You may be a full-time beef producer or have a herd of cattle as a sideline or hobby in addition to your regular job. Caring for cattle in a cow-calf operation can be time-consuming and demanding. I hear all the time from producers they are tied down by caring for cattle.

The 2-year-old year is the toughest time of a cow’s life. It’s nursing its first calf, still growing and needs enough nutrition and body condition to cycle on schedule after calving.

When people think “cattle country,” Ohio isn’t among the first places that come to mind. Between the Buckeye State’s well-known metropolises, 16,900 beef herds can be found across the green pastures of all 88 counties.

Understanding reproductive efficiency can sometimes be confusing. Does it mean getting the most cows pregnant in a single breeding season with little cost or fewer bulls? How does one quantify reproductive efficiency?

Developing replacement heifers is one of the most expensive aspects of a cow-calf operation. Eliminating heifers that may not be successful cows early in the development process reduces costs.

Commercial cattle producers may jump into the seedstock business because the notion of selling a bull or heifer for big bucks is appealing.

Herd management decisions can have a heavy impact on the success of fixed-time A.I. and estrous synchronization techniques.

What was once a cost-prohibitive and unprecedented management practice for beef producers has become more attainable in recent years. Assisted reproductive technologies, specifically in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET), have become stronger options to use alongside live cover.

Hi ladies, it’s me: the wife of the slob who usually writes this column. He’s resting now, getting his beauty sleep – and believe me, he needs all he can get. Unbeknownst to him, I’m taking over the column this week because what I have to say is much more important than any gibberish he’d have written.

Hard though it may be to believe, I am not the most tech-savvy guy crashing and burning his way along the information superhighway.