Selecting to improve multiple traits simultaneously can be cumbersome. Just open any sale catalog, and it’s easy to become immediately confused. Economic indexes can help alleviate this confusion. They do so by combining multiple EPDs, each weighted by an economic value, into one numeric value often expressed in dollars per animal.

Typically, producers that synchronize estrus do so to facilitate an A.I. program. However, there are some instances where application of an A.I. program is not feasible but advantages from synchronization of estrus are still desirable.

Henry C. Gardiner, a beef industry leader in seedstock genetics and owner of the Gardiner Angus Ranch, passed away Wednesday. He was 83.

Zoetis Inc. has partnered with Verified Beef LLC to support Reputation Feeder Cattle, a program for ranchers and cattle feeders that helps define feeder calf value by verifying industry-leading genetics and best practices.

Researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) are finding ways to extend the shelf life of ground beef. They have found that store lighting plays a role in how long meat retains the bright red color that shoppers favor. After price, consumers consider color when buying meat.

Consultants at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation work with livestock producers on ranch solutions related to their operations.

If dinner takes more than 40 minutes to prepare, that’s too long for 31 percent of today’s consumers. If it takes an hour, the number jumps to 70 percent of consumers. “And there’s a whole lot of people that want it shorter than 40 minutes, especially on a Monday to Thursday night,” NCBA’s John Lundeen explains of cooking convenience. “They have more time on the weekend.”

Most Progressive Cattleman online readers have a decade or two before retirement.

Successful beef and dairy producers know that a big threat to newborn calves is failure of passive transfer (FPT) of immunity. Basically, it’s when calves don’t get enough natural disease protection passed to them from the dam.

Researchers at Colorado State University are investigating the weighty topic of antibiotic resistance – an issue with ramifications for global food safety and public health – by tracking the genetic footprints of drug-resistant bacteria.