It’s well-documented that calf preconditioning programs can help cow/calf producers boost their profitability on sale day ­— even to the tune of an extra $6.38 per cwt.Adding icing to the cake, calf preconditioning also has been shown to positively affect feeder calf performance.

Are you ready to get started on the 2011 Photo Contest? Accelerated Genetics has two new themes for you to try your photography skills on. "Calves" and "In Their Environment." Gift cards awarded for top entries in both categories!

Pfizer Inc. said June 8 it may sell its animal health and nutrition business in the next two years so it can focus on expanding its low-cost pharmaceuticals unit.

A projected 92.3 million acres of planted corn should ease pressure on food prices heading into the second half of 2011, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service economist.

Agriculture land prices in the U.S. have increased steadily over the last decade, leading experts and landowners to question whether the high values are sustainable. The short answer from the Rabobank International Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) group is that the land value rates are not a speculative bubble, but a decrease in land values over several years is a definite possibility.

A new pilot beef traceability program being conducted at Michigan State University (MSU) was successful where a quick barcode scan with your smart phone can tell you the exact animal RFID number, grade, age, breed of the animal, certification, etc, and the local farm picture where your steak originated using the ScoringAg.com database and labeling system.

It is an understatement to say that last week’s USDA estimate of June 1, 2011 corn stocks was a surprise to the market.  At 3.67 billion bushels, the estimate was about 370 million bushels larger than the reported average trade guess.

Merck’s animal health division, formerly known as Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, announced that effective June 29 it has begun using the new name, Merck Animal Health. It will be known as MSD Animal Health outside the U.S. and Canada.

BinMaster Level Controls has teamed up with Sprint on its BinView machine-to-machine (M2M) cloud-computing inventory management solution that allows businesses to monitor inventory in their bins, tanks and silos over the Internet. This web-based inventory management system provides bin level information on demand, combining BinMaster SmartBob level sensors and the Sprint wireless networks to make the data easily available via the Internet.