A third-generation meat industry veteran with more than 36 years experience, Edward (Eddie) Troutman, the U.S. Meat Export Federation’s Distinguished Service Award winner for 2011, began his indoctrination to the industry at age 12, working for $1 per hour.

Irv Haidle, the founder and president of the 2010 Montana Family Business of the Year, Agri-Best Feeds, died September 30, 2011, as a result of injuries sustained in an auto accident in Broken Bow, Nebraska.  Irv was in Nebraska promoting the SweetPro and Redmond Natural Trace Mineral products, and was on his way to the national SweetPro distributor’s conference.

Livestock Grain Market News for Oct. 22

People who attend Iowa State University (ISU) football games and who also are interested in beef research have a unique opportunity awaiting them on the date of the final home ISU football game on Nov. 18. ISU’s Iowa Beef Center and beef nutrition faculty and staff are planning the “Beef Nutrition Research Pre-game Showcase” beginning that morning.

Texas beef producers are exploring the use of whole cotton plants as a protein source for cattle due to extreme drought conditions, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

An inexpensive hay test can offer the best guidance as to how much supplemental feed is required for a beef cattle herd, and at the same time, save ranchers money, according to a Texas AgriLife Research scientist.

Japan is preparing to ease restrictions on U.S. beef imports as concerns about mad cow disease receded and domestic cattle production fell after the nation’s worst nuclear disaster since World War II.

“In the cattle production system, your cattle are only as good as your weakest link – genetics, health, management, feedstuffs – all those things. We do everything we can with preventative medicine so that we don’t have to treat calves,” says Jim Lerwick of Lerwick Brothers, LCC. “Health management may not be quite as important as genetic management, but it’s really, really close.”

Three producers share how they've focused on biosecurity practices to control BVD virus in their herds. BVD virus is a real threat to cow-calf operations - it's not just something that happens on other ranches. That was the message conveyed by three producers who shared their experiences in combating BVD (bovine viral diarrhea) virus during the U.S. BVDV Symposium held this past January in Phoenix, AZ.

Progressive Cattleman takes a tour of the Kuner feedlot in Kersey, Colorado – not far from JBS headquarters in Greeley.