Nutritional Health

The dangers of grass tetany

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400

With spring around the corner, now is the time to plan on making sure grass tetany never shows up on your ranch.

South Central: Grass tetany symptoms and treatment

jason.banta@ag.tamu.edu — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Grass tetany is a condition in cows caused by low magnesium levels in the blood and can lead to death.

Better mineral status, better breedback

louderdvm@gmail.com — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Injectable minerals rapidly restore levels, supporting fertility, healthy calves and timely breedback, ensuring economic stability for cow-calf operations.

Southeast: The employees you never see

kmason21@utk.edu — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Understanding how to support the “microbial workforce” in the rumen is key to improving feed efficiency, herd health and overall profitability.

Spring grazing tips and grass tetany prevention

ckinder@uidaho.edu — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

As the year transitions from winter to spring, producers are ready to stop feeding hay, and the livestock are eyeballing the “weakest link” in the fences to get to the green grass.

Hold the net wrap and twine

erin.laborie@unl.edu — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Oftentimes, to save time and labor, net wrap or twine is not removed prior to feeding hay to cattle. A South Dakota State University forage-binding survey reported that 54% of producers removed net wrap or twine when feeding bales whole, but only 11% of producers removed it when grinding bales.

The importance of water quality and quantity for beef cattle

troy.walz@unl.edu — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Have you ever had an abundance of grass in your pastures but no water for your cattle? With cattle water, prior maintenance and planning can help with ensuring that you always have sufficient water.

[Podcast] NCBA Cattle Industry Convention 2024 – Part 1

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Welcome to the first of three episodes of our coverage of NCBA 2024. In this episode, Carrie Veselka visits with Rob Cook, president of the National Grazing Lands Coalition, on strategies to improve grazing, Abby George discusses the impact and management of BVDV with George Perry of Texas A&M University, and Tyrell Marchant talks prenatal cattle nutrition with Ted Perry from Purina Animal Health.

[Podcast] Optimizing Cattle Health and Performance with Zinpro®

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

In this podcast episode, we sat down with Dr. Chris Reinhardt with Zinpro to discuss the importance of trace mineral nutrition to optimize cattle health and performance. Keeping cattle healthy and performing to their full potential is key to ensure productivity and profitability in your herd. Learn how partnering with Zinpro will help improve profitability and set your herd up for success for generations to come.

[Podcast] Mineral: Your key to optimal cattle performance

Tue, 09 May 2023 02:00:00 -0400

As a cattle nutritionist, Ted Perry talks to people every day – like cattle owners with real-time problems – and translates the research into real help.

Fortify lifelong cattle immunity through nutrition

rscott@landolakes.com — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 16:22:30 -0400

Morbidity and mortality in cattle haven’t improved over time, even though more vaccines are available, educational materials are easier to find and the industry has provided incentives to improve health with value-added programs.

Implications of overfeeding nutrients

sblez@verizon.net — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 22:21:32 -0400

Most cattle producers are primarily concerned about meeting the minimum nutrient requirements for the cow herd. In many parts of the country, given the dry conditions, most producers are concerned about being able to provide a minimum amount of forage to allow them to hold on to the cow herds and maintain an acceptable level of production.

Don’t Gamble on Weaning and Receiving

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Choosing suppliers, nutritionists and negotiating through their value proposition

bill.earley@adm.com — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 12:33:34 -0400

With the profitability of your business at hand, who you choose to do business with is a critical decision. Who needs to be on your “external management” team?

Bloat, a risk equation

woody@woodylane.com — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:00:01 -0400

Imagine it’s early morning on a warm summer day, a delightful pastoral scene. You see a herd of cattle grazing hungrily through a lush green field of alfalfa or white clover.

Preventing grass tetany in beef cattle

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 14:00:01 -0400

The cause of grass tetany (also called grass staggers, milk tetany, lactation tetany, magnesium tetany, winter tetany, wheat pasture poisoning, crested wheatgrass poisoning, barley poisoning) has been poorly understood, yet death losses cost producers millions of dollars.

Fecal starch: Are you missing out on energy?

aimee.hafla@devenishna.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 15:00:01 -0500

The USDA price forecast for corn for 2021-22 continues to remain higher than we have experienced in the previous few years, thanks in part to a significant demand from China in addition to tight domestic demand.

Nitrate toxicity and the metabolic traffic jam

woody@woodylane.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 15:00:01 -0500

Young cattle can jump fences. There’s nothing new about that. We usually blame the fence – for being old and in the way – or the heifers and steers, for being … well … heifers and steers.

Forage quality effects on cow health and performance

erin.schwandt@biomin.net — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 22:17:07 -0400

Proper pasture management and having a good understanding of the herd grazing environment are two key components of successful beef cattle operations.

Water: A fundamental component to successful nutrition

josh.stroh@hubbardfeeds.com — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 23:04:52 -0400

Water is the most critical nutrient, but its importance and contribution to animal nutrition is often overlooked. Cattle require an adequate, available supply of fresh water to enable metabolic processes of the body.

Managing rumen health in feedlot cattle during heat stress

tim.clark@ridleyinc.com — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:59:29 -0400

A combination of high temperatures and humidity can cause dangerous heat indexes for people and cattle. For livestock, the high heat index can dramatically reduce performance. The annual economic impact of heat stress on livestock is estimated to be between $1.69-$2.36 billion.

Looking closer into how the rumen works

erin.schwandt@biomin.net — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 14:00:01 -0400

Cattle have been coined “upcyclers” due to their ability to turn natural resources and byproducts inedible to humans into higher-value, high-quality protein source in the form of beef.

How to handle heat stress in beef cattle

cbelknap@diamondv.com — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 14:00:01 -0400

The full force of summer months and hot temperatures are almost upon us. With it will come heat stress, a major concern in the beef industry. Heat stress can cause countless problems in cattle, such as a decrease in feed intake, changes in the rumen which lead to diminished digestibility and a significant negative impact on performance.

Scours prevention for spring-calving cows

gouldk@msu.edu — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 17:59:05 -0500

Most would agree, an ounce prevention is worth a pound of cure. This statement is spot-on when considering newborn calf health. Calf scours is defined as diarrhea occurring within the first three weeks of life.

Interstitial – the lesser-known pneumonia cousin

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 15:00:01 -0500

Pneumonia has been a thorn in the side of livestock producers for decades.

Protect the immune system with nutritional defense

brian.fieser@adm.com — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 14:00:01 -0400

If you have a favorite sports team, it is likely that at some point you have thought a certain player either needed to make major improvements or be replaced in order to fix a weakness and win more games.

Liver abscesses: An elusive and expensive malady

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 14:00:01 -0400

Liver abscess (LA) is relatively common in feedlot cattle and older dairy cows, particularly with diets eaten in grain content.

Not-so-friendly mushrooms

woody@woodylane.com — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 14:00:01 -0400

It was the second dead cow that really got our attention. Earlier that week, I had received a call from a rancher who had found one of his cows dead in a pasture.

Alternative feed additives and rumen health

emma.wall@nutreco.com — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 07:00:00 -0500

The optimization of feed efficiency and animal health is critical to the success and profitability of the beef industry. In feedlots, one of the biggest challenges is the nutritional management of newly received cattle, who enter the feedlot with a wide range of different nutritional and health backgrounds.

Management of mycotoxins in beef cattle

nadams@alltech.com — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 07:00:00 -0400

In the first article of this two-part series, we discussed specific mold and mycotoxin issues derived from feedstuffs and also highlighted several symptoms directly correlated with the presence of mycotoxins in cattle.