Measuring the Value of Genetics

Measuring the Value of Genetics

Frontline Beef Producer

With bull sale season ramping up, this is the time of the year when producers make one of the most important decisions for their operation. Having a plan for the future of your enterprise is critical to ensure the right choice is made on sale day. The selection that is made should be viewed as a long- term investment if an operation retains replacements. The bull that is purchased this year will likely have a measurable genetic impact for at least 10 years. Obviously, the present-day can’t be forgotten either, and the new genetics should complement the current cowherd to improve next year’s calf crop.

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The Navigable Waters Protection Rule (Step Two)(WOTUS)

The Navigable Waters Protection Rule (Step Two)(WOTUS)

EPA

On April 21, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (Army) published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule to define “Waters of the United States” in the Federal Register. For the first time, the agencies are streamlining the definition so that it includes four simple categories of jurisdictional waters, provides clear exclusions for many water features that traditionally have not been regulated, and defines terms in the regulatory text that have never been defined before.

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Controlling Reproductive Efficiency is Vital to Beef Cow Herd Profitability

Controlling Reproductive Efficiency is Vital to Beef Cow Herd Profitability

Stan Smith

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

During the second session of the Ohio Beef Cow/Calf Workshop, Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Professor at the University of Kentucky, presented on reproduction efficiencies in the cow herd including getting cows rebred in a timely fashion whether utilizing artificial insemination or the natural service of herd bulls. He explained that a key to profitability each year is getting more calves, that weigh more, and the economics of timely calving and the pounds of weaning weight that are lost for each day later an individual cow calves out.

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Years of data highlight factors influencing sale price

Years of data highlight factors influencing sale price

Maggie Smith and Esther McCabe

Progressive Cattle

As cattle producers continue to seek ways to add value to their operations, recent research from Kansas State University looks at a variety of factors influencing the sale price of beef calf lots.

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The Right Tools, Teamwork Help Beginning Farmers Get Their Start

The Right Tools, Teamwork Help Beginning Farmers Get Their Start

Gallagher

First-generation farmers, Bryan Bonney and Dana Cadman of Tillsonburg, Ontario, were drawn to the cattle business by a love of the farming lifestyle and a desire to raise their children in a rural setting. They received their first shipment of cattle on their farm, known simply as Norfolk Cattle, in the early fall of 2013.

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Livestock Marketing with Derrell Peele

Livestock Marketing with Derrell Peele

Derrell Peele

SunUp

Derrell Peel says cattle producers are feeling the pain of a clogged beef processing system.

Branding: The debate of the ages has some new science behind it

Branding: The debate of the ages has some new science behind it

Oregon State University Extension

SimTalk

Every spring, and sometimes fall, ranchers gather around the fire to mark their ownership on their calves. This is the time when calves are vaccinated, dehorned – their horn grow plates are cauterized to prevent further growth – and, if it’s going to be a non-breeding bull, castrated. Until recent years, ranchers rope calves to capture and restrain them while they were branded. But the advent of the squeeze chute and calf table drastically changed how livestock are handled, igniting a debate: which is better, the calf table or roping at branding time? There hasn’t been empirical evaluation of these practices to begin settling the debate. Until now.

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How Shortening Your Calving Intervals Impacts Profitability

How Shortening Your Calving Intervals Impacts Profitability

Vitaferm

When it comes to your cow herd’s reproductive performance, shortened calving intervals should be a proactive part of your management protocol. But, did you know that the fewer days you calve each year, the more profit potential you are looking to add back into your pocket book? There are several ways that shortening your calving period one or even two cycles can help impact profitability of your herd.

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Make AI Work for Your Cow Herd

Make AI Work for Your Cow Herd

“For a cow calf producer, the two biggest ways they can capitalize on AI is by using fixed time AI. They can shift the calving season earlier. So there are more calves born early in the calving season, which results in heavier weaning weights for those calves. The other thing they also can do is they are going to get some genetic advantage by using genetically superior bulls that they might not be able to afford otherwise. And then the last way they can capture some advantage to AI is in the females that they keep back,” says John Hall, Extension beef cattle specialist at the University of Idaho.

 

NCBA Delivers “Paycheck Protection Program Increase Act” for Cattle Producers and Small Business

NCBA Delivers “Paycheck Protection Program Increase Act” for Cattle Producers and Small Business

NCBA

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President, Government Affairs, Ethan Lane today issued the following statement in response to U.S. Senate passage of additional legislation, the Paycheck Protection Program Increase Act of 2020, to provide relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic:

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