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NEWS

🔄 Tag, You’re It: New USDA Rule for Cattle & Bison

🔄 Tag, You’re It - The USDA's new ruling, effective November 5, 2024, requires specific cattle and bison to have visually and electronically readable ear tags for interstate transport, enhancing animal disease traceability and response efforts.

🌾 Straw Solutions - Graduate student Beatriz Montenegro Gonzalez is researching the use of wheat straw and byproducts like canola and flax screenings as cost-effective cattle feed during droughts, aiming to support producers facing economic challenges.

🧠 Mind Over Emotion - In his memo "Mr. Market Miscalculates," Howard Marks highlights the dangers of emotional investing and the importance of risk management. He urges cattle producers to adopt proactive strategies to safeguard their equity amid market fluctuations.

🐂 Shrink Matters - Shrink is a significant concern when selling calves, impacting sales weight and health indicators. It consists of fill shrink, recoverable quickly, and tissue shrink, which is more severe. Preconditioning and dietary interventions can reduce shrink during transport, leading to better market outcomes.

🍗 Meat Moves - The USDA is awarding $35 million in grants to enhance U.S. meat and poultry processing, supporting 15 processors across 12 states. This initiative aims to improve competition, reduce grocery costs, and strengthen local food systems.

🐄 Calmer Cattle - Lee Sinclair developed his interest in low-stress cattle handling while working at feedlots and emphasizes the importance of understanding cattle behavior and positions to reduce stress, improve health, and enhance production.

RANCHING KNOW-HOW

Benefits and Best Practices for Fenceline Weaning

Fenceline weaning allows calves to maintain contact with their mothers post-weaning, reducing stress and promoting healthier eating and weight gain, while minimizing stress from additional management practices. Learn how to integrate it in your operation!

Body Condition Scoring and Paying Attention to the Seven Percent

The Body Condition Scoring (BCS) system, ranging from 1 to 9, assesses energy reserves in beef cows. Evaluating BCS, ideally in late summer or early fall, helps manage reproductive efficiency by ensuring cows maintain adequate energy for breeding. Target BCS should be 5 to 6 for mature cows at calving, and 6 for first-calf heifers, to support reproductive performance and overall herd health.

RANCHING AROUND THE WORLD RECAP

🇨🇦 McIntyre Ranch and conservation groups set largest conservation easement in Canada [Canadian Cattlemen]

🇰🇷 South Korea rocked by fourth Lumpy Skin Disease outbreak [Beef Central]

CATTLE COMMUNITY

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

READER POLL

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS

THOUGHTS FROM VOTERS

Neutral

• “I'm a cow/calf operator in NC. Unfortunately, I'm a market follower rather than a market leader, because I've got a small herd (100 moms), as well as I have red cows in a black cow market.”