Meeting the Nutrient Demands of Cows Grazing Cornstalks

Meeting the Nutrient Demands of Cows Grazing Cornstalks

Karla Jenkins

University of Nebraska

As fall harvest comes to a close many cows will be turned out on cornstalks to graze the crop residue left after harvest for the winter. This can be an economical forage resource for many producers. Keeping feed costs low while maintaining production is an important part of profitability. Knowing the nutrient needs of cows is key to knowing what supplementation strategy is necessary.

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Common Sense and the Cow Herd

Common Sense and the Cow Herd

Dr. Roy Burris

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

I tend to oversimplify things – or at least try to break them down to their simplest components. Let’s take the cow herd, for example. The cow is the factory that takes raw inputs (like grass) and turns them into a product, – which for most of us is a feeder calf. So the most important thing that she will ever do is to have a live calf. The quality of the calf and how we get there is important too.

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Cattle handling workshop offered at upcoming Range Beef Cow Symposium

Cattle handling workshop offered at upcoming Range Beef Cow Symposium

The Cattle Business Weekly

Producers are invited to participate in a “hands-on” cattle handling workshop to be held with the Range Beef Cow Symposium set for Nov. 28-30, 2017, at the Little America Hotel and Resort in Cheyenne, Wyo.

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Documenting the impossible

Documenting the impossible

Alan Newport

Beef Producer

It’s not often I write a story without going to visit a producer and look at his production, the grass, the cattle and so forth. Steven Lukefahr of Kingsville in South Texas is an exception.

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How to Evaluate Property for Raising Cattle

How to Evaluate Property for Raising Cattle

Robert Wells

The Noble Institute

When buying land for cattle production, there are some unique characteristics to consider before signing a contract. These characteristics include: stocking rate, forage quality and type, soil type and fertility, terrain and slope of the land, water sources in each pasture, number of pastures and traps, working pen availability and condition, fence condition and type, and other infrastructure (overhead bins, interior roads, etc.) availability and condition.

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The time to evaluate body condition is now (if you haven’t already)

The time to evaluate body condition is now (if you haven’t already)

Dr. Jason Smith

University of Tennessee

Evaluating body condition has played a role in beef cow/calf systems for as long as they have existed – even long before the 1 to 9 scale was created.  Nonetheless, it continues to be an important and impactful part of a cattlemen’s or cattlewoman’s tool belt.  However it is a tool that is not used nearly as often as it should be.

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Resourcefulness key to 140-year-old Eatinger Cattle Co.

Resourcefulness key to 140-year-old Eatinger Cattle Co.

Deanna Nelson-Licking

The Fence Post

From running steers in the 1870s, the operation made a lot of changes to adapt to the changing times. The current business is no different, as they have embraced the latest technology, primarily raising embryo calves on a custom basis for seedstock producers, through a relationship with the American Breeders Service.

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Farmers have much at stake as House GOP rolls out tax plan

Farmers have much at stake as House GOP rolls out tax plan

Philip Brasher

Agri-Pulse

House Republicans reveal the details of their tax reform plan this week as GOP leaders mount an ambitious pre-Thanksgiving campaign to get tax bills through both chambers before the holiday. The House Ways and Means Committee plans to release its proposal on Wednesday and move it through the panel the week of Nov. 6. The Senate GOP schedule is a week behind the House.

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Dairy Cattle Impact on Beef Supplies

Dairy Cattle Impact on Beef Supplies

Brenda Boetel

Dairy Herd Management

The dairy cattle sector is a vital contributor to U.S. beef supplies. With fluctuating beef cow inventories over the past decade, the U.S. dairy herd has offered a stable source of both feeder cattle and cull cows to fill beef demand. In 2016 the dairy sector contributed 5.7 billion pounds (22.7%) of beef through cull cows and finished dairy steers and heifers to the U.S. beef supply chain.

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Plan for cowherd growth

Plan for cowherd growth

Wes Ishmael

Beef Magazine

Depending on how well-greased your abacus is, there seems little question that the nation’s beef cowherd continued to expand this year. “The beef herd expansion we’ve seen from 2014 to 2017 has been the most aggressive three-year start to any expansion on record,” says Trevor Amen, animal protein economist at CoBank. “Recent slaughter numbers and the cattle on feed mix indicate the expansion rate is slowing, but barring any significant export market disruptions or weather events, expansion will continue through the end of the decade.”

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