Winter feeding of forage to beef herds doesn’t rank high as a favored job for herd owners. But there’s a bright side to feeding fescue, whether in hay or grass. Fescue toxins are down. “This is the best fescue will be, now until pastures green up again,” says Craig Roberts, University of Missouri Extension forage […]
Area dairy farmers can investigate ways to improve the bottom line of their farms and their profits during an educational training session near Linneus. North Missouri Dairy Day will be held at the University of Missouri Forage Systems Research Center east of Linneus on the morning of February 18th at 10 o’clock. Extension Dairy Field […]
Do the math on temperatures and rainfall for all of 2018. On average, you get “near normal,” says Pat Guinan, University of Missouri Extension climatologist. “Weather was anything but that,” Guinan adds. Record-setting numbers hide in an average. For starters, look at the “non-spring” of 2018. April was the second coldest on record going back […]
What a sale!” said sale coordinator Erin Larimore about the $2,099 average price for replacement heifers at the Show-Me-Select sale in Fruitland, Mo., December 1. The fourth of six fall sales kept the upward trend in prices. Two sales remain for heifers raised with protocols from the University of Missouri Extension animal scientists. Larimore, a […]
With a strong start on bidding, the first lot of heifers averaged $2,250 at the Kingsville Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer sale, November 24. Big bidding set the stage for higher prices early in the sale of 237 head of bred heifers. Final average was $1,832. The sale at the Kingsville Livestock Auction topped the two previous […]
Missouri beef herd owners learn profits and risks of sending their calves to a feedlot. They’ve entered 50 Missouri Steer Feedouts run by the University of Missouri Extension. To cut risks in learning, they enter samples of five to 20 head, said Eldon Cole, MU Extension livestock specialist. The Missouri Steer Feedout for winter-spring born […]
Odd fall weather and fescue pasture growth set up potential poisonous pastures causing fescue foot in cow herds. Fall growth after a drought produces more toxins in infected tall fescue grass. The poison develops after rains start regrowth following a drought, says Craig Roberts, University of Missouri Extension specialist. Roberts urges herd owners to keep […]
Replacement heifers to upgrade cow-calf herds will be offered in six Show-Me-Select sales this fall. Also, owners can restock cow herds culled in the drought. With strength in beef demand and rains growing pastures, herd owners can rebuild. Dry weather’s impact on forages had farmers concerned. “Optimism of cow-calf herd owners should return,” says David […]
Pastures grow green for farmers. When managed well, pastures add dollars to farms. University of Missouri economists reports an added output of $125 million per year from using skills taught for management-intensive grazing (MiG) at grazing schools. “That’s annual impact, not cumulative,” says Craig Roberts, MU Extension forage specialist. Payoffs come in extra milk or […]
The Thompson Farm calving barn became a classroom for the University of Missouri. The teachers were MU graduate students and their mentors. Their listeners were beef farmers on Sept. 17. In his field day greeting, Chris Daubert said this farm was a classroom as much as any building on the Columbia campus. Daubert, dean of […]
Prolonged heat stress this year may bring a smaller calf crop next year. Herd owners are seeing cows known to be pregnant coming back into heat to be rebred. Pregnancy losses are due to several reasons, says Scott Poock, University of Missouri Extension veterinarian. “The first is increased internal temperature of the cow.” In July, […]
Large supplies of meat and dairy, possibly record-setting tons, are coming to U.S. consumers. For consumers, this can be good news with lower prices at grocery cases. For producers of beef, pork, chicken, and milk it doesn’t bode so well. In a mid-year baseline update for livestock and dairy, University of Missouri economist Scott Brown […]
