November 3, 2021 | Vol. 14 : No. 10
Although recent rains have greened up drought-stricken pastures in northwest Iowa, grazing is pretty well finished for this season. Begin repairing pastures for the 2022 grazing season with the following management steps.
Feedstuffs are a cattle operation’s biggest expense, but one Nebraska operation has figured out a way to be completely feed self-sufficient.
Stevens Cattle Co. is in northern Nebraska, not too far from the South Dakota border. Jeremy Stevens works with his dad to raise their Angus cattle. They manage about 450 Angus cows and use all Angus bulls. They develop about 150 bred heifers and take in other cattle during the summertime. He says they background about 1,200 steers and heifers in the wintertime because they have enough feed resources available.
This month’s column includes a new line of utility tractors, two series of self-propelled windrowers and a vertical tillage tool, as well as the introduction of a company’s new paint scheme.
Accuracy, ironically, is a concept that is often misunderstood. This is at least true in the sense of expected progeny differences (EPD), says Matt Spangler, professor and beef genetics specialist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Too often, he told attendees of the 2021 Beef Improvement Federation Advancements in Producer Applications breakout session, cattle producers select for accuracy instead of the EPD itself. This limits the amount of change you’re trying to make.
It wasn’t in Tyler Woolfolk’s plan to return to the family ranch just outside of Protection, Kan. He spent 12 years forging his own path in the banking industry. However, his data-driven mindset translated to the commercial cattle business, and when the chance to return home came, he took it. Learn more in this article’s video.
New precision technologies were a topic of discussion during the 2021 Beef Improvement Federation Research Symposium & Convention hosted June 22-25 in Des Moines, Iowa. Three speakers shared their experiences with application of three different technologies — one designed to aid collection of data contributing to genetic selection, one to monitor animal behavior and another to manage cattle placement during grazing.
