News Update
June 9, 2016
Summer Mineral Strategies
Minerals are important in diets of beef cows because many chemical reactions in their bodies require them to be present. Producers often ask questions like, “What mineral(s) should be focused on?” and “What is the cost?” These are good questions, but they’re not easily answered because minerals needed can differ from ranch to ranch.
The cost of mineral supplements can vary. A mineral program that fills the gaps in minerals needed compared to minerals supplied by the base diet, which is mostly forage/grass, is only one component of a complete nutrition program that lends itself to production and reproduction performance that are optimal for a ranch. Understanding some basic principles will help meet the challenge of selecting a mineral supplementation program that best fits your ranch or production system. One thing for certain is that no one program fits all the different beef cow-calf production systems.
Challenges with minerals in a nutrient plan
The challenge with mineral research is that minerals interact with one another, and some minerals can be stored by the animal for use when what they are eating does not meet their need for that particular mineral.
For more information, please view the full Angus Media news article.
Along the Trail: June 4
Along America’s Angus Trails is recalling the old saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Not willing to face the risk of feminist wrath and scorn, I will not attest to the truth or falsity of that particular statement. However, with total confidence and without fear of contradiction, I can say, “Hell hath no fury like a vegan scorned.”
You don’t have to just take the word of a proud, lifelong meat eater like me, who really can’t conceive of why you’d want to forgo the considerable pleasures and good health of eating meat and become a vegan or vegetarian in the first place.
Instead, take the word of the owners and proprietors of the Los Angeles vegan, plant-based restaurant Cafe Gratitude, Terces and Matthew Englehart. After living their lives of more than 40 years as vegetarians, including the last 12 as vegans, they decided to bring meat back into their diet.
They enraged their customers to the point of making death threats against them, as well as demonstrating on the street outside the Cafe Gratitude.
For more information, please view the full Angus Media news article
The Search for Simplicity
At the end of the day, if we sell our calves for a good price, there were not too many open cows and the feed prices didn’t cut into our profit margin too much, isn’t that good enough? Don’t you just need a good market and some buyers bidding the day you sell? Who needs to wean, vaccinate or enroll in a value-added program?
Producers who follow this philosophy are the same producers who complain their calves didn’t bring as much as the neighbor’s calves down the road. “They looked just like the black-hided calves I just sold. Why did his calves bring more money?”
There could be a number of reasons, so let’s take a look at some factors that could affect the price you receive for your calves.
1. Auction date. We can’t predict what the stock market will do from day to day, but I do know when USDA will release various reports for crops and cattle numbers. Many times, those reports can have an impact on the cattle market.
For more information, please view the full Angus Media news article.
$1 Million Scholarship Fund for VMD-MBA Training
With a generous $1 million gift from Vernon and Shirley Hill, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) will establish the Robert Marshak-Vernon Hill Scholarship Fund. In collaboration with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the fund will support the training of leaders and entrepreneurs with the vision to advance both the science and business of food animal production in order to help ensure global food security.
The scholarships will support qualified individuals in the Penn Vet community who will pursue the combined VMD-MBA degree at Penn Vet’s Center for Animal Health and Productivity and the Wharton School. Marshak-Hill scholars will be required to develop projects that explore the applications of economic and business principles to the health and productivity of livestock industries.
Vernon Hill, a 1967 undergraduate alumnus of the Wharton School, and his wife, Shirley, are long-time supporters of Penn Vet. They have named the scholarship in honor of Robert Marshak, Penn Vet dean from 1973 to 1987. Marshak’s passion for research and teaching in animal health and production has been instrumental in providing opportunities for Penn Vet students to impact world health and global food security.
For more information, please view the full release online.
Boost Grazing with Berseem Clover
Producers looking to refresh pastures for grazing season may find adding berseem clover will increase feed nutritional value and cattle productivity, especially in the southern half of the country. Research with the relatively new annual legume shows promise for pasture and hay production and can be used for some applications in the northern half of the United States, as well.
“Berseem clover is a cool-season, annual legume that is native to the Mediterranean region,” says Jerry Hall, president of Grassland Oregon, Salem, Ore. The seed-breeding company developed the berseem clover variety known as Frosty, and released it for commercial use in 2015.
“We began to research cool-season cover crop and forage opportunities a few years ago in response to escalating nitrogen prices. We wanted a crop that might fix a significant amount of nitrogen so producers could reduce nitrogen input use,” says Hall.
In addition to the nitrogen benefit, Hall says Frosty has salt tolerance, was bred for improved cold tolerance, has a later maturity than other clovers and a synergistic relationship with alfalfa.
For more information, please view the full Angus Media news article.
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