Calves
When a significant number of cattle died in less than two hours, a number of questions are raised. Kansas State University experts discuss this toxicology case and the answers that were found.
While “high-risk” cattle are often given high levels of hay or forage to aid in the transition to a milled diet, a study at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station researches ways to increase performance.
While there are many seasonal preparations to consider before calving season begins, calf scours prevention is not always one that comes to mind. However, the best time to mitigate the risks of the disease is now.
The past year has been no walk in the park for producers. As we prepare to close out another year on the calendar, here’s a look back at the top production stories that cow-calf operations found helpful this year.
Market-ready cattle saw a light trade into a softer market. Packer margins are in the red, but feedlots are firm sellers with showlist numbers declining.
A year of historic droughts causing record-high cow slaughter will be remembered for many years to come. Here’s a look at the cattle industry by number and what we may expect in 2023.
How you feed backgrounded calves may affect how they perform in the feedlot. With higher cattle prices and high input prices this year it’s worth revisiting your backgrounding program.
With some of the highest feed costs in over a decade, producers must consider those costs and the price of calves when determining whether backgrounding might be beneficial this year.
November’s USDA Cattle on Feed report estimated placements at 20-year lows and well below pre-report estimates, confirming this fall’s bullish market has settled in for an extended stay.
Whether calves will be retained and backgrounded or sold shortly after weaning, it is important to consider the impacts of weaning strategies on calf health and performance.
Producers will often ask about the magnitude of the price premium for steers over bulls. In short, the answer is... just not that simple.
No doubt, most cattle producers have had to work out a situation with a calf that is no longer able to nurse its mama. Here’s some tips to help get that calf up and off to the races.
Approaching the time when most spring born calves are sold, it’s a time for producers to make culling decisions for their cow-calf operations. Along with the 3 O’s, consider these cow culling suggestions.
Feeding, management and marketing needs to be evaluated prior to weaning so the best options and management practices are selected.
Depressed, feverish calves with an increased respiratory rate? Your calves are likely fighting a case of ‘summer pneumonia.’
Why do some of the best calves catch a cough, known as summer pneumonia? K-State experts discuss the disease and what ranchers can do to best mitigate an outbreak in their herd.
Weaning is one of the most stressful times in a calf’s life. Here’s how to best prepare your calves and their surroundings for weaning time.
America’s dairy industry has been robust the last several decades. Now, larger average dairies are producing more beef-dairy crossbred calves that are much higher quality for producing beef.
Marketing calves through a value-added program shows real results for a Missouri family farm.
Cash fed cattle traded flat with most activity on Thursday ahead of Friday’s CME futures rally. Expectations of tighter cattle supplies this fall supports bullish ideas for prices.
Cattle in all categories traded mostly lower ahead of the Labor Day weekend. Packers head into next week with smaller inventories and cattle owners hope that encourages more aggressive bidding.
Why should buyers at cattle auctions pay $10 to $15 per cwt premiums for the best cattle that have received the best management, if they can get the same thing at commodity prices?
Shrink is a concern because it reduces sales weight, but abnormal levels of shrink is often used as a health indicator for cattle arriving in receiving facilities at stocker operations, grow yards, and feedlots.
Weaning spring calves may be more of a challenge this year because of short pasture supplies and the questionable nutritional value of this year’s hay crop.
Early weaning can help reduce the pressure on drought-stressed pastures, but ranchers should evaluate feeding, management, and marketing options prior to weaning.
Advancing drought pushed auction volumes higher with early marketings of summer grazing cattle. Calf prices dropped under accelerated seasonal price pressure.
USDA’s mid-year inventory is the smallest since 2015 with beef cow herd down 2.4%. Cattle on feed inventories unchanged from last year at 13.4 million.
Growth promoting technologies for cattle provide even more impact on net returns when costs are high.
Fed cattle prices weakened slightly following the long holiday weekend, but prices for feeder cattle and calves continue a contra-seasonal advance. Beef demand remains at a high level.
Baxter Black, the veterinarian turned cowboy poet, storyteller and philosopher of rural life in America, died Friday, June 10, at the age of 77.