Between Now and Summer is Mud
Dr. Grant Dewell
Iowa Beef Center
Unlike many years, we have not had much snow cover this winter that will be melting but forecast still looks muddy this spring. Most areas in Iowa had significant rain in the late fall and early winter before the ground froze. With the temperature warming up early this year mud is going to be persisting in cattle lots and pastures throughout the spring. For spring calving operations mud can be deadly.
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Heifer development webinar series: Building your genetic base
The Cattle Business Weekly
“This three-part webinar series will focus on the managing the genetics of cow/calf herds with the objective of providing producers with right genetic tools for their toolbox to build herd bulls and heifers with the desired genetics to help them meet their goals and be profitable,” said Taylor Grussing, SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist. The 2017 webinar series will run February 23, March 2 and March 9. All sessions will start at 12:00 p.m. (CST)/ 11:00 a.m. (MST) and run for one hour.
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Proper preparation can smooth the way for calving
Dr. Eric Knock
Tri-State Neighbor
Time keeps slipping away from us, and before you know it, calving season will be in full swing. We need to take some steps now to help prevent some costly problems later on.
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Top 10 Ways to Make Cow Herds More Profitable
Robert Wells, Ph.D.
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
It has been well-documented in popular press and repeatedly confirmed at sale barns and coffee shops that the current calf market is about one-half of where it was just 2 ½ years ago. The short-term projection for both the cattle market and weather are not favorable for ranchers. For ranchers to economically survive the market downturn, they need to get back to the basics, fine-tune their operations and plan for the long-term.
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Aksarben Stock Show relocated to Grand Island
Today’s Producer
AKSARBEN Foundation has announced a new partnership with the Grand Island Livestock Complex Authority and the relocation of the AKSARBEN Stock Show and Purple Ribbon Auction to Grand Island, NE beginning in 2017.
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Should you vaccinate very young calves?
Heather Smith Thomas
Beef Magazine
In the 2-week old calf, there are two things you need to be concerned about. One is age, the other is colostrum intake. Typically, even in a calf that got no colostrum [and no maternal antibodies to interfere with building its own immunity], the response for making antibodies [when vaccinated early] is not great under 3 weeks of age.
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Helping the Newborn Calf Breathe
Glenn Selk
Drovers
Despite our best efforts at bull selection and heifer development, cows or heifers occasionally need assistance at calving time. Every baby calf has a certain degree of respiratory acidosis. Acidosis is the result of the deprivation of oxygen and the accumulation of carbon dioxide that results from the passage of the calf through the birth canal.
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Profiting From Flat Beef Prices
Simon Constable
Barron’s
Beef prices may have taken a tumble last year, but now it looks like they aren’t going anywhere but sideways for a while. That may not sound like the most exciting investment opportunity in the world, but it could be a compelling one if you sell options at levels above and below recent prices.
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Tips on Implanting Calves, Increasing Gain
Zoetis
With nearly 70 years in the business, Graham Angus Farm in Georgia is known for its quality Angus genetics. The farm runs a commercial cattle operation and uses every edge to improve production and wean more pounds. Kip McMillan, cattle manager, implemented an implant program several years ago and continues to see value and return on his investment.
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Temple Grandin on auditing and assessing animal welfare
Dr. Temple Grandin
Meat and Poultry
I am really concerned that audits and assessments of animal welfare or other compliance issues will turn into bureaucratic evaluations of paperwork. You need to ask yourself, do your binders full of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) really describe what you actually do on the plant floor?
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The Beef Blog 