News Update
May 17, 2017
Expanding Cows or Herds
As the cow herd expands, market prices contract from their record highs and focus more attention on adding value. How to do that commonly comes down to adding what the market values in health and weaning practices from effective vaccinations to bunk breaking. This month, let’s consider ways to capitalize on the one trait common to all producers and market-price calculations: weight.
For years — and especially renewed in the recent cost/price squeeze — discussion has centered around reducing cow size and increasing cow numbers as a way to increase returns per acre. That’s usually seen as more important than return per cow, but it makes some sense to look at both: how you measure profitability should vary by the most limiting resource.
In land-limited operations, you can add value per acre through grazing management without changing the cow herd. Where land use is not yet optimized, more cows can increase pounds produced per acre.
Continue reading in the Angus Media news article online.
Secretary Purdue, Someone Ag Trade Can Count On
Former Georgia Governor, Sonny Perdue, was named the 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture late last month, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
With deep roots in the ag industry, Perdue has been a farmer, agribusinessman, veterinarian and state legislator. Much of his time in office was spent promoting U.S. agricultural products on a global scale. This experience is met with much optimism from the ag community, including the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), which says Perdue’s confirmation is reassuring to those in the nation’s ag sector, as well as key trade partners.
“Agriculture has been one of the stellar industries, where we’ve been in the black for the last 40 years as far as agricultural trade, and I think Sonny Perdue’s given us a lot of reason to believe that he is going to continue in that tradition, extolling the virtues of trade and globalization,” said USMEF President Philip Seng.
Watch the full interview on this week’s episode of The Angus Report. You can also catch the show at 1:30 p.m. Central Saturday and 7:30 a.m. Central every Monday on RFD-TV.
An Ounce of Prevention
Missouri Angus breeder Mark Haden already had a strict vaccination protocol in place, yet a couple of red flags in his herd couldn’t be explained.
“We had one cow that had a calf the year before that had some really oddball problems,” Haden explains.
After consulting with his veterinarian, Michael Spragg, Haden was encouraged to test his herd for persistently infected (PI) bovine viral diarrhea (BVD).
“It’s a commitment, but it’s a one-time commitment,” Haden says. “[With the test] you know where you stand, and you can move forward and really don’t have to worry about it.”
Haden, who manages Buck Ridge Cattle Co., a small seedstock operation near Rogersville, Mo., says PI testing is another management tool to add to your toolbox. “Like vaccinations, breeding, everything else, if you are going to produce quality animals, it’s just one more step in that process.”
Continue reading this Angus Journal feature online.
Standing Out from the Crowd
Anne Lampe goes by many titles: mother, daughter, wife, cattlewoman, manager and secretary for the Kansas Angus Association, American Angus Auxiliary member and past president, talented interior decorator, fashionista, photographer, editor, designer, and, most recently, Distinguished Woman.
It’s barely 7 in the morning and just shy of 10° F outside, but she’s dressed impeccably. Her truck is warmed up and ready to go, coffee is brewing, and the wintery scent of peppermint wafts through her beautifully decorated 19th-century farmhouse. She’s a cattlewoman, she’s a mother to two boys, and she’s one heck of a good time manager.
Lampe was presented with the American Angus Auxiliary’s Distinguished Woman Award at the 2016 Angus Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., in November 2016.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised in my whole life,” she says, her 33 years in Kansas still unable to hide her Louisiana accent.
Read the full Angus Journal feature story online.
Texas Summer Could be Hot and Dry
Above-average temperatures and dry conditions across Texas could be a sign of things to come this summer, said the state climatologist. John Nielsen-Gammon, College Station, said he is concerned arid conditions could be prevalent through the summer following the warmest winter on record and a relatively dry spring with above-average temperatures.
March temperatures averaged 6° higher than normal, he said. Cool spells in the first half of May have reduced average temperatures for the spring months, but the season was still 2-3° warmer than usual.
Recent weather patterns around most of the state have also delivered very little moisture, Nielsen-Gammon said. The combination of dry, windy conditions and warmer temperatures could be the precursor to a long, hot summer.
For more information, read the AgriLife news release online.
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