It’s no big deal, literally, but grading rules that applied needless discounts to a tiny fraction of carcasses are no more for most beef. As of Monday, Dec. 18, all graded beef in the U.S. can be evaluated for the most youthful “A” maturity category based on dentition as well as traditional skeletal metrics when assigning quality grades.

U.S. domestic beef consumption is projected to be 56.6 pounds per capita for 2017, up from 55.4 pounds in 2016 (retail weight). That is a 2.2 percent year-over-year increase. Beef consumption is higher because beef production is increasing; in fact, it is projected to be up 3.8 percent year over year from 2016.

Cow-calf producers can say so long to their paper calving book. With the selection of calving apps on the market, producers can choose which one works best for their operation.

The majority of the income a cow-calf producer receives comes from selling a calf crop. Therefore, setting up the newborn calf for success becomes critically important to the profitability of the operation.

As we continue into the winter feeding months, cow-calf producers have additional opportunities to impact their bottom line. Winter feeding costs represent the single largest cost to cattlemen, typically representing 55 to 80 percent of total costs for their cow herd.

Editor’s Note: Follow along as Progressive Cattleman editors share conversations and news learned from the road in the new ‘Trail Rides’ blog.

How will the expansion of the global beef market, especially with new consumer bases opening up in China and around the world, affect the U.S. cattle producer?

This year we had a lease deal fall apart, and it really upset the apple cart. It caused financial hardship, emotions were high, stress levels went through the roof, and we were faced with the question a lot of people have been faced with at one time or another: Is it over? Where do we go from here and what will we do if something else doesn’t work out?

“This has been one of the few years in history when every segment of the industry made money. And that doesn’t happen very often,” said Duane Lenz, general manager of CattleFax, at the California Cattleman’s Association annual convention in Reno, Nevada. Generally, one segment of the cattle market makes a profit at the expense of another segment.

As the year is coming to an end, this is the perfect time to start thinking about next year and what you need to do to be prepared come vaccination time. You want to keep your herd’s health in the best possible condition, and a vaccination plan is the best way to do that.