What in the world was a truck hauling plastic shower stalls doing driving up the dirt road to a rich and eccentric neighbor of mine? Was my slovenly neighbor all of a sudden interested in good hygiene? I was curious – so I followed the beautiful rig up the dirt road, where I was promptly asked if I’d help unload a piece of art that my neighbor just purchased. Of course I would. I mean, how heavy could a frame or a bronze be? Very heavy, as it turned out. You see, my crazy neighbor didn’t buy a Russell or a Van Gogh, although he’s certainly rich enough to do so, but rather an art “installation” that looked like what might be the result if a yellow Edsel clobbered a purple Yugo head-on, and then a flock of sea birds with loose bowels bombed it from above.

My boys all started helping me cowboy when they were quite young. As is the case with many ranch families, we had each of our kids on a horse not long after they could walk. My oldest son started riding with me for full days when he was 7 or 8. The youngest was spending 10-hour days on the mountain when he was 4. It was always more of a fight to make him stay home than it was to take him along. He always wanted to go, and he rarely complained about the long, hot days and the hard work.

A while back, I decided to build up my ranching reputation by improving my equipment. I purchased a 1997 crew-cab GMC 1-ton diesel with only 254,000 miles on it. I traded in a ’74 1-ton flatbed F350 with a winch, plus $4,000. I asked the used-car dealer if I could keep the winch. He said it was the only reason he took the flatbed in trade. Cal told me his neighbor Jerry came by to show him his new purchase. A brand-spankin’ new 3Z4 ton four-wheel drive with payments of $600 a month over five years … but what Jerry was most proud of was a 20-ton winch with 50 feet of cable mounted on the front bumper.

The 12 counties comprising the Northwest and West Central agricultural reporting districts (Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Perkins, Ziebach, Haakon, Jackson, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, and Stanley) were among the South Dakota counties hardest hit by the blizzard on Oct. 4-5, 2013. According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, these 12 counties had 769,000 head of cattle and calves as of Jan. 1, 2013.

This newsletter is published by Texas AgriLife Extension and edited by Dr. Stephen Hammack, professor and extension beef cattle specialist emeritus. Browse the sections below to learn about recent hot topics in the cattle industry. Antimicrobial resistance in humans – what’s to blame?
Use of antibiotics in livestock is often blamed for increasing antibiotic resistance in humans. A recent joint report by the United Kingdom Department of Health and the Department for Environmental Food & Rural Affairs indicated the main cause of such resistance in humans is antibiotic use in humans.

Michael Scuse, undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, has announced that conservation assistance is available from the USDA for those affected by the Atlas blizzard that swept through western South Dakota earlier this month. Scuse made the announcement in Rapid City during a meeting with many of the state’s western producers.

Cash cattle prices have moved higher this fall, supported by small cattle supplies, a generally favorable demand base, and low feed prices that have sent feeder cattle futures prices to record highs. The outlook suggests even higher prices in coming months.

Bred replacement heifers that will calve in January and February need to continue to grow and maintain body condition. Ideally, 2-year-old heifers should be in a body condition score of “6” at the time that their first calf is born.

Cattle and beef markets have strengthened in October despite the uncertainty of the past couple of weeks. Feeder and fed cattle prices, along with boxed beef, have all advanced compared to pre-shutdown reports with fed cattle showing the strongest relative increase. By the end of this week many of the data holes may be filled in with a clearer picture of slaughter, carcass weights and beef production.