BeefTalk: Healthy Soil Buffers Human Inadequacies

BeefTalk: Healthy Soil Buffers Human Inadequacies

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Perhaps a healthy soil is a good buffer to our own inadequacies. As we know, water storage and availability are necessary for soil health and forage growth. Ten years ago, the Dickinson Research Extension Center implemented a cropping system on a quarter of land. The system changed the rate of average water infiltration into the soil from 1.3 inches per hour to 10.2 inches per hour, an increase of 685 percent. Additionally, the projected average plant-available nitrogen increased from 100 to 175 pounds per acre, a 75 percent increase.

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Volks raise low-input, high-efficiency Salers in the Colorado mountains

Volks raise low-input, high-efficiency Salers in the Colorado mountains

Teresa Clark

The Fence Post

A registered herd of Salers cattle graze contently at the base of the Ragged Mountains in the northwest corner of Gunnison County. The way they’re raised is what sets them apart. “They receive no special treatment,” Gary Volk says of the cattle. “We raise registered cattle that are kept like commercial producers would keep them. They don’t get supplements, only minerals and hay during calving. Our goal is to graze them most of the year. What we produce here are good honest cattle.”

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4 reasons to call your ag lender

4 reasons to call your ag lender

Amanda Radke

Beef Magazine

Clear communication is key in successfully operating with an agricultural loan. When change occurs in the business, these are four things your lender will want to know.

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Now Is the Time to Start Backgrounding Calves

Now Is the Time to Start Backgrounding Calves

Emma Wilson

Successful Farming

The demand for feeder cattle has supported higher prices this year. Relatively low feeding costs give farmers the opportunity to send more pounds of beef to market by feeding calves after weaning.

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Eye For Improvement

Eye For Improvement

Dan Miller

DTN Progressive Farmer

In far southwest Virginia on the Tennessee line is Washington County. Its steep hills and valleys support a thousand cattle operations — most are small, averaging 50 head. Most have owners with a full-time job other than agriculture. Most do not earn top dollar for their investment and effort.

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What are Bulls Worth?

What are Bulls Worth?

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

With winter and spring bull sales are not far away, it is time to start having the discussion about what to look for and how much to pay for a bull by taking a look at both the genetic influence as well as the economic influence to your cowherd.

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Beef cattle management tips for early winter

Beef cattle management tips for early winter

Brandon Sears

Richamond Register

Be sure that weaned heifer calves are on a feeding program which will enable them be at about 65 percent of their expected mature weight before the start of the breeding season. Rations should be balanced to achieve gains sufficient to get heifers from their current weight to that “target” weight.

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Diversity is key for Ohio cattle producers

Diversity is key for Ohio cattle producers

Catie Noyes

Farm amd Dairy

If there is one thing Jeff and Lou Ellen Harr have learned in the cattle industry, it’s this: “To make it in agriculture, you have to be diversified.” The Harrs raise around 250 head of Hereford cattle near Jeromesville, in Ashland County, just south of U.S. route 30. Because of the Harrs’ willingness to adapt to change and maintain strong genetics, J&L Cattle Services has been named Seedstock Producer of the Year by the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association.

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Pinnacle Asset Management to Acquire JBS USA Five Rivers Cattle Feeding

Pinnacle Asset Management to Acquire JBS USA Five Rivers Cattle Feeding

NASDAQ

Affiliates of Pinnacle Asset Management, L.P., a leading commodities and natural resources investment firm, today announced they have entered into an agreement to acquire the U.S.-based cattle feeding assets and farms, collectively known as Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, from JBS USA, a leading global food company, for approximately $200 million (USD). Five Rivers Cattle Feeding is the largest cattle feeding operation in the world, with roots in the U.S. dating back to the 1920s. The transaction includes 11 feed yards across Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, with feeding capacity of more than 900,000 head of cattle, and a long-term agreement to supply cattle to JBS USA beef processing plants.

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Is Your Wisconsin Beef Operation Profitable?

Is Your Wisconsin Beef Operation Profitable?

Bill Halfman

University of Wisconsin

Profitability is in the eye of the beholder. Raising beef may be about many things, and for some, profit is not chief among them. Be honest with yourself. Is the beef operation contributing to your family’s finances? How much do you want your family income to subsidize the beef operation? Turning a profit in a Wisconsin beef business is difficult, but you will not be able to know where you stand until you measure it.

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