Latest News From Calves

What should happen at the beginning of life for a baby calf to get off to a good start? Let's review the sequence of several steps that need to happen.

Raising an orphaned beef calf can be time consuming and may require additional expense. Additionally, calves may not be thriving at the time they are orphaned so managing health and nutrition can present challenges.

How can ranchers quickly identify compromised calves and help predict whether they can acquire optimal passive immunity? Elizabeth Homerosky, DVM, Veterinary Agri-Health Services, set out to find answers.

When calves on grass drop like flies, have minimal gains and many carcasses are condemned on the rail, Kansas State University experts uncover the unfortunate cause.

Caffeine may help stimulate at-risk calves that are the result of dystocia (difficult birth), hypothermia from being born in the cold, or being run down from a stressful event such as disease or transport. 

What’s the reason behind the length of your calving season? When it comes to your improving your bottom line, the length of your calving season may be a good place to start.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Advancing drought pushed auction volumes higher with early marketings of summer grazing cattle. Calf prices dropped under accelerated seasonal price pressure.

Early weaning can help reduce the pressure on drought-stressed pastures, but ranchers should evaluate feeding, management, and marketing options prior to weaning.

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.

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.

Growth promoting technologies for cattle provide even more impact on net returns when costs are high.

Feeding, management and marketing needs to be evaluated prior to weaning so the best options and management practices are selected.

Feeding, management and marketing needs to be evaluated prior to weaning so the best options and management practices are selected.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.