any intention of holding our iron to the fire in order for that change to become a normal part of our everyday lives.

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Lifelong Student, Teacher

Lifelong Student, Teacher

Steve Suther

Angus Media

Growing up on a 1950s North Dakota farm, Larry Corah engaged his curiosity by helping to try the next new thing. A couple of decades prior, his dad, Leonard, kept learning after eighth grade by working for farmers and noticing differences.

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Find the Best Marketing Program for Your Operation

Find the Best Marketing Program for Your Operation

Stephen B. Blezinger

Cattle Today

A number of branded marketing programs exist. In many cases these are related in some manner to the production of a more specific animal, breed or breed type, all natural beef, organic beef and so on. Generally, these are designed to fit into a niche market of some type. Examples would be Laura’s Lean Beef, Nolan Ryan’s All Natural or one of the organic beef programs.

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Whole herd health can help ensure calves reach full genetic potential

Whole herd health can help ensure calves reach full genetic potential

RYAN CROSSINGHAM

Farm & Ranch Guide

According to Gerald Stokka, the North Dakota University Extension Service’s veterinarian and livestock stewardship specialist, good livestock stewardship by cow-calf producers can go a long way toward making sure their animals stay in good health.

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Newly received stockers need good nutrition

Newly received stockers need good nutrition

Dana Zook

FarmTalk

Stress is the principal factor affecting the health of newly weaned or shipped stocker calves. Just imagine a kindergarten student riding the bus to school the first day. This student will experience new food, activities and people. Some of these kids are excited for their first day but some of them are just plain mad. These kids will have an adjustment period, but if things go smoothly their first couple days away from home, things will go well from there on out.

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Calf-fed versus yearlings

Calf-fed versus yearlings

John Maday

Drovers

Younger, lighter cattle utilize feed – forage or grain – more efficiently than heavier cattle, he says, which can help balance the cost of additional grain used when placing calves on feed. Klopfenstein cites a Nebraska trial in which researchers backgrounded steers through the summer and placed them on feed in September weighing 1,020 pounds. Cost of gain through the backgrounding phase was $0.75 per pound, while in the feedyard a pound of gain cost $1.07, suggesting a big advantage to forage gains.

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Understanding the veterinary-client-patient relationship

Understanding the veterinary-client-patient relationship

Russ Daly, DVM

Bovine Veterinarian

The implications that go along with these regulations have been subjects of much discussion. One implication that will affect some producers more than others is the stipulation that the VFD forms be obtained through a veterinarian — and not just any veterinarian. The veterinarian writing the VFD form must have what’s termed a “veterinary client patient relationship” or VCPR with the producer.

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NCBA Searching for That Silver Bullet to End Volatility Woes in the Cattle Markets

NCBA Searching for That Silver Bullet to End Volatility Woes in the Cattle Markets

Oklahoma Farm Report

With all the volatility in the cattle market today, people are starting to question the value of live and feeder cattle contracts, wondering if they are hurting us more than they are helping. Colin Woodall of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) DC office and his team, have been meeting regularly as of late with members of the CME Group to try and salvage the value of the cattle futures contracts for the beef business.

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DNA genotyping makes infinite progress

DNA genotyping makes infinite progress

Gayle Smith

The Cattle Business Weekly

The technological advances in DNA genotyping and how it relates to cattle production seem endless. Once producers measured traits traditionally, whether it was with a scale or a calendar, to determine average daily gain. Now, much more concise methods are available, according to Rick Pfortmiller with Neogen/Geneseek. “We’re 10 years into DNA genomic testing now,” he says.  “Fifteen years ago, testing a single gene was $65. For less than $65 today, we can test 100,000 genetic marker evaluations that are going into the calculations of an animal’s genomic makeup,” he tells cattle producers.

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