With the new year on the horizon, and calving season to follow, I would encourage you to look at your record-keeping system.

Fire season has walloped much of the Mountain West, with an estimated 1,980,108 acres across the U.S. burned as of the end of September.

I have talked with two different local producers whose primary winter pasture is gone now. They are looking for feed alternatives or to destock their herd while prices are high. If you find yourself in this situation, you must perform an inventory of feeds on your operation and calculate how much will be needed.

As the summer heat gives way to crisp fall days, we move into the time to ship calves to their next destination. Before they go, weaning them from their mothers needs to take place. Weaning can be achieved using multiple methods, all with different pros and cons, and can be tweaked to fit your operation and its goals.

Testing hay can help reduce chances of nitrate poisoning and can improve your feed program.

While the exact cost of developing heifers on your farm or ranch may vary, heifer development is very expensive, so being selective with which heifers we keep on the operation is critical.

Noxious plants are a part of life in the mountain West and commonly occur in our high-elevation pastures. Properly identifying plants is crucial to understanding their life cycle, including periods of toxicity to livestock, and when it is safer to put cows onto the pasture.

As you turn out onto the new green grass, keep in mind the potential health implications that come with the decision, and with some mitigation hopefully they are avoided.

With spring upon us or right around the corner, getting cattle off feed and into the pasture is one of the top priorities for many Western producers. Getting our pairs onto pasture means processing and generally branding calves before turnout.

Obviously, we want to pair cows with the bull that is going to make the best progeny for our operations goals, but how do you know if that bull will perform? I am sure we all wish we had a crystal ball that could tell us, but we must use the tools that we have available, and that starts with a breeding soundness exam.