Month: May 2017

Marketing Considerations During the Breeding Season

– John F. Grimes, OSU Extension Beef Coordinator

The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) is announcing an event of potential interest for both the buyers and sellers of beef breeding cattle.  On Friday evening, November 24, the OCA will be hosting their fifth annual Replacement Female Sale.  The sale will be held at the Muskingum Livestock facility in Zanesville and will begin at 6:00 p.m.

The 2017 Ohio Cattlemen’s Association Replacement Female Sale will provide an opportunity for both buyers and sellers to meet the need for quality replacements in the state.  Consignments may include cow-calf pairs, bred cows and bred heifers.  Females must be Continue reading Marketing Considerations During the Breeding Season →

Effects of Nutrition Changes Following Artificial Insemination

– Written by Christina Mogck under the direction and review of George Perry, SDSU Extension Beef Reproductive Management Specialist

Nutritional stress following artificial insemination (AI) has been reported to have negative effects on conception rates. This decrease in conception rates could be from an increase in embryonic mortality due to nutritional stress following breeding. When considering heifer development strategies, it may be important for a producer to consider nutritional stress from changes in the diet following breeding, and this nutritional stress could be initiated by Continue reading Effects of Nutrition Changes Following Artificial Insemination →

Using Artificial Insemination in Very Warm Weather

– Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Extension

As the breeding season for spring calving herds is getting closer, understanding heat stress in cattle takes on increased importance. Producers that choose to synchronize and then artificially inseminate replacement heifers or adult cows will begin the process very soon. If the hot weather arrives during the AI breeding season, some management and breeding alterations may be helpful.

For years, producers that bred artificially upon detected standing estrus (heat), would wait 12 hours before breeding the female in heat. If she was first observed in standing heat in the morning she would be inseminated that evening. If she was first observed in standing heat in the evening she would be inseminated the following morning. (This was called the AM/PM rule of artificial insemination.) More extensive research with dairy cattle has indicated that there is Continue reading Using Artificial Insemination in Very Warm Weather →

IRM Farm Program Producer Highlight: B. Hamilton, Shortening the Calving Season!

– Ben Crites, IRM Coordinator, University of Kentucky

The UK IRM team has developed the IRM Farm Program, which is designed to increase the use of production practices that favor high reproductive rates in the cowherd. This program is delivered through on-farm learning to demonstrate the benefits of implementing these production practices. This spring marks the beginning of the third year for the program. To date we have 97 producers from 35 counties participating in the program. The results from these producers have been promising and we look forward to continuing to work with these cooperator herds.

Of the 97 producers participating, Mr. Hamilton has been a Continue reading IRM Farm Program Producer Highlight: B. Hamilton, Shortening the Calving Season! →

In the Cattle Markets; Too Many Interesting Things to Cover!

– David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University

Sometimes, there are just too many interesting things to talk about in a short page.  This is one of those times in the cattle market.  So, here’s a couple off my list.

Friday May 26th brings USDA’s next Cattle on Feed report.  The report is expected to indicate marketings were up close to 2 percent over a year ago, even with one fewer “work” day in the month.  Marketings that large continue to highlight the tremendous demand for fed cattle this year.  Placements will again be the most Continue reading In the Cattle Markets; Too Many Interesting Things to Cover! →

Conversations That Matter; The What, How & Where of Connecting With Consumers

– Cambell Parrish, Ohio Beef Council Director of Public Relations and Consumer Marketing (Originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of The Ohio Cattleman)

Visit the Ohio Beef Council on Facebook

Communicating with strangers can be a daunting task. The further away our consumer base gets from production agriculture the more like strangers we seem to become. Bringing them back to the table with the people that bring food to it is a challenge that the Ohio Beef Council embraces every day through the use of your beef checkoff dollars. Reflecting on this challenge reminded me of what a mentor of mine once told me.  Communicating and public speaking have very little to do with what you actually say. It’s a ratio; 70 percent how you look, 20 percent how you say it and 10 percent of what you actually say. While communicating with consumers is a little bit more balance of a Continue reading Conversations That Matter; The What, How & Where of Connecting With Consumers →

How You Can Help the Sun Make Hay When It Shines!

– Mark Sulc, OSU Extension Forage Specialist
Most of this article is adapted with permission from an article published in Farm and Dairy on 2nd June 2010, available to view under this link. It still applies now.

In a recent CORN newsletter article I encouraged patience in waiting for soils to firm up before attempting to make our first cutting of hay after the heavy rains we received over the weekend. Once the soils are firm enough, there are several proven techniques that can speed up the hay curing process.

Haylage vs. hay.

Consider making haylage/silage or balage instead of dry hay. Since haylage is preserved at higher moisture contents, it is a lot easier to get it to a proper dry matter content for safe preservation. Proper dry matter content for chopping haylage can often be achieved within 24 hours or less as compared with 3 to 5 days for dry hay.

Proper dry matter content for silage ranges from Continue reading How You Can Help the Sun Make Hay When It Shines! →

Reducing Forage Harvest Losses

– Andrew Frankenfield, Penn State University Extension Educator, Agronomy

Much of the alfalfa will go for haylage or baleage but some alfalfa mixed with orchard grass will likely be dried for hay. As alfalfa dries down the potential for dry matter loss increases. While some dry matter loss is unavoidable; there are some techniques and specialized equipment that can reduce the amount of loss.

This winter at the PA Forage and Grassland Council Conference, one of the speakers said that they Continue reading Reducing Forage Harvest Losses →

Grazing Residue Height Matters

– Jessica A. Williamson, Ph.D., Penn State University Extension Forage Specialist

Any grazier knows that pasture management is as much of an art as it is a science. Skilled and seasoned graziers understand how important it is to keep a close eye on pastures as livestock are grazing, and often a drive-by evaluation of a pasture is not good enough to fully see what is going on out there – it requires us to get out of the truck and get our boots on the ground, walking the field to evaluate the current status. Often over-grazed pastures can appear to have more residue – or stubble – than they actually have when driving by or viewing from a vehicle window.

In the spring when conditions are favorable for Continue reading Grazing Residue Height Matters →

Effect of Oscillating Time of Feeding and Oscillating Diet Formulation on Performance and Carcass Characteristics in Feedlot Steers

– Alejandro E. Relling, Gary Lowe and Francis L. Fluharty, Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, Wooster Ohio, Professional Animal Scientist: Volume 33, Issue 2, April 2017, Pages 160–165

Smaller farms often lack the control over feeding and weighing that commercial feedlots possess. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of oscillating feeding time and oscillating diet formulation on growth performance and carcass characteristics in feedlot cattle fed dry, whole shelled corn–based diets. A total of 168 steers were allotted to 24 pens. Pens were assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: (1) control, fed the same diet and at the same time each day; (2) oscillating feeding time, fed the Continue reading Effect of Oscillating Time of Feeding and Oscillating Diet Formulation on Performance and Carcass Characteristics in Feedlot Steers →