Not long ago, I wrote an article that was perceived as a political ploy and an attack on the Catholic church. I was horrified when I read the critic’s message and realized how I had been so totally misunderstood. My intention with the article, “Big Endians vs. The Little Endians,” was to bring Christian people together under one label, not to point fingers at any one church, especially the Catholic church.

I was talking to my friend Phil on Thanksgiving about his father, Peter Tognazzini, and I mentioned that there would be a good turnout for his funeral. Phil, in his modest manner, said, “Why would there be a crowd? He was just a rancher.”

In my travels, I have been on lots of family farms where the whole family is involved in the work. During calving season, it is not uncommon for the “rancher” to allow his wife to take the 10 p.m. heifer check.

Does the severity (coldness or mildness) of the winter have an impact on spring-born calf birthweights? Ranchers have asked that question during many springs, and veterinarians have speculated for years. The debate rages on.

It was a good year at the Hoot Owl Ranch. Lots of cattlemen would share that assessment this year, but manager Kenny Stauffer and his wife, Misty, are confident there will be many more like it to come, regardless of the traditional cattle market.

“Low-stress livestock handling” (LSLH) is a livestock-centered, behaviorally correct, psychologically oriented, ethical and humane method of working livestock which is based on mutual communication and understanding, not coercion.

Wheat remains the leading crop produced in North Dakota. Most wheat in North Dakota is either hard red spring wheat (HRSW) or durum. Small acreages of hard red winter wheat and, more recently, hard white wheat are also planted in the state. Wheat is not traditionally used as a feed grain because its milling properties make it desirable for use in breads, pastas and noodles.

Selecting to improve multiple traits simultaneously can be cumbersome. Just open any sale catalog, and it’s easy to become immediately confused. Economic indexes can help alleviate this confusion. They do so by combining multiple EPDs, each weighted by an economic value, into one numeric value often expressed in dollars per animal.

Typically, producers that synchronize estrus do so to facilitate an A.I. program. However, there are some instances where application of an A.I. program is not feasible but advantages from synchronization of estrus are still desirable.