Ticks continually rob profits from beef cattle producers in several ways. Economic losses include reduced weight gain, diminished reproductive efficiency, increased costs for disease treatment and hide damage.

You’ve seen the acronym “AUM.” Do you know what it really means? Let’s guess: Abandoned uranium mine? Air-to-underwater missile? All ungulates meditate?

Grass and grazing animals evolved together. In North America, bison, pronghorn antelope and elk grazed the plains. In mountainous Western areas, elk, deer, bighorns, mountain goats and mountain buffalo grazed the more rugged regions.

Often, the last thing cattlemen care to do is crunch numbers, but arguably this is the most important aspect of managing a successful cattle operation.

Producers are showing a greater interest in cover crops as a forage source for grazing livestock. Cover crops can be intensively managed as a great forage source – but with some caution and considerations.

While bovines as a species are a pretty resilient animal, there are times where consuming too much of the wrong things can be detrimental to their performance – and maybe their life.

Spring is an exciting time for agricultural producers as it represents one of the high points of optimism for the year. New beginnings, new births, new growth and renewed hope for the production year. As spring arrives, the yearly plans are brought into implementation.

There’s a fad occurring in the Western world I’d like to encourage. Ranch people are naming their kids with rodeo-inspired words. I’m not talking about names like Freckles, Ote, Tibbs, Ty, Tuff, Trevor, Tomkins, Luke, Lane, Beaver, Monty, Mahan, Shoulders, Charmayne, Ace, Jake or Walt.

The changing seasons and my constant struggle with those changes provides me with plenty of writing fodder. It seems that no matter what Ma Nature throws at me or lays at my feet, I can find a reason to whine about it. There are those around me who might use a different term to describe my incessant “complaining,” but I try to keep my musings as family-friendly as possible.

To supplement farm income, some get their wives jobs in town. Others expand their hobbies (i.e., making saddles, braiding horsehair or running for county commissioner). Some, in desperation, get a real estate license.