For the 70% or more of beef calves born last spring, more than the usual share veered from traditional roads to the feedyard come fall. Backgrounding those calves opened gates to several new revenue paths, though not without risk.
Just like regular maintenance on your vehicle, prevention is the best way to ward off scours in your cow-calf herd. But sometimes the best treatment plans fail, with lasting effects on calf performance. That’s why ranchers should try to get ahead of the problem.
When it comes to growth implants in cattle, animal scientist Robbi Pritchard only worries about three things: getting enough premium if you’re not use them, using them wrong and using them with too little insight.
It looks like weaning weights have gone pretty much nowhere for 15 years. That’s according to a summary of North Dakota State University’s Cow Herd Appraisal of Performance Software (CHAPS) that presents genetic progress as functionally static since 2003. I couldn’t miss that summary, well-publicized and pointed out by just about every contact and source I know.
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.
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 effeccts are in full view when calves cross the scale at weaning.
Cattle have changed. If your management hasn’t, animal scientist Robbi Pritchard suggests you take a look to be sure it’s still relevant. The South Dakota State University emeritus professor addressed cattle feeders and allied industry at the Feeding Quality Forum in August.
On a 10-degree morning in central Nebraska, Virginia Evert may ask herself why her fitness routine involves bucket feeding heifers rather than working out in a gym.
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