Month: November 2024

Cull Cows – Right Way Right Time

– Garth Ruff, Field Specialist Beef Cattle and Livestock Marketing, OSU Extension

Culls are a revenue stream!

Cull cows represent nearly 20% of the revenue to a cow-calf beef operation. Since 2022 cull prices for lean, high yielding cows have been at historical highs. This is in large part due to the severe drought in the western U.S. spanning from 2021-2022. Although cows represent a large portion of the beef supply and are more valuable than ever, the 2022 National Beef Quality Audit revealed that cow condition and quality had been on a decline.

One of the biggest surprises of the audit was the number of beef cull cows that were recorded as inadequately muscled at 70.4%, nearly double the rate of cows from the 2016 audit. These are cows with a muscle score 1 or 2 out of 5. With regards to body condition scores on a 9 – point scale nearly 67% of cows had a BCS of less than 5.

In addition to lower BCS and muscling scores there was an increased Continue reading Cull Cows – Right Way Right Time →

Cattle Imports from Mexico Restricted after New World Screwworm Detection

– Josh Maples (MSU), David Anderson (Texas A&M), and Charley Martinez (Univ. of Tennessee)

Big news broke over the weekend as Mexico notified the USDA of a positive detection of New World screwworm in a cow in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas. The USDA-APHIS announcement (available here) noted the case was identified at an inspection checkpoint near the border with Guatemala. As a result, USDA-APHIS announced “APHIS is temporarily suspending the importation of ruminants, including live cattle and bison, from Mexico.”

The screwworm is an issue with which the cattle industry has grappled before. The map above shows when the screwworm was eradicated from various regions in the 1950s-1980s. Eradication efforts were driven by the release of tens of millions of Continue reading Cattle Imports from Mexico Restricted after New World Screwworm Detection →

FDA Letter Asks Veterinarians to Discontinue Use of Unapproved Aspirin Products in Lactating Dairy Cattle, Potentially Other Species

– Gustavo M. Schuenemann, Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Oho State University

“. . . there are no FDA-approved aspirin products for use in cattle.”

In October 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published a “Dear Veterinarian Letter” informing veterinarians and their clients to discontinue use of unapproved aspirin products to treat pyrexia and pain in lactating dairy cattle. A total of 616 confirmed dairy herds in 15 US states were reported positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) as of November 22, 2024. Aspirin is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is being used on some dairy farms to treat cattle infected with HPAI. In the past, FDA considered aspirin products to be of low regulatory concern. However, because the increased use of unapproved aspirin and the availability in the US market of labeled products for treatment of pyrexia (fever) in cattle, the FDA has shifted this stance to state such use as illegal.

The letter states that “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration understands that veterinarians and dairy farmers may be treating lactating dairy cattle for pyrexia and pain with aspirin and wants to clarify that there are no Continue reading FDA Letter Asks Veterinarians to Discontinue Use of Unapproved Aspirin Products in Lactating Dairy Cattle, Potentially Other Species →

Posted by at Posted in Health

Can we be profitable purchasing females now?

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

With high priced females in the market, can a person be profitable purchasing or retaining those females, and how long will the strong market prices remain? If the answer was known for sure by anyone then they could take advantage of the market opportunity. However, given that no one knows the exact answer, here are a few thoughts.

The calf market should see relatively high prices for at least three more years. The contradiction to that statement is that calf prices did not remain strong during the last rebuilding phase. No reason to argue that, but a more moderate growth rate or expansion rate is expected this time, which means calf prices will remain elevated longer.

In response to purchasing females and their profitability, how much can a person make with cattle if they have no cattle? If cattle are purchased then there is always a possibility of losing money, but it is guaranteed there will be no money made in cattle if a person does not own any. The alternative is renting all of the pasture and hay ground to me!

Management Strategies in Times of Drought

Attend and learn more about drought disaster assistance.

Some suggest during this year Southeastern Ohio experienced what might be the worst drought in our history. Regardless where it may rank, few of this generation have the experience of managing through a time when feed resources were in such short supply for a commodity as valuable as beef cattle and other ruminant livestock.

That said, please plan to join us in the Fairfield County Ag Center on Monday, December 2 beginning at 7 p.m. when we will explore not only feed management strategies for times such as these, but also the drought disaster relief programs presently available to farmers in much of Ohio. Representatives from Ohio State University Extension, USDA/NRCS and the Farm Service Agency will discuss feed alternatives, feed management strategies, Federal and State drought “disaster” programs and funding opportunities for both feed and water.

Reservations are encouraged but not required by contacting OSU Extension in Fairfield County (740-653-5419) or simply following this link: go.osu.edu/feedmanagement

Winter Feeding Beef Cows on Pasture

– Garth Ruff, Beef Cattle Field Specialist and Jason Hartschuh, Dairy Management Field Specialist, OSU Extension

Little has happened to improve the feed situation since drought conditions began. Photo: Wiseman

2024 has been a roller coaster year with regards to pasture production and growth across much of Ohio. Here in the east central part of the state, drought took ahold in July and really hasn’t eased up much. Pasture conditions continue to rate as poor or very poor and the hay crop was just a small percentage of a normal second cutting. Third cutting hay crop was nonexistent across the area.

At a series of programs across the region Jason Hartschuh and I discussed management options for winter feeding of beef cows in drought impacted areas the following were some of Continue reading Winter Feeding Beef Cows on Pasture →

Drought Damaged Pasture; What’s next?

– Jordan Penrose, Ohio State University Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Morgan County

Despite recent rainfall, drought conditions persist in SE Ohio.

Drought conditions have affected most of Ohio at one point or more this summer and fall, and we need to consider the long-term effects that this could have on forages. Where I am at in Morgan County, in the southeastern part of the state we are still in D4 Exceptional Drought, and most farmers have been feeding hay and hauling water for a couple of months now. Forages have taken the back seat for now, as we try to make sure livestock have feed and water. While getting livestock through the winter is the main goal right now, we need to start looking at what will need to be done with pastures and hayfields. When we got rain in October from Hurricane Helene, our pastures and hayfields came out of dormancy and started to grow on my family’s farm. Hopefully, most of you took note as well if that rain brought your pastures and hayfields out of dormancy and had some sort of growth. The reason that I hope you took note is to gauge what Continue reading Drought Damaged Pasture; What’s next? →

Rethinking High-Risk Stocker Calf Management

– Dr. Michelle Arnold – DVM, MPH UK Ruminant Extension Veterinarian

Figure 1: Photo from “High-Risk Cattle Management and Stocker Calf Health”, by Brent Credille, DVM, PhD. (Veterinary Clinics of North America, Food Animal Practice vol 38 (2022) page 235).

Bovine Respiratory Disease (“BRD”) or “shipping fever”, also known as bronchopneumonia, continues to be the most common cause of illness and death in postweaned (stocker) calves despite significant improvements in the vaccines and antibiotics available today. Traditionally, disease prevention through vaccination was thought to be the answer to improving stocker health outcomes but the current vaccination recommendations are not meeting the challenge as morbidity and mortality rates continue to rise. There is an increasing amount of research focusing on the importance of the normal, healthy “microbiota” (bacterial population) in the upper respiratory tract to maintain calf health and improve immunity. This normal microbial population modulates, or controls, host immune defenses through several mechanisms including Continue reading Rethinking High-Risk Stocker Calf Management →

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Hay Supply is Likely Up, but Winter Feed Costs Still Matter

– Dr. Kenny Burdine, Extension Professor, Livestock Marketing, University of Kentucky

By mid-November, most cow-calf operators are either feeding hay, or will be starting to feed hay very soon. As a general rule, winter feed costs are the largest expense for a cow-calf operation. Hay supply was very tight coming out of 2022, but generally improved throughout the course of 2023 as production levels were higher. For estimation purposes, USDA groups hay into two categories: Alfalfa and Alfalfa Mixtures and All Other Hay. Non-Alfalfa hay (referred to as All Other Hay) is likely most representative of hay that is typically fed to beef cows. In the October Crop Production report, USDA lowered their 2024 non-Alfalfa hay production estimates from August. While this is significant, the October estimate was still more than 5% higher than 2023. With greater hay production, higher hay stocks in the spring and a likely smaller cowherd, hay should be more readily available this winter across the US.


It is also interesting to look at hay production in different parts of the US. Table 1 shows Continue reading Hay Supply is Likely Up, but Winter Feed Costs Still Matter →

Pasture and Range Conditions Review

– Will Secor, Ph.D., Assistant Professor & Extension Livestock Economist, Masters of Agribusiness (MAB) Coordinator, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, University of Georgia

Recent rains have reduced the severity of drought.

Wet weather has been a welcome relief for many areas of the country over the last few weeks. In particular, rains in late October and early November alleviated drought or the severity of the drought for many areas of the Southern Plains and Southeast. However, significant portions of the U.S. remain in drought.

As of the end of October, the last report for the year, the USDA found that 51 percent of U.S. pasture and range conditions were poor or very poor. This compares to last year’s closing figure of 37 percent and the five-year average’s number of 36 percent. The only region with pasture and range conditions better than last year was the Northeast.

Conditions at the start of the reporting year (May 2024) were Continue reading Pasture and Range Conditions Review →

Posted by at Posted in Forages