Every time you process your cattle, you have an opportunity to impact Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) for good or for ill. Your goal as owner and manager should be to impact it for the better.

You, as a beef producer, never want to receive a phone call that one of your beef carcasses has drug residues and is not fit for human consumption. That call implies the producer did not read the label correctly, overdosed the animal or did not comply with the required withdrawal time.

A disease outbreak during calving season can have a devastating effect on your operation. It affects the health of your cattle, your bottom line and you as a human (added stress and disease potential – salmonellosis, cryptosporidiosis).

The national Beef Checkoff funded a Consumer Image Index study in 2013 that indicated consumers are more positive about beef (the product) than they are about beef production practices.

Some people’s horse pastures look wonderful with nice tall grass, some look like a golf course, and some look like an arena. Which description fits your pasture? The first step in managing your horse pasture is to determine what your goals are for your pasture area. Is it meant to be a nutritional forage source or an exercise area?

Ranchers look at cattle, equipment, fences and buildings as investments. Needs are determined, requirements discussed and cost and return are analyzed before they are purchased or built. Ranch employees are also a ranch investment.

For most ranchers it is not “if” they will have calves with scours, but “when” it will happen. Scours can be caused by bacteria, viruses, protozoa, yeast, mold and stress.

Wanted: One young female bovine that can produce a heavy weaned calf, can rebreed within 80 days of calving, can maintain a body condition score of 5 or more on minimal feed, is easy to handle and stays in all the fences.

One of the necessary elements of beef cattle production is vaccination against common diseases. In order to be effective, vaccines must be cared for appropriately.