As the drought that has plagued the western Great Plains for over a year spreads across the Midwest, producers are making hard decisions about cow herd management.

As I write this, we have just received some much-needed moisture, whereas others in our county just 40 miles away are plowing in the dust.

Sometimes weaning early can be beneficial, but for success you need to plan ahead and be set up to do it properly.

Spring is a beautiful time of year that brings renewed hope and optimism for production agriculture. The list of to-dos is endless with many folks either finishing up or in the midst of spring calving and preparing for the next breeding season, as well as field work and attempting innumerable other projects.

The time in which calves are weaned is typically based on their age or weight or because “that is when it has always been done.”

Every year, around the end of fall harvest, cattle producers contemplate what to do with their freshly weaned calves: either hold ’em or sell ’em.

The U.S. Drought Monitor map continues to feature a lot of undesirable colors. Widespread drought conditions continue across many parts of the U.S., and experts are predicting these conditions are not going away any time soon.