National Beef Quality Audit – Results That Impact You
In this video Michaela Clowser, Tammy Vaassen and Bill Halfman discuss the 2022 NCBA Quality audit results with dairy and beef producers.
Articles
Lamb and Kid Care – the First 72 Hours
Rosie Busch, DVM, UC Davis Cooperative Extension, will cover the common presentations for sick kids and lambs within the first few days of life and practical methods to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome.
Herd Additions Are Risky: How to Mitigate Biosecurity Risk
As the gavel falls on your cattle purchase, do you really know what you bought? Herd additions have inherent risk. Every movement of cattle onto your cow-calf operation—be they cows, heifers, calves, or bulls—brings biosecurity risks to your farm. It is critical to isolate new additions so that any sickness they break with is not shared with your home herd.
Abortion & Respiratory Disease in Sheep and Goats
This session explains how these pathogens spread, clinical signs, diagnostic strategies, necropsy and sample collection, and prevention practices producers can use to protect flock health.
Hay Analysis Guide for Beef Cattle: Determining Winter Feed Needs
Winter feed costs typcially represent the largest portion of cow/calf expenses. A hay analysis is important to determine if hay will meet a cow herd’s nutrient requirements during winter. This factsheet will cover interpreting a hay analysis and to calculate winter feed needs.
Don’t overlook nutritional needs of 2-year-old cows
A frequently heard recommendation for beef farms is to separate the 2-year-olds and thin cows from the main herd during the winter-feeding period. Three-year-olds may also benefit from being in this group because they are still growing. This is important every year, and likely even more important during years of limited forage resources.
Should you deworm your cattle this fall?
Deworming decisions are farm-specific and depend on the age of the animal, how much exposure they had to infective larvae while grazing this spring and summer or the previous spring and summer, when they were last dewormed, and what products were used.
Options for feeding the beef cow herd when hay supplies are short
Management options that a spring-calving cow herd may consider to get through the winter feeding season when hay is in short supply. The examples given use general assumptions because options and costs vary from farm to farm and over time.
Biosecurity in the feedlot
Bringing new calves to the feedlot is stressful for them due to transportation, adjusting to a new home, changing feed, exposure to disease, and establishing social order with new cattle. Minimizing both clinical and subclinical disease in feedlots is essential for producers to improve profitability.
Step into biosecurity with clean and disinfected boots
Keeping your livestock safe from microbes, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi, is the biosecurity goal that all farms should have. Wearing clean, sanitized footwear helps meet this goal as foot traffic moves microbes to and around the farm.