BeefTalk: For Every Cow, Add a Ewe and Increase Net Return 65 Percent

BeefTalk: For Every Cow, Add a Ewe and Increase Net Return 65 Percent

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Research has shown multispecies grazing may improve revenue flow, but the pace of agriculture oftentimes inhibits producer pondering. The challenge is that alternative production scenarios exist, but time must be set aside to evaluate these alternatives. Time is precious; however, pondering still should occur.

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Tennessee producers bring order to a farm in chaos

Tennessee producers bring order to a farm in chaos

Lynn Jaynes

Progressive Forage

“When we came, there were fences here, but you couldn’t find them. They were buried in the bushes and trees, and we had to tear them out, clean them up, tear out the wire – and most of them were six- or eight-strand barbed-wire fences with hog wire in them. So it’s been a chore.”

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Adding Value to the Beef Carcass: Getting to Know the Value Cuts

Adding Value to the Beef Carcass: Getting to Know the Value Cuts

Amanda Blair

Drovers

A typical beef animal can produce a carcass that weighs between 700 and 900 pounds. Approximately 50% of that weight consists of the chuck (fore quarter or shoulder portion) and the round (hind quarter). Traditionally the chuck and round are fabricated into either 1) roasts that require slow, moist heat cookery, 2) steaks that require some type of tenderization to improve palatability or 3) trim for ground beef.

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Congressional Beef Caucus to be Re-established, NCBA Praises Bipartisan Support of its 35 Members

Congressional Beef Caucus to be Re-established, NCBA Praises Bipartisan Support of its 35 Members

Oklahoma Farm Report

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association applauded the re-establishment of the bipartisan Congressional Beef Caucus, announced yesterday in Washington, DC. The Beef Caucus, supported by 35 Members of Congress strong, hailing from 21 different states and co-chaired by U.S. Reps.

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His cattle are dead, but his family is alive, and he’s thankful

His cattle are dead, but his family is alive, and he’s thankful

Michael Pearce

The Cattle Business Weekly

Greg Gardiner is a cowboy. His wide-brimmed hat carries a band darkened by years of sweat and dust. Decades of 100-degree sun, 10-below cold and wicked winds from every direction have left his face as leathery as an old baseball glove. Below his lip is a small goatee and above it a wide trademark mustache.

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Getting Bulls Ready-Nutrition considerations before, during and after the breeding season.

Getting Bulls Ready-Nutrition considerations before, during and after the breeding season.

Kindra Gordon

Hereford World

What should I be  eeding my bulls?”  South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension beef  specialist Julie Walker says that is  a question she is commonly asked  by seedstock and commercial  producers

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Low-stress handling touted to retain carcass value

Low-stress handling touted to retain carcass value

Janelle Atyeo

Tri-State Neighbor

Stressed-out cattle produce poor-quality meat, and that’s one reason for producers to practice proper cattle handling techniques and animal care as they manage their herds. South Dakota State University Extension recently hosted three cattle handling workshops around the state that gave participants hands-on experience with working cattle and taught them about the basics of good handling techniques.

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Lawmakers reintroduce bill to reform checkoff programs

Lawmakers reintroduce bill to reform checkoff programs

Feedstuffs

Federal lawmakers reintroduced legislation Tuesday to bring what they view as “much-needed transparency and accountability to the federal government’s commodity checkoff programs.” The Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act, S. 741, was introduced by Sens. Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Cory Booker (D., N.J.); Reps. Dave Brat (R., Va.) and Dina Titus (D., Nev.) plan to introduce companion legislation in the House.

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Rare Calf Born at Conner Prairie Following Embryo Transfer

Rare Calf Born at Conner Prairie Following Embryo Transfer

US News and World Report

A rare English Longhorn calf has joined Conner Prairie’s livestock herds following a successful embryo transfer. The male calf was born last week at the interactive history park in suburban Indianapolis. Its birth comes nine months after a frozen embryo shipped from England was implanted into one of Conner Prairie’s female Shorthorn cows.

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Steering towards grazing fields | Soil Science Society of America

Steering towards grazing fields | Soil Science Society of America

Will Cushman

Soils.org

It makes sense that a 1,200 pound Angus cow would place quite a lot of pressure on the ground on which it walks. But a new study shows that even these heavy beasts can’t do much to compact common soils—if they’re grazed responsibly.

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Heifer Selection By The Numbers

Heifer Selection By The Numbers

Dr. Ken McMillan

DTN

For this discussion, I will assume all the heifers are by one bull and not discuss how multiple sires might factor into your selection decision. I will remind you that 50% of the genetics comes from the bull side, and bull selection is your most significant path to cow herd improvement. The bull has 25 to 30 times the significance of a single cow.

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Cattle building benefits factor into industry expansion

Cattle building benefits factor into industry expansion

Jeff DeYoung

Iowa Farmer Today

More and more cattle feeders are looking at putting roofs over hooves and moving hides out of the elements. Shawn Shouse, Extension ag engineer with Iowa State University in Lewis, Iowa, says while most of the technology remains pretty much the same, interest among the cattle industry is growing.

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Brazil meat scandal widens

Brazil meat scandal widens

Peter Prengaman

FarmTalk

A scandal over allegations of bribery in Brazil’s meat-packing industry to allow the sale of expired meat deepened as the European Union, China and Chile decided to halt some meat imports from Latin America’s largest nation. The developments are a major blow to Brazil, one of the world’s largest exporters of meat, which is struggling to emerge from its worst recession in decades.

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Kentucky Cattleman Testifies before U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee

Kentucky Cattleman Testifies before U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee

KOOL

Today, Tim White, a cattle producer from Lexington, Kentucky, testified before the House Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy, and Trade regarding the future of America’s small family farms. In his testimony, White called on Congress to address the overly burdensome regulatory environment that is hampering rural America, repeal the federal estate tax, and to ensure the 2018 Farm Bill works for America’s cattle producers.

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Facing up to pain in cattle

Facing up to pain in cattle

By Debbie Furber

Canadian Cattlemen

No ifs or buts about it, producers who used meloxicam to ease the discomfort of branding, castration and other routine procedures on young calves in the past plan to use it again this spring.

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Cattle cycle magnifies low-cost necessity

Cattle cycle magnifies low-cost necessity

Wes Ishmael

Beef Magazine

Late-winter cattle price support was welcome, but the cattle cycle says profit opportunity for cow-calf producers will continue to run south for the next several years.

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From calving through breeding: Cow herd mineral nutrition matters

From calving through breeding: Cow herd mineral nutrition matters

ERIC MOUSEL

Minnesota Farm Guide

Minerals and vitamins account for a very small proportion of daily intake in cow diets and can be overlooked due to a misunderstanding of the importance of adequate mineral nutrition and because of the cost of supplementation.

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Cost Of Beef Will Not Increase In U.S.

Cost Of Beef Will Not Increase In U.S.

Esther Kwon

Fox Illinois

Over 20 meat producing companies in Brazil are being investigated after it was found that they were bribing safety inspectors to give them certificates for bad meat. That drove countries like China to look to the U.S. for beef imports. The Illinois Beef Association says anytime markets open and close like that on the global scale, it affects the local market.

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Students learn elements of cattle production at Purebred Beef Teaching Unit

Students learn elements of cattle production at Purebred Beef Teaching Unit

Samantha Albers

Kansas State Collegian

At Kansas State’s Purebred Beef Teaching Unit, the breeding program provides an educational, hands-on experience in cattle production that helps students find their role in the industry.

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Master Cattleman program boosts farmers’ knowledge, revenue potential

Master Cattleman program boosts farmers’ knowledge, revenue potential

Purdue University

When three Indiana farmers were ready to take their operations to the next level, the Purdue Extension Master Cattleman program was there to steer them in the right direction. Randy Bush, Dean Gangwer, and Cory Hill are established beef producers who have worked with the Master Cattleman program to improve their efficiency and productivity.

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