Mark Parker: The Top 10 signs of autumn

Mark Parker:  The Top 10 signs of autumn

FarmTalk

10. The neighbor gets a new yellow truck — nope, it’s just covered with pollen.

Full Story

Value-added marketing is a good strategy, but it doesn’t come without cost

Value-added marketing is a good strategy, but it doesn’t come without cost

Brian Williams

Progressive Cattleman

September is upon us and many cow-calf producers are considering how to market their spring-born calves. Unfortunately, September is also the time of year when cattle markets typically take a seasonal downturn.

Full Story

Raising Your Own Replacements? Maybe You Shouldn’t

Raising Your Own Replacements? Maybe You Shouldn’t

Dave Pratt

On Pasture

We get a cross-section of livestock producers at the Ranching For Profit School. A session can include outfits with more than 10,000 cows and others with less than 100 attend the course.  When it comes to enterprise selection and structure, most of the small places look like miniature versions of the large ones.  That’s a problem because size matters and what works for the large scale producers isn’t always a good idea for folks working at a smaller scale. One size doesn’t fit all.

Full Story

Banister’s axioms of discipline

Banister’s axioms of discipline

R. P. "Doc" Cooke

Beef Producer

Montana rancher Ray Banister is known for his "boom-bust" grazing ideas, as well as his thoughts on management and animal discipline.

Full Story

The Michigan Corn Stover Project – Part 2: Cover crop integration

The Michigan Corn Stover Project – Part 2: Cover crop integration

Dennis Pennington, Monica Jean, Kevin Gould and Eric Anderson, Michigan State University

As the season winds down, farmers have to decide whether or not to harvest their stover. To help assist farmers, the Michigan Corn Stover Project has developed three articles and a bulletin to inform their decision-making process. This article covers the effects of integrating cover crops into corn production.

Full Story

Feeding Hay More Efficiently

Feeding Hay More Efficiently

Evan Whitley, Ph.D., Curtis Larson

The Noble Research Institute

Ruminants have a distinct advantage compared to other livestock because of their ability to process highly fibrous, otherwise nonutilizable, feedstuffs into a marketable product. Oftentimes, this conversion advantage is only referenced to specific, industry-related outcomes such as body condition, parturition and/or weight gain. However, a bigger picture perspective points to the societal benefits these animals possess.

Full Story

Consumers Shift Attention to “Cultural Concerns”

Consumers Shift Attention to "Cultural Concerns"

John Maday

Drovers

Consumer perceptions of beef quality involve what you produce, and also how you produce it. Conducting a new National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) every five years achieves a few distinct goals. First, it allows the industry to track results in addressing quality concerns identified in prior audits, and the reports have documented significant progress. Each audit also tracks the ongoing evolution of public perceptions regarding beef quality.

Full Story

The Upside of Preconditioning Programs

The Upside of Preconditioning Programs

Zoetis

Progressive cow/calf producers think about calf health even before the calves are born. Raising healthy, heavy calves is the goal and preconditioning is a critical management step. “From cow/calf to feedlot sectors, preconditioning is the most conscientious choice producers can make for the betterment of their animals’ health,” said Che Trejo, DVM, with Zoetis Beef Technical Services. “Preconditioning programs promote calf growth, enhance immune function and minimize stress as calves move from their ranch of origin to the stocker or backgrounder operation and then to the feedlot.”

Full Story

Perhaps You’d Like to Purchase Art Sculpted by a Cow

Perhaps You’d Like to Purchase Art Sculpted by a Cow

Cara Giaimo

Atlas Obscura

Back in 2007, Whit Deschner was hanging out with a friend in his hometown of Baker City, Oregon, kicking back and looking at the scenery. There was his friend’s cabin. There were the grass, the clouds, the trees. And there was one of the town’s ubiquitous salt blocks—lunchpail-sized cubes of salt and minerals, set out regularly for local deer and livestock.

Full Story

Athens County teen honors best friend in the show ring, raising more than $76,000

Athens County teen honors best friend in the show ring, raising more than $76,000

Katy Mumaw

Farm and Dairy

Remember me — the phrase still swirls in the minds of the Athens County community. Noah Cox, a teen from Coolville, Ohio, died in a tractor accident May 31 of this year — remembered as a young man who lived life to the fullest. The night before the accident, Jeff Cox and his son were artificially inseminating a cow and Noah had some older semen he was going to try. “The straw he pulled that night was from a bull named ‘Remember Me.’”

Full Story