Effective trace mineral supplementation of ruminants during critical periods can increase the efficiency of production. Poor immuno-competence, poor reproduction efficiency, lack of calf vitality (ill thrift) and other poor to sub-optimal trace element-dependent functions in ruminants frequently occur.

“Rain or shine, wet or dry, do you want to make more money from your cows next year?” asks a Texas AgriLife Research forage scientist.

One of the most common questions we get during this time of year is whether or not to temporarily increase feed levels for the cowherd, and if so, by how much.

Every Christmas I look forward to getting a traditional card from a ranch family, in which every member is mounted on a good-looking quarter horse with a silver bit in its mouth. So you can imagine my dismay when their 2011 Christmas card arrived and they were all mounted on a lazy man’s horse ... an ATV. What is the world coming to? I just don’t get it. The opportunity to ride a horse for a living is why many of us got into the cattle business to begin with.

As the winter and spring bull-buying season approaches, seedstock purchasers should do their homework to help ensure the bulls they purchase this year meet their needs.

Lassen County, California, is bigger than Rhode Island, but what isn’t? And it has less people than the average funeral in New Orleans. It is famous for its volcano and Western tradition. Joy and her husband run cows, guide hunters and rent cabins at their ranch near Butte Creek. It was nighttime, two days before hunting season, and two poachers were butchering a deer hangin’ in a tree down by the road.

The Supreme Court has blocked a California law that would require euthanizing downed livestock at federally inspected slaughterhouses to keep the meat out of the nation's food system. The high court ruled that the state's 2009 state law was blocked from going into effect by federal law administered by the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The Supreme Court has blocked a California law that would require euthanizing downed livestock at federally inspected slaughterhouses to keep the meat out of the nation's food system.The high court ruled that the state's 2009 state law was blocked from going into effect by federal law administered by the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The beef checkoff’s Research, Education and Innovation (REI) programs manage the safety, human nutrition and product enhancement research, as well as the Beef Quality Assurance, Beef Innovations Group and Culinary Innovations programs that provide the tools, technologies and knowledge to all sectors of the supply chain, thereby facilitating improvements and increased understanding of beef products offered to the public.