Month: April 2020

Controlling Reproductive Efficiency is Vital to Beef Cow Herd Profitability

– Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County

During the second session of the Ohio Beef Cow/Calf Workshop, Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Professor at the University of Kentucky, presented on reproduction efficiencies in the cow herd including getting cows rebred in a timely fashion whether utilizing artificial insemination or the natural service of herd bulls. He explained that a key to profitability each year is getting more calves, that weigh more, and the economics of timely calving and the pounds of weaning weight that are lost for each day later an individual cow calves out.

While seemingly easier said than done, this means that almost annually in any cow herd a few late calving cows must be moved up in their cycle. During his presentation, Dr. Anderson explained a research tested method of using CIDRs along with the natural service of a bull that has successfully moved the dates of late calving cows up an average of 30+ days in his on-farm trials.

In this 3 minute excerpt from his presentation, Anderson explains Continue reading →

Three Good Reasons for Early Castration of Bull Calves

– Kevin Laurent – Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky

These are challenging times market wise and it is easy to dwell on the negative and become complacent in our management. But in times like these we really need to explore every avenue to add value to our calves. If you watch the weekly market reports, you notice that we still have a significant number of intact bull calves being sold. Some producers choose to leave bulls intact until weaning to increase weaning weights. Bulls will be 5-15% heavier at weaning. However, chasing pounds in this manner comes at a discount. Following are three good reasons to castrate bull calves early in life.

1. It’s the right thing to do. Research trials have shown time and time again that the earlier calves are castrated the better. Early castration is associated with less pain, stress and trauma. In fact, research has shown that calves castrated from 1-7 days old showed very few Continue reading →

Cattle Market Update – April 17

– Dr. Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky

It was another light week in terms of marketing in KY and this has largely been the case since the end of March. This really is a trend industry-wide as feedlot placements and cattle slaughter are both running well below expected levels. Several processing plants have announced temporary closures and a lot of others are running at reduced capacity, likely to take measures to reduce the likelihood of closure in the future. Of course, there are significant incentives for processing plants to resume operations as soon as they practically and safely can. It was inevitable that cattle would back up in the system as COVID-19 impacts lingered, but the longer it continues the more it will stretch out the length of the recovery. This is definitely something to watch in the coming weeks.

As I write this on Friday April 17th, CME© feeder cattle futures are about where they ended last week. Fall contracts are actually a little higher and have moved into the low $130’s per cwt. For the current week, the price of an 850 lb M/L #1-2 steer at Kentucky auction markets fell by about $1 per cwt. Calf prices improved slightly with the price of a 550 lb M/L #1-2 steer increasing by Continue reading →

Weekly Livestock Comments for April 17, 2020

– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee

FED CATTLE: Fed cattle traded steady com-pared to last week on a live basis. Prices on a live basis were mainly $105 while dressed prices were not well established.

The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $96.77 live, down $8.23 compared to last week and $154.33 dressed, down $13.67 from a week ago. A year ago, prices were $128.37 live and $207.77 dressed.

Cash trade continues to be light this week as many processing facilities have slowed production in several different fashions. The reduction in production means there is not as much need for cash cattle purchases to fill in production holes throughout the week as many of these facilities are trying to make sure they get all of their contracted cattle processed with a limited labor resource in many instances. What few cattle trade in the cash market will mean lower prices week-over-week which will play into lower formula prices as well. The dynamics of the market are extremely Continue reading →

Hay Equipment Checkpoints for Optimal Drying

– Jason Hartschuh, OSU Extension Crawford County, AgNR Educator (originally published in Progressive Forage)

Uneven roll wear can result in poor conditioning across the length of the rolls. Photo provided by Jason Hartschuh.

The primary purpose of our haymaking equipment is to dry hay to the optimum moisture for storage, then package densely. This winter, our shop has been a staging ground for improved hay drying.

The mower conditioner, both rakes and tedder have all been rotating through our shop to be sure they are ready to not only function properly but to make sure hay dries as fast as possible. It is amazing how little adjustments in the shop can save a couple of much-needed hours of drying time. Your operator’s manual will have the proper adjustments for your machine. Just as we always start with the mower for winter repairs, let’s start there on best maintenance practices to improve hay drying.

Mower checklist

Improved hay drying starts at the cutter bar. When the crop is cut ragged with lots of long plant material still attached, this material is often ripped loose by the rake and ends up creating wet spots in windrows. The primary winter service to prevent this is to make sure knives are sharp and not dragging on the cutter bar when spinning. This is also a good time to check all gear boxes and, on disc mower conditioners, that cutting modules are not worn to the point of Continue reading →

“If you have high ash content in your forages, you’re feeding dirt”

According to Ted Wiseman, Ohio State University Extension Educator in Perry County, “If you have high ash content in your forages, you’re feeding dirt.” And, the feed conversion on dirt is not good!

During the second session of the 2020 Ohio Beef Cattle Nutrition and Management School that was hosted by the Ohio State University Extension Beef Team, Wiseman discussed the value of analyzing the nutrient content of forages. Included in that presentation was an explanation regarding ash content, what it results from, and why it’s a concern. In this brief excerpt from his presentation, he explains, in part, how 5 pounds of a forage with 18% ash content is equivalent to feeding a pound of dirt to the animal, and offers some thoughts on preventing high ash content in our forages.

Harvest of Winter Annual Forages is Approaching

Authors: Mark Sulc, Bill Weiss, Jason Hartschuh, CCA, Rory Lewandowski, CCA

Rye swaths. Photo credit: Rory Lewandowski

Winter cereal forage crop development is advancing with the early warm weather this spring. These crops include winter rye, winter wheat, winter triticale, and barley. Italian ryegrass planted late last summer to early autumn is another forage crop that is developing early and will be ready for harvest by late April. The cool-down this week will likely slow development of these crops, but producers should be looking ahead to be ready when these crops reach optimal harvest stages.

Forage yield and nutritive value of these forages can change rapidly as the crop matures (see table below). The optimal stage of harvest will depend on the livestock to be fed. As with all forages, yield and quality are inversely related and the user will need to . . .

Continue reading Harvest of Winter Annual Forages is Approaching

Alfalfa Weevil – It’s Closer Than You Think

Author(s): Kelley Tilmon, Aaron Wilson, Mark Sulc, Rory Lewandowski, CCA, Andy Michel

Green alfalfa weevil larvae (the main feeding stage) at various growth stages, and brown adults. Photo by Julie Peterson, University of Nebraska.

Though it seems like spring has been slow to come this year, we have actually accumulated enough degree days to see potential outbreaks of alfalfa weevil in some locations.  Ohio experienced its 5th warmest winter on record (1895-2020) and March temperatures averaged 2-8°F above average. Overwintered adults begin laying eggs when temperatures exceed 48°F.  Peak larval activity and feeding damage occurs between 325 and 575 heat units (based on accumulation of heat units from January 1 with a base of 48°F).  Current (Jan. 1 – Apr. 11, 2020) heating units range from near 100 in far northeastern Ohio, 100-200 across much of northern Ohio, and 200-300 units across much of central, southwest, and southeast Ohio. South central Ohio has currently eclipsed 300 units as evident at OSU South Centers in Piketon.

In short, now is the time to start scouting.  Alfalfa fields should be scouted weekly for weevils until at least the first harvest.  Don’t let your guard down with the recent turn to cooler weather! We’ve seen significant weevil infestations in past years when . . .

Continue reading Alfalfa Weevil – It’s Closer Than You Think

Trading Challenges

– Matthew Diersen, Risk & Business Management Specialist, Ness School of Management & Economics, South Dakota State University

The large price swings of the past two months have added to the difficulty of managing risk. Limit moves in futures prices have meant that out-of-the-money options with little or no open interest one week are suddenly actively trading. Desired floor prices could have easily been missed. Options with extremely high or low strike prices tend to be more-thinly traded during quiet times, and seem to have taken on extremely wide bid and ask spreads in recent weeks. This has made entering and exiting futures and options positions more difficult. In addition, it now takes extra effort to discern what the bid and ask prices may be saying about a given futures price or option premium.

There are some ways to discern what buyers are saying in their bids and what the sellers are saying in their asks when looking at option premiums. If they are saying the same thing, then there is usually some trading volume, and some insights for the overall market. For options, the insight is measured using the implied volatility, or how much futures are expected to fluctuate moving forward. Various brokerage platforms will provide such information. Volatility is also available on the CME Group’s website using their “Volatility Term Structure Tool”, which provides recent implied volatility levels for various contracts, including live cattle and feeder cattle. When the volatility is too high, it may price a hedger out of Continue reading →

Cattle Market Update – April 10

– Dr. Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky

It seems like we are in phase 3 of the cattle markets trying to price in the impacts of COVID-19. In February, the markets were primarily pricing in the potential impact on beef exports. In March, they were trying to price in the impact on domestic demand from shutdowns, layoffs, and general decreased economic activity. And now that we are in April, the focus really seems to be more about the impact of plants operating below capacity, or temporarily shutting down, due to the virus. Volatility continues to be the best descriptor of what we are seeing, but this is my summary of USDA-AMS price data from Kentucky auctions April 3rd through April 9th.

I am writing this on Good Friday, April 10, 2020, so CME© futures are not trading. But, feeder cattle futures prices actually rallied this week with spring contracts closing on April 9th in the upper $110’s and fall contracts in the upper $120’s. This is probably why prices later in the week looked a bit stronger than prices earlier in the week. Despite the fact that marketings were low for this time of year, state average prices basically fell across all Continue reading →