The drought that has plagued the Southern Plains and Southwest for most of this year is continuing to be a problem for producers, but plentiful rains in June are easing drought impacts in some areas, while those that continue to go without rain reach more extreme drought levels.

Oregon ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven are now back at the family ranch after a full pardon from President Donald Trump released them from a Southern California federal prison July 10.

Most Progressive Cattleman readers’ pickups are a little over a decade old.

Through some recent life events, I have come to familiarize myself with the acronyms MSHA and OSHA. Before this year, I had never heard of MSHA; I knew OSHA had something to do with safety because I often heard cowboys say, “This probably isn’t OSHA approved,” while doing something fairly dangerous.

What do you do with a problem that is undefinable, hard to understand and lacks a consensus? That’s the constant challenge facing the beef industry because it describes perfectly the issue of sustainability.

July deworming is a frequently overlooked opportunity to control nematode (worm) infections and increase calf weight gains. Many cow-calf producers deworm their cows in the spring. The addition of a July deworming of cows and calves has been shown to provide seasonal control of worm infections in late winter- or early spring-born calves. Calves gain more weight and are heavier at weaning as a result of improved worm control during summer grazing.

A sometimes underappreciated, if not completely forgotten, link of the beef production chain is the cull cow market and slaughter segment. I am probably one of those who, at times, has not adequately appreciated the significance and contributions of the cull cow to the grand scheme of our little cowboy party.

Calving, branding, weaning and shipping, these are the seasons in a cattle producer’s year. Although every producer knows what happens after shipping, their job is to get the cattle on the truck as easily and in the best shape as possible. An entire year’s worth of work is over in just a few hours. Some producers are relieved after this moment, while others worry that their livelihood was just put into the hands of someone else to finish the job.

Alarm bells started ringing as the first wave of tariffs from the U.S.-China trade wars took effect on July 6, with the U.S. ag economy on the front line as one of the first casualties.

Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer and Kansas Department of Agriculture Secretary Jackie McClaskey joined leaders from the Kansas livestock industry on Saturday, June 30, at Barton County Feeders in Ellinwood to announce the Cattle Trace pilot project.