More than 600 feedlots call Rock County, Minnesota, home. With a land area of a little more than 320,000 acres, Rock County houses feedlots with fewer than 300 animal units to more than 3,000 head.

Hopefully, a calf nurses within two to four hours after birth, and its nutrition depends solely on the mother’s milk for several days afterward.

The other day, I had a conversation with my son Paul, who is trying to find a job. He was adopted from Bulgaria at age 11, so he is somewhat delayed in his understanding of social issues. He does not want to attend school to get the skills he needs to obtain a good job; he just wants to get a job that pays lots of money.

I was ridin’ pens for Horton in the fall of ’91. It was early October and the run had just begun.He was buyin’ calves like crazy ’cause the price was on the riseAnd you couldn’t see his pupils for the glitter in his eyes.

I love art, and the walls of my home are covered with it. I’m talking real art, not that abstract/impressionism garbage like the stuff shown at a modern art show in New York years ago where the judges accidentally gave “Best In Show” to an air conditioning vent that wasn’t even entered in the competition.

The USDA NASS (National Agricultural Statistics Service) September Cattle on Feed Report was released Friday, Sept. 18. The news was more of the same and one surprise. 2015 has displayed none of the price escalation of 2014, a persistent retreat from record-high prices and volatility.

Body condition scoring (BCS) is a relative measurement of the amount of fat tissue that cows store, which is also correlated to their energy reserve. The industry uses a 5-point scale (with quarter-point increments) to determine the body condition of dairy cows. By evaluating BCS changes, we can identify possible nutritional deficiencies, health issues and, by extension, potential impacts on milk production and reproductive performance.

Iowa State University animal science and veterinary researchers made possibly the first ever successful bovine embryo transfers in the Republic of Kosovo, paving the way toward improved dairy production and food security for the small nation in southeastern Europe.