Search results for query: *

The most astute observation, I heard about the avian flu was that it dropped the cattle futures. I wonder who was short cattle at the time of the announcement.

It would be helpful to know where you are and what type of stock you are planning to graze.

It is an easy narrative to say that the big money killed the little man, but the sad reality is that a lot of the destruction of local business is self inflicted. Take the institution in rural America that was Sears and Roebuck, all the had to do was put the catalog online and they would be what...

I went to Tractor Supply to buy a generator, it said that it was in stock but I get to the store and the two scrawny girls in the store say that they don't have it in stock. Neither one of the girls could lift a sack of feed much less a generator.

I was asking about weaning calves to go on cover crops. We have normally sold our calves right off the cow and I want to try to get some extra weight before taking them to market. Thanks for the information. So basically, when the buyers say they want calves weaned 30 days, what they mean is...

I would like to get at least an extra 100 pounds on the calves by backgrounding calves for 45 days. I am thinking about planting a cover crop mix that would have and using something like almond hulls for energy or distillers grains to bump the protein level up.

I asked this question with backgrounding calves in mind but it applies to whatever class of animals needs supplementation.

Is there a way to determine if an animal is whether an animal could use more protein in their diet or whether they could benefit from added energy?

Could you post a feed tag? I have found that cattle either need to be on a forage based diet or a grain diet.

I haven't done any retesting yet. I still have some ground to fertilize with the testing I did before and before I do any more testing I want to figure out a better way to measure the changes that are being made. I can see that the ground is very inconsistent and so for any fertility program to...

I doubt there would be much improvement in soil organic matter. Even in the best conditions improving organic matter is a slow process. An acre of soil is about 2,000,000 pounds so even in the best situation a gain of a tenth of a percentage point a year. I am finding that ultimate issue that...

Selenium is not an important plant nutrient so it isn’t included on normal soil tests. There is some fertilization with going on with selenium for animal and human health in places like Finland.

Here are some soil tests that I took a few years ago. The tests look at many of the minerals that both plants and cattle need. I consulted with an agronomist a few years ago and we came up with a plan to address the issues. After a couple years, it is clear to me that addressing soil mineral...

In most cases, if the cattle are deficient in a mineral that means that the plants aren’t getting the minerals they need from the soil. Give the plants what they need and they will grow more better quality feed. It is something that is not that easy to see but it makes a difference.

Minerals can only help so much if the soil the forage is grown on is depleted. We have been getting hay grown in between trees in an orchard that has been well fertilized and the cows really do well on it.

We have cottonseed in California but it is priced to high for beef cows, it is very good dairy cow feed. I think any sort of oilseed meal or distillers grains would work for beef cows.

We bought a 50 gallon liquid feeder. It paid for itself the first time we filled it up. The liquid feed is alright. The nice thing is that everything gets a chance to eat. The problem is that it is what it is and if the cows need more it doesn’t work. We aren’t at this point set up to feed...

With older cows, I trim the horns so they are around ear length. When it is preg-checking or AI time it is nice to have the added security of the horns against the head gate to keep a cow from backing out. What I do is put a rope around the base of the horns and have a helper pull the head to...

I actually prefer to feed my heifers every second or third day, I want to feed enough at one time that everything gets its fill. The weakest calf is the one that needs the feed the most.

I have been looking at the price of feed recently and it looks like distillers grains is the cheapest form of protein around. I am thinking about feeding ddg in a salt limited mix. Thoughts on salt limiting and how to mix several hundred pounds of feed?