Mark Parker: The Top 10 cattle management observations during the pandemic

Mark Parker:  The Top 10 cattle management observations during the pandemic

FarmTalk

#10. Wearing a mask: When being health conscious AND cattle rustling go hand-in-hand.

#9. The ol’ busted-horn cow with the Charlie Manson eyes may be great at social distancing but she probably needs to be social distanced to the sale barn.

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Ownership and Marketing Agreements for Custom Fed Cattle

Ownership and Marketing Agreements for Custom Fed Cattle

Steve Boyles

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

Having fed in several custom lots, I would not deliver cattle without having a Bailor/Bailee Agreement in place. This is different than a lien. The banks put liens on you, the cattle are collateral. They don’t care if they get paid from the sale of cattle or a load of turnips.

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Sustainability: Not One Solution; We Need Them All

Sustainability: Not One Solution; We Need Them All

Kindra Gordon

Angus Journal

Consumers. Farmers. Conservationists. When you think of these groups of people, it is likely that different views of food and agriculture may come to mind. Today’s consumers may have a focus on organic food, regenerative agriculture, or avoiding GMOs. Conservationists, often called environmentalists, may be concerned with loss of biodiversity in wildlife populations and habitat.

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Fine-tuned engines: Beef scientists share mineral supplementation strategies

Fine-tuned engines: Beef scientists share mineral supplementation strategies

Maeley Herring

Midwest Messenger

Under the hood of a pickup lies an assembly of metal, its details often forgotten – until the motor breaks down. All that’s left is a vehicle that can no longer do its job. Mineral nutrition in cattle is kind of like that. Hidden beneath the hide, minerals act behind the scenes to maintain general function. When cattle can’t access all the minerals they need, reproduction rates drop, tissue growth diminishes and illness sets in.

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Prepare a calving kit before fall calving season begins

Prepare a calving kit before fall calving season begins

Oklahoma State University

With fall-calving season just around the corner, cow-calf producers should be clearing a lot of tasks on their to-do lists.  A walk-through of pens, chutes and calving stalls is probably somewhere near the top, according to Oklahoma State University Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources recommendations.

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Receiving Cattle This Fall? Consider These Six Factors.

Receiving Cattle This Fall? Consider These Six Factors.

Dave McClellan

Drovers

As I write this in mid-August, I still get excited by fall being right around the corner. Ranchers see the benefits of their labors as they prepare to sell spring calves, fall calves, and/or yearlings. Farmers harvest their crops.  Both of the parties evaluate how well their labors worked and if not written make mental notes of changes and improvements for next year.

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Feedlots reload in July

Feedlots reload in July

Derrell S. Peel

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

The latest USDA Cattle on Feed report pegs the Aug. 1 feedlot inventory at 11.284 million head, 101.5% of last year. This is the largest Aug. 1 feedlot inventory in the data series back to 1996. July feedlot marketings were 99.4% of one year ago. Placements in July were 111% of last year and were the largest July placements since 2011. Marketings were about as expected but placements were well above even the highest pre-report expectations and pushed the on-feed total slightly higher than expected.

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Be Safe and Smart Around Silage

Be Safe and Smart Around Silage
Tracey Erickson

South Dakota Ag Connection

Corn silage making season will soon be upon us. It is important to take the time to communicate with employees proper protocols while making silage, along with safe practices around silage piles or silos. A few years ago, I had the privilege to travel with Keith Bolsen, professor emeritus for Kansas State University, for the I-29 Moo University Winter Workshops as we discussed forages.

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Beef Cattle Research Council offers feed cost calculator and regional trends

Beef Cattle Research Council offers feed cost calculator and regional trends

Dori Modney

Lethbridge News Now

The calculator can help analyze a wide range of feed inputs and allows producers to consider unique and regionally specific, cost-effective alternatives.

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Why should dairy and beef producers look out for salmonella dublin?

Why should dairy and beef producers look out for salmonella dublin?

Russ Daly

Aberdeen News

Since my initial daytime TV introduction to salmonella as a food safety threat, I’ve lived with it as a cause of illness in my clients’ animals. Salmonella bacteria (over 2,400 different “serovars” of them) are widespread throughout animal species. Some are found in healthy animals, but others can cause severe illness.

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