The Most Important Meal: Setting up newborns for success

The Most Important Meal:  Setting up newborns for success

Troy Smith

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Elaborating on the importance of colostrum, or “first milk,” that a dam provides at the onset of lactation, Vander Ley explained that calves are born with a naïve immune system. Ingestion of colostrum provides a passive transfer of antibodies, as well as nutrition. This loan of antibodies from the dam lasts about two weeks, providing a measure of protection while the calf develops its own immunity.

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What’s in Your Sale Catalog?

What’s in Your Sale Catalog?

Gelbvieh World

A lot of information is included in a sale catalog. This year, make sure that the information that you do put in the sale catalog is working hard to promote your cattle and your operation. Make sure to list the sale date, location, and start time on the cover. It seems like a simple thing that doesn’t require a reminder, but it can be such an obvious detail that it’s easily overlooked! You want your first-time customers to make it to your sale, so make sure good directions to the sale facility are included. Then of course, contact information; providing an open line of communication gets people calling for information on the sale cattle.
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Genetic Excellence: It’s more than a phrase or the name

Genetic Excellence: It’s more than a phrase or the name

Lindsay King

Angus Journal

Three by Three, Genetic Excellence: It’s more than a phrase or the name of a 15-year-old bull sale; it’s what three Tennessee Angus producers strive for in their own herd and every bull they feed out for the sale. by Lindsay King, assistant editorFed up with tire-kickers and long-winded negotiations for just one bill of sale, Kent Brown and Richard Brown formulated a plan. Hatched 20 years ago, this plan didn’t come to fruition until 2004 in the form of the Genetic Excellence Bull Sale.

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Breaking the Ice

Breaking the Ice

Christine Gelley

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

With the cold finally settling in, keeping free flowing water available can be a challenge, especially if you do not have access to electricity or in ground waterers. Tis the season to carry a heavy blunt object with you while you check the livestock. To provide the best care possible to our livestock, water access 24/7 needs to continue to be a priority in the winter.

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Devastating Livestock Dealer Defaults Could Go Away

Devastating Livestock Dealer Defaults Could Go Away

Andy Schwab

Northern AG Network

In the 2018 Farm Bill, Congress instructed USDA to examine the feasibility of establishing a livestock Dealer Statutory Trust and provide a report within one year. Based on its analysis of industry data, public input, and experience with the livestock industry, USDA finds that it would be feasible to implement a livestock Dealer Statutory Trust.

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Choose electrolyte ingredients based on the calf’s needs

Choose electrolyte ingredients based on the calf’s needs

Robert B Corbett DVM

Bovine Veterinarian

Diarrhea is the most common calfhood disease, followed by pneumonia.  Dehydration and acidosis are the most important issues to correct in the majority of diarrhea cases. Most individuals responsible for treating sick calves understand the importance of rehydrating the calf and are familiar with the use of oral electrolyte solutions.

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Extreme weather issues across the U.S. result in high risk for mycotoxins in corn silage.

Extreme weather issues across the U.S. result in high risk for mycotoxins in corn silage.

Angus Beef Bulletin Extra

The past year has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory for corn farmers across the Midwest due to excessive rainfall, which has resulted in delayed and/or prevented planting in many areas. Extreme weather conditions and moisture levels can reduce yields and induce plant stress, and they can also lead to future issues for the crop, including molds and mycotoxins.

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Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic to be held Jan. 9

Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic to be held Jan. 9

Laura Muntean

The Eagle

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be hosting the 39th annual Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic on Jan. 9 at the Milam County Youth Exposition Building, 301 S. Houston St. in Cameron.

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AABP Updates Dehorning Guidelines

AABP Updates Dehorning Guidelines

Drovers

In 2014, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) established guidelines for the dehorning and castration of calves. On a regular basis, the AABP reviews and updates its guidelines to make continual improvements over time and to make sure they incorporate the latest scientific evidence and recommendations. In 2019, the AABP separated the guidelines for dehorning (updated November 2019) from castration (updated August 2019).

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What’s ahead for beef?

What’s ahead for beef?

Burt Rutherford

Beef Magazine

Since this is the time of year for outlooks, be they right or wrong, let’s look at what the economists who write the Daily Livestock Report (DLR) think about the beef cutout. Why is that important? After all, that’s a long way from the calving pasture. It’s important because what happens at the wholesale and retail end of the beef marketing chain affects you at marketing time and ultimately, affects the genetic decisions you make.

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Determining cost of producing a calf important indicator in improving profit

Determining cost of producing a calf important indicator in improving profit

Teresa Clark
The Fence Post

A lot of numbers can go into the cost of raising a calf each year. Unfortunately, keeping track of those numbers can become so overwhelming, many producers have no idea what it really costs to produce that 500 pound calf they sell each fall. Determining unit cost of production, whether it is how much it costs to produce a calf, a pound of gain for a yearling, or a ton of hay, can be the most important piece of the profitability puzzle. University of Nebraska Extension Educator Aaron Berger told ranchers it is the indicator of how things are working on their operations.

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Freezer meat business another way to diversify

Freezer meat business another way to diversify

Carley Myers

Prairie Farmer

Diversification has been good for Fruechte Farms in Adams County, Ind. Besides corn and soybeans, other major enterprises include producing and marketing alfalfa hay, and raising turkeys on contract with Cooper Farms, based in Ohio. The Fruechte operation includes Craig Fruechte and his family, and his father, Kim.  Sometimes, finding small ways to diversify can also be an influential way to grow your brand. The Fruechtes also have small herds of beef cattle and swine, which they raise and sell primarily for freezer meat. Although it is not a large portion of their operation financially, Craig finds it valuable.

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A guide to selecting the perfect heifer bull

A guide to selecting the perfect heifer bull

Elizabeth Homerosky

Alberta Farmer

Whether home raised or purchased, open replacement heifer candidates are one of your biggest investments on the ranch. Heifers experiencing dystocia or a difficult calving are less likely to mother up and breed back and more likely to wean lighter calves. Assisted calves are more likely to become sick or die before weaning.

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Changes in distillers’ grains still good for maintaining cows through the winter.

Changes in distillers’ grains still good for maintaining cows through the winter.

Heather Smith Thomas

Angus Beef Bulletin Extra

Distillers’ grains are a byproduct of the ethanol industry and have become a common supplement for beef cattle to add protein in the diet. The fat content is also beneficial. In recent years, however, many ethanol plants have been reducing fat levels in the residue that ends up as cattle feed. Cattle producers need to be aware that nutrient levels can vary greatly, depending on where you purchase the distillers’ grains.

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Impossible burgers are made of what?

Impossible burgers are made of what?

Dr. James Stangle, DVM

Tri State Livestock News

​The impossible whopper is being advertised by Burger King as a plant based alternative to the whopper. When food manufacturers started talking about making artificial meat, I, too, thought it would be impossible to make a hamburger cheaply enough to make it competitive. You see, I assumed that they would have to buy the individual amino acids (the building blocks for protein) and chemically string them together in the proper order, then remove the reagents (chemicals needed to cause the chain reactions) and then add something to give it the right textures.

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Feed sampling will help with beef cow energy and protein supplementation

Feed sampling will help with beef cow energy and protein supplementation

Farms.com

Wintering beef cows has become a challenge in many parts of Michigan. Our late start to spring along with surplus moisture in the 2019 growing season limited the production of average and high-quality hay. During the winter of 2018-19, many producers purchased hay from new sources.

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Why – and How – We Use Antibiotics

Why – and How – We Use Antibiotics

Foothill Agrarian

“You don’t use antibiotics in your sheep, do you?” When we sold meat at our local farmers market, we got this question frequently. Since we don’t sell directly to consumers much anymore, the question comes less often – but we still occasionally get asked whether we give our sheep antibiotics. The short answer is “yes.” But the long answer is more complicated, and I hope you’ll keep reading.

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Five tips for making high-quality flaked corn for cattle

Five tips for making high-quality flaked corn for cattle

Feedstuffs

Enter the words “flaked corn” into your internet search engine and the first few search results are related to the home brewing industry. The fermentation process which makes alcohol relies on maximum surface area to expose the starch inside the corn kernel to breakdown.

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Genetics and services to meet industry demands

Genetics and services to meet industry demands

Tom Strahm

High Plains Journal

More producers are recognizing the contribution Gelbvieh genetics can make to improve growth and performance, especially in a crossbreeding system. Gelbvieh- and Balancer-influenced calves wean off heavy and continue to excel with high post-weaning growth. Producers who are adding value to their calves through the backgrounding phase will appreciate the combination of rate of gain and feed efficiency that will potentially improve their bottom line returns.

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BQA Helps Ease Consumer Minds About How Cattle Are Raised

BQA Helps Ease Consumer Minds About How Cattle Are Raised

Perishable News

As consumers glean more information about where their food comes from, producers need to focus on how they manage their farm or ranch. Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification is a good place to start, said Josh White at the Angus convention in November.

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