The below timeline displays specific genetic traits and the year they were incorporated in official sire evaluations.

The latest Cattle on Feed report pegged the Dec. 1 feedlot inventory at 11.512 million head, 108 percent of last year. This is an additional 864,000 head in feedlots compared with December 2016.

The optimism associated with entering a new year is always tempered by the reality of leaving the previous one. Such is the case for those aboard dairy’s train as it moves down the track from 2017 into 2018.

The Beef Checkoff, one of the leading voices promoting beef products, launched a new campaign featuring the hashtag “#RethinkTheRanch” and several videos aimed at showing consumers how the beef industry works from farm to table to celebrate 25 years of promoting the beef industry.

Most readers do not use futures contracts, according to a recent online poll by Progressive Cattleman.

It’s not uncommon to be right up against the edge with your forage inventory as new harvest is coming on. No one wants to run out, and ideally, no one wants to feed green forage either. It’s easy to do though. With rising cow numbers or a poor forage year, you can find yourself short on feed. Combine the two and you will certainly have a forage inventory problem that needs attention.

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Dairy has an obvious place as a key ingredient in meals served across the country every day. But what about meals served at schools? Are there potential growth opportunities for dairy in school meals?

For dairy farmers who were betting the “three-year cycle” would shore up balance sheets, 2017 become a supreme disappointment. The year was modestly profitable for the lowest-cost producers, but for the average farmer, milk checks have failed to generate significant profits, if any at all.