Bovine Bellyaches

Tips offered for preventing bloat in cows.

If you’ve ever heard the saying, “Your eyes were bigger than your stomach,” you probably know it usually refers to an overindulgence on food, resulting in a bellyache.

Like humans, cattle can unknowingly overeat such grasses as alfalfa and clover and may end up with a serious condition affecting their digestive system — legume bloat.

Ranchers Should Intensify Pasture Management to Contain Costs

New white paper explores benefits of maximizing pasture productivity as a long-term profitability strategy; 0% financing offer supports producers’ pasture management efforts.

A new resource for ranchers showcases how adopting sound pasture management practices can translate directly to an operation’s overall profit potential. Disrupting Pasture Management: Adopting a Profit-per-Acre Approach, a new white paper from Corteva Agriscience, discusses how making changes to the way pasture is tended can turn a beef operation from a price-per-pound enterprise to a profit-per-acre business.

Know the Difference

In forage management, there’s a difference between overstocking and overgrazing.

Overgrazing as we know it today was rare in prehistoric times; it is a modern symptom that occurs when animals are confined in certain areas and can’t move on after the landscape has been grazed. Richard Teague, Texas A&M AgriLife Research rangeland ecology and management scientist at Vernon, Texas, says his goal in research is to discover what kind of management of rangeland results in the best means of restoring ecological function and farm livelihoods.

By Design

Summer shade to beat the heat.

The heat is on, and your bulls and nursing cows trying to rebreed can struggle to stay cool. To try to get away from the heat, cattle may flock to treed areas and water sources, which can cause destruction of the trees, erosion and reduced water quality.

Gizmos & Gadgets

Products for use on farms and ranches.

This month’s edition features a pour-on dewormer for cattle; a parasiticide for companion animals; a feed additive used to promote weight gain and improve feed efficiency in finishing feedyard cattle; a kit for your hunting needs; and a website to order your new hat.

Drought Insurance Down Under

Risk management option trying to come to fruition.

In January, the Australian wildfires were making big news in American media. Drought is certainly a big deal in Australia. It’s not called the sunburnt country for nothing, and the current Murray-Darling Basin drought is officially the worst on record. However, livestock drought insurance is not available to Australian ranchers. Fourth-generation farmer Brett O’Brien of OBA Consulting is on a mission to change that.