Hitting a target takes practice, careful calibrations, attempts and recalibrations over time. Cow-calf producers make decisions every day, but how many of those relate to the calves’ ability to realize their potential and hit a high-quality beef target? At the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand’s Feeding Quality Forum this summer in Sioux City, Iowa, the brand’s own beef cattle specialist, Paul Dykstra, summarized the rancher’s dilemma.
Vitamins are essential in keeping cattle healthy year-round. Past price spikes have producers looking at savings along with concerns about source and efficacy over time. Jeff Heldt, with Micronutrients Intellibond, explored cost-effective vitamin and mineral strategies.
Sometimes it’s easy to see where a person is and forget where they’ve been. It’s easy to stare down the success in the here-and-now, without even a glance at their past. When I learned Gerald Timmerman won our Feeding Quality Forum Industry Achievement Award, I knew the family in generalities.
Presenters at the Feeding Quality Forum, August 28 to 29 in Sioux City, Iowa, encouraged questioning the routine. More than 200 took in the two-day meetings, where they got practical tips to use now as well as the “10,000-foot view” to spur thought, said Justin Sexten, director of supply development for Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB).
Weaning and “preg checking” tell us how successful our last two breeding seasons were. While many cow herd operators enjoy calving as a time to see the fruits of their labor, I prefer weaning, when management and genetic selection come together in one package. If you fell short in meeting any challenge like keeping pastures vegetative or replacement heifers without records, those effects are in full view when calves cross the scale at weaning.
Opportunity. It’s there, but you may have to look a little harder for it.
That’s what this year’s Feeding Quality Forum attendees learned.
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