The 2009-2010 Midland Bull Test has 1100 bulls on test, comprised of 12 breeds. The top performing bulls of each breed will sell April 7-9, 2010 at the bull test station, Columbus, Mont. On Wednesday, April 7^th we will sell Salers, Gelbvieh, Charolais and Simmental. Red Angus, South Devon, Murray Grey, Hereford and Braunvieh bulls will sell on Thursday, April 8^th. All Angus bulls will then sell on Friday, April 9^th.

 Beefmaster Breeders United6800 Park Ten Blvd., Suite 290 West San Antonio, TX 78213 210/732-3132 • www.beefmasters.org  Contact: Cody Ann Bainter, Communications & Marketing Specialist or Jeff Natho, JBBA Coordinator  210/732-3132 • cbainter@beefmasters.org or jnatho@beefmasters.org

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Louisiana junior members earned honors at the 2010 LSU Junior Heifer Show &Showmanship in Baton Rouge, La. on Feb. 18.

Judge – Terri Barber 193 Entries Summer Heifer Calves  1) Heart Breaker ‐ Nate Allen Compton  2) 920 – Ethan Saye  3) Butterbean – Collin McMaster  Spring Heifer Calves  1) No Name – Jordon Hall  2) Cajun Cookin – Connor Reed  3) Jo Gertrude – Natalie Walsh

Changes are coming to America’s cattle ranches. Operators and their employees will have new technology at their fingertips, and will require a new set of skills to employ it; the operators themselves will be changing, as will the sizes of their enterprises. And they’ll be less independent than they’ve been in the past.

Nutritional Management of the Calf After Weaning  The first 30-45 days after a calf is weaned is perhaps the most stressful period of its life. Good performance and health during this time can set the stage for an efficient and profitable feedout, or a long and productive life in the cow herd. On the other hand, most of the sickness and death loss due to respiratory disease happens at this time. Respiratory disease affects one in 7 feedlot placements and is the leading cause of death loss.

So, you like working with animals, and you want to become a veterinarian. That is certainly a good start, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gaining a degree in veterinary medicine. Doctors of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) includes those that conduct research and spend time in the laboratory developing new theories and practices, while others take the clinical route and work in the field diagnosing, treating and curing animals.

Bryan McMurry, with Cargill Animal Nutrition, earned his Masters Degree in Animal Breeding and Genetics, and a PhD in Animal Science from Texas A&M University. The short, simple answer to this question is of course, the cow. That’s her job. As cattlemen, taking care of the cow is our job. The answer to taking care of the cow is neither short nor simple.

There are seven major reproductive diseases in cattle; one of them - Brucella abort us, the cause of brucellosis - has been nearly vanquished. But the others still lie in wait for the opportunity to rob ranchers of profits. B. Abort us still surfaces occasionally and there are other pathogens that show up sporadically.
 

Yahoo posted a lead story on their home page this past week attempting to explain corn-fed beef as a health risk while promoting grass-fed purchases. Read the story at the following link
 
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-7-foods-experts-wont-eat-547963/
 
Does the so-called expert Joel Salatin have a bias or some kind of agenda? The article does tell you he is a co-owner of Polyface Farms, what it does not tell you is that Polyface Farms are producers of grass-fed beef. No animal scientists or representatives were quoted. - Justin Champine, publisher
 
Please post your comments and thoughts.

Celebrating our 10th year in business, Oasis Montana Inc. is a locally owned and operated business that specializes in renewable energy system supply and design, offering equipment for remote homes, grid-tied, RV, marine, UPS, emergency back-up, telecommunications, and solar water pumping systems. We also offer a line of efficient AC/DC appliances, and non-electric gas refrigerators, freezers, cooktops and stoves. Oasis Montana is located between Hamilton and Missoula in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley. While most of our business is in the U.S. we do have happy customers with power systems (and related equipment) all over the world.
 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Gary Frenzel, Temple, Texas, received the 2009 Breeder of the Year Award at the Beefmaster Breeders United (BBU) Annual Convention Oct. 22-24 in San Antonio, Texas. Frenzel purchased his first Beefmaster bull in 1980. Within a year, he expanded his commercial herd to include registered Beefmasters and today runs 160 purebred cows. He partners with his brother, Terry, to raise another 50 Beefmasters, and manages a satellite Beefmaster herd of 100 cows with his son, Derek.

“To produce volume numbers of low birth weight – high growth seedstock that excel in the economically important traits that are vital to the success of the commercial ranchers of this region." That is the mission of the Tokach family and Tokach Angus Ranch, located four miles east of St. Anthony, ND and 25 miles south west of Bismarck. According to Dick and Theresa Tokach, the original 160-acre home quarter was homesteaded by Dick's grandfather in 1908.
 

The amount of land in production agriculture declines every year. In the 2007 Ag Census, USDA estimated there were 922 million acres of land in farms, a decline of more than 16 million acres in just five years. The loss has been consistent; 25 years ago, there were nearly 987 million acres in farms in the U.S. Much of that land is developed, as a steadily growing American population needs more room and the cities and their suburbs slowly radiate out into the country. There’s been something of a slowdown over the last couple of years, as the recession has put a damper on new home construction.
 

Ranchers around the country are capitalizing on the trend by going organic.
When cattlemen meet the strict rules of USDA’s Organic Marketing Program, they can use the government’s “Certified Organic” logo and provide assurances to demanding consumers. In some cases, cattle producers are pursuing it as a local enterprise, marketing the beef to nearby restaurants and grocery stores. Lane Mc- Connell, who manages organic promotion programs for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, says, “Consumers are wanting those local products, and wanting these types of niche products; they’re searching those out, and there’s a lot of different places now for farmers to sell products like this.”

Black Gate Farms

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Enters into Agreement to Acquire Certain Assets of Fort Dodge Animal Health from Pfizer Acquisition will strengthen Boehringer Ingelheim’s position as a vaccine supplier among the world’s top animal health companies. Ingelheim, Germany and St. Joseph, MO (September 21, 2009) – Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical group of companies, together with its U.S. animal health business Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Pfizer to acquire certain assets of Wyeth Pharmaceutical’s Fort Dodge Animal Health business upon the closing of the global Pfizer-Wyeth merger, which is expected to occur early in the fourth quarter. The deal, which is subject to anti-trust clearance, significantly increases the size of Boehringer Ingelheim’s companion animal and cattle portfolios.

To 53-year old Mark Guge of rural Estherville, farming has always been in his blood. As a matter of fact this passion for the land and the cattle goes back five generations. “I think it goes way back to my great grandfather, who homesteaded near here in 1890,” says Guge. “I think there has always been an emphasis by each generation to take care of the land. Economics drives everything, but you have to take care of and improve the land for the land to take care of you.”

Winter can be hard on cattle, and cattlemen. In a few months northern pastures and fields may well be covered with snow or ice, while those in warmer climates will likely offer significantly fewer nutrients to grazing cattle.
     Somewhere between Thanksgiving and late January, depending on location, most cattlemen will be forced to turn primarily, if not completely, to stored feed stocks to carry their herds through the winter. At the same time the nutritional needs of the animals will likely be increasing, particularly in herds managed for traditional spring calving.

A psychology major, Anne knew she wanted to live in the open spaces where there weren’t so many people, but she was a city girl and knew very little about cattle and farming.  But…that was then; this is now. Always a hands-on “do it” type of person, Anne jumped right in, watching, listening, and learning from the experts. “My dad always said, ‘If you’re going to bother to do something, do it right’. I am a focused person. I learned on the go and things slowly came together, and by year five I felt I was ready to be a true manager and a leader.”

Curt Zimmerman believes the cattle industry is starting to return to the Midwest—and he’s here to help.“Not that it’s ever left entirely,” says Zimmerman, who is livestock development supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. “But we get more and more calls and inquiries from the western and southern state operators who are looking to relocate. The ability to grow feedstuffs and convert that into some value-added meat, whether it be beef, pork, poultry, or milk, is getting to be more and more attractive; we’ve had more cows in the state of Minnesota than we’ve had since 2002. The profit picture is not as rosy,” he acknowledges, “but we’re hoping that will change really quickly.”
 

 From the ranch to the processing yard, beef calves endure high levels of stress dealing with new, foreign environments that can ultimately affect beef quality and the producers’ bottom line. And while for most cattlemen, it’s always a satisfying feeling to get the calves loaded onto the trailer and watch the truck fade into the horizon, many producers harbor some degree of anxiety until they know the cattle have reached their destination safely.

We here at the American Cattlemen have posted this article to inform you of the Dexter cattle breed. This story is brought to you by American Dexter Cattle Association.

“Feeding cattle is a risky business,” says Rodney Shepherd and Shelmer Blackburn, Jr., owners of North Wilkesboro, NC-based Champion Cattle Company.“There are so many uncertainties we face everyday that impact performance and profits. Depressed cattle prices, rising feed prices and everyday health issues are some of the variables that affect all cattlemen,” they note. Located in Wilkes County in the northwest foothills of North Carolina, Champion Cattle Company was the result of the brainstorming of two individuals from different backgrounds who shared the common desire to profit from producing pounds of quality beef.