Ranchers are constantly striving to maximize the productivity of their native rangeland, as raising and selling heavy and healthy calves is key to profitability. Helping producers enhance calf weight gain while maintaining the optimum body condition of the cow herd is critical to keeping operations profitable.

While understanding the impact of feedstuff dry matter is critical for making informed management decisions, we also must consider how differences in nutrient composition, in addition to dry matter, influence feedstuff cost scenarios.

A new era of calf prices begs the question: What’s one more worth? An extra weaned calf can be a result of improved reproductive success in conjunction with reducing morbidity and death loss.

Lots of farmers and ranchers are planting the new hybrid varieties of forage brassicas and other plants in the cabbage family. With their high levels of protein and energy, these forage brassicas show fast emergence and rapid regrowth, and they can give consistently high yields with multiple grazings, even in the face of water stress and cold stress.

It has been nearly 15 years since we wrote our first press article on the use of “herbs and spices” in cattle. Where have we been and what have we learned? What does the future hold for this technology? And most importantly, how do you decide what the value is for your cattle?

Of all the various nutrient groups we supplement for the typical cow herd, minerals and vitamins are some of the most important. They are also some of the most poorly understood.

Producers across the varying sectors of agriculture have been forced to find ways to generate revenue and cut costs. In the heart of the Gulf Coast Rice Belt, innovation took the form of rice-based feeds.

Most trace mineral programs can be dramatically fine-tuned by carefully evaluating the trace mineral source and level being fed. These two factors in trace mineral supplementation can make an enormous difference in cattle performance and profitability.

Successfully weaning and starting calves on feed can be a rewarding time of year for producers and sets the calf up for future performance. However, the most common time for a calf to contract BRD is within the first four weeks postweaning.

When working to maximize fertility in cattle, cows are often the focus. However, bull fertility is a crucial consideration for any beef operation.