Nobody wants cattle with too much “attitude,” but it takes focused genetics and handling to improve docility in a herd. “We’ve always tried to be careful about selecting bulls for disposition,” says Roger Jones, of Tri-Tower Farm, near Shenandoah, Iowa. “It’s very important to us to have a cowherd that we can handle, without a lot of wild calves in it. You know, the cattle do better in the feedlot when they aren’t wild.” Since he operates both enterprises, Jones knows how those issues carry from the field to the feedlot.
Today, Debbie Lyons-Blythe, who regularly updates her blog “Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch,” gives us a snapshot of what Sunday looked like at their place.
Earlier this week Mark told you a herd bull is a big investment, and getting more so all the time. That’s why we asked Mark for his top tips for bull buying.
Earlier this week Mark told you a herd bull is a big investment, and getting more so all the time. Since you’ll be putting so many of your proverbial eggs into that one expensive basket, you want to make sure he’s the right guy for the job. But with so many numbers and figures to sort […]
Many people have a distinct strategy for purchasing a new pickup. They want certain features, they’re willing to pay more for this, but not that. They figure value and how much it’ll be worth for resale X-number years down the road. But when those same ranchers go to buy a bull, it’s hard to follow such a plan. Action at the auction can lead to price “opportunities” and buying less than they really wanted. Jim McGrann, emeritus ranch management economist at Texas A&M, says bull-buying should be more like a vehicle purchase and less like shopping the bargain bin on an after-Christmas sale.
When we kicked off our first-ever live Facebook chat, we didn’t know what to expect. But the hour flew by and we were impressed with the variety and depth of the questions our friends asked.
Some “recent” history: I was digging back through some information we researched out of the Iowa Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity (TCSCF) database the other day.
This is an era where you can customize virtually anything imaginable, from license plates and jewelry to M&Ms and burgers. As the beef industry moves forward, will customized breeding plans become more common?
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
