Baxter Black, DVM: Grandpa’s Time

Baxter Black, DVM:  Grandpa’s Time

A friend and I were reminiscing about our old folks. Simple farmers. Life today is more complicated today, we observed, more stressful.

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Grass Tetany Prevention and Cures

Grass Tetany Prevention and Cures

Kathy Voth

On Pasture

Most cattlemen look forward to warmer temperatures and spring grass.  As temperatures begin to warm, cool-season grasses and legumes begin a rapid growth phase resulting in the production of large amounts of lush, palatable, green pasture.  Unfortunately, early in the growing season, these forages are very high in moisture content and nutrients are diluted.

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Valuable Cattle Genetics Among Losses in Wildfires

Valuable Cattle Genetics Among Losses in Wildfires

Ashley Davenport

Bovine Veterinarian

When the wildfires tore through the southern Plains, they destroyed homes, some peoples’ livelihoods, and even genetics. Greg Gardiner, co-owner of the Gardiner Angus Ranch in Ashland, Kan., lost approximately 500 cattle in the blaze. The Gardiner family has been fine-tuning the genetic make-up of their Angus herd for years.

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Rangeland researchers urge smaller cows for better herd

Rangeland researchers urge smaller cows for better herd

KTVZ

That’s the recommendation of a recent interdisciplinary study involving rangeland researchers in Oregon, Wyoming and Oklahoma. Breeding smaller cattle could be a long-term strategy that will help ranchers and ease pressure on an increasingly drought-prone range, said Leticia Henderson, a livestock and range Extension agent at Oregon State University.

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Manage Molds and Mycotoxins for Optimal Rumen Function

Manage Molds and Mycotoxins for Optimal Rumen Function

Hay and Forage Grower

Mycotoxins can be the source of several important herd health problems ranging from reduced feed intake to suppressed immune response. With consequences like these, it pays for producers to manage — and prevent — mycotoxins before contaminated feed hits the bunk.

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Texas Panhandle Farmers’, Ranchers’ Losses Estimated Over $21 Million

Texas Panhandle Farmers’, Ranchers’ Losses Estimated Over $21 Million

Georgia Farm Bureau

Early reports from the Texas Panhandle paint a grim picture of what remains following three wildfires that scorched nearly half a million acres last week. The three fires-Lefors, Perryton and Dumas-caused at least $21 million in agricultural losses, according to early estimates from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. The estimate does not yet account for the loss of equipment in the fires.

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NDSU Extension Develops Grazing Management Tools

NDSU Extension Develops Grazing Management Tools

North Dakota State University

These tools can help producers determine carrying capacity and stocking rates. Setting a stocking rate is one of the most important decisions that ranchers or land managers make. The stocking rate is the number of specific kinds and classes of animals grazing or using a unit of land for a specific time period.

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Running on Empty? Lack of Energy in the Diet Will Cause Cattle Deaths

Running on Empty? Lack of Energy in the Diet Will Cause Cattle Deaths

Michelle Arnold

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

From a weather standpoint, the winter of 2016-17 has been a non-event. Record temperatures recorded in February and very little measureable snow throughout winter has been a welcome change from previous years. Despite this unexpected warmth, submissions at the UKVDL and telephone conversations with veterinarians and producers confirm many cattle are losing excessive body condition and some are dying of apparent malnutrition.

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Florida Farmer Believes Beef Consumption Is Thriving Despite Reported Decline

Florida Farmer Believes Beef Consumption Is Thriving Despite Reported Decline

Jessica Schein

WUFT

Where’s the beef? According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, it is not on American consumer’s dinner tables. Americans consumed 19 percent less beef from 2005-2014, according to the NRDC’s new study, which resulted in the “biggest driver behind a 10 percent per capita decrease in diet-related climate pollution during the same time period.”

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Donnelly announces support for Perdue

Donnelly announces support for Perdue

Ken Anderson

Brownfield Ag News

U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly, a Democrat from Indiana and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, says he will support the nomination of Sonny Perdue to be the next Agriculture Secretary. Donnelly says he received commitments from Perdue at last week’s confirmation hearing that the USDA would continue to be a partner in economic development for rural communities, including providing access to broadband and expanding market opportunities for farmers.

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