Spreads for Higher Quality Grades will Widen

Spreads for Higher Quality Grades will Widen

Dr. Andrew Griffith

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

I spoke with six individuals this past week that send cattle to either Kansas, Nebraska, or Iowa for finishing. A recurring theme was in relation to the spread between Prime, Branded, Choice, and Select beef. Some of the conversation was that the spreads have narrowed and the market is not offering the incentive to have as high of grading cattle. Looking back at the data does not support this assertion.

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Tightening up Calving Season

Tightening up Calving Season

Olivia Amundson

South Dakota State University

One of the most important indicators of success in a cow-calf herd is reproductive efficiency of that population. A major profit-determining factor is the percent of calf crop weaned. This is accomplished through incorporating a shortened and defined breeding and calving season

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The Sandhills Calving System For Scours Prevention

The Sandhills Calving System For Scours Prevention

On Pasture

The Sandhills System was designed to protect calf health by providing separation between newborn calves and older calves (two weeks of age and older) during a critical time of the year when the risk of disease development, primarily scours, is high.

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Sustainability Tool: Anonymous Online Assessment from Noble

Sustainability Tool:  Anonymous Online Assessment from Noble

Victoria G. Myers

Progressive Farmer

Chad Ellis believes it’s important for businesses to be able to compare year-to-year data, to see where they stand in their sector when it comes to sustainability. He’s also aware, many would like that comparison to stay in house.

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Jarold Callahan of Express Ranch on Bull Buying 101

Jarold Callahan of Express Ranch on Bull Buying 101

Oklahoma Farm Report

Jarold Callahan, president of Express Ranches in Yukon, Oklahoma Callahan talks about the abundance of useful data available for buyers of new herd bulls. All the cattle at Express Ranches have genomically-enhanced EPD’s, Callahan said. Callahan said they begin testing young bulls at around three months of age. “It’s like that bull has already sired a calf crop,” Callahan said. “This gives the buyer more confidence in that bull.”

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Disease Traceability: Where It Starts and Stops

Disease Traceability:  Where It Starts and Stops

Sheila Hildebrand

Western AG Reporter

Initiating a conversation about RFID is nearly as combustible as broaching your opinion about universal healthcare – at Thanksgiving dinner at your new in-laws who do not share your political affiliation.  It leaves an edge in the air that makes any meal fairly unpalatable.

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The real issue around the red meat study is scientific credibility

The real issue around the red meat study is scientific credibility

Dr. Ron Clarke

Canadian Cattlemen

Dr. Bradley Johnston, an associate professor of community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University, escalated the protein war when he published a report contradicting existing nutritional guidelines related to red meat consumption.

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Are you listening to your data?

Are you listening to your data?

Dusty Abney

Progressive Cattle

Cattle producers are surrounded by data. Whether it’s weaning weights, days open or number of cattle on a given pasture, the data we collect on our operations is only beneficial if we utilize it.

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Managing Tall Fescue Toxicosis

Managing Tall Fescue Toxicosis

Adam Speir

Drovers

Tall fescue is a forage workhorse for livestock producers from north Georgia to New England. It is a cool-season perennial grass that is tolerant of many conditions, covers more than 1 million acres north of the Fall Line, and supplements bermudagrass pastures for many livestock producers from fall through spring. Despite the important niche that tall fescue fills, there are important downsides to consider when grazing livestock on tall fescue grass.

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Starting and Managing a Defined Calving Season

Starting and Managing a Defined Calving Season

Justin Rhinehart

University of Tennessee

Of all the management practices used to improve both the economic success and performance of cow-calf production, having a defined calving season is the most important. In fact, it is better to think of it as a gateway tool to allow the use of other management practices.

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Six strategies to consider to assist with tax time

Six strategies to consider to assist with tax time

Kindra Gordon

Angus Journal

“It’s a wheel that may not squeak very loud most of the year, but this time of year you need to give it your attention,” says Dan Childs, an ag economist with the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, Okla. Childs is talking about tax season, which is looming as one year ends and another gets underway.

 

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Animal Welfare Starts with the Animal Handler

Animal Welfare Starts with the Animal Handler

The Beef Buzz

In today’s Beef Buzz, Ron Hays talks with Dr. Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo, Chief Animal Welfare Officer for Elanco. Oklahomans may remember her during her tenure in the Animal Science department at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Calvo-Lorenzo said animal well-being starts with the people responsible for caring for the animals.

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Small Herd Sire Decisions: The Heifer Bull Dilemma

Small Herd Sire Decisions: The Heifer Bull Dilemma

Garth Ruff

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

Bull buying season is almost upon us, and for the smaller cow-calf operators in the region, I think it time to ask the question: Do you need to buy a heifer bull? Year over year as I sit and watch bull buying decisions being made, I have observed producers faced with the dilemma of buying a calving ease “heifer bull” or a higher performance sire with a slightly higher birth weight.

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Critical vitamins for cattle

Critical vitamins for cattle

Raylene Nickel

Successful Farming

There’s no question that vitamins A, D, and E are critical components of rations for beef cattle. Vitamin A plays a key role in maintaining healthy maintenance of eyes, skin, and the linings of the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive tracts.

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Steps to successful reproductive management

Steps to successful reproductive management

Matthew Burns

Progressive Cattle

Reproduction is a critical aspect of any species’s life cycle and plays a major role in food animal production. Since the implementation of artificial insemination (A.I.) in the beef cattle industry, researchers have strived to improve the efficiency and utilization of this reproductive practice.

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Florida to Host 52nd Annual Beef Improvement Federation Research Symposium

Florida to Host 52^nd Annual Beef Improvement Federation Research Symposium

University of Florida

Registration is now open for the 2020Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Research Symposium and Convention. This year’s eventwill be June 9-12at the EmbassySuitesby Hilton in Kissimmee, Florida. The deadline for early registration is May 15. Attendees can save $100 by pre-registering. Online registration is available at http://www.beefimprovement.org

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Cattle groups concerned about USDA allowing Brazilian beef imports

Cattle groups concerned about USDA allowing Brazilian beef imports

Larry Lee

Brownfield Ag News

U.S. beef producers are not pleased with the USDA’s decision to allow imports of Brazilian beef. Shortly after the USDA made the decision to allow Brazilian beef imports Friday, the major U.S. cattle organizations spoke out against it.

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If you want to save a cow, eat an Impossible Burger. Or stop eating cheese.

If you want to save a cow, eat an Impossible Burger. Or stop eating cheese.

Laura Reiley

Washington Post

You’re eating that Impossible Burger, that Beyond Sausage link, chewing slowly and musing, “I wonder how many cows have been saved so far because of plant-based meat.” The answer, in all likelihood, is none. Despite cattle ranchers’ deep fear and antipathy for plant-based meat, per capita consumption of beef has been increasing since 2015. U.S. beef sales reached an all-time high in 2019, with a similar outlook for 2020, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

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CME cattle extend losses as coronavirus rattles investors

CME cattle extend losses as coronavirus rattles investors

Karl Plume

Reuters

hicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures fell sharply for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as fears of a coronavirus pandemic stoked concerns about demand and slower global economic growth.  Commodities funds liquidated more of their sizable long holdings in cattle after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should begin to prepare for community spread of the virus.

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Follow the Marbling

Follow the Marbling

Drovers

Selecting for just one trait can be ruinous in the cow-calf business—but it depends on how that one trait is related to others, and how well you keep the others balanced. An Iowa State University research herd show it can work out well.

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