Rules of Thumb for Winter Cow Rations 

By Jason K. Ahola, Ph.D.

Without question, feed costs across the entire beef industry have increased substantially over the past 18 months. However, the rise in forage prices during 2007 has contributed to a dramatic increase ...

Prevention, Early Intervention Key To Unlocking The Sick Pen 

By Kris Ringwall, North Dakota State University

Understanding the sick pen is difficult until one gets placed there. Caring for sick cattle, horses or any other animals is best understood by being sick and noting the process...

Beef Industry Loses A Legend 

By Kindra Gordon

The beef industry lost one of its visionary leaders on Sunday, Jan. 20 with the passing of Roy Wallace, long-time sire selection specialist for Select Sires...

2008 Food Predictions 

By Phil Lempert, Founder of Supermarketguru.com

As we enter into the New Year, food retailers and brands are faced with a myriad of new challenges: sustainability, transparency, undeniable price increases and the continued search for health and wellness. Here are some retail trends I foresee...

Ways to combat calf scours this calving season 

Source: Merial Animal Health

Be clean, be proactive and know how to identify and handle calves at risk of developing Escherichia coli (E. coli) scours — that’s the advice Dr. Twig Marston, Kansas State University beef cattle specialist, offers to cow/calf producers as scour season approaches...

Slow Food: A solution for small producers? 

By Kindra Gordon

It’s a fast-paced world we live in, and over the past two decades America has grown accustomed to getting their food fast as well. But as a result, the speed in which America has gained weight has swelled to epidemic proportions...

Ten steps to buying the right bull 

Source: Scott Greiner, Extension Animal Scientist, Virginia Tech

1. Identify Herd Goals - Herd goals serve as the foundation for sire selection and provide guidance as to traits with the most economic importance. Defining the production and marketing system, along with...

12 Goals to set for 2008 

By Troy Marshall, BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly

Have you ever reached the end of a day, month or year, and set back and asked where all the time went? I'm guessing you started out with a definite "to-do" list and despite the fact you were busy and productive all day...

Food recalls dominate top stories of 2007 

When asked to recall the top food stories of the year, food editors overwhelmingly responded that 2007 will be remembered as the Year of the Recall, according to a report by PRNewswire...

USDA unveils draft of animal disease traceability plan 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its draft of a Business Plan for Advancing Animal DiseaseTraceability on Dec. 19, 2007. The business plan supports the 48-hour traceback long-term goal ...

Slabside, Jess and Old Dog Shep 

By Floyd Simpson

Floyd is owner of Country Mile Farm on the old Drovers Trail Scenic Byway at Belmont, OH. He shares this writing with us that he penned a few years back and says, “Events described here were true. Only the names were changed to save the embarrassment...

New Year’s Resolution: Develop a grazing plan 

With a new year upon us, University of Nebraska Extension forage specialist Bruce Anderson suggests that looking ahead and planning out your grazing needs is an essential ingredient to a successful grazing season. He says...

Vermont Grazing Conference is Jan. 19  

From Fallow Fields to Farm Fresh Food is the theme of the 12th annual grazing conference to be held Sat. Jan. 19 at the Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT. ...

Globalization key in 2008 

Source: Angus Productions Inc.

Well-known Cattle Fax executive vice president Randy Blach is keeping his eye on the big picture in the year ahead. He says, “Globalization is here, and we [the U.S. cattle industry] need to figure out how to participate.”...

Planning for ranch succession 

By Noel McNaughton, BEEF contributing editor

So you want your kids to take over the ranch? When are you going to show them how? Back when I was a television reporter for the Canadian Broadcast Corp., I got a phone call about a farm foreclosure occurring the next day...