F&R LivestockResource
Winter 2020 | Volume 3, Issue 2
Your direct source for livestock news and information
Published by Farmers & Ranchers Livestock, Salina, Kansas
In this Issue: 1 Hit the Moving Target
Nutrition is key to managing the postpartum interval and the easiest way to shorten the postpartum period. Just before and just after calving provide the most opportunity to impact profit factors such as cow costs, weaning weights and percent calf crop.
3 We Don’t Have a Shot for That!
Dr. Randall Spare provides an analysis of commonly asked questions regarding conception rates upon the conclusion of fall 2019 herd work, including pregnancy testing. The questions may be common, but the solutions can be more complex and require a thorough examination of the overall herd management practices.
10 When Farming Is Your First Love
Kansas AgrAbility and similar programs across the U.S. are making it possible for people with physical mobility or cognitive issues caused by an accident, age or a chronic condition to continue to work and enjoy a quality of life otherwise compromised. The grant funded program works with K-State’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering to design new equipment or modify existing resources to enable the continuation of a farmer or rancher’s earning ability.
22 Carry On
Climate change isn’t about winners or losers. At the end of the day, climate change is an incredibly complicated issue that can only be addressed through sound science and sane policy. Anything short of that risks results of unintended, long-term global food insecurity of great proportions. Food producers will adapt. They always do.
27 Cyclical Plateau Ahead
Fewer calves and trade deals should help underpin cattle prices. Analysts with RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness report in the organization’s global Animal Protein Outlook 2020, “With only a fractional increase in production and solid exports, U.S. fed cattle prices are expected to change little.”
Hit the moving target Nutrition is key to managing the postpartum interval. By Wes Ishmael
Right now, just before and just after calving, many cow-calf producers have the opportunity to critically impact profit-centric factors, such as cow costs, weaning weights and the percent calf crop. “This period from calving until the cow conceives is the most critical period in a cow’s production cycle
and minimizing this time period is important for several reasons,” says Rick Funston, beef cattle reproductive physiologist at the West Central Research and Extension Center at North Platte, Nebraska. For one thing, Funston explains early-cycling cows have more chances of
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