On most ranches, average cow size has increased significantly over the last three decades as a result of genetic selection. These changes do not come without consequences to forage intake. If the per-head counting method has been used to plan and track grazing, stocking rates may have unknowingly increase over time caused by increased forage intake of larger cows. Just as a lineman on a football team will eat more than the punter, larger cows will typically consume more forage than smaller cows.
The severe weather of this last winter and spring has prompted many cow-calf producers to evaluate the potential of moving their calving date to a different time of year. The following are a list of ten things producers may want to think through as they evaluate moving of a calving date.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center will host a field tour on cheatgrass management research on Thursday, June 6.
The tour will be of the Panhandle Experimental Rangeland approximately 10 miles north of Scottsbluff on Hwy 71. It will start at 9 a.m. in the east parking lot at the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center, 4502 Ave I, Scottsbluff, and progress to the rangeland. The tour is expected to end at noon.
Several enhancements and improvements to the Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) insurance program will take effect on July 1, 2019. LRP is an insurance contract offered by the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) to help livestock producers protect against unexpected down swings in market price.
One change is that LRP insurance coverage for fed cattle, feeder cattle, and swine is expanding to include all 50 states. Several other changes will be of particular interest to Nebraska cattle producers.
Every few years we seem to be faced with reasons to dust off these tax laws, but it has been a long time since it hasn’t been for drought. In 2019, we are looking at how these apply to flooding in the Midwest.
Livestock Deferrals
One-Year Deferral
A one-year deferral is available for all types of livestock (draft, dairy, breeding, and feeding) if you qualify for the following:
Rob Eirich and Brain Vander Ley discuss feedyard assessments and things owners and managers of feedyards should be aware of related to the assessment process.
Artificial insemination (AI) is the most powerful tool cow-calf producers have to improve beef cattle genetics. Still, they have been slow to adopt this technology due to the time and labor of heat checking and a market structure that until recently did not reward genetic improvement. However, markets are now rewarding improved genetics (e.g. premiums) and improved fixed time AI (FTAI) protocols make it easier for the cow-calf producer to use AI.
