– Dean Kreager, Ohio State University Extension AgNR Educator, Licking County (originally published in the Ohio Farmer on-line) How do you avoid getting stuck in a rut? Take a different path. There was a real shortage of high quality or even medium quality hay made last year. Forage analysis results that I reviewed last fall [...]

– Matthew A. Diersen, Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Economics, South Dakota State University The May feeder cattle futures and options contracts expire later this week. The contracts will settle to the CME Feeder Cattle Index, which now includes various cattle that were previously excluded from the index, mainly any cattle labeled as “fancy, [...]

Change can be a challenge, or it can be viewed as an opportunity. As the beef industry continues to evolve, so too, does our Beef Team within Ohio State University Extension. In the past year we have added Beef Quality Assurance trainings to our traditional education programs, including the annual beef school webinars. With recent [...]

– W. Mark Hilton, DVM, PAS, DABVP (beef cattle), Clinical Professor Emeritus, Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine Talk to any veterinarian who does a significant amount of beef work, and he or she will have stories of a group of cows that went “0 for” at pregnancy check. Maybe it was a group of [...]

– Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist Only 1 to 2 months ago the spring calving cows were calving, the temperatures were colder and the calving pastures were already covered with muck and manure. Experience would say that you do not want to ask cow calf operators how calving is then, because [...]

– Garth Ruff, Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, Henry County (originally published in Ohio’s Country Journal on-line) Less than ideal conditions have led to forage shortages throughout the Midwest. Photo: Ohio’s Country Journal Low hay inventory this past winter combined with poor pasture stands due to excessive moisture have led [...]

– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee FED CATTLE: Fed cattle traded $3 lower on a live basis compared to last week. Live prices were mainly $116 to $117 while dressed prices were mainly $184 to $186. The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $116.70 live, [...]

– Stan Smith, PA, Fairfield County OSU Extension Today, as we sit here on May 15, we know three things for certain: Ohio has the lowest inventory of hay since the 2012 drought and the 4th lowest in 70 years. Ohio’s row crops will not get planted in a timely fashion this year. Grain markets [...]

– Dr. Michelle Arnold, DVM, Ruminant Extension Veterinarian, University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Dr. Darrh Bullock, Extension Professor, Breeding and Genetics, University of Kentucky Picture 1: The two front quarters are blind (dry). Udder and teat quality are two of the most important functional traits for a beef cow. Although much of the [...]

– Travis Mulliniks, UNL Beef Cattle Nutritionist, Range Production Systems During the production year, livestock are faced with dynamic changes in nutritional and environmental stressors that create nutritional challenges.  The last year for many livestock producer have been one of those very challenging years. Many parts of Nebraska experienced high, early spring rainfall and tremendous [...]