BeefTalk: Who Wants to Save $300 Per Calf?

BeefTalk: Who Wants to Save $300 Per Calf?

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

What if I told you how to save $300 per head? Would you stop and ponder? As the beef industry looks forward and market prices continue to squeeze the cow-calf producer, the questions of cost control certainly surface. At the Dickinson Research Extension Center, the cost spread in the limited number of production systems the center can study is $300. Although these systems will not fit everyone, they are intended to cause one to ponder.

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Sliding open spring calvers to fall herd a costly practice

Sliding open spring calvers to fall herd a costly practice

Clay Wright

FarmTalk

A cow’s primary purpose is to bring a live calf to the weaning pen every 365 days. It is more economically important than the calf’s weaning weight or subsequent performance. The producer must provide the right environment for the cow to meet that expectation, which includes providing adequate nutrition, a comprehensive herd health program and bull management. In my experience, inadequate nutrition is the most common cause of failure in reproductive performance.

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Beef producers need to be selective when choosing replacement heifers

Beef producers need to be selective when choosing replacement heifers

Texas AgriLife

Spiraling cattle prices in recent weeks are not leaving much wiggle room when it comes to marketing calves and replacement females to fit current trends, according to cattle experts. The recent Brazos Valley Beef and Forage Expo held at the Brazos Valley Livestock Commission featured talks that included purchasing replacement heifers, evaluating feeder cattle and marketing the right type of cattle to achieve maximum profits. The program was sponsored by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service beef and forage committee.

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Adding Meat to Carcass EPDs

Adding Meat to Carcass EPDs

Kasey Brown

Angus Journal

By sheer nature of the cattle industry structure, some of the most important data — carcass data — are some of the most difficult pieces of information to collect. For the past 20 years, there has been a large emphasis on collecting ultrasound data to predict carcass traits. Dan Moser, president of Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI) and director of American Angus Association performance programs, says ultrasound is a very powerful tool for breeding animals because it is highly accurate; but it is not perfect.

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Scientists Develop a Hornless Cow Through Gene Editing

Scientists Develop a Hornless Cow Through Gene Editing

Goetz Laible

Science Friday

Dairy cows, which come from the Holstein breed, naturally grow horns. On farms, the horns are often physically removed because they can pose a threat to other cows, a well as to farm workers handling the cattle. But a group of researchers from the University of California, Davis has developed a method to remove the horns through gene-editing. The team inserted a gene from the naturally hornless Angus breed to create hornless Holsteins. Have the researchers developed a new type of cow, or are they just speeding up the breeding process?

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Rancher crosses Scottish Highlands, Piedmontese cattle to offer healthier beef choice

Rancher crosses Scottish Highlands, Piedmontese cattle to offer healthier beef choice

April Baumgarten

Grand Forks Herald

The cattle Jonas raises are a special breed. He has spent more than a decade raising HighMont cattle, a cross between Scottish Highlands and Piedmontese, in an effort to provide healthier beef for his customers. Dubbing the cattle "buff beef," Jonas and his wife, Connie, claim their HighMont are the first of their breed, not knowing of anyone who has tried what they have.

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Family makes way for next generation with monoslope

Family makes way for next generation with monoslope

Iowa Farmer Today

The Ryan brothers, Mike, John and Pat, decided to build a monoslope cattle barn on their farm to position the farm for the next generation. They turned to the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers (CSIF) for siting assistance. “They had all the previous experience of working with other people who went through the same things we were going through,” said Adam Ryan.

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Grazing Cornstalks- Do you have a rental agreement?

Grazing Cornstalks- Do you have a rental agreement?

Mary Drewnoski, Jay Parsons

University Of Nebraska

When it comes to rental agreements for grazing corn residue, a number of questions need to be asked and answered up front to avoid disagreements later.

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Focus on water quality

Focus on water quality

Josh Coltrain

FarmTalk

While this is not breaking news, water is incredibly important to not only agriculture, but society in general. In fact, water was identified as one of the five Grand Challenges that K-State Research and Extension programming will emphasize. Whereas our western Kansas brethren focus mainly on water quantity (or lack thereof), in eastern Kansas water quality is the emphasis.

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Red Angus Association of America selects leaders for coming year

Red Angus Association of America selects leaders for coming year

Alicia Nguyen

Progressive Cattleman

A full two days of presentations, discussions and elections filled the agenda for the Red Angus Association of America’s (RAAA) National Red Angus Convention held in Oklahoma City. Members elected Bob Morton, Three Forks, Montana, to serve as the next president of RAAA. He follows Kim Ford, Cozad, Nebraska, who concluded her two years of service during the convention.

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