Producers and state cattle organizations continued work within a key committee of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association to address major points on market transparency and price discovery.

“Help wanted,” “now hiring,” “open positions,” “accepting applications,” “open interviews,” “apply inside.” Sound familiar? It sure does to me. Nationwide, nearly every industry is feeling the pinch for employees.

Carbon contracts are the current hot topic in agriculture. Essentially, a landowner or agricultural producer enters into a contract with a company or broker seeking to purchase carbon credits.

On most ranches, the working facilities are the hub of the operation. This is where most of the intensive, direct-contact work takes place with the animal.

Just south of Townsend, Montana, the Hahn Ranch has been owned and operated by four generations of the Hahn family. Soon, the fifth generation will take the reins and continue what was started in the valley in 1908.

Do you read reproductive or animal health questions posted on some Facebook pages? Someone is disappointed in calf health or herd reproduction and asks something along the lines of “Why did our cows not breed back very well this year?”

The drought of 2021 hit Western beef operations particularly hard. Reports from the field indicate pregnancy rates last fall were 3% to 10% lower than normal with scattered reports of greater reductions in pregnancy rates.

Sometimes accidents of gestation or other factors terminate pregnancy. Immediately after conception, when the tiny embryo is traveling down the oviduct into the uterus, it is fairly safe from harmful influences, but after it reaches the uterus a few days later, it becomes more vulnerable.