Where will cattle be fed?

Where will cattle be fed?

Galen E. Erickson

Progressive Cattleman

As many producers are aware, the U.S. beef industry has been in expansion mode wherever forage resources will allow and where beef production can outcompete alternative land uses. While there is much debate on where cows will go, there is also some mobility as we see cows leave drought-stricken (or flooded) areas and eventually some come back.

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Chronic Wasting Disease Can Lurk In Beef Herds For Generations

Chronic Wasting Disease Can Lurk In Beef Herds For Generations

Becky Mills

Progressive Farmer

Johne’s is a disease that goes way back for Jimbo York. He thought they were dealing with it, but things turned worse. "We had five to eight cows a year waste away and die. We’d get ’em up and feed ’em, and they’d get a little better; but then they’d get worse again. I got tired of it," the Gallion, Alabama, producer says.

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The Value of Preconditioning Calves

The Value of Preconditioning Calves

Brenda Boetel

University of Wisconsin-River Falls

Preconditioning is a generic term that means different things to different people and encompasses the different operating procedures that may be applied to a calf prior to shipping. Preconditioning activities may include weaning, vaccinations, dehorning, castration, and starting calves on a high energy diet.

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Should I burn off my old, unharvested hay or chop it back onto the field?

Should I burn off my old, unharvested hay or chop it back onto the field?

Jim Isleib

Michigan State University

It was a tough year to make quality hay. On some Michigan farms, 2017 was an impossible year and the hay never got made, even though plant growth was excellent. Saturated clay soils through much of the summer prevented hay harvest altogether in some areas of the eastern Upper Peninsula. The result was relatively thick stands of over-mature timothy/trefoil hay. No profitable local market exists for this very low quality hay.

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Deworming can add valuable pounds

Deworming can add valuable pounds

Dr. Eric Knock

Tri-State Neighbor

Many calves either have been weaned or will be weaned earlier than normal to attempt to adjust to our pasture and feed resources. Prices for livestock and grains have also been lower than many of us would like to see lately, and because of this it pays to have as many pounds as possible available to sell. One way to ensure that is through deworming.

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The fallout from the DNA revolution

The fallout from the DNA revolution

Troy Marshall

Beef Magazine

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about the impact of the DNA revolution, but initially, that discussion centered on the purebred industry. And that makes sense, as the new tools have shifted the playing field and will create a whole new set of winners and losers. Business models in the seedstock industry are changing.

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Colorado ranchers use SimAngus genetics that tolerate the high-altitude environment

Colorado ranchers use SimAngus genetics that tolerate the high-altitude environment

Rachel Spencer

The Fence Post

The Field name has been synonymous with Colorado ranching for generations. A sign of the times, the cattle operation is now a family-owned LLC headquartered in Gunnison, Colo. Tom Field, along with his brothers, Mike and Pat, make up the ownership of this operation with the longtime, expert on-ranch management of Mike Wilmore.

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Florida rancher rushes to save cattle after dike breaks

Florida rancher rushes to save cattle after dike breaks

AGDAILY

A Florida rancher is scrambling to get his cattle to higher ground after a dike broke in Okeechobee County a few days ago following heavy rainfall and Hurricane Irma. According to WPTV, several cows are dead, while others are trapped on strips of dry ground at Alderman-Deloney Ranch. A massive effort by the ranching community in underway to help herd the livestock out and host the cattle until the ranch dries up.

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Genetics key to great bucking bulls

Genetics key to great bucking bulls

Jeff Rice

Journal-Advocate

Mike Ward has been producing bucking bulls on his L4 Livestock ranch near North Platte, Neb., since 2001, and he’s been around livestock and rodeo most of his life. He competed as a bull rider when he was younger and, as his riding career came to a close, began to look at breeding and raising bulls as a way to stay connected to thing he had come to love.

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Exports essential to industry size

Exports essential to industry size

Wes Ishmael

Beef Magazine

In order to maintain the current industry infrastructure—packing and feeding capacity, allied service providers, etc.—the nation’s beef cowherd likely needs to be at or above 31 million cows or so over the long haul, according to Sterling Liddell, senior analyst of data analytics for RaboBank’s RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness. There were 31.2 million beef cows at the beginning of this year, according to USDA’s Cattle report.

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