We’ve made it through a tough winter, and calving season is winding down. If you’re like me, you’ve been looking forward to spring. It’s almost time to turn cows out on lush, green pastures as we start pondering the mating decisions for the breeding season. But as you know, our herd is entering the most critical nutritional point of the production cycle.

A successful breeding season begins months before the first A.I. straw or bull turnout. In the 90 days before breeding, cows and heifers move through metabolic, immune and reproductive shifts that shape follicle quality, uterine readiness and embryo survival.

Sometimes it seems as if beef producers are faced with a million details to attend to in order to make a ranch successful and cattle happy and healthy. Selenium is one of those details.

Every cattleman understands that getting cows bred is among the most basic of necessities in any cow-calf operation. If cows don’t get bred, the revenue stream dries up and the business is no longer sustainable.

Fertility is the number one trait linked to profitability for cow-calf herds. It’s also of low heritability and sometimes difficult to assess, depending on your record-keeping system.

With feeder calf prices at record highs and USDA predictions for prices to remain at or above $3 per hundredweight (cwt) into 2027, it’s an exciting time to be in the cow-calf business.

After more than 15 years of practicing in a large-animal clinic, a veterinarian pinpoints three herd health issues on which producers can take action to add pounds to their calves and efficiency to their operations.