News Update
February 10, 2017
Upcoming Cattlemen’s Boot Camp
Cattle producers, mark your calendars! A Cattlemen’s Boot Camp will take place April 27-28 at the Animal Science Complex on the University of Nebraska’s East Campus in Lincoln, Neb.
The educational event will be jointly hosted by the American Angus Association and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), and will provide purebred and commercial cattle producers with timely information presented by academic and industry professionals. Be sure to register online at www.angusonline.com, or download and send your application by mail before March 31 to ensure you don’t miss all that this event has to offer.
Generously funded by the Angus Foundation, Cattlemen’s Boot Camp is open to all cattle producers and features two days of educational speakers and workshops and hands-on activities to help cattlemen and cattlewomen improve their herd operations.
For more information, access the Angus news release online.
Handling the Cold
When days are short and weather is cold, cattle have ways to create more body heat and to conserve body heat: metabolism increases, feed intake increases and passage of feed through the digestive tract speeds up. Feed requirements for cattle may go up as much as 10%-25%, says Julie Walker, Extension beef specialist for South Dakota State University. All of these changes contribute to an increase in heat production, so the animal can withstand winter temperatures.
Cattle can tolerate colder temperatures if they have a good winter hair coat.
“As long as their heavy winter coat is dry, they are [more] comfortable at lower temperatures than if the hair is wet. Also, they do best if they have a chance to grow a good hair coat before extremely cold weather. If we go through a normal progression into winter and a gradual change, they can deal with it much better than when we had the blizzard of October 2013 here in South Dakota. Those cows were still in a transitional stage with a fall hair coat; they didn’t have their thick winter coats on,” says Walker.
Read more in the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article.
Farm Income, Land Values Decline
Midwest and Mid-South farm income and expenditures fell during the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the latest Agricultural Finance Monitor published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. Meanwhile, quality farmland values and ranchland or pastureland values also declined.
The survey was conducted from Dec. 15-Dec. 31, 2016. The results were based on the responses of 34 agricultural banks located within the boundaries of the Eighth Federal Reserve District.
The Eighth District comprises all or parts of the following seven Midwest and Mid-South states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. The survey also included three special questions that focused on farmland sales.
View the complete report in the news release online.
Customer Service Can Help Sell Bulls
As we begin to enter Angus bull sale season, there are many choices for the commercial cattleman to buy their Angus bulls. Many places have the genetics they are looking for, along with the expected progeny differences (EPDs) and performance records that help them make their decisions.
Another aspect of getting commercial producers to purchase a bull from your program is to provide outstanding customer service. There are many things that can go into providing great customer service.
All of these ideas might not work for your program, but if you can find the ones that do and do them well, having a return customer is likely to happen. Some of the sale day things that can help are discounts on volume buyers and free delivery options for purchases. Some breeders like having the option to house the bulls until they are ready to turn them out. Standing behind your bulls when something goes wrong with them is always a great policy to ensure customer satisfaction.
Finding a way to be involved in your customers’ program is the best customer service you can provide.
For more information, read the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
On Target: Resolutions
The calendar turned to 2017 with many resolutions made. What do you resolve for your operation this year? What plan have you and your team made to improve profits, expand or cut costs in 2017?
In most cases, each team member has ideas for the plan, but rarely does anyone put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard to capture these ideas. Insert any number of quotable quotes regarding failure to plan and managing what you measure.
My goal is not to focus on the importance of a plan but to help stimulate ideas for it. In view of the challenging market ahead, let’s look at marketing ideas to consider for 2017.
Access the complete Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
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