Month: January 2024

What are Your Plans for 2024?

– Garth Ruff, Beef Cattle Field Specialist, Ohio State University Extension (originally published in The Ohio Cattleman)

As we retire the 2023 calendar how are you planning for success in the cattle business in ’24?

It’s hard to believe that we are already hanging a 2024 calendar on the wall. 2023 has been a roller coaster ride at times across the board. We have seen several ups: record cattle prices, Jim Harbaugh caught in a cheating scandal, great hay making weather. However, with the ups come the downs: high input costs, a Buckeye loss to TTUN for the third time in a row, Joe Burrow’s broken wrist, lower hay yields.

Early 2023 will be remembered by cattlemen for the record cattle prices that have continued to soften since September. In early November in a typically benign WASDE report, USDA raised their beef production projection 2% for 2024.This increase sent some shock through the markets. This increase in projected beef production is likely due to higher feedlot placements this fall due to weather. Look for this to be somewhat short lived as the cattle supply continues to be tight. While cattle prices have been softer since mid-September, the long-term outlook is still rather favorable as the cow herd continues to shrink.

At this point Continue reading What are Your Plans for 2024? →

Winter Beef School Webinars to Focus on Meeting Local Demand

This series begins on the 18th.

The Ohio State University Extension Beef Team will be hosting its annual winter webinar series in 2024 on the third Thursday of each month, January to April. This year’s series will take a deeper dive into production practices and factors that impact quality and profitability when it comes to producing beef to be marketed directly to consumers.

The session topics and speakers are as follows Continue reading Winter Beef School Webinars to Focus on Meeting Local Demand →

Are you managing your pastures “ugly?”

– Victor Shelton, Retired NRCS Agronomist/Grazing Specialist

If hay’s in short supply, be efficient feeding it!

Back when no-till farming was fairly new, one familiar catch phrase was “Farm Ugly.” Managing pastures in a more regenerative fashion sometimes appears a bit ugly too.

Right or wrong, I finally finished clipping the last few paddocks at the end of November. It wasn’t because they really needed to be clipped, but more because they were aesthetically more pleasing afterwards. It also puts most of them in the same starting phase for next less places for coyotes to hide.

I didn’t really procrastinate the task. With the dry conditions and slowed fall growth, I certainly didn’t want to remove or deter any grazable forage, so I waited until after the last grazing of those paddocks to clean it up by clipping them. Other pastures that were stockpiled didn’t need to be trimmed but a couple were done anyways because the wife insisted.

It has been a dry fall. I’ve had Continue reading Are you managing your pastures “ugly?” →

Free RFID tags are still available

Ohio cattlemen can request free, white 840 tags.

In further support of their effort to transition to 840 radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for official identification for cattle and bison throughout the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making 840 RFID tags available free to cattlemen and veterinarians. In Ohio, both the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association and the Ohio Department of Agriculture have been approved to distribute these free tags while they last.

The RFID tags can be used in breeding and market cattle. There are both white “840” button tags and orange “840” calfhood vaccination (OCV) button tags available. All RFID tags are low frequency tags. Veterinarians may receive both white and orange tags, while cattle producers may only receive the white 840 tags.

A Premises Identification Number (PIN) is required to order the free RFID tags. To obtain a PIN, scan the Continue reading Free RFID tags are still available →