As cattlemen enter the summer months, they need to understand and deal with heat and humidity. We need to consider some guidelines to help us reduce additional stress on cattle during these events and incorporate some of the following practices into our management practices.

How should you graze regrowth in pastures that had tall growth trampled during a previous grazing? I don’t know but I have some ideas.

Grass growth got away from many of us Nebraskans this spring. For some reason the rainfall and temperatures and sunshine all combined to quickly produce so much tall grass that cattle couldn’t eat fast enough.

The new US tax bill is in full effect. While we wait for the IRS to provide a full interpretation, we do have more information on some sections. One in particular that has some tax preparers nervous for their clients is federal withholding. With the higher standard deduction and changes in child credits, taxpayers may need to reconsider how much to withhold for federal taxes in each pay period.

Across the Great Plains the end of summer generally brings hot and dry conditions to the region. Both warm and cool season grasses begin to mature and decline in forage quality by late July and August. This decrease in diet quality can present challenges for the May calving heifer, who is still growing and nursing her first calf. The breeding season for May calving cows starts in late July and August.

The high rainfalls experienced in recent weeks have left many feedlot holding ponds full and operators looking for irrigation options for applying animal manure during the growing season. This article focuses on important considerations for application of open lot holding pond effluent and diluted manures during the growing season without damaging the crop. Three take home messages from this article include:

The game of “what-if” can be tricky. What if the corn crop becomes drought damaged this year? Am I prepared to utilize this forage? Drought-stressed corn will start to wilt and roll its leaves. If drought occurs for four days during the silking and pollination period, the early reproductive stages of the corn plant, as much as 40-50% drop in yield can occur. Cattle producers looking to make use of the drought-stressed corn may harvest it for forage but it should be done with a few considerations.

Nebraska is the epicenter of the beef cattle community. Nebraska beef cattle producers are the Nation’s leaders and produce top quality beef for today’s consumers. When it comes to running a strong cattle operation, they do things the right way. Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) is here to help with the training and certification to build more value into your operation.

Cow-calf producers have the option of preconditioning calves at weaning to improve health status and ultimately add value to their calf crop. Preconditioning programs can vary greatly from one operation to another but share the common goal of preparing calves for the next phase of production. The preconditioning period is typically a minimum of 45 days and includes a nutritional program, health protocol, and series of management strategies designed to minimize stress and boost the immune system of the newly weaned calf.

The American Simmental Association (ASA) recently released a new genetic evaluation that includes multiple changes that seedstock and commercial producers alike should be aware of. Although there were changes to the entire suite of EPD, examples of key changes are listed below.

As grass leases continue to get harder to find and more expensive to acquire, and drought continues to threaten the Great Plains, cow/calf producers are showing more and more interest in feeding pairs in a confinement system.

In this month's BeefWatch Producer Perspective Podcast, Dr. Danny Klinefelter who is a retired agricultural economics and professor from Texas A&M University shares about The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP) which is a designed for ag business owners and managers looking to develop their skills.

Topics discussed include:

A common conversation I have with producers usually goes something like this, “I’m renting out 50 acres to my neighbor who wants to run 30 cows on it, does that sound about right to you?” This is a perfectly legitimate question, however, more details are needed on both the cattle and the pasture to fully answer this question. 

The cool spring followed by a quick warm up could make for the perfect storm. Grass tetany usually occurs in the spring when cool weather is followed by a warm period. It is typically seen in early lactation cows grazing cool-season grasses during cool, cloudy, and rainy weather. 

In this month's BeefWatch Producer Perspective Podcast, Brian Sprenger who is part of a family owned and operated ranch near Sidney shares how his family utilizes annual forages as grazing resource. Some of the topics that Brian discusses in the interview include:

Do you rent pasture? What happens if drought lowers pasture production below expectations? Specifically, what does your pasture lease say about drought?

It’s hard to think about drought in mid-winter but drought can play havoc on pasture leases. All too often, pasture leases fail to include an appropriate plan to adjust to this problem.

Estrus synchronization optimizes labor and time, and improves the ease of using artificial insemination (AI) (Lamb et al., 2009). Use of AI allows access to superior genetics, accelerates genetic change within a herd, and is frequently less expensive than natural service (Johnson and Jones, 2004). Synchronized females 1) exhibit estrus at a controlled time, 2) have increased calf uniformity, 3) calve earlier in the season, and 4) wean calves that are older and heavier (Perry, 2004).

In this month's BeefWatch Producer Perspective Podcast, the Peterson family who own and operate Plum Thicket Farms near Gordon share how they utilize annual forages as part of their diversified crop and cattle operation. Some of the topics that the Peterson family discusses in the interview include:

Prior to grazing cornstalks with cattle, an estimate should be made of the amount of corn that is present in the field. The UNL Extension Circular EC 287 Grazing Crop Residues with Beef Cattle provides information on a simple method for estimating the bushels of corn that are on the ground.

Cow depreciation is frequently the second or third largest expense to the cow-calf enterprise after feed. Depreciation is a non-cash expense that is often overlooked by cow-calf producers.

Depreciation for a cow is calculated as the following:

Purchase Price or Replacement Cost – Salvage Value/Productive Years in the Herd

To demonstrate how significant this expense can be, examine an example of current bred replacement heifer prices against today's cull cow values.

Common mullein is becoming an increasing concern to grassland managers as the aggressive forb spreads from old fields, abused areas, and rights-of-way to grasslands. Woolly leaves complicate control by discouraging grazers and obstructing herbicide contact. Although seeds are not produced until the second growing season (the first year’s growth is only a vegetative rosette and does not produce a stalk or seed head), this yellowed flowered biennial is a prolific seed producer with each plant producing over 175,000 seeds and each seed remaining viable for over 100 years.

Manure increases formation of larger (macro) and more stable soil aggregates.  Several benefits result for fields fertilized by manure compared to commercial fertilizer including:

Silage time has arrived for many producers. Some producers have been forced to put up silage due to hail but many are considering silage over grain based on economical beef production when feeding silage. Here are some key considerations for beef producers to consider before and during use of silage in their operation.

Distillers grains are a common component in finishing diets in Nebraska. Their inclusion has resulted in improved performance while also improving cost of production. Recently, ethanol plants have been removing fiber components and corn oil, thus changing the composition of the available distillers grains.

The following article is a summary of research conducted by University of Nebraska meat scientists evaluating dietary impacts on ground beef shelf life and fatty acid profile. The original article can be found in the 2016 Nebraska Beef Report pages 164-166.