Marketing advice for cattle affected by cold spring

Marketing advice for cattle affected by cold spring

Western Livestock Journal

In the spring of 2019, the Northern and Central Plains regions experienced extremely cold and snowy weather. The sub-zero temperatures during calving season caused many calves to lose their ears and tails to frostbite, which can then cause cattle buyers to discount those calves during fall sales, says Bryon Parman, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension agricultural finance specialist.

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Pink Eye Treatments

Pink Eye Treatments

Dr. Ken McMillan
DTN

There can be a lot of price disparity when comparing name-brand products to generics. It’s true the FDA requires generic versions of products contain the same active ingredient(s), but it does not require they have the same inactive ingredients. The thinking is inactive ingredients should have no effect on the drug’s therapeutic action. I believe it can make a difference.

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Hay, just how bad is it?

Hay, just how bad is it?

Ted Wiseman, and Dean Kreager

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

You may be thinking enough already with the hay quality talk. Many articles have been sent out on this topic starting before some people even baled their first cutting. Last year a lot of the hay was very poor quality and many animals lost significant weight through the winter.

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Be Wary of Grazing Covers After a Freeze

Be Wary of Grazing Covers After a Freeze

Successful Farming

Remember all those prevented-plant acres on which farmers planted haying or grazing crops? It’s time to think about how frosty temperatures influence those plants and the animals that graze them, according to Ben Beckman and Megan Taylor, Extension educators at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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Flexible management is the key to heifer development

Flexible management is the key to heifer development

Zach McFarlane

Progressive Cattle

Keep or cull? This is an annual question beef producers ask themselves. Most producers focus on pregnancy outcome. However, a statement I have often heard is the following: “Well, this cow has always produced a good calf.”

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Preventative Calf Health Q&A

Preventative Calf Health Q&A

Purina Mills
Getting calves from the farm to the packer with fewer instances of Bovine Respiratory Disease means more profit along the entire beef production chain. The cattle industry must work together to find innovative solutions, since changing consumer demands have already translated into impactful Veterinary Feed Directive regulations.

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Why I’m troubled by society’s skewed relationship with animals

Why I’m troubled by society’s skewed relationship with animals

Amanda Radke
Beef Magazine

It starts at a young age. I call it, “The Disney Effect.” Kids are introduced to friendly animated animal characters on the big screen, and all too often, the caregiver of the animals is an afterthought supporting character at best or a villain at worst.

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Cattle Mutilations and a Satanic Cult?

Cattle Mutilations and a Satanic Cult? 

Bend Source
Cayla Clark

Over the course of the past three decades, over 10,000 animals across the U.S. have been systematically and inexplicably mutilated.  In 1975, Kansas ranchers Stanley and Carol Post discovered one of their cows dead—a hematoma on its head, its genitalia and udders surgically removed.

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The modern cowboy and the future of livestock operations

The modern cowboy and the future of livestock operations

Aleeya Laureola

Ag Daily

With the rise of self-driving tractors, motion-activated cameras, and livestock monitoring smartphone apps, it is clear the agricultural industry is adapting to the future one innovation at a time.

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We’re very close to disrupting the cow

We’re very close to disrupting the cow

Tony SebaCatherine Tubb

Fast Company

This is not just one disruption: it’s death by a thousand cuts. In our new report, “Rethinking Food and Agriculture 2020-2030,” we analyze the way many different products derived from the cow—from burgers and milk to leather and collagen—will be completely disrupted separately and concurrently by new technologies and business models, which overlap, reinforce, and accelerate each other.

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Mark Parker: The Top 10 farm Halloween events

Mark Parker:  The Top 10 farm Halloween events

FarmTalk

#10. You mistake the meth-head anhydrous thieves as kids dressed like zombies and give them each a Snickers.

#9. Visitors compliment you on your decorations — owls, spider webs, decapitated rodents left on the front step by the cat — when you actually didn’t do a thing.

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When Is a Pasture-Raised Beef Cow/Steer “Finished?”

When Is a Pasture-Raised Beef Cow/Steer “Finished?”

Kathy Voth

On Pasture

Few traditional cattle producers have taken a calf to an optimal finishing weight and consequently may have a difficult time assessing when an animal is ready for harvest. The optimal finishing point will vary depending on breed, frame size, sex, and other animal characteristics as well as the requirements of the end market.

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Lower Profit Cow-Calf Operations Have Some Things in Common

Lower Profit Cow-Calf Operations Have Some Things in Common

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Markets are impossible to control, but cost management is the difference between profit and loss for many cattle operations. Dustin Pendell and Kevin Herbel, both with KSU’s department of agricultural economics at the time of the study, used cow/calf enterprises enrolled in the Kansas Farm Management Association to pull data from.

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Feeding Quality Forum speakers encourage new thinking.

Feeding Quality Forum speakers encourage new thinking.

Miranda Reiman

Angus Beef Bulletin Extra

The cattle industry needs to make some bold, creative changes to ensure its viability. That was the wakeup call from speakers at the Feeding Quality Forum Aug. 27-28 in Amarillo, Texas. Persistent problems may require new approaches. “Revenue is the reward for doing the right thing,” said Anne-Marie Roerink, principal at 210 Analytics.

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Soil Health Concerns After a Year of Waterlogged Pastures and Hay Fields

Soil Health Concerns After a Year of Waterlogged Pastures and Hay Fields

Beef2Live

In this month’s Forage Focus podcast, host Christine Gelley, an Extension Educator with The Ohio State University Agriculture & Natural Resources in Noble County, talks with Jefferson/Harrison County ANR Educator Erika Lyon about soil health, especially as it relates to the damage down to Ohio’s forage fields during a year of constantly waterlogged and trampled soils.

 

Beef Packers Remain Hungry

Beef Packers Remain Hungry

Brad Hulett

Drovers

Beef packers continued to show signs that they still need cattle to meet the demand.  Cash cattle in the south traded from $109 to $111,  depending on early-traded cattle and quality of the cattle.  The north also remained strong with cash sales up to $112, with dressed cattle bringing $175.

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Cattle producers call for market reform

Cattle producers call for market reform

Michelle Rook

AgWeek

The market sold off with concerns there would not be enough capacity to slaughter cattle, which would cause a backup in marketing. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched an investigation. However, groups like the Organization for Competitive Markets and R-CALF (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund) want more done.

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Beef Quality Assurance Transportation Certification required to deliver cattle

Beef Quality Assurance Transportation Certification required to deliver cattle

Capital Journal

Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Transportation is the latest certification needed for beef cattle haulers and producers who deliver cattle to major packing plants. The program focuses on transporter safety, delivering cattle in a timely manner, cattle fitness of transport, cattle handling, emergency preparedness and other topics.

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Cattle with feet issues often culled earlier than normal

Cattle with feet issues often culled earlier than normal

Martha Blum

AgriNews

Developing a genetic evaluation for feet and legs of cattle can help producers improve their herds. “Good stewardship necessitates that we focus on genetic improvement in this area to decrease the number of welfare incidents in our production system,” said Bob Weaber, professor and Extension cow/calf specialist at Kansas State University.

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Feldun-Purdue Farm Agriculture Center is Purdue’s Longest Operated Agriculture Center

Feldun-Purdue Farm Agriculture Center is Purdue’s Longest Operated Agriculture Center

WBIW

The research facility is on the edge of a limestone quarry and was formed in 1914 as a former apple orchard and currently home to the Indiana Beef Evaluation Program, which is one of eight facilities throughout the State of Indiana.

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