Winning All Three Ways: Optimize Production, Sell at a Premium, Reduce Costs

Chris Penrose, Associate Professor and Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, OSU Extension

As beef producers, some of us get into a mentality of either improving production, seeing how much we can sell our animals for, or reducing costs with improved forage utiliization. I have been working with a producer for ten years to help improve his forage utilization and he has been working to improve the genetics of his herd through his breed association. He continues to improve his herd through A.I., has identified his mineral needs, has a regular vaccination schedule and has recently purchased his first donor cow. He has excellent records, weighs calves on a regular basis, knows his feed conversion rates for each calf that is weaned, body condition scores his cattle and tries to sell his feeder calves to a buyer that realizes the genetic potential (for a higher price) and even receives back carcass data when processed. His herd is now almost large enough to sell the calves by the semi load. He once told me his goal was Continue reading

Christmas Shopping and the Calving Season

John F. Grimes, OSU Extension Beef Coordinator

I have to confess that I am a master procrastinator when it comes to Christmas holiday shopping. I admittedly do not like “Black Friday” shopping and do not perform well under the stress of last-minute shopping. There are tools available such as the internet available to assist shopping-challenged consumers such as me. However, the fact remains that there are potential long-term ramifications from poor planning when it comes to Christmas shopping!

If you think about it, there are some parallels that can be drawn between the Christmas shopping season and calving season for cow-calf producers. There is a certain level of Continue reading