Beef Production
One of the industry’s leading collaborations between Purina Animal Nutrition and Zinpro helps optimize cattle performance.
As long as the beef market is hot, the key for producers will be maintaining the right number of lactating cows going through the parlor and ensuring the right number of replacement heifers can keep that pipeline full.
U.S. agriculture reduced greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary conservation efforts and market-based incentives.
The advent of timed AI protocols became a game-changer in allowing professionals, like AI technicians or veterinarians, to breed many females effectively and quickly.
Innovative Livestock Services, Inc., announces leadership change for the company that represents eleven feedyards
Kevin Lynch shares the pros and cons of multispecies grazing as well as what beginners need to consider in Season 7, Episode 16 of the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.
Over the past five weeks the combined Prime and Choice carcasses harvested totaled 84.7%, a six percentage point increase over the September low of 78.7%.
After years of letting negativity and discouragement hold him back from full-time farming, the first-generation Kentucky farmer decided to take a leap of faith.
Cattle and hog feeders are benefitting from dramatically lower grain and feed costs this year while live animal sale prices are higher. Profit margins for both species have doubled in the past month.
One of the most important decisions cattlemen and cattlewomen face today is how to engineer their selection and mating program to add value to their next calf crop.
Steve Swaffar encourages producers to be prepared to plant cover crops in a wet year if they are looking to increase ground cover and extend days spent grazing.
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows drought coverage is now at its lowest level since spring of 2020, but USDA’s topsoil moisture map shows it’s still extremely dry in areas of the west and too wet in the east.
Thanks to a reader’s observation, another county has been added to our list of those with more than 50,000 beef cows.
Horn flies are a small black fly that feeds on the back, sides and belly of cattle and are the most common fly in beef cattle. Economic losses begin when fly populations reach 150-200 per animal.
Carcass weights have trended heavier for over 60 years with steer carcass weights increasing by an average of 4.0 pounds per year, up over 240 pounds from 660 pounds in the 1960s to over 900 pounds in recent years.
Declining cattle futures provided leverage for packers to collect inventory with softer bids.
Cherry County Neb. remains the U.S. County with the most beef cows, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. South Dakota has seven counties ranked in the Top 33 while Texas has five.
Negotiated cash cattle prices moved lower again under pressure from sinking futures markets. The red-hot hamburger market kept pushing most utility cows higher.
Manipulating the reproductive process of your cow herd can result in shorter breeding and calving seasons with more calves born earlier in the season resulting in an older, heavier, more uniform calf crop when you wean.
Fertilization requires the ability to use increased forage growth in a timely manner. That’s more important for stockers than cow-calf operations as excessive early pasture growth is more efficiently used by mature cows.
Research indicates multiple animal performance benefits linked to earlier castration (birth to 3 months), including shorter initial weight loss periods, lower disease susceptibility, and higher post-weaning ADGs.
The margin spread between packer losses and feedyard profits expands as wholesale beef prices continue their retreat. Pork producer profits continue increasing.
Five-hundred-sixty-three bidders registered for the annual sale with 264 buyers from 31 states and Mexico competed for 670 lots.
Liver abscesses remain a singular, dark cloud over the otherwise sunny segment of dairy-beef-cross cattle. Several entities are performing research to try to solve this frustrating industry obstacle.
Strong global demand for U.S. pork has been been a bright spot for the industry. Fueled by growth in the Western Hemisphere, South Korea and Australia, U.S. pork exports posted another excellent performance in February.
Under pressure from negative margins, packers will continue to play their games but their activity last week led to the biggest harvest rate in seven weeks.
Finished cattle, feeders, calves and the futures markets were all in retreat as the HPAI event becomes the latest beef industry black swan.
Pesky horn flies can become prolific during the grazing season. However, there are control tactics that can help keep horn fly populations under wraps.
Producers who are looking to minimize time spent checking water may consider investing in one of many modern water monitoring solutions.
Keeping replacement females from first calf heifers can work if producers plan and select sires that are adequate for calving ease and also offer maternal traits that are beneficial.