You hear more about mature cow size and growth potential of calves, now that profit ebbs and flows with the cycle. We’ve written about mature size, but not much about how to use the relevant tools to change it. So now, let’s examine the strategies and tools available, and the unintended consequences of ignoring them.

By the lack of people in attendance during the “Interactive strategies for engaging with federal agencies” session of NCBA Cattlemen’s College in Phoenix, one could assume many ranchers feel it’s a lot like waiting for rain in a drought – hopeless.

The USDA Cattle on Feed report was released Friday, and the news was neutral to longer term bearish. Marketings matched pre-report expectations; on-feed inventories were slightly heavy but again close to expectations, while placements were above the highest estimate for the range of expectations.

Our oldest child is 17. What if she wants to come back to the ranch after college? What if our other kids do too?

I discussed risk in an article a couple of months ago and explained that risk exposure is often a daily occurrence for most cattle producers and often comes in two forms: price risk and production risk.

Single-trait selection is not a good business plan, according to Larry Echols of Gap Mills, West Virginia. Single-trait selection is like shopping for a baseball where the only selection criterion is that “it’s round.” A grapefruit is round too, and that wouldn’t win very many ballgames.

As the piston moves on its first downward stroke, the intake valve opens to allow a mixture of fuel and air to fill the combustion chamber. Once the valve closes and the piston moves upward, the fuel-air mixture is compressed, causing it to combust.

Once again, a federal court has issued an opinion regarding the constitutionality of a farm protection (“ag gag”) statute. This time, it was the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit who upheld part of and struck down part of the Idaho “Interference with Agricultural Production” law.