Great cattle and friendships come full circle in this supply network committed to producing high-quality beef. That was some 12 years ago and, since then, he’s proven time and again those first indications were right on course.

After a two-year drought that besieged Texas and the surrounding states, the cattle industry gears up for a recovery.

The summer sun provides a reprieve from cold winters in the North and a change of pace from mild temperatures in the South but can be detrimental to lactating cattle if not managed properly. Feeding routines, ration adjustments and consideration of feed additives can keep cows productive while temperatures sizzle.

As I put this article together in mid-June, much of the central and eastern Corn Belt is in need of precipitation.

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series. Click here to read part one of the series. Last month, I gave a brief overview of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), one of the most common legal mandates that relates to grazing on public lands.

Signs of prosperity are starting to show up in cow country, such as ... No. 10. New wardrobes: At the auction market I saw two old tightwad ranchers wearing blue-blue jeans and walking funny, as if they were stepping on red-hot nails. What really happened was they bought new Wranglers and their first new boots in 30 years! (They’ll get them broke in about the time the market caves in.)

Russ normally would not have kept the heifer he called “The Pirate,” but he did. It was one of those chilly 5:30 spring mornings in southeast Idaho. He decided to make a quick heifer check before he got his youngest kid on the school bus at 6:30. Russ slipped into his handy fashion farmwear (sweatpants, heavy long-sleeved T-shirt and slip-on boots) and drove down to the calving pasture. Dang! Sure enough, there was a heifer down in a low spot, on her back and bloated. Russ stopped the truck and walked over to her.

Feed is a significant portion of annual production costs in a cow-calf operation. These high costs make a supplement strategy with price control guidelines an important part of the management plan.

With only days left before Congress goes on a five-week recess in August, House Republican leaders have yet to schedule a vote on the farm bill. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pushed the House to consider the bill, which has passed out of its agriculture committee, before its August vacation.