Category: Premium Potential

Education, change: Beneficial discomforts

Date: Mar 26 2019

A cowman’s response to the ebb and flow of the industry is entirely up to the individual – but a choice is imminent. That’s why Dusty Abney, cow-calf and stocker nutritionist for Cargill Animal Nutrition, called out a few of the areas where producers have had to adapt through the years: volatile markets and regulations for starters.

Really that good

Date: Mar 15 2019

Young kids often have a misplaced sense of confidence. “Wook, how high I jump.” As a toddler, one of my girls used to love to show off that skill. She’d squat down, chubby thighs almost touching the ground and she’d give it her all. Her jump would maybe clear all of two inches. She was always thrilled.

The cost and value of quality

Date: Mar 12 2019

It’s Prime time

Date: Mar 12 2019

There was a time when targeting the Choice grade seemed like a lofty goal. But as the song goes, the times, they are a-changin’.

Moo-ving the big rocks

Date: Feb 15 2019

The new year now feels old once you get into a busy season like calving. There are many spans of time in cattle country that can make us feel there’s too much to do, or too little time in each day. By now, some resolutions have fallen to the wayside, the rush of reality helping us sort out what matters most in the commitment to get better. Yet, there are still some that rise above the rest, beat the average and make it look easy

Decide sooner

Date: Feb 06 2019

While many of you are in sire buying mode this time of year, more are deciding whether this year’s bull calves retain the ability to become sires. Castration at birth is ideal, but catching them on day one can be a challenge in extensive operations. Castration at branding or turnout offers a balance between handling ease and minimizing calf stress.

Calving seasons of the mind

Date: Jan 08 2019

Winter came early for much of cow-calf country, and now calving season is at the gate. Even those who call it “spring calving” often start in January, but if you’re not out checking a heifer, this is a good time of year to catch up on reading. Calving dates and “housing” options for the herd were explored in a 2019 Nebraska Beef Report article by Terry Klopfenstein and others, who evaluated March, June, or August calving dates on the range, or two July calving systems in year-round confinement or in semi-confinement with grazed corn stalks from fall to April weaning.

Near the pinnacle of beef quality

Date: Dec 06 2018

It takes a powerful start and decades of focus to get harvest groups that regularly qualify 100% for the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand. What about 97.7% at CAB Prime brand and that one steer “only” hitting the traditional premium Choice CAB mark? Not too good to be true, that’s just the mark of a Champion. To be precise, it’s the Champion pen of 40 enrolled in the 2018 Angus Value Discovery Contest (AVDC), produced by Jack and Bill Boyer, Boyer Brothers Angus, Perryville, Mo.

Lower heifer costs, not fertility

Date: Oct 28 2018

It’s a great time to own cows, but only if you have a competitive cost structure with the right genetics and management to compete in today’s marketplace, Rick Funston said. While input costs should be minimized in times like these, “breakeven at best” for many, he said, it won’t pay to compromise fertility in the process.

More CAB stimulates more demand

Date: Oct 28 2018

Economic theory suggests more supply will lower the price, and higher prices tend to lower sales for a commodity. “A commodity like beef,” older textbooks might say. Premium beef has not always borne that out, particularly in the decade since the Great Recession of 2008, says CattleFax analyst Lance Zimmerman.