May is the season of severe storms in Oklahoma. The week leading up to Memorial Day included numerous severe storms and several tornadoes in the state with lots of damage and, most regrettably, several injuries and fatalities. A bit more unusual this year is the persistent pattern of wet weather. 

My eyes glaze over, and I look for the nearest soda pop machine. It’s another spiel on telling our story.

Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) and Jon Tester (D-Montana), along with 17 other co-sponsors from both parties, introduced the “Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act,” a bipartisan approach to giving livestock haulers some relief from the hours-of-service rules and the electronic logging devices (ELD) mandate that poses a problem for transporting livestock effectively and humanely.

The beef production forecast for 2019 was lowered slightly by 20 million pounds from the previous month’s forecast to 27.3 billion pounds. This adjustment is based on lower expected carcass weights partly offset by a greater anticipated number of cows to be slaughtered this year.

Parasites, external or internal, are a hindrance to cattle welfare and greatly impact productivity. Last month we focused on horn flies. The ones we don’t see as easily, the internal kind, are just as challenging, if not more so.

For spring-calving herds, many stressors often coincide with the breeding season, which can impact pregnancy establishment and embryo survival.

Breeding season is upon us, and hopefully we have made some sound bull decisions that will positively influence our herds going forward. However, it is even more important we ensure the bulls we have purchased or retained are capable of incorporating genetics into our herds.

A mineral supplement in a cow-calf operation is designed to provide minerals and vitamins that may be lacking in the forage. A complete free-choice mineral supplement for grazing cattle will have four main components: