The agricultural industries are facing a shortage more serious than drought or high feed costs.

In visiting ranches across Texas, a consistent observation on management is that holistic-managed ranches have more grass and survive droughts better than ranches under other management programs.

The Australian beef machine is well placed to sell much more beef directly into U.S. markets. That’s according to Texas-based beef industry analyst Don Close, Rabobank’s U.S. vice president of animal protein research, who addressed the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association’s (IFAMA) Sydney, Australia, chapter beef forum. Close said that while the U.S. is keen to seize export opportunities in Asia (notably China) and Europe, its beef herd is now the smallest in 60 years, largely because of soaring production costs.

An implant program undoubtedly is the most important factor for improving margin in cattle. Before cattle arrive at a feedyard, managers need to decide if they want to implement an aggressive strategy or a more conservative one.

Popularity spikes upward for the Black Hereford breed Hereford, the image of a red cow with white markings comes to mind. However, there is a new color of Hereford on the rise.

Pastures are one of our most valuable assets in the cow-calf industry.

At times in the cattle industry, it can be hard to distinguish one breeder from another. Seedstock producers do everything they can to produce the best genetics possible.

Reproductive strategies help Texas cattleman build profitable herd Davis Green started 7 Bar Longhorns in 2006 with two cows and two big goals: long horns and impressive genetics.

Some people are just an accident waiting to happen. Take my friend ReRide for example. Getting hurt is ReRide’s “Achilles heel,” which is about the only part of his body he hasn’t broken, strained, cut, burned or shattered. Not that I go around checking out other males’ anatomies or anything, but a mere glimpse of ReRide’s carcass is enough to make any woman become a nun. Years ago, we were working our calves and since we had all day to process 100 head, about mid-morning we decided to take a well-deserved break.

The cattle business today has evolved into several distinct segments. Each draws certain people whose personality, skill and savvy make them best suited to that segment. We’ll start with the purebred breeders, the architects who design prototypes for the industry. They are academic-minded. They steep themselves in statistics, fiddle with and refine genetics in an effort to define subjective traits objectively. Not unlike ancient mariners drawing and redrawing the constellations in the night sky.