Grid Marketing, Ranch View

Grid Marketing, Ranch View

Jera Pipkin
F&R Livestock Resource

Hitting a target takes practice, careful calibrations, attempts and recalibrations over time. Cow-calf producers make decisions every day, but how many of those relate to the calves’ ability to realize their potential and hit a high quality beef target?

Full Story

Rethinking a Twice-A-Year Habit

Rethinking a Twice-A-Year Habit

Becky Mills
Progressive Farmer

In his role as Texas A&M Extension Veterinarian, Tom Hairgrove visits ranches from one end of Texas to the other. Whether they are Texas-sized or tiny, arid or humid, there’s one message he’d like to give all ranchers: Test first, deworm second.

Full Story

Social Media: Good for the Ranch and Good for the Industry

Social Media: Good for the Ranch and Good for the Industry

Kelsi Christian

The Profit Picture

Two pharmacists turned beef marketers and one mom of three turned their love for the beef industry into social media empires with a reach spanning the country. Meet JaTanna Williams, Natalie Kovarik, of Ranch Wives Beef Co.; and Terryn Drieling, of Faith Family & Beef. These three ladies have one thing in common: a passion and love for agriculture, which they’ve turned into a substantial digital presence.

Full Story

Stockmanship & Stewardship tour coming to Kansas

Stockmanship & Stewardship tour coming to Kansas

High Plains Journal

Kansas will be one of five states hosting Stockmanship & Stewardship events during 2019. The Kansas Beef Council will host cattle producers for further education on proper stockmanship techniques Sept. 20 to 21 at the Stout Center on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.

Full Story

Grass Tetany –Start Preventive Measures Now

Grass Tetany –Start Preventive Measures Now

Michelle Arnold, DVM, Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler, Dr. Cynthia Gaskill,

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

What is “Grass Tetany” and when are cattle most likely to have it? Grass tetany, also known as spring tetany, grass staggers, wheat pasture poisoning, winter tetany or lactation tetany, is a condition due to a low level of magnesium (Mg) in the blood. The disorder in adult cattle begins with muscle spasms and quickly progresses to convulsions, respiratory difficulty, and death.

Full Story

Pregnancy Loss in Beef Cattle

Pregnancy Loss in Beef Cattle

John C. Wenzel and Timothy J. Hanosh

New Mexico State University

Abortion and loss of pregnancy in beef cattle can occur for a variety of reasons. Many times the reason for the loss is complex and difficult to diagnose. This guide will briefly outline and discuss some of the more common diseases and causes of loss of pregnancy. If a loss of pregnancy is suspected, contact your local veterinarian for assistance and advice for diagnosis and control of the causative agent in the pregnancy loss. The following are some helpful steps to take when an abortion is identified.

Full Story

Is a gene-edited animal a drug?

Is a gene-edited animal a drug?

Morning AG Clips

In 2017, the United States Food and Drug Administration proposed to regulate a specific subset of these variations as drugs: in particular, those introduced into animal genomes using modern molecular techniques like gene editing. A drug is “an article (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of animals” according to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which was first signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938.

Full Story

4 Tips to Study Up on Before Buying a Bull

4 Tips to Study Up on Before Buying a Bull

Wyatt Bechtel
Drovers

Mail boxes and email inboxes are starting to fill up with bull sale announcements and catalogs as the heart of bull sale season nears. Sifting through all the data, pedigrees and photos can be nerve-racking, but in the end finding the right sire to move genetic progress forward in your cow herd will be rewarding.

Full Story

From applying the right amount of pressure to knowing when to call the vet, these tips help save calves.

From applying the right amount of pressure to knowing when to call the vet, these tips help save calves.

Heather Smith Thomas

Angus Beef Bulletin

Intervening can help a cow deliver her calf, but the wrong pressure can end up hurting more than helping. Most ranchers know they should use a double half-hitch when placing chains on the calf’s legs for pulling, with one loop mid-cannon and the other below the fetlock joint.

Full Story

Mid-South Stocker Conference coming March 21

Mid-South Stocker Conference coming March 21

Aimee Nielson

University of Kentucky

Beef producers have to deal with the constant ebb and flow of their industry. Variables such as weather, market prices, fuel and other input costs, along with added influence of external forces of politics, economics, animal rights and consumer perceptions, make profitability a challenge.

Full Story

Mark Parker: The Top 10 muddy observations

Mark Parker:  The Top 10 muddy observations

FarmTalk

10. The two-track path across the pasture is now a four-lane.
11. There’s a little stuck, a lot stuck and all you can see of the tractor is the cab stuck.
12. A muddy lot is a great place to take the vinegar out of your green-broke gelding — and, if it doesn’t work out, a lot softer place to land.

Full Story

Deworming Doesn’t Solve Every Problem

Deworming Doesn’t Solve Every Problem

Dr. Ken McMillan
DTN

Lately, I have had several similar cases where owners bring in a stool sample, and, when we check it, the calves are heavily infected with worms or worms and coccidia. This is a simple and economical test that is tremendously underutilized.

Full Story

Flooding Affecting Nutrition and Diets of Livestock

Flooding Affecting Nutrition and Diets of Livestock

Farms.com

Flooding and increased rainfall in north and central Alabama is causing major problems for livestock producers. In addition to the obvious affects, producers must also take into consideration the affects the flooding is having on the nutrition and diets of livestock.

Full Story

Tough questions to ask your cows

Tough questions to ask your cows

Amanda Radke

Beef Magazine

Calving season is in full swing at our place, and the recent blast of winter weather has made welcoming new calves to the ranch a little more labor intensive than we would prefer.

Full Story

Encourage the “Good Bugs”

Encourage the “Good Bugs”

John Maday

Bovine Veterinarian

As scientists learn more about the hundreds of species of microorganisms that thrive in and on animals, microbiome management could become the next giant leap in improving animal health and performance efficiency, along with food safety and quality.

Full Story

31,000 Cattle Involved in South Dakota Foreclosure

31,000 Cattle Involved in South Dakota Foreclosure

Greg Henderson

Drovers

A court-appointed investigator is counting cattle and identifying owners in a multi-million dollar South Dakota foreclosure case. A multi-million dollar foreclosure case is unfolding in South Dakota and a court-appointed investigator is working to ensure the care and determine the ownership of as many as 31,000 cattle.

Full Story

3 Reasons to Support Youth who Raise Livestock

3 Reasons to Support Youth who Raise Livestock

BioZyme

Critics claim that raising livestock through FFA and 4-H hardens the hearts of our industry’s young people. Yet, if you have been involved in these organizations, you know it does just the opposite. Raising livestock awakens the soul and gives young people a purpose. It gives them a reason to wake up each day and be a caretaker and teaches the proper way to care for animals to ultimately deliver a safe product to the marketplace.

Full Story

Monitor beef cattle body condition

Monitor beef cattle body condition

Rory Lewandowski

The Columbus Dispatch

This has been a challenging winter for any type of livestock operation. We have had snowfall, rain and sleet, subzero temperatures with harsh wind-chill but also temperatures in the 50s. Temperatures bouncing up and down can be hard on both livestock and their caregivers. The cold rains and the muddy conditions during those periods of warmer temperatures are a concern for beef cattle primarily managed and housed outdoors.

Full Story

The skinny on cow weight maintenance and forage intake

The skinny on cow weight maintenance and forage intake

Tri State Livestock News

Weight gain is almost a national obsession the first few months after the new year, and while humans may be most interested in dropping pounds, cattle breeders are more concerned with helping cows maintain a good body weight at a reasonable cost.

Full Story

Stretching supplies when hay is tight

Stretching supplies when hay is tight

The News Enterprise

As I’ve mentioned earlier this winter, we currently are in the middle of a severe hay shortage. This is not only a local shortage, but one that reaches across the state and even across most of the country. With hay simply not being available locally and either not being available or not economical to truck in nationally, most livestock owners will be forced simply to manage what hay supplies they have left. Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler, extension beef specialist, recently shared tips on managing your hay supply.

Full Story