WSU Publishes Beef Management Calendar

Washington State University (WSU) Extension has published the 2009 Beef Management Calendar. The calendar is available for free in a digital format or in printed form for $5 from WSU Extension Publications. The calendar has been developed to assist livestock managers in formulating an overall management plan for beef operations.

The calendar is two tools in one. First, it may be used to schedule various management practices and farm-related activities. It provides timely management recommendations month to month for both spring- and fall-calving herds in the areas of nutrition, animal health, reproduction, marketing, pasture and range management, and business or farm management. The other tool is as a record keeper for calving and breeding that ultimately may be used to aid in verification for mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements and age-verification programs.

The calendar also features a section that explains age- and source-verification programs, and the new mandatory country-of-origin labeling law (mCOOL). It is available online at http://pubs.wsu.edu (item number misc0396). Through the same web site, a printed and bound version with color cover may be ordered for $5.

— Release provided by WSU.

Commodity Planning Price Projections for 2009 Available

Short- and long-term agricultural planning price projections for North Dakota are available, says Ron Haugen, farm economist with the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension Service.

The price projections publication shows 2009 price projections for crops and livestock produced in the state and price estimates for future years. Price projections are given for the major crop commodities, including wheat, durum, oats, feed barley, malting barley, oil sunflowers, nonoil sunflowers, corn, soybeans, canola, flaxseed, winter wheat, dry beans, dry peas, alfalfa hay and mixed hay.

Price projections for livestock and livestock products include beef steers and heifers at various weights, cull cows, slaughter steers, slaughter hogs, slaughter ewes, slaughter lambs, feeder lambs and milk. The publication also provides historical prices as a reference.

“The estimated short-term planning prices should be used as a guide in setting price expectations for 2009 production,” Haugen says. “These planning prices can be used for preparing annual enterprise budgets and annual whole-farm cash flow projections. The short-term prices should not be used for planning capital purchases or expansion alternatives that would extend beyond the next production year.”

To obtain this publication, “Plotting a Course 2009" (EC-1090), call 701-231-7882 or write to NDSU Agriculture Communication, Distribution Center, Dept. 7070, Box 6050, 10 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, or contact a county office of the NDSU Extension Service. Requests also may be faxed to 701-231-7044 or e-mailed to NDSU.DistributionCenter@ndsu.edu. The publication is available on the web at www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/market.html.

— Release provided by NDSU.

Beef Talk: Who Is In The Bull Pen?

The coffee chat is filled with many opinions about how to buy bulls.

The art of buying a bull requires an open mind, homework and a vision for the future of a producer’s cow herd.

For example, we turn to the nutritionists if we want to get a better understanding on how cattle can utilize peas in rations. Ironically, peas influenced cattle decades before producers started to feed peas by way of Mendel, an Austrian monk.

He discovered the tip of the iceberg and used peas to teach us how genetics work. We actually can select for and change not only peas, but cattle as well.

When buying bulls, we are really buying packets of DNA, the genetic material that is contained in the germ cells of reproducing organisms. Since Mendel taught us the process, we have added to the core of genetic knowledge every year.

Click here to read more.

Jan. 16 ‘Webcast’ to Cover Feed Strategies to Curb Air Emissions for Livestock Operations

Livestock producers and others interested in hearing the latest information on feeding strategies to reduce animal manure air emissions can access a free webcast Jan. 16. The webcast is produced by the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center of eXtension.

eXtension is an educational partnership comprised of land-grant universities across the country. Kansas State (K-State) University Research and Extension is a partner in eXtension.

Four researchers will discuss economic and research data from field trials and the implications for different feeding strategies to reduce animal manure air emissions as part of the webcast.

The session begins at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and 1:30 p.m. Central Standard Time. The webcast “meeting room” opens 15 minutes before the start time. Participants may go to http://www.extension.org/pages/Live_Webcast_Information to view the event.

The Jan. 16 event is part of a monthly series of webcasts hosted by the Livestock and Poultry Environmental (LPE) Learning Center, an information resource developed by more than 150 experts from land-grant universities, agencies and other organizations. The center is part of the national eXtension interactive web resource, customized with links to local Cooperative Extension web sites.

— Release provided by K-State.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.