Baxter Black, DVM: THE WILDERNESS WALL

Baxter Black, DVM:    THE WILDERNESS WALL

If you’ve been losing sleep at night about the public land,

   Yer not alone. We’re all concerned with changes wrought by man.

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Ranchers Targeted by Criminals Posing as Buyers

Ranchers Targeted by Criminals Posing as Buyers

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Reports are coming in weekly, from both local law enforcement and individuals, warning of attempts to steal livestock, hay or equipment using counterfeit checks. In many cases the checks appear to be cashiers checks. Jeremy Fuchs, with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), says his group is raising the alarm after special rangers noted weekly reports of these thefts by fraud attempts.

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Using drought-stressed corn for silage

Using drought-stressed corn for silage

Rod Swoboda

Beef Magazine

In areas of southern Iowa where drought struck this summer, farmers in mid-August have already started to green-chop their hardest-hit cornfields for forage to feed cattle. Some are harvesting the corn as silage to put in a silo.

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Grazing Sudangrass, Pearl Millet, and Sorghum Hybrids

Grazing Sudangrass, Pearl Millet, and Sorghum Hybrids

Bruce Anderson

University of Nebraska

Let’s review grazing guidelines to help avoid potential hazards when grazing summer annual grasses. It’s been said that rules are meant to be broken. One rule that I suggest you never break, though, is this one: never turn hungry animals into sudangrass or sorghum-type pastures. Why? Because they may eat so rapidly that they could get a quick overdose of prussic acid and die.

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Advisers Offer Tools for Amazing Grazing

Advisers Offer Tools for Amazing Grazing

Philip Gruber

FarmTalk

Grazing is a relatively low-tech way to feed livestock, but a grazier still needs a lot of tools to be successful. We’re trying to build soil and feed cows at the same time,” said Titus Martin, a grazing specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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Animal rights activists change tactics

Animal rights activists change tactics

The Fence Post

In a change of tactics, animal rights groups are less inclined to target individual farms or change animal welfare laws through legislation. Instead, they are now targeting companies and brands.

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National cow-calf survey conducted by CattleFax offers opportunity for comparisons.

National cow-calf survey conducted by CattleFax offers opportunity for comparisons.

Kindra Gordon

Angus Beef Bulletin

What are your cow costs? What’s your calf revenue per head? How do your weaning weights compare to other producers? Survey data collected by CattleFax from cow-calf producers across the country allow the opportunity to compare your operation to the survey averages. CattleFax analyst Ethan Oberst shared findings from the special survey in a CattleFax webinar that aired in May 2017. Oberst noted that producers responding to the survey account for nearly 700,000 cows across the country, which he indicated is a representative sample of the national herd.

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Farm Babe: The internet’s biggest culprits of fake news in agriculture

Farm Babe: The internet’s biggest culprits of fake news in agriculture

Michelle Miller

AgDaily

Recently, I got a pretty awesome notification from Facebook — they now allow you to report fake news. Fake news has been a very big problem online in all facets of life, but just how can we tell if a source is credible?

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Farm Sector Debt Continues Higher

Farm Sector Debt Continues Higher

Brent Gloy

Agricultural Economic Insights

Debt has always played a key role in capital intensive U.S. agricultural system.  At times, such as the farm crisis of the 1980’s, too much debt has been problematic.  However, most often it has been a useful tool that has allowed a massive substitution of capital for labor to take place.

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