Mark Parker: The Top 10 signs of spring

Mark Parker:  The Top 10 signs of spring

FarmTalk

10. Your wife’s warning about the farm equipment parked on top of her daffodils reaches the point of some pretty ugly threats.

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Shortage of Feed-grade Vitamins

Shortage of Feed-grade Vitamins

Troy Smith

Angus Beef Bulletin

What does a shortage of a substance used in perfumery have to do with the price of livestock feed supplements? Well, it’s because the lemony-scented citral used in aroma and fragrance products also is important to the manufacture of feed-grade vitamins A and E.

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Labels That Count

Labels That Count

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. But Mexico’s proposed new beef-grading system so closely resembles the USDA’s program, it may actually hurt U.S. cattle producers. The new Mexican grading system, announced late last year, would be mandatory. It would include both Spanish and English grade names, with the English grade names being the same as those used by the USDA.

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Accounting the value of heat adaptation for cattle

Accounting the value of heat adaptation for cattle

Alan Newport

Beef Producer

When Steven Lukefahr began improving his beef cattle operation by the combination of grazing management and adapted genetics, he needed a way to measure the successes. So he set about using modern science on estimates for hybrid vigor from the breed crosses he chose, including across-breed EPDs.

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‘Take your bull to the vet’ month celebrated in March

‘Take your bull to the vet’ month celebrated in March

David Burton

High Plains Journal

Many organizations claim a day, week or month to promote their industry. Recognizable examples include May as Beef Month, June as Dairy Month and October as Agriculture Month. According to Eldon Cole, livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension, it is time to designate March as “Take your bull to the vet” month.

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Fourteen Months Into the Veterinary Feed Directive- Cattle Producers Are Working Well With Their Vets

Fourteen Months Into the Veterinary Feed Directive- Cattle Producers Are Working Well With Their Vets

Oklahoma Farm Report

Just a little over a year ago, the US livestock industry begin following the VFD- the Veterinary Feed Directive as developed by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Mike Apley with Kansas State University talked with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Director of Farm Programming Ron Hays about how the beef industry is doing in lining up its drug use practices with the VFD- and where FDA may be going next in overseeing antibiotics for animals.

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A few new and old tools for managing calf health

A few new and old tools for managing calf health

Larry Lee

Brownfield Network

Dr. Mike Nichols from Zoetis tells Brownfield there are developments in calf vaccination to watch for, and one that’s been around for about a decade but is not commonly used.  He also talks about the time-tested method of vaccinating calves that some have forgotten about.

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States address COOL for beef: Wyoming committee passes bill, Oklahoma to consider one

States address COOL for beef: Wyoming committee passes bill, Oklahoma to consider one

Carrie Stadheim

Tri State Livestock News

“Currently any beef processed in the United States is considered U.S. beef even if it was grown in Brazil or Mexico or Canada or another country. We hold our beef producers to a higher standard, and for them to compete with these other countries’ beef that is being called U.S. beef isn’t fair marketing.” Carl Newton, Oklahoma legislator

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Eye for Improvement

Eye for Improvement

Dan Miller

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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BQA: Building A Herd Health Program

BQA: Building A Herd Health Program

Rob Eirich

Drovers

Cattlemen have demonstrated a commitment to the integrity of today’s beef products by implementing sound cattle management practices. Consumers are looking for beef raised in a healthy and safe environment. An appropriate Herd Health Program ensures that all cattle are raised in the best health.

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Are you getting the most out of your ration?

Are you getting the most out of your ration?

Jason Smith

Progressive Cattleman

Just like a business that’s only as good as the people and business plan behind it, the same goes for feed formulations and a person’s ability to deliver it to the bunk. Any inconsistencies between what’s on paper and the actual formulation can set cattle up for nutritional issues or lead to your disappointment when performance suffers.

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Financial Emphasis on Cattle Side of the Business

Financial Emphasis on Cattle Side of the Business

Robert Waggener

DTN

Kim Cullen-Goertz uses her background in cattle genetics to build the herd, while husband Jason Goertz works the farming side of the operation. Like a growing number of producers across the country, Cullen-Goertz is diligently working to fit her cows to the environment. She’s also employing a number of strategies to create and maintain the most efficient cattle operation possible.

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I Talk to My Veterinarian More Than the Pediatrician

I Talk to My Veterinarian More Than the Pediatrician

Buzzard’s Beat

Across the Internet and in homes everywhere, people are applauding and welcoming the arrival of fall and cooler days, rain, warm sweaters and cold nights. I love fall and winter but guess what else accompanies them? Cold and flu season has arrived, people!

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Improve Pregnancy Rates with Proper Semen Handling

Improve Pregnancy Rates with Proper Semen Handling

Whitney Whitworth

Cattle Today

In addition to proper heat detection, the area in which operations can make huge strides in improving pregnancy rates to artificial insemination is in correct handling of semen. From the time semen is processed at the bull stud to the time it is placed in the cow, proper techniques must be used to ensure the highest rate of survival of sperm cells.

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Misconceptions of low-stress handling

Misconceptions of low-stress handling

Drovers

Low-stress livestock handling (LSLH) suffers from many common misconceptions, mostly as a consequence of its name. Without knowing anything about it, as soon as people hear the term “low stress,” all kinds of unfounded notions come to mind.

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How to improve calf vigor in late gestation

How to improve calf vigor in late gestation

Beef Magazine

It’s about to get exciting around your cattle operation. Carefully planned mating decisions, breeding and waiting for those offspring to arrive mean producers will soon have new born calves bouncing around the lot. Or will they? Calf vigor is the combination of many factors with cow nutrition during the last 60 days of gestation topping the list.

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Think ahead about weed control in alfalfa

Think ahead about weed control in alfalfa

Jeff Stachler

Farm and Dairy

As alfalfa stands age, they become thinner. The thinner alfalfa population allows weeds to encroach the field. Weeds can also be a problem if weeds were not properly managed prior to seeding the alfalfa.

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Tax reform positive for farmers and ranchers

Tax reform positive for farmers and ranchers

Michelle Rook

Agweek

A few weeks after Congress passed the most sweeping tax reform in decades, farmers are working with their tax professionals to figure out what it ultimately means for their farming operations. Patricia Wolff, American Farm Bureau senior director of congressional relations, specializes in tax law. She says the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has many positive aspects for agriculture.

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Two breeds join to strengthen commercial cattle industry

Two breeds join to strengthen commercial cattle industry

Lynn Jaynes

Progressive Cattleman

Red Angus Association and American Hereford Association announced a bold industry move to collaboratively create the Premium Red Baldy verification program for commercial cattle.

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Beef Industry Fights Against High-tech Meat Substitutes

Beef Industry Fights Against High-tech Meat Substitutes

Clint Rainey

Grub Street

Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.

We’ve gotten to a point where lab-made “meat” is both ubiquitous and tasty, and the people who raise the animals used to make actual beef are, um, concerned. The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, a powerful industry group, has officially gone on the offensive against the sea of food-tech start-ups that make convincing burgers and steaks without any actual cattle: companies such as Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Just (the start-up formerly known as Hampton Creek), and Memphis Meats, to name a few. Their first step in this fight: calling on the USDA to introduce a federal definition for both beef and meat that would exclude their competitors’ unorthodox products.

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