– Clif Little, OSU Extension Agriculture Natural Resources, Guernsey County (this article was originally appeared in Farm and Dairy) Stockpiled fescue with small round bales can be utilized for winter strip grazing. Photo by Clif Little Winter feed represents one of the largest components of annual cow cost. Approximately seventy five percent of the annual [...]

– Dr. Michelle Arnold, UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory October and November are known as two of the most difficult months to buy feeder calves in KY due to major health challenges. Weather is often blamed but is just one of many risk factors that play a role in Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) development. This fall, [...]

– Chris Penrose, OSU Morgan County Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and President Elect, American Forage and Grassland Council A ‘virtual’ version of the conference will be held January 11-12 In response to feedback, the AFGC Board of Directors has made the decision to host a hybrid conference in January 2021.  This means there [...]

– Dr. Michelle Arnold, UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory 1. What is “blackleg”? This is a rapidly fatal disease of cattle, typically calves 6-12 months of age, caused by the bacterium Clostridium chauvoei. Sheep may also be affected. In a majority of cases, affected calves are simply found dead in the pasture with no symptoms of [...]

– Dr. Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky October has not been kind to cattle producers and traditional seasonal factors have been amplified this year by uncertainty over the election and back-and-forth discussions about another round of stimulus funds. Federally inspected cattle slaughter remains around 2019 levels. Beef cow slaughter has remained pretty [...]

– Matthew Diersen, Risk & Business Management Specialist, Ness School of Management & Economics, South Dakota State University The deadline to purchase or change Pasture, Rangeland, Forage – Rainfall Index (PRF-RI) insurance is quickly approaching. The deadline is November 15, 2020 to purchase PRF-RI for calendar year 2021. A producer selects the grid they want [...]

– Dr. Jimmy Henning, Extension Professor, Livestock Forage Specialist, University of Kentucky Some aspects of forage management are just confusing enough that the same questions come up every year. Take the forage disorders, cyanide poisoning and nitrate toxicity, for example. Questions on these disorders come up anytime the forage sorghum species are grazed and especially [...]

– David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service The number of cattle on feed hit an October record in 2020, at 11.7 million head. Placements and marketings were up over a year ago, as well. Digging into USDA’s report a little deeper reveals some more interesting directions for the cattle [...]

– Amanda Douridas, Champaign County Ag and Natural Resources OSU Extension Educator (originally published in the Ohio Farmer on-line) Multi-bin system with a concrete pad and wooden sides. Composting livestock mortalities can be an efficient and inexpensive method of disposing of on-farm mortalities. Rendering facilities are becoming harder to come by and so are landfills [...]

– Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler, Associate Extension Professor This fall has provided us with another dry spell. The recent hurricane provided small amounts of precipitation to the Commonwealth, but much less than originally forecasted. Randomly selecting county Mesonet sites across the state for the month shows precipitation levels of 0 to 1 inch. Even with the [...]