Category: Post Weaning

Trevor Dam, Angus Link and focus

Date: Jan 30 2019

“Good cattle sell themselves,” says Nebraska cattleman Trevor Dam. He uses artificial insemination, breeds based on EPD parameters and is trying Angus Link to give him even more information on this year’s calf crop.

Health, vaccinations not synonymous

Date: Dec 04 2018

Victory in war starts long before the battle. The same is true in combat against cattle diseases. “My job as a military commander is to take a soldier and make him resilient,” Col. Sam Barringer said at the Feeding Quality Forum in Sioux City, Iowa this summer. The veterinarian and technical specialist for Diamond V illustrated the point by stretching a rubber band: too much pressure, no matter the reason, may cause it to break.

Vaccinate healthy calves: Wait on illness

Date: Dec 04 2018

You vaccinate to keep cattle healthy, but if they’re already coming down with a bug or your timing is off, your efforts could be worse than a waste. That’s what Brian Vander Ley, veterinarian epidemiologist at the University of Nebraska, told 200 cattlemen at the Feeding Quality Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, this August.

Less feed, less money

Date: Nov 13 2018

When it comes to stocker nutrition, an old-fashioned strategy might be the way of the future. That’s what Dale Blasi, Kansas State University (K-State) Extension beef specialist, said about limit-feeding calves in the growing phase. The scientific research goes back decades, but at this year’s 13th annual Feeding Quality Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, he presented new reasons to give it fresh look.

Balanced approach to vaccine safety, efficacy

Date: Oct 29 2018

You want a cattle vaccine that’s both safe and effective, but sometimes you have to choose which of those ideals gets the upper hand. That’s according to Paul Walz, the Auburn University veterinarian who spoke at the Feeding Quality Forum late this summer in Sioux City, Iowa. Vaccination programs must be true to the label protocols, yet individualized for each farm or ranch and the level of risk they can accept.

Hard work, luck and smarts

Date: Oct 28 2018

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…for their feeding businesses spread across Nebraska and surrounding states. I knew they had some ranching and other beef industry interests.

Weaning diet options

Date: Oct 27 2018

Better than average

Date: Oct 27 2018

Few producers strive for average—from cow productivity to cost reduction, we all want to be better than that. Yet half of every herd is below its own average, so the bar we compare against is important for context. As the summer video sale reports come in, we hear lots of comments wondering how some cattle trade at such exceptional prices.

Too much, too early

Date: Oct 27 2018

CAB grids pay $75 million per year

Date: Oct 27 2018

Certified Angus Beef ® is the Brand that Pays®. At a rate of $8,500 per hour, 24-7, that was $75 million for 2017, up from the $52 million paid in 2015; the linking year came in at $63 million. That brings the 20-year total for CAB premiums to $688 million, more than half of it paid in the last seven years.