This Beef Quality Assurance video explains the importance of minimizing stress for cows close to delivering a calf, thereby preventing a premature birth.

Governor Walker recently signed into law Senate Bill 396, which will provide the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) with enough funding to maintain its mandatory premises registration. This funding will provide the DATCP with the necessary tools to react to the state livestock industry if a disease outbreak were to occur.

Livestock producers have a new tool to save time and reduce costs when buying bulk feed ingredients. A newly launched website, www.feedpail.com, is designed to connect buyers and sellers of bulk feed ingredients quickly and easily. Dairy producers, as well as other bulk feed buyers, now have direct access to the feed ingredients they need through Feedpail, a free service that allows users to see prices and availability of more than 50 bulk feed ingredients.

Dr. Mario Lopez, an employee of DeLaval, was recently appointed to a three-year term on the board of the National Mastitis Council (NMC). In this position, Dr. Lopez will help steer NMC directives. Board members of Midwest Dairy Association have elected officers at the corporate and division levels. Jerry Messer (chairman), Allen Merrill (vice chairman) and Bill Siebenborn (first vice chairman) will extend their service. New members elected include: Kristine Spadgenske, Minnesota; Gerrit Davelaar, Iowa; Doug Nuttelman, Nebraska; and Byron Lehman, Kansas.

The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine hosted its first Annual Beef Improvement and Low Stress Cattle Handling Seminar in Davis, California, on April 28.

Beef producers interested in learning how to optimize forage and livestock production while conserving natural resources will want to consider attending the popular southern Iowa Greenhorn Grazing series.

Missouri beef producers learned that how their calves perform in feedlots starts with what happens on their farms—even before breeding time.