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Beef Cattle Production

A group of cattle
Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Nebraska Extension Cow Clinics focus on keys to a successful calving and breeding season

A successful calving season does not begin at calving, rather it begins much earlier, with the management of the cow herd months prior. University of Nebraska Extension will be hosting Cow Clinics in December to review some of the basic management factors that can lead to a successful calving and breeding season.
Red heifers
Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Cowherd expansion considerations

Fall of 2024 is officially here! The U.S. beef herd inventory was at 28.2 million cows as of January 2024. During the last peak of the cattle cycle in January of 2019, the U.S. beef herd inventory reached 31.6 million cows. That is a drop of 3.4 million cows (11% of the inventory) in five years!
Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Fall and Winter Management Strategies for the Cow Herd – Sample, Test, Inventory and Stage Harvested Hay

Haying season is over, the days are getting shorter, and temperatures are cooler. Fall is here and winter is just around the corner. Beef producers will keep cows grazing as long as they can because grazing is cheaper than feeding harvested hays and forages. Depending on stage of production, supplements can be fed to take care of any nutrient gaps.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Avoiding Prussic Acid Poisoning in Grazing: When and How to Use a Quick Test

Is My Forage Sorghum, Sorghum x Sudangrass, or Sudangrass Safe to Graze?

Annual forages like sorghum, sorghum x -sudangrass, and sudangrass can accumulate nitrates, which should be evaluated before grazing. However, another potential risk is prussic acid poisoning (cyanide), which can be lethal if ingested.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Winter Management Options for Weaned Calves

Many spring-born calves weaned in the fall are backgrounded through the winter prior to grazing summer grass or feedlot entry. There are many management options to consider for weaned calves depending on feed resources, labor, and subsequent management strategies. 

Cornstalk residue and winter range

Cattle strip grazing a field
Friday, October 25, 2024

Getting more out of fall and winter grazing

After about 5 years of fall cover crop grazing, one thing became apparent: the amount of grazing achieved when we gave cattle access to the whole field from the start did not appear to be determined by the amount of forage that was in the field. This was because the weather seemed to determine how much trampling loss occurred. In wet years, we harvested less than 15% of the forage, and on average, we captured about 30%.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Test, don’t guess: Sampling and testing hay

Accurately sampling and testing hay is the only way to get a real understanding of the nutritive value of feed. Using values from previous years or a “book value” can be costly since a producer may incorrectly develop a ration using values that aren’t representative.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Many Beef Cows and Their Calves May Not Be Getting Enough Vitamin A in Their Diets

A new research article in Applied Animal Science details how beef cows and calves maintained in confinement and fed brown stored forages combined with grain or grain byproducts may not be getting sufficient amounts of vitamin A.

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