Maximize gain by vaccinating earlier

Maximize gain by vaccinating earlier

Jody Wade

Progressive Cattleman

A well-planned preconditioning program helps build a solid foundation for the future performance of a calf. A proper preconditioning program should involve quality forage or supplemental feed and nutrients, castration, dehorning, weaning, constant access to clean and fresh water, and introducing cattle to the feedbunk.

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Keeping stock water ice-free in winter

Keeping stock water ice-free in winter

Steve Foglesong

FarmTalk

We were plowing with our manure pumping rig right up until it was time to leave for one of the many get-togethers our family has to celebrate Christmas when it happened. We tore the hitch right off the tractor and brought the fall season suddenly to a complete and final end.

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Boneheaded Beef Business Blunders Part 1 – Be a Business, Not a Charity

Boneheaded Beef Business Blunders Part 1 – Be a Business, Not a Charity

Meg Grzeskiewicz

On Pasture

January 2018 makes it four and a half years that Rhinestone Cattle Company has been in the grassfed beef business. I started out with a 7-acre leased pasture and intentions to stocker three calves for a summer, then grow through retained profits. Since then I have managed a maximum herd of 120 head, leased over 300 acres of pasture, built 26,000 feet of fence by hand, and brought in upwards of $24,000 in custom grazing revenue.

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Time to Double Check Your Heifer Development Program

Time to Double Check Your Heifer Development Program

Dr. Les Anderson

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

The first of January is an important “check-point” in spring heifer development programs. The key to proper heifer development lies in understanding the factors that influence conception in yearling heifers. One key factor regulating heifer fertility is age at puberty. Most producers don’t consider age at puberty of their heifers to be a major problem, yet few know how many heifers are actually cyclic at the beginning of the breeding season.

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Shortcourse scheduled to update cattle feeders in Great Lakes area

Shortcourse scheduled to update cattle feeders in Great Lakes area

Jeannine Schweihofer

Michigan State University

The Great Lakes Professional Cattle Feeding and Marketing Shortcourse organized by Michigan State University Extension will start January 23, 24, and 25, 2018. Locations include evening sessions starting at 6 p.m. in East Lansing, MI (Jan. 23), Bowling Green, OH (Jan. 24) and Wyoming, Ontario, Canada (Jan 25). A day session starting at 10 a.m. will be held in Bad Axe, MI (Jan. 25).

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Cattle groups sue USDA over meat labeling

Cattle groups sue USDA over meat labeling

Diego Flammini

Farms.com

Two U.S. cattle organizations have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for participating in the undercutting of cattle producers. Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) and Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW) allege the USDA knowingly helps meatpackers label imported beef products as domestic products, which reduces the income of domestic cattle producers.

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Young Law School Student/Rancher Embraces the Local Ecosystem to Help Cattle Thrive

Young Law School Student/Rancher Embraces the Local Ecosystem to Help Cattle Thrive

Beef Its What’s For Dinner

Garrett Foote just graduated from Texas Tech University and is currently attending Law School while also working on his family’s ranch, Tim Foote Cattle Company. Backgrounding ranches, like Garrett’s, play an important role in the beef lifecycle.

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Pinkeye Challenges Can Be Managed

Pinkeye Challenges Can Be Managed

Boyd Kidwell

Progressive Farmer

The primary infectious agent for pinkeye is the bacterium Moraxella (M.) bovis. Face flies spread the disease as they feed around eyes and nostrils. Several factors contribute to the development of pinkeye, but most cases start with eye irritation, which face flies then spread from one animal to another.

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What’s in a name? Quite a lot for young female cows

What’s in a name? Quite a lot for young female cows

Jill Burkhardt

Alberta Farm Express

Cattle producers, there seems to be some disagreement as to what a female is called after she delivers her first calf and is pregnant with her second. Is she a cow? Is she still a heifer? Is she something else? What do you call her?

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Cover crops and soil health are a winning combination at Tiffany Cattle Company

Cover crops and soil health are a winning combination at Tiffany Cattle Company

Bill Spiegel

High Plains Journal

In 2010, three years after the brothers bought the former Black Diamond feedlot, Shawn attended a field day on how cover crops could be part of a grazing system. Shortly thereafter, they began integrating cover crops to the system.

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