Ben Beckman, Nebraska Extension Educator With many producers utilizing annual forage/cover crops and prevent plant acres, the amount of “non-traditional” forage options on the market have increased this past year. As long as we keep an eye out for potential nitrate issues, sorghum/sudangrass, milo, or small grains like oats, rye, and wheat can all make great forage options as hay or silage. Whether you are looking to buy or sell these products, answering…
Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension Beef Educator For producers weighing opportunities to reduce unit cost of production, evaluate the potential ripple effects of the proposed change to the whole cow-calf production system. Photo credit Troy Walz. Unit cost of production is a ratio where costs in the numerator are divided by the units produced in the denominator. There are five ways to reduce unit costs of production in a cow-calf enterprise. Decrease costs while…
Karla H. Wilke, UNL Cow/Calf Systems and Stocker Management Much like cows, bull body condition needs to be evaluated as fat cover over the front ribs, brisket, and tail head making sure that gut fill does not impact the score given. Photo credit Troy Walz. Although the breeding season for many herds is still a few months away, it is time to be evaluating bull body condition. Body condition is just as important…
(Washington, D.C., March 13, 2020) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued the following statement after the Canadian Parliament approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA): “USMCA is a great victory for America’s agriculture industry, and I am pleased to see Canada’s Parliament approved the deal today. USMCA locks in and expands access to our neighbors to the North and South. I thank President Trump for negotiating this deal and for always…
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a $19 million investment in three, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for almost 7,000 rural households, 46 farms, 32 pre-subscribed businesses, 19 critical community facilities and 15 educational facilities in rural Texas. This is one of many funding announcements in the first round of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ReConnect Pilot Program investments. “Our core mission at USDA is to…
(Washington, D.C., February 28, 2020) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued a memo today directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to acquire alternative fueled vehicles (AFV) when replacing conventionally fueled vehicles. USDA owns and operates one of the largest civilian fleets in the Federal Government and this move to a fleet that can use E85 or biodiesel will increase efficiencies and performance. Additionally, as part of the President Donald J.…
Annual event brings together professional firefighters, college students MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas Forest Service will remove vegetation and conduct prescribed burns March 21-28 at Lake Scott Park north of Scott City as part of the 16th annual Hazardous Fuels Mitigation Project. The mitigation project is conducted in partnership with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. State Forester Jason Hartman said the purpose of the project is to reduce the build-up…
Six decades after pouring water into its livestock production, the United States is investing relative drops in the bucket to produce its meat, milk and eggs, says a recent analysis from Nebraska’s Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. Relying on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources, the team analyzed the annual U.S. outputs of beef, pork, poultry and milk from 1960 to 2016. The researchers also estimated the yearly…
David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service One of the interesting trends in 2019 was the retreat in the number of carcasses grading Choice throughout a large portion of the year. The decline in Choice carcasses, combined with lower weights and fewer steers sent to market resulted in some very tight supplies of Choice beef and a wide Choice-Select spread through much of the last half of the…
Brenda Boetel, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin-River Falls The semi-annual Cattle report was released on January 31, 2020. The report showed what many analysts had already been saying; the total number of cattle and calves in the USA was at 94.4 million head, slightly down from January 2019’s number of 94.8 million head. This number indicates that the industry has entered into the liquidation phase of the cattle cycle. But…