Mineral Consumption: It Matters!

Adele Harty SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist Cattle mineral nutrition is complex and often confusing, but one strategy to help ranchers better evaluate their mineral program is to monitor mineral consumption. This goes back to the old adage, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Mineral supplement tags provide the recommended daily intake based on specific product formulations. Recommended intakes can vary widely depending on the brand and type of product, with the…

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Cull Cow Market Dynamics

Josh Maples, Assistant Professor & Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University No segment of the cattle industry has been spared from the uncertainty and turmoil driven by COVID-19. However, the dynamics for the slaughter cow market have been a little different than those for the live cattle coming from feedlots that have garnered the most discussion due to plant disruptions. Slaughter cow prices have been one of the few bright…

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“United We Steak” Campaign Celebrates Americans’ Love of Grilling

“United We Steak” Campaign Celebrates Americans’ Love of Grilling New Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. grilling campaign highlights America’s favorite protein and pastime DENVER, June 29, 2020 – Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner., funded by the Beef Checkoff, today has launched “United We Steak,” a new summer grilling campaign showcasing 50 steaks and all 50 states. “United We Steak” celebrates not only a shared tradition of grilling delicious steaks, but also what makes…

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USMCA Takes Effect: Welcome News for Struggling Farmers

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) goes into effect tomorrow, at a crucial time for farmers and ranchers struggling to recover from COVID-19 losses and a depressed agricultural economy. The expected $2 billion annual increase in U.S. agricultural exports and overall increase of $65 billion in gross domestic product will provide a welcome boost. USDA estimates COVID-19 contributed to a $50 billion decline in commodity value alone for 2019, 2020 and 2021 production totals.…

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USDA Adds Digital Options for Farmers and Ranchers to Apply for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

Online portal, e-signature tool enable producers to apply from anywhere WASHINGTON, June 25, 2020 – USDA’s Farm Service Agency will now accept applications for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) through an online portal, expanding the options available to producers to apply for this program, which helps offset price declines and additional marketing costs because of the coronavirus pandemic. FSA is also leveraging commercial document storage and e-signature solutions to enable producers to…

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Considerations for marketing beef directly to consumers

Products like those sold at the K-State meat lab are offered direct to local customers. Due to the COVID-19 limitations, consumers are looking to farmers and ranchers to fill the void MANHATTAN, Kan. — Most will agree there is nothing that compares to the taste of fresh produce or meat that comes straight from the farm. And in light of perceived food shortages and a desire to know where their food comes from,…

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K-State chosen as hub for improving U.S. winter wheat

University will lead $1M project to improve winter wheat varieties MANHATTAN, Kan. – The USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture has selected Kansas State University to serve as a center for efforts to improve U.S. winter wheat varieties. The university received $1 million to establish the International Wheat Yield Partnership’s (IWYP) Winter Wheat Breeding Innovation Hub. K-State will lead the effort to evaluate research findings from several IWYP projects that contribute to…

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Cattle on Feed Adjustments Continue

David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service The cattle feeding part of the industry has been in the midst of dramatic adjustments over the last couple of months, just like the rest of the industry. USDA released its June Cattle on Feed report on Friday, June 19th and it showed some more adjustments, but this time back in the direction of normal. After 2 months of 20 percent…

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Forage management and cow size

Steve Boyles, OSU Beef Extension Specialist Increased Hay Production per Cow: The increased use of the round baler and other hay production technologies since the early and mid-1970s (Van Keuren, OARDC –  The History of the Development of the Large Round Bale) has lowered the labor requirement and increased the convenience of hay production. Hay production per cow in the southeastern United States has increased by 136% (USDA NASS, 2016) since 1976. Reliance…

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Oats as a late summer forage crop

Jason Hartschuh and Al Gahler, OSU Extension AgNR Educators (originallypublished in The Ohio Farmer) Fungicide application significantly reduced the presence of rust. Oats is traditionally planted as the first crop in early April as a grain crop or an early season forage. One of the beauties of oats is its versatility in planting date. Oats can also be planted in the summer as an early fall forage for harvest or grazing. Summer oats…

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