Which mechanic are you? • You watch the calendar almost as religiously as the Super Bowl countdown – just XXX days before you haul that equipment to the field again, and by darn, you’re not about to get it ready until you absolutely have to.

One of my friends asked for help repairing a gate hinge. He and his wife have a small stable of riding and pulling horses, and one of the gates had worn at the hinge point to where it was getting difficult to open and close.

Most readers select two or more production EPDs as top priorities.

Most Progressive Dairyman readers do not have a good work-life balance.

Chris Church
Veterinary Technical Consultant
Elanco Animal Health
Tavistock, Ontario

New from BalePlus, the large square bale injector is custom designed to inject the company’s nutrition supplement formula into any large square bale.

The last two years have been a whirlwind of dramatic extremes for the cattle industry. With historically tight supplies in 2014, record prices in every segment of the market were reached. Improvements in drought conditions and unprecedented high cow-calf returns brought about rapid expansion at the end of 2014 and throughout 2015.

When I am on the highway and pass a truck hauling calves to the feedlot, I am always reminded of the complex process that it takes to keep them healthy. The producer has to have a bit of faith when managing calves prone to stress-induced health difficulties in each step of their development, but there are items on the market that can help ease concern.

Despite what critics have claimed, research has found fatigued cattle syndrome (FCS) to be a result of several factors, not just the use of beta-agonists, said Dr. Dan Thomson, a professor of production medicine and epidemiology at Kansas State University.

As expansion of the national beef herd accelerates and leads to lower prices, it is an excellent opportunity to review financial performance numbers that ranches should try to attain.