The USDA is announcing the availability of more than $6 million in funding to implement practices that will help private farmers, ranchers and forest landowners affected by the wildfires blazing in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The recent wildfires in Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado have caused considerable financial loss and the devastation of livestock, homes and equipment. The Red Angus Foundation Inc. (RAFI) is rising to the occasion to accept and distribute donations that will assist our fellow friends, neighbors and cattlemen in their recovery efforts.

In the wake of the devastation recently caused by the wildfires in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, Merck Animal Health has announced it will donate $20,000 to help support communities impacted by the fires.

During the winter season, most cattle are supplemented with dry forages, grains and coproducts. This ration is balanced and delivered to cattle. Then spring comes along and cattle are put out to grass.

“The overwhelming reality of it all is sinking in,” said Greg Gardiner of Ashland, Kansas, in a phone interview 10 days after the Starbuck fire – which had consumed over 300,000 acres in Oklahoma and nearly 500,000 acres in southwest Kansas – claimed 43,000 of the 48,000 acres at Gardiner Angus Ranch.

Most Progressive Cattleman readers regularly perform bull breeding soundness exams.

Sixty. It’s the amount of minutes Mike Wallace had in the popular investigative reporting series; it’s the beginning range for a normal resting heart rate in adults; and it’s the amount of sugar in a Jamba Juice banana berry smoothie.

The breeding season is just starting for late-winter-calving operations and will soon start for traditional spring-calving operations. Good planning and proper management prior to and during the breeding season can help ensure success. Breeding seasons should be limited to no more than about 90 days to reduce the potential of heifers getting bred by herd bulls prior to weaning.

Warmer weather, the sight of green grass in weeks to come and thoughts of planting season is refreshing. However, for many producers, planting season also coincides with breeding season, which often results in some extremely important management practices for the cow herd being placed on the back burner.

Breeding season is upon us, and producers are looking for ways to optimize the cost of generating a pregnant cow versus the value of the calf produced. Open cows impact profitability, so producers need to identify a breeding program that improves their operation’s calf crop.