Calves
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.
Producers can capture added value by preconditioning and weaning their calves. Along with weaning at least 45 days, preconditioning includes several practices that add value for both the buyer and seller.
Creep grazing programs can produce additional calf gains using forage rather than the traditional grain-based creep diets. There are many ways to adapt this system to each individual situation.
Farmers and ranchers raising calves now have access to the free Calf Care and Quality Assurance (CCQA) program online. Certification through CCQA helps ensure optimal calf health and welfare.
Dr. Bob Weaber shares how the beef on dairy phenomena is a disrupter in the usual dairy and beef business and discussed research findings from a beef on dairy carcass trait collaborative project.
Suboptimal cattle production isn’t just an innocuous segment that has no effect on the rest. Poorly managed cattle are a drag on the whole system and the impacts are worsening as we look to address big challenges.
Calves that have incurred traumatic births are often are lethargic, clumsy and have little interest in nursing. These babies may benefit from a simple procedure called the “Madigan Squeeze Technique.”
When we break sustainability down to the operational goal of optimizing resources, we realize increased productivity per cow and optimum stocking rate per acre are the actual problems we need to address.
Along with some insightful vaccine history, Scott Nordstrom, DVM, shared specifics about the role of mucosal immunology in young calves, during the American Hereford Association’s educational forums in Kansas City.
Beef producers know grazing land is in short supply. With more acres being developed or converted to cropland, cow-calf operations may consider alternatives to traditional pasture management.
South Carolina’s Republican congressional delegation asked the Department of Fish and Wildlife to authorize a depredation order that allows black vultures to be killed under certain circumstances.
When harsh winter conditions are in the forecast, avoid being caught off-guard and consider these ways to manage your cows, calves, and bulls to help them weather the storm.
The upcoming USDA Cattle Inventory report - due Jan. 31- will detail how much America’s beef cow herd has declined given the 2021 cow culling rate was the highest since 2011.
Colostrum plays a large role in the health of a newborn calf. Preparing for calving season starts well before the first calf hits the ground.
Many producers assume providing minimal protein supplementation to target approximately 1.0 pound/day gain during the winter is the most economical system. However, research data would suggest otherwise.
Cattle markets have improved significantly in the final weeks of 2021, with market analysts projecting those positive trends to continue in 2022.
The effect of winter weather in terms of frost damage to cattle and calves was less of a problem than expected, according to a survey of producers, veterinarians and feedlots conducted by Oklahoma State University.
Understanding and valuing genetic data can present a daunting task to seedstock and commercial producers. Panelists were asked to describe how they use genetic data to navigate breeding decisions and market cattle.
Forage growing conditions vary around the country and 2021 brought a lot of variability due to weather so cattle producers should prepare to supplement their herds based on the forage quality they have available.
Budgets for growing calves at higher rates of gain always have a lower cost per pound gain, and this year budgets for growing heifers have the most profitable projection.