Listen to some “experts” and you’d think pasture management comes out of a bag or a bottle. They’d have you spraying weeds, seeding “improved” species and spraying fertilizer to make pastures productive.

Some people feel the anxiety of aging around the holidays or maybe with their birthday. For me, the stark reminders that I’m growing long in the tooth come in June, when my kids finish another year of school.

Congrats on what may be the most practical/applied beef/ranching industry publication available. I appreciate the timeliness of your articles and in particular the editor’s column on the GMO debate in the April issue. I applaud your encouragement of greater transparency across our industry. Such counsel is spot on.

“Ranching is a way of life.” “I love the animals.” “I can’t imagine doing anything else but being a rancher.” Even after a terrible year due to low prices or terrible weather: “I love what I do.”

The ag industry has been concerned for many years about protecting operations from trespassers who seek to secretly videotape footage of animals. Producers point to concerns over the safety of their animals, employees, facilities and privacy as reasons to prevent this type of activity.

Several of our primary forages can have anti-nutritional factors that can decrease or limit growth and reproduction. Alkaloids and mycotoxins can rob producers of production and should be considered as potential causes when cattle underperform for no apparent reason.

Brush and tree removal can be a costly tool for opening grazing options, while one sweep of a wildfire can solve the problem in a day.

Seeding is increasingly used to improve rangelands degraded by wildfires, energy extraction and weeds. Unfortunately, establishing rangeland plants from seed has proven difficult, and seeding efforts often fail. A lot of research is currently focused on improving rangeland seeding efforts.

Causes of fatigued cattle syndrome can come from a multitude of factors, not simply beta-agonists, Kansas State University research has found.

Mapping the resilience of woody plant encroachment to brush-control techniques can help landowners prioritize management and restoration actions to maximize the effectiveness of costly brush reduction, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study.