News Update
August 28, 2017
Marketing Quality
The day you make breeding choices, purchase bulls or buy bred heifers, marketing the calf crop begins. With those decisions in the rear view, it’s time to consider how to make the most of a great mating. Sale day for your spring-born calves grows closer as each day grows shorter, and that brings up weaning.
Three considerations dominate all related plans: when to wean, what to feed and how to keep them healthy.
Timing implies giving some thought to “the market,” along with local forage availability and cow body condition scores (BCS). Predicting the best time to market, I will leave to others.
As summer wears on and calves get older, cow condition falls off with the decline in forage availability. Weaning is the way to improve cow BCS while reducing the stress on grazing resources. You may have read or heard that creep-feeding can reduce grazing pressure and cow nutrient requirements, but don’t expect a big response. It’s more of an add-on for the calves. While eating creep, they will consume less forage, but that does not change nutrient needs for their dams.
Read the full Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
Managing Through the Drought
As drought conditions continue to expand and worsen through the Dakotas and Montana, ranchers are faced with the stress and challenges of making the best decisions for their operations. There are multiple factors that play into the decision-making process, with some being more challenging than others. One of the factors that makes this process more difficult at times is being able to separate the emotion from the business. Often we see the ranch as more than a business, but focusing the basis of making decisions on what is best for the business will help persevere through tough times.
To make the best management decisions, it is important to utilize your resources and contacts to gather information and make the most informed decisions. There are multiple people who can help provide information, including fellow ranchers, ag lenders, veterinarians and extension professionals. South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension offers multiple tools and resources to provide information. Below is a listing of just a few that can be used in making the best drought management decisions for your operation.
Continue reading this Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
2017 Master Cattleman Programs Beginning
Another round of the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Master Cattleman program will begin soon. More than 4,000 beef producers have already participated in the comprehensive program and put the management strategies they learned into practice in their operations.
The Master Cattleman program consists of 10 sessions that include management, marketing, nutrition, reproduction, health, genetics, forages, facilities, environment and end product.
“The program is designed to increase producers’ overall productivity and profitability,” said Ben Crites, Beef Integrated Resource Management coordinator for the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
The program is available at multiple sites throughout Kentucky. Each site will have consistent program material. Each participant must attend at least eight of the 10 sessions and have a current Beef Quality Assurance certification to successfully complete the program. All program participants will receive a set of reference materials, and those who successfully complete the program will receive a personalized farm gate sign.
Program dates and county groups are as follows:
- Breckinridge and Grayson — Sept. 25 through Nov. 27
- Boyle, Garrard, Lincoln and Mercer — Sept. 19 through Nov. 21
For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
Eastern Kansas Grazing School is Sept. 13-14
Beginning and experienced farmers and ranchers are invited to participate in the annual Eastern Kansas Grazing School at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Holton on Sept. 13-14. The two-day management intensive grazing school is a hands-on learning experience to prepare participants to start their own rotational grazing system with forages adapted to eastern Kansas.
The event is planned each year by Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension agents and specialists and USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) range conservationists.
Topics to be covered include the science behind grazing, graziers arithmetic, matching livestock and forage needs, pasture layout and design, grazing economics, and fencing and watering designs. Hands-on field exercises will be included.
Speakers will include experts from Kansas and Missouri NRCS, the University of Missouri Extension, and K-State Research and Extension. This school is appropriate for beginner and experienced graziers with information applicable to anyone interested in intensifying their grazing management system or increasing their forage management knowledge.
The school will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. both days at the Jackson County Fairgrounds located at the NE Kansas Heritage Complex at 12200 214th Road in Holton.
For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
Ranch Management University set for
Oct. 9-13 on Texas A&M Campus
From soil management to cattle, forage and wildlife, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Ranch Management University Oct. 9-13 in College Station will offer a little something for everyone, according to coordinators.
The workshop will meet at the G. Rollie White Visitor Center, 7707 Raymond Stotzer Parkway on the Texas A&M University campus, said Larry Redmon, Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader, College Station.
Registration is $500, with attendance limited to the first 50 who enroll. To register online and for more information, go to http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu and enter “ranch management” into the search window.
The five-day event is designed to help new and novice landowners improve their understanding of resource management on their ranch properties, Redmon said.
He said topics to be covered include soil fertility and sampling; hay production, sampling and sprayer calibration; financial considerations and government programs; forage legume management and winter pasture establishment and utilization; beef nutrition requirements and supplements; body condition scores, stocking rates, marketing and genetic strategies for livestock; pond and wildlife management; horse production, and chute-side live-animal handling demonstrations.
For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
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