A $1 investment today can turn into two $20s during a grazing season – without additional pasture or cattle. How? Simply by using implants in calves.

As ruminants, cattle eat a lot of forage in a short time then chew the cud and process the feed more thoroughly. They have preferences in forage plants and certain behavioral patterns when grazing.

I am an irregular American – only sort of human, a black sheep, you could say. My detractors would lump me in with the loafers, deadbeats, drunks, gamblers, hoboes and tramps. Yes, it’s true, I have to admit that I have always belonged to that lower class of people known as “fall calvers.” There, I said it. Do those of you who calve your cows in the springtime think less of me now? I thought so. Because the vast majority of cattlemen in this country calve their cows in the spring, those of us who calve in the fall are discriminated against, victimized and looked down upon by those smug ranchers who think they are superior just because they calve in blizzards and don’t have to watch calvy heifers during the holidays.

It is hard to believe, but turnout time is here. There is no better feeling for a cattle producer and his cattle when the gates are opened and the cattle are turned loose to graze for the summer. For cattle producers, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Normally when I get a letter or email from someone who has “seen themselves” in my column, I write back, apologize, swear I’ll try to do better and promise, as a penance, to bathe their Pekingese. This does not include animal rights loonies, the Association for Political Correctness or the ACLU drum bangers.

Trevor Tomkins, recently retired chief executive officer of Milk Specialties Global, has created a new, enterprise-based development organization. The official launch of venture | dairy will be celebrated May 1 at the Union League Club of Chicago. venture | dairy combines Tomkins’ executive experience and dairy science background. Promoting dairy as a powerful tool for growth around the world, particularly in emerging markets, venture | dairy works to improve milk production and quality, generate income, create jobs, help businesses grow and communities develop.

Dennis and Linda Brooks have raised beef cattle on 114 acres west of Hillsborough, North Carolina, since acquiring the land in 1978. Now a unique partnership will keep it that way.The Eno River Association, Orange County’s Lands Legacy Program, and the N.C. Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), have agreed to buy two conservation easements to protect the farm on Ben Johnson Road and the nearby streams.

Eight University of California research and outreach projects to address beef cattle and rangeland management issues have been funded through the Russell L. Rustici Rangeland and Cattle Research Endowment.The projects address water quality, reproduction, animal welfare, greenhouse gases, weed control and extending knowledge. The endowment is administered through the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).

What is lean, finely textured beef?For one, it’s not new. Lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) is simply beef and not slime, pink or otherwise. And it’s not “additive” or “filler.” According to the American Meat Institute, LFTB is produced through a mechanical process similar to a centrifuge in which fat is spun away from beef trimmings, producing a product that is 95 percent lean or higher.