Livestock Blogs

With winter weather and cold temperatures setting in, it is time to talk about when cows feel the cold. The big factors that determine the lower critical temperature for cattle are temperature, wind speed, and heaviness of winter hair coat.Colder temperatures, higher wind speeds, and lighter hair...

Adding nutrients, organic matter, and ground cover to poorly productive lands have some raving about bale grazing. Added fertility and better water holding capacity of soils after bale grazing is often mentioned by early adopters.For sceptics, improved hay inventories and lower hay prices coupled...

Are you looking for avenues to re-invest in the ranch this year? First, know that not every year is as profitable as this year and sometimes profitability can be difficult to achieve. Thus, careful thought and allocation of profits is necessary to maintain a sustainable business in the future. Here...

Fall calving herds are approaching breeding season. While general breeding practices are similar to spring calving herds, breeding fall calving cows can pose some unique challenges.Tips for a successful breeding seasonMaintain cows in a body condition score of 5 or 6.Avoid negative planes of...

Supplementing cows during drought is common practice. Harvested forages, such as hay, can be used to replace available forage for grazing. However, when attempting to replace grazing with feeding hay on pasture, cows prefer the palatability of fresh forage. This means that not until the available...

Record high prices, while certainly a good thing, can leave many cattlemen in a state of awe and somewhat lax on cost control.Common sense and research both tell us cattle are most profitable when they are harvesting their own feed. Allowing cattle to graze into late fall and early winter is...

How do you know who is who? When you have a multitude of animals, it’s important to have an identification system in place. Using an ID system allows for better organization in a herd and makes daily checks, vet visits, and sorting run smoother. By exploring the methods used on different operations...

Isn’t it fun to watch people that are good at handling cattle? I love it. We all aspire to be better stockman and handling animals correctly is a big part of that goal. Investing time in animal handling skills improves quality of life, safety, health, and performance… for both animal and human....

Here are four tips for better managing pastures. Rest Keeps Roots Resting plants allows them to recover leaf tissue without robbing the root base. Continuous grazing will result in animals overgrazing as they will continue to graze down the most palatable plants. Overgrazing...

Dystocia, meaning “difficult birth,” often results in the loss of a calf or complications after birth of a live calf. Some examples of complications after a difficult birth can include aspiration pneumonia, joint damage, nerve damage, and hypoxia. Another big problem can be failure of passive...