Baxter Black: RHINO LOVE
Dr. Fosse, once of Pretori, told me about Martha and Arthur, two star crossed rare white rhinos. In a governmental gesture of goodwill, South Africa agreed to ship Arthur to Tanzania to mate with Martha.
Baxter Black: RHINO LOVE
Dr. Fosse, once of Pretori, told me about Martha and Arthur, two star crossed rare white rhinos. In a governmental gesture of goodwill, South Africa agreed to ship Arthur to Tanzania to mate with Martha.
Comments Off on Baxter Black: RHINO LOVE
Posted in Uncategorized
Raising Freezer Beef: When Is the Animal Finished?
Adele Harty
South Dakota State University
A trend that has become more prominent in recent years is for ranchers to finish a few animals and sell beef direct to the consumer. Consumers have a desire to know where their beef comes from, value the story and are seeking ranchers to purchase beef from. At the same time, ranchers have been seeking opportunities to add value to their cattle and reduce their exposure to market swings.
Comments Off on Raising Freezer Beef: When Is the Animal Finished?
Posted in Uncategorized
Meeting Protein Requirements When Protein is Expensive
Katie VanValin
Ohio Beef Cattle Letter
One of the things that we know for certain is what goes up must come down, and in the agriculture industry the opposite is also true. For a whole host of reasons, we see fluctuations in all our commodity prices. In the beef industry, we can sometimes use this to our advantage to cheaply feed cattle, while other times we are forced to get out the pencil and paper (or excel spreadsheet) and look at our options to try and decrease feed costs.
Comments Off on Meeting Protein Requirements When Protein is Expensive
Posted in Uncategorized
Cattle Lice Control
Jodi Henke
Successful Farming
Hair loss on your cattle is a good indication they have a lice problem. The bites cause itching and irritation, so cattle rub, lick, and chew on themselves. This can cause damage to fence posts and other items they rub on for relief. Lice also affect performance. When the cattle are rubbing and scratching, they’re not eating or resting, which can cost a-quarter-to-a-half-pound of gain per-day.
Comments Off on Cattle Lice Control
Posted in Uncategorized
Rabies in livestock often forgotten
Ron Clarke
Canadian Cattlemen
Rabies is a disease based in antiquity. It has been described through pictures and text since ancient times. The end result hasn’t changed: living creatures get rabies; they die. Globally, rabies claims over 55,000 human lives every year from every continent in the world except Antarctica. Fortunately, rabies is a relatively rare disease in humans but remains a disease of public health significance.
Comments Off on Rabies in livestock often forgotten
Posted in Uncategorized
Timing is (almost) everything when it comes to reproductive success
Jennifer Blair
Alberta Farmer Express
Tackling reproductive failure in a beef herd starts with understanding what reproductive success looks like — and for most Alberta cattle operations, the usual measure of success doesn’t tell the whole story.
Comments Off on Timing is (almost) everything when it comes to reproductive success
Posted in Uncategorized
Dairy industry enters new era of value-added feeder cattle
Dr. Bob Hough and Frank Padilla
Western Livestock Journal
No matter how you look at it, the dairy industry has been a tough business to be a part of with razor-thin margins—and that is when dairies have been able to sell their milk at a profit at all. This has led dairy operations to continue to take advantage of the economies of scale with an eye towards ever-greater efficiency.
Comments Off on Dairy industry enters new era of value-added feeder cattle
Posted in Uncategorized
Understanding scours: The basics for scours prevention
Shelby Roberts
Progressive Cattle
The hustle and bustle of spring calving is quickly approaching, and now is the time for cow-calf producers to begin planning their calving management strategies. Proper planning prior to the start of calving can improve overall animal welfare, as well as saving a producer’s time and energy.
Comments Off on Understanding scours: The basics for scours prevention
Posted in Uncategorized
Are Your Cows Too Big?
Angus Beef Bulletin
Mature weight and milk production of many commercial beef cows are both greater than they were 30-40 years ago. Many ranchers have not recently weighed the adult cows in their herd to know what average mature weight to expect. Therefore, most commercial ranchers would underestimate the mature size of their cows.
Comments Off on Are Your Cows Too Big?
Posted in Uncategorized
Carcass Value Shifts, a Sign of the Times
By Paul Dykstra
Drovers
January fed cattle prices are normally choppy and so far we’re seeing that pattern in 2021. A primary difference this year, compared to 2020, is that last week’s average price is $14/cwt. lower, the same discount as the 5-year average.
Comments Off on Carcass Value Shifts, a Sign of the Times
Posted in Uncategorized
Preventing weak calf syndrome
Heather Smith Thomas
Canadian Cattlemen
Weak calf syndrome is a general condition rather than a specific disease, and can be caused by several different factors, sometimes multiple factors at the same time. The newborn calf is weak, unable or slow to rise, stand or nurse.
Comments Off on Preventing weak calf syndrome
Posted in Uncategorized
Copper Deficiency
Dr. Ken McMillan
DTN
True copper deficiency is most common in growing animals. A change in coat color is the sign of copper deficiency that most people point to because it’s easy to see. But real copper deficiency can cause what I call “pocket book changes”.
Comments Off on Copper Deficiency
Posted in Uncategorized
Choices for Alternative Forages
Leif Bakken
Northern AG Network
Northern Ag Network territory grows some high-quality grass and alfalfa. In some cases, it’s nationally recognized and used on dairy and horse operations. For some producers, it may be time to change the rotation on the hay field or find another profitable option. There are typically two options; legumes and annual forages.
Comments Off on Choices for Alternative Forages
Posted in Uncategorized
Higher grain and corn costs to challenge cattle and poultry industries
Kim Souza
Talk Business
Rising grain prices will challenge the cattle market and chicken processors this year, according to Derrell Peel, livestock marketing specialist with Oklahoma State University, who said grain and oilseed prices have risen dramatically in the past four months.
Comments Off on Higher grain and corn costs to challenge cattle and poultry industries
Posted in Uncategorized
It’s a cold, cruel world
Jake Geis
Progressive Cattle
That unrelenting tyrant has descended once again upon the Dakotas – Old Man Winter. His arrival heralds subzero weather, wind-blown drifts that envelope pickups and, worst of all, brutally chapped lips. Its only positive attribute is that for one season, we don’t have to dodge road construction.
Comments Off on It’s a cold, cruel world
Posted in Uncategorized
Adding Sheep to a Cattle Operation in central Nebraska – A Producer’s Perspective
University of Nebraska
Multi-species grazing can be an option to more fully utilize grazing resources. In this month’s BeefWatch Producer Perspective Podcast, Jim Jenkins from Custer County, Nebraska discusses why he made the decision to add a band of sheep to his operation and the opportunities he sees for sheep to complement cattle in Nebraska.
Comments Off on Adding Sheep to a Cattle Operation in central Nebraska – A Producer’s Perspective
Posted in Uncategorized
Merck Announces Bovilis Nasalgen 3-PMH Intranasal BRD vaccine
Drovers
Merck Animal Health has announced that Bovilis Nasalgen 3-PMH is now available to veterinarians and cattle producers to protect cattle from five of the most common pneumonia-causing viral and bacterial pathogens.
Comments Off on Merck Announces Bovilis Nasalgen 3-PMH Intranasal BRD vaccine
Posted in Uncategorized
Mental health creates mental toughness
Beef Vet
Jake Geis
Have you seen that picture of the man with the wrinkled, weathered face and gray hair saying, “Veterinary medicine isn’t stressful. I’m twenty-nine years old and feel just fine!”?
Comments Off on Mental health creates mental toughness
Posted in Uncategorized
Proper hay storage reduces waste, increases profit.
Linda Geist
Angus Beef Bulletin
Environmental factors such as sunlight, precipitation, evaporation and ground conditions can affect quality. The size of the bale itself affects how much hay is wasted, says Humphrey. Larger-diameter bales have less loss. Smaller bales have about twice as much exposed surface for the same amount of hay.
Comments Off on Proper hay storage reduces waste, increases profit.
Posted in Uncategorized
A New Environment for Ag Policy
AgWeb
Clinton Griffiths
Following a turbulent 2020, which included a global pandemic, hard-fought presidential race and numerous congressional changeovers, the path of U.S. ag policy is likely headed for an adjustment. The “Sonny” sided leadership of USDA and its motto to “Do Right and Feed Everyone” will see the return of the long-tenure of Tom Vilsack. Add in new and retiring ag committee members in Congress, and the future of ag policy feels poised for a reset at the start of this new decade.
Comments Off on A New Environment for Ag Policy
Posted in Uncategorized