Novel Coronavirus and Livestock: Is there a connection?

Novel Coronavirus and Livestock: Is there a connection?

Russ Daly

South Dakota State University

When reports of the novel coronavirus epidemic in China first hit the U.S., very few people had likely heard of coronaviruses, with some notable exceptions: cattle producers and their veterinarians. It’s not that people involved with cattle health have any particular insight into the increasing human toll the novel coronavirus is inflicting overseas. Rather, it’s a reflection that generations of cattle producers have recognized coronavirus as a significant cause of diarrhea in their young calves.

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10 Common Questions Producers Have When Starting Grazing Livestock

10 Common Questions Producers Have When Starting Grazing Livestock

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

During this issue of Forage Focus with Christine Gelley, Noble County Extension Educator, and Will Hamman, Pike County Extension Educator, the discussion will revolve around the ten most common questions that producers have when starting with grazing livestock.

DIY Windbreak Attachment for Fence

DIY Windbreak Attachment for Fence

Successful Farming

I used old rubber horse mats and strap iron to make a windbreak that hangs over my continuous fence

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Cactus Feeders: TxN 20

Cactus Feeders: TxN 20

TexasMonthly

Cactus Feeders, an Amarillo beef and pork production company, is utilizing intensive rotational grazing of cattle to build soil, help pull carbon from the atmosphere, and increase the soil’s water retention capacity.

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Wet Conditions Affecting Winter Feeding

Wet Conditions Affecting Winter Feeding

Justin Miller

Farms.com

Recent rainfall across the state has many cattle producers dipping deeper into their winter feeding supplies. “There are many areas of the state where hay supplies are tightening,” said Kent Stanford, an Alabama Extension assistant professor specializing in animal science and forages. “Also, the wet conditions over the last several weeks have increased the nutritional demands of cow herds.”

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Why Cattle Carcass Data Matters

Why Cattle Carcass Data Matters

Grace Vehige

Drovers

Whether you are in the commercial, seedstock or feedlot sector of the cattle industry, carcass data collection could benefit your business. Some cattle associations are seeking carcass data. They’re purchasing this information to “re-charge the carcass database and enhance the predictability of current selection tools,” according to the American Gelbvieh Association.

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Determine forage quality and quantity to make decisions

Determine forage quality and quantity to make decisions

Martha Blum

AgriNews

Supplementing cows during winter is a risk-management tool for cattlemen. “We are trying to manage the risk of reproduction failure of not getting the cow bred,” said Tryon Wickersham, associate professor at Texas A&M University. “Information helps us reduce the risk-management costs because the more information you have about your cows and forage, the better off you are.”

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A Convenient Untruth

A Convenient Untruth

Simon Fairlie

Resilience

Ruminants, and particularly cattle, are habitually cast as climate villains, responsible for large amount of greenhouse gas emissions. According to a much quoted United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) figure, livestock are responsible for 14.5 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions.¹ Eighty percent of these emissions come from ruminants, half being methane, and a quarter nitrous oxide.

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New research reveals connection between drug treatments and antimicrobial resistance in cattle disease

New research reveals connection between drug treatments and antimicrobial resistance in cattle disease

AgriNews

A new study from Kansas State University on the treatment of non-responding cases of bovine respiratory disease, known as BRD, conducted by Hans Coetzee and his collaborators from Iowa State University, sheds light on the relationship between drug treatments and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

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Reimagining liver health in beef cattle

Reimagining liver health in beef cattle

Miranda Reiman

CAB Cattle

Undetectable diseases are hard to cure. You can’t look at a pen of feedyard cattle and know which ones have liver abscesses. Even technologies like ultrasound or blood tests don’t uncover it.  “It’s just impossible to detect that in a live animal,” said Scott Laudert, who studied the condition for years in his long-term role as a ruminant nutritionist with Elanco. “It’s a silent disease.”

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