What to Do with Cows That Have Lost Calves

What to Do with Cows That Have Lost Calves

Aaron Berger

Northern Ag Network

Due to the recent severe weather, many cow-calf producers have a significant number of first-calf heifers or cows that have lost calves this spring. The following are things to evaluate and think through in making decisions regarding what to do with these cows.

Full Story

The importance of a complete bull BSE prior to breeding season

The importance of a complete bull BSE prior to breeding season

Matthew Garcia

Progressive Cattleman

Breeding season is upon us, and hopefully we have made some sound bull decisions that will positively influence our herds going forward. However, it is even more important we ensure the bulls we have purchased or retained are capable of incorporating genetics into our herds.

Full Story

Receding flood waters pose hazards to livestock

Receding flood waters pose hazards to livestock

FarmTalk

When flood waters begin to recede, producers must continue to use caution when assessing damage and beginning clean-up procedures on the farm. According to Eldon Cole, livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension, livestock will be exposed to unique hazards created by flood waters. In addition, agriculture producers must also protect their own health when working in and cleaning up previously flooded areas.

Full Story

Milk Discoloration May Be a Short-Lived Problem

Milk Discoloration May Be a Short-Lived Problem

Dr. Ken McMillan
DTN

Inflammation or trauma can cause a hemorrhage in the udder, leading to discolored milk. I have seen this several times during my 38 years of practicing, and I bet it happens a lot more than we realize since we rarely see the milk of beef cows after calving unless you have a problem. I think this happens more with heavier milkers or those whose bags fill early.

Full Story

I needed a big girl and a gag

I needed a big girl and a gag

R. P. ‘Doc’ Cooke

Beef Producer

Help with veterinary tasks was the easy part. Help taming my tongue was the hard part. Cows occasionally have a malady called uterine torsion. With few exceptions there is a big fetus located in the right or left uterine horn and the whole organ makes a near full twist, just like you took a hot-dog-shaped balloon that was half water and half air and twisted it and it didn’t untwist.

Full Story

Walmart to create Angus beef supply chain.

Walmart to create Angus beef supply chain.

Susan Kelly

Angus Beef Bulletin Extra

Walmart announced its entry into the beef industry, developing an end-to-end supply chain for Angus beef. The retailer has been working to improve the quality of its food offerings, with its fresh division and meat department at the forefront of the effort.

Full Story

Group Of Oklahoma Cowboys Come Together To Rescue Livestock From Floods

Group Of Oklahoma Cowboys Come Together To Rescue Livestock From Floods

Sawyer Buccy

Oklahoma’s Own 9

Dozens of Oklahoma cowboys have been coming together for almost a week now, saving livestock from properties all over Green Country. They say have taken days off of work and are using their own fuel, trucks, boats, and horses to get the animals to safety. This isn’t a job for the faint of heart but these Oklahoma cowboys are taking it up because, when they saw people’s farms and livestock started going underwater they felt motivated to help.

Full Story

Considering Feed-through Fly Control This Year?

Considering Feed-through Fly Control This Year?

Jason Smith

Drovers

Feed-through fly control has without doubt become one of the most popular types of feed additives utilized in pasture-based beef production systems. As a result, many floor-stocked free-choice mineral supplements and other feed products containing one of these technologies will soon become available for the upcoming grazing season.

Full Story

NDSU Extension Specialists Say Proper Timing of Livestock Pest Management is Vital

NDSU Extension Specialists Say Proper Timing of Livestock Pest Management is Vital

North Dakota State University

Face flies, horn flies and stable flies are the most common and most treated pests on North Dakota livestock operations. Left untreated, these pests can cause significant loss in production, says Miranda Meehan, North Dakota State University Extension livestock environmental stewardship specialist.

Full Story

Federal court deals decisive blow to Obama water rule

Federal court deals decisive blow to Obama water rule

John Siciliano

Washington Examiner

A federal court dealt a decisive blow against the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule this week, bolstering the Trump administration’s deregulation agenda.  The U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas issued the strongly worded ruling late Tuesday, stating that the Environmental Protection Agency broke the law in issuing the landmark regulation governing waterways.

Full Story

Delayed Planting Challenges: Late-Planted Corn and Cattle Feeding

Delayed Planting Challenges: Late-Planted Corn and Cattle Feeding

Warren Rusche

South Dakota State University

With the challenges of getting crops planted this year many farmers are likely weighing their options and re-considering their planting intentions. For producers that can market feedstuffs through livestock (particularly cattle), it may be premature to completely abandon corn simply due to calendar dates.

Full Story

Maintaining healthy cow pregnancies

Maintaining healthy cow pregnancies

Erika Lundy

Progressive Cattleman

or spring-calving herds, many stressors often coincide with the breeding season, which can impact pregnancy establishment and embryo survival. These stressors include heat stress, sudden dietary changes, social stress from mingling of new cows and, most notably, transportation stress.

Full Story

Speeding Up Hay Drying

Speeding Up Hay Drying

Mark Sulc

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

Many forage producers across Ohio have suffered severe forage stand losses; however, there are areas where the stands have survived and those are ready for harvest. Unfortunately, recent and forecasted rains are preventing the first harvest of many of those acres.

Full Story

Angus on a ‘terminal’ breed direction, says leading animal geneticist

Angus on a ‘terminal’ breed direction, says leading animal geneticist

Vernon Graham

The Land (AU)

Angus breeders need to broaden their selection beyond the current heavy focus on increasing animal size and carcase weight, according to one of the world’s leading animal geneticists. Professor Dorian Garrick, from New Zealand’s Massey University, said the industry’s concentration on improving a few key income traits had produced tremendous results in the past 40 years but not necessarily for the breeders of young slaughter cattle.

Full Story

What Happens if I Plant Corn for Silage Late?

What Happens if I Plant Corn for Silage Late?

Drovers

Timing for planting corn for silage varies tremendously as you move north to south or east to west. As a rule of thumb – the earlier the better. It’s best to get corn silked and grain filled before hitting the peak of the summer heat and/or the dry spell of the mid-to-late summer.

Full Story

Cargill Expands Previously Announced Voluntary Recall of Select Southern States® Feed Due to High/Excessive/or Elevated Aflatoxin Levels

Cargill Expands Previously Announced Voluntary Recall of Select Southern States® Feed Due to High/Excessive/or Elevated Aflatoxin Levels

FDA

Cargill’s animal nutrition business is expanding its voluntary recall of select Southern States® feed due to aflatoxin levels that exceed FDA’s action levels. This is an expansion of the recall initiated May 6, 2019 and is the result of Cargill’s internal investigation that identified additional products containing an ingredient provided from the same supplier referenced in the May 6, 2019 recall announcement. The expansion includes products manufactured between October 31, 2018 and March 1, 2019.

Full Story

Unseen Damage From Parasites Can Steal From Your Bottom Line

Unseen Damage From Parasites Can Steal From Your Bottom Line

Mark Alley

Angus Beef Bulletin Extra
Despite great progress in controlling parasites, too many operations fail to consider active ingredients for specific parasite challenges — or even deworming at all. Failure to deworm calves in the spring can limit the calf’s ability to reach its full genetic potential.

Full Story

Model Identifies High-Risk Areas for Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle

Model Identifies High-Risk Areas for Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle

Tracey Peake

North Carolina State University

Researchers have combined two separate computer models to identify areas at highest risk for outbreaks of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) in cattle. The models could help officials determine where to send resources ahead of outbreaks and serve as a potential early warning system for cattle farmers in affected areas.

Full Story

Baling Wet Hay

Baling Wet Hay

Craig Saxe

University of Wisconsin

When baling hay, moisture content can influence yield, quality and storability. If the hay is too wet, it can get moldy or overheat and catch fire. Of course, if it’s too dry, leaves will fall off. Both situations can reduce yield and quality.

Full Story

Understanding how hay dries in the field

Understanding how hay dries in the field

Jim Isleib

Michigan State University

Having a basic understanding of plant response after mowing can help hay and haylage makers produce higher quality forage. ccording to University of Wisconsin forage specialist Dan Undersander, mown hay dries in three distinct phases. Understanding what happens in each phase can lead us to management practices to improve hay quality and reduce losses. Dry hay requires the removal of about three tons of moisture for every ton of hay produced.

Full Story