Readers send me stories and ideas for the column. Sometimes they are so good they deserve retellin’ in their own words. This is Barry’s tale about a “real cowboy” named Otis. Otis wore his long-sleeved shirt and long-handled underwear winter and summer. It worked like a thermos, he claimed: cold in the summer and warm in the winter. His old Blanchard spurs left tracks in the dirt when he walked because the heels were so wore down on his boots.

We’re often told we should turn back the clock and produce cattle for beef the way we used to. What would be the impact if we did away with steroid growth implants, ionophores in feed, hormones in feed, and beta agonists ? This question was investigated in a recent study.

Daryl Tatum, a meat scientist with Colorado State University, talks about the role marbling plays in the beef-eating experience.

A University of Wyoming herd of replacement heifers lost 25 percent of its calf crop to abortions and lost pregnancies after vaccinating pregnant heifers with modified-live vaccines (MLV) containing infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus, according to an article recently published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA). A case report detailing the onset of abortions in the university-owned and well-managed herd was featured in the Pathology in Practice section of JAVMA, which spotlights diagnostic case studies.

A unique two-year research project is being undertaken by Diamond V and the National Animal Disease Center (NADC) of the USDA – Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to examine the impact of antibiotics, dietary supplements, and stress on the microbial communities and host mucosal tissues of the swine intestinal ecosystem. The goal is to identify alternatives to traditional antibiotics for use in reducing the antibiotic resistance gene reservoir and food borne pathogens in farm animals.

A new junior animal scientist program helps kids learn more about science and the animal world. Children ages 5 to 12 can explore science careers and study the lives of pets, farm animals and zoo animals. All junior animal scientists receive a full year subscription to Jr. Animal Scientist magazine. The magazine has great resources for learning at home or in the classroom:

With the recent interest in California joining the Federal Order pricing system, the management and board of directors of California Dairies, Inc. have taken a proactive step to investigate what impacts might be expected as a result of adopting federal milk pricing regulations. CDI has commissioned a comprehensive modeling study of a California federal milk marketing order, the first of its kind. Dairy Farmers of America Western Area (DFA) and Land O’Lakes (LOL) have agreed to join CDI and participate in the study.

When the year 2012 goes into the history books for beef producers, it will be remembered for presidential elections, drought, BSE, corn shortages, fuel prices, beef exports, food bloggers and “pink slime” – and that’s just digging through the news file. More relevant for readers of Progressive Cattleman were the topics related to their industry and way of life. The number of readers going online to gather information about their business continued to climb in 2012.