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New program brings low-cost DNA marker technology to the masses By: Gene Johnston 02/07/2012 @ 5:36pm
Up to now, genetic DNA markers to pinpoint cattle that are good in high yearling weights and other valuable traits have been mostly for purebred producers. The $100 per head or higher cost to get a DNA ...
Helping pastures recover from extreme weather By: Gene Johnston 02/07/2012 @ 5:28pm
Last year was a strange one, weather-wise, for all types of crops, including pastures. Flooding was widespread in the Midwest, followed by drought that hit a lot of the Central and Southern Plains as well as ...
300 days of grazing: How to stretch pastures and feed less hay By: Gene Johnston 02/06/2012 @ 11:00pm
Your beef cows graze pastures about seven months a year. The other five, you’re feeding purchased or harvested feed. How do I know that? Well, it’s the average, whether you’re in a northern state or ...
New NCBA President talks about farm work, cattle numbers, feed costs By: Gene Johnston 02/06/2012 @ 11:00pm
J.D. Alexander and his son, Josh, farm 2,000 acres of crop ground and run a 5,000-head cattle feedlot in northeast Nebraska, near Pilger. It’s busy there every day of the year – in the feed yards, in the ...
Let more good times roll In the beef business By: Gene Johnston 02/05/2012 @ 11:00pm
What more can be said about this cattle market? It’s in the stratosphere: Market-ready choice steers over $1,600 a head; good lightweight feeder calves $1,000; even cull cows near $1 a pound! Those ...
More than cattle By: Gene Johnston 02/03/2012 @ 10:31am
Not everything that happens at the Cattle Industry Convention is about cattle. A case in point occurred Thursday at one of the general assemblies. The speakers were a pair of unlikely bedfellows. Cal ...
Feed and flies are buzz at Cattle Trade Show By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 11:00pm
Nothing creates buzz on the National Cattle Industry Convention Trade Show floor like fly control products, and feed additives that reduce the cost of feeding cattle. Here are some hot products from Nashville ...
New cattle products for better health, better growth By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 11:00pm
More carcass weight Zilmax is a new feed supplement from Merck Animal Health that allows animals to metabolize feed more efficiently. When fed for the last 20 days before slaughter (and allowing for a ...
New DNA technology for your beef herd By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 4:38pm
Up to now, genetic DNA markers to pinpoint cattle that are good in high yearling weights and other valuable traits have been mostly for purebred producers. The $100 per head or higher cost to get a DNA ...
New products for cattle By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 11:40am
Loader Tractor CAT makes a new splash into the farm power market with introduction of their K series of small wheel loaders. They will be used in the cattle industry for moving and loading feed ingredients ...
Selecting cattle for disease resistance By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 11:36am
Pop quiz: If you could buy a new herd bull that would “fix” your cow herd in one of these areas, which would you most desire? A. Marbling score B. Feedlot average daily gain C. Feed intake D ...
High-priced bulls & artificial insemination By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 11:32am
Owning a bull would seem to be a requirement to be in the business of cows and calves, wouldn’t it? Maybe not. You do have the option of breeding cows by artificial insemination. It’s not perfect, and ...
Why is beef losing ground to chicken? By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2012 @ 11:29am
Attend enough beef cattle meetings, and you know these numbers by heart: 1:1 2:1 3.5:1 7:1 Those are the average feed efficiencies, in order, of fish, chickens, pigs, and beef cattle. Yes ...
‘Stupid high’ prices don’t stop cattlemen's worries By: Gene Johnston 02/01/2012 @ 11:00pm
Cattle prices have gone through the stratosphere in recent weeks, to over $1.20 a pound liveweight for market steers. Never fear, farmers and ranchers will find things to worry about. But at least ...
Q&A on better grazing By: Gene Johnston 02/01/2012 @ 11:00pm
Four grazing specialists fielded questions from a packed room of farmers and ranchers at a Cattle Convention luncheon this week. The four experts were Tom Troxel, John Jennings, and Shane Gadberry from the ...
Will beef survive in new agriculture? By: Gene Johnston 02/01/2012 @ 10:35am
When the nations beef producers gather this week in Nashville for the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention (www.beefusa.org), they’ll have plenty of big issues to talk about. It’s an election year, and a new ...
Easy way to make calves worth an extra $20 By: Gene Johnston 02/08/2011 @ 12:44pm
Would you spend a buck to make 20 bucks? Of course. Then why don’t you implant your young calves with a growth promotant?That’s a question that two implant manufacturers were asking at the National Cattle ...
Know thy pastures, then fix them By: Gene Johnston 02/08/2011 @ 12:41pm
Not only are farmers and ranchers looking for ways to stretch corn and grain feeds for cattle, they want to stretch pastures, too. Craig Alford, a Dupont pasture management specialist, was at the ...
S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G feed to the max By: Gene Johnston 02/07/2011 @ 11:00pm
What can I do to feed less corn, or cheapen a feedlot ration? That question is high on the mind of cattlemen, and lots of people were trying to give them an answer at the National Cattle ...
Coming Soon, to a Salebarn Near You: Record calf prices By: Gene Johnston 02/06/2011 @ 2:49pm
Get ready for the best cattle markets . . . EVER! They are already happening in a neighborhood near you. Fed steers are at $1.10 a pound, stocker cattle at $1.25, and most notable and significant ...
Rabo expert paints the world ag view By: Gene Johnston 02/04/2011 @ 8:45am
The days of living in our own little world are over. That's the message delivered to beef producers this week by Bill Cordingley, head of the agribusiness research department for ...
AI for beef cows: Will its time ever come? By: Gene Johnston 02/03/2011 @ 11:11am
One of the “hot” topics at the Cattlemen’s College this week is the issue of artificially breeding beef cows to high-indexing stud bulls. People involved in that business tend to think that we lag ...
CattleFax’s Troy Applehans, addressed a beef industry crowd at the Cattle Convention from the perspective of cow/calf producers. He said they need to take a harder look at seasonal trends in this ...
Staff members of CattleFax, a market outlook and research firm (www.cattlefax.com/) spoke to beef producers at the annual Cattlemen’s College of the Cattle Industry Convention this week. Their ...
Rocky Mountain Round-Up, or Worst of Times? By: Gene Johnston 02/02/2011 @ 12:27pm
The biggest cattle show of the year will be held this week, February 1-5, 2011, in Denver. It’s the Cattle Industry Convention, the annual gathering of the National Cattlemen’s Beef ...
