Early preg-checking gives options, pays dividends

Early preg-checking gives options, pays dividends

Andrea Johnson

Minnesota Farm Guide

Setting up facilities to check pregnancy in cows on pasture is something Eric Mousel suggests for 2021. The University of Minnesota cow/calf specialist has found almost any size beef cow/calf operation can gain value by preg-checking in late August/early September depending on calving dates.

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Having Your Cake . . .

Having Your Cake . . .

Dr. Les Anderson

Ohio Beef Cattle Letter

My colleagues and I like to rib each other about which discipline is more important in beef production nutrition, genetics, health, or reproduction. Of course, I argue that reproductive efficiency is the most important because reproductive rate drives gross revenue. But we all know it’s not that simple. All disciplines need to be managed and blended to optimize reproductive potential.

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Nathan Smith hired as new General Manager for Top Dollar Angus

Nathan Smith hired as new General Manager for Top Dollar Angus

Cattle Business Weekly

Top Dollar Angus Inc., the industry leader in genetic verification and marketing of high-value Angus and Red Angus-based feeder calves is excited to announce Nathan Smith as their new general manager.  Smith joins Top Dollar Angus with a strong cattle and crop background, stemming from his family’s farm near Pratt, KS.

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NCBA’s Ethan Lane Says Budget Bill Includes Several Good Things For Animal Agriculture

NCBA’s Ethan Lane Says Budget Bill Includes Several Good Things For Animal Agriculture

Oklahoma Farm Report

The omnibus federal budget bill passed this week by Congress includes several items good for animal agriculture, said Ethan Lane, NCBA vice president of government affairs. Livestock mandatory reporting has been extended through September which is good news as it gives us more time to work on a full five-year reauthorization of livestock mandatory reporting, Lane said.

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Dr. Glenn Wehner Inducted into Gelbvieh Hall of Fame

 

Dr. Glenn Wehner Inducted into Gelbvieh Hall of Fame

Malerie Strahm

Drovers

Dr. Glenn Wehner of Rocking GV Gelbvieh in Kirksville, Missouri, was inducted into the American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) Hall of Fame during the awards presentation at the AGA Virtual Annual Meeting on December 4, 2020.

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Ranching hits prime time

Ranching hits prime time

Erica Louder

Progressive Cattle

About this time every year, Craig and I decide it’s time to find ourselves something new to watch. From November through March, we find time for TV. It’s dark-dark by 6 p.m., the kids are in bed by 7:30 p.m., the wood stove is burning and the TV is on. Last winter, we watched all six seasons of Longmire. Craig loved it enough to put up with my commentary, and I liked it enough to keep watching. This year, we started watching Yellowstone, per the recommendation of Amazon Prime.

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Burning away fescue ergovaline

Burning away fescue ergovaline

Josh Zeltwanger

Hay and Forage Grower

Missouri researchers are using fire as a means to suppress tall fescue seedheads. Across the United States, livestock experience summer heat and the challenges it poses. During the summer, cow-calf and stocker operations in Missouri and much of the southeast United States see a sharp drop in cattle performance, including lower conception rates and average daily gains.

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On-the-ranch herd health programs support healthy cattle markets

On-the-ranch herd health programs support healthy cattle markets

Donald Stotts

Beef Magazine

Bovine Respiratory Disease continues to be an issue.  Cow-calf producers have embraced management strategies that make their livestock a better value to the U.S. beef cattle industry, but Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) continues to be an area where improvement is needed.

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Criollo-cross calves graze Texas-bred wheat

Criollo-cross calves graze Texas-bred wheat

AgriLife Today

A set of calves grazing winter pasture at the New Mexico State University Clayton Livestock Research Center near Clayton, New Mexico, may look typical of Texas High Plains cattle, but this group is special – they are Raramuri Criollo crossbred calves. And, the improved pasture they are grazing is planted with a Texas A&M AgriLife Research wheat-breeding program variety in an effort to closely mirror the beef production systems of the Texas High Plains.

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Montana ranchers turned to local sales in a tough year

Montana ranchers turned to local sales in a tough year

TOM LUTEY

Intermountain Farm And Ranch

One of the images that will stick with Jim Steinbeisser long after the COVID-19 pandemic ends is the sight of empty meat cases at supermarkets. The Montana rancher had never seen anything like it. Few people had. “The grocery store coolers were empty of beef, that’s the first thing that went,” said Steinbeisser, who ranches near Sidney.

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Mark Parker: The Top 10 rains of the year (in order)

Mark Parker:  The Top 10 rains of the year (in order)

FarmTalk

#10. January keep-the-lots-muddy rain.

#9. Sub-32 degree rain on a day you need to take a road trip.

#8. Planting time rain.

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Too Many Twins

Too Many Twins

Dr. Ken McMillan

DTN

The genetics for twinning, mildly heritable, are most likely in the cow side of the herd. Regarding your herd bulls, they have no effect on twinning. Most twins occur when the cow ovulates two eggs, which are then fertilized, producing fraternal twins. When one egg is fertilized and splits, we see identical twins. Multiple ovulation is a slightly heritable trait, so the genetics for twinning is most likely in your cow herd.

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Veterinarian explores ways to manage high-risk calves.

Veterinarian explores ways to manage high-risk calves.

Troy Smith

Angus Beef Bulletin

According to veterinarian Dan Thomson, there are a lot of similarities between efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts applied to managing bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in feedyards. Just like public health officials and politicians, feedyard managers want a solution to make the sickness stop. They push for new or better vaccines. Dissatisfied with their advisors, they may hire and fire a succession of consultants. They may even resort to gimmicky treatments.

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Feeding Soybeans To Cattle

Feeding Soybeans To Cattle

Jodi Henke

Successful Farming

Soybeans are usually priced too high to be included in feed rations for cattle. But this year’s dicey export market, weird weather, and low soybean prices are giving cattlemen an incentive to include soybean protein in the beef diet. This also helps soybean producers who, for whatever reason, can’t sell the crop or have the space to store it.

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Revisiting the use of urea as a protein supplement

Revisiting the use of urea as a protein supplement

John McKinnon

Canadian Cattlemen

Many of you will have noticed that calf prices have been under pressure this fall in part due to higher than expected feed prices. Both feed grains and many traditional protein sources (i.e. distillers grains, pulse screenings, commercial supplements) are trading at prices higher than a year ago

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Thin cows need to be watched carefully

Thin cows need to be watched carefully

Beef Magazine

Navigating the holiday season, with all of its eating and drinking events, has most people watching their rate of weight gain and striving for a skinner physique. Experts say that while that works for people, it’s not a good idea at all for cows, especially those that will be delivering a calf in just a few weeks.

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Cost Effectiveness of Silage Depends on Pricing It Correctly

Cost Effectiveness of Silage Depends on Pricing It Correctly

Drovers

Calculating the economics of silage for beef producers seems like it would be cut and dried but not so. A lot has been learned recently about how to price corn silage. Beef producers are primarily focused on two approaches for growing and finishing cattle. First, how does silage fit as the predominant feed (50% to 80%) in a growing diet?

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The regenerative vs. industrial mindset

The regenerative vs. industrial mindset

Billy Whitehurst

Progressive Cattle

As niche markets grow, so has the focus on regenerative production models because the niche market consumer and producer both tend to have desires to break free from the high input, “bigger is better” industrial mindset.

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K-State plans 2021 calving schools

K-State plans 2021 calving schools

Angie Denton

Kansas State University

In anticipation of calving season, beef cattle experts from the Kansas State University Department of Animal Sciences and Industry and K-State Research and Extension are planning a series of calving schools beginning in early January.

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Some land is better suited for hay

Some land is better suited for hay

Loretta Sorensen

Hay and Forage Grower

Would your marginal land be more profitable for hay production rather than corn or soybeans?  Iowa State University Extension Farm Management Specialist Charles Brown investigated that question and said the answer may be yes.

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