When to market your calf crop is one of the most important decisions that a producer must make and can have a significant impact on your operation’s profitability. Market dynamics are usually the main drivers behind when a producer decides to sell their calves.

Driving down the county road past drought-stricken fields of sandy, caliche soil in south-central Texas’s Wilson County, you’d be forgiven for thinking it might not be the most fertile ground in the world. But for the Lyssy family, this is the perfect place to grow a cow herd, a family and a legacy.

Instead of the dairy farmer focusing on growing, harvesting and feeding rations, the focus changes to growing and managing pastures and controlling the cows’ utilization of those pastures with the goal to optimize cow nutrition, pasture quality, pasture yield and overall soil health.

Using overhead photos and high-resolution remote sensing can be like using a nutcracker to crack a walnut. These methods can more precisely pinpoint variations in plant communities and plant density than the coarser methods.

Herd rebuilding or expansion must start with enabling grazing land to support the additional animals over the long term.

Using cattle to graze standing forage can significantly reduce feed costs and aid in decreasing the cost of production.

Three traits have revolutionized the game of sorghum breeding.

2022 was a challenging year regarding precipitation throughout much of the Central and Western portions of the U.S. Many major cow-calf production regions, particularly in the central and southern Plains, are continuing to experience drought.

A cattle operation's feeding and nutrition program is the single-largest ongoing production expense and the one that may require the greatest amount of time, focus and planning to manage. It may also be the most variable, depending on the region and operations themselves.