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February 1, 2009

Cover Story

Sizing Up The Slackers

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Burt Rutherford, Senior Editor

All bulls are not created equal. That simple truth, says Roger Ellis, Colorado State University Extension veterinarian, has created management considerations...

Features

Is She In Heat?

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Alaina Burt, Managing Editor

Ask any reproductive physiology graduate student what their least favorite activity is and they'll likely say, heat detecting. That's because it's less...

Picking Potential

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Wes Ishmael, Contributing Editor

Imagine knowing the genetic merit of individual cattle the day they're born, with more accuracy than knowing the genetic worth of their parents. Imagine...

DNA Dos & Don'ts

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Alaina Burt, Managing Editor

DNA samples from cattle can be used for parentage verification, identifying genetic defects, carcass composition or testing for persistently infected...

Cow size is growing

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Bryan McMurry

Just how big are our beef cows? Answering this question requires a journey back to what I like to refer to as the beginning of the genetic revolution...

Mating & Managing

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Alaina Burt, Managing Editor

Two producer-panelists speaking at the recent BEEF Quality Summit shared their perspective on what it means to manage costs and product quality for profit....

How Now, U.S. Cow?

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Joe Roybal, Editor

Cattle production is largely a part-time business in the U.S., with almost 72% of cow-calf operations serving as a supplemental source of income for the...

Options + Quality Cattle = PROFIT

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Larry Stalcup

Break-profit. That's Dale Moore's optimistic look at marketing cattle. The western Oklahoma feedyard owner-operator likes the term better than because...

Time to retain ownership of calves?

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Larry Stalcup

Is it time you finally fed out your calves? Though there's no sure thing, the numbers point to a better profit potential in retaining ownership of your...

Editor's Roundup

Lion & the lamb

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Joe Roybal

Few issues have rattled livestock folks more than the rumor that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was proposing to tax livestock for methane...

BEEF XPress

Must Reads

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Imagine knowing the genetic merit in calves for Economically Relevant Traits, even though there's no estimate for those traits in the calves' parents....

Cargill & E. coli

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The parents of a 10-year-old girl from Mahtomedi, MN, who became seriously ill after allegedly consuming patties contaminated with E. coli, have filed...

FDA changes course on livestock antibiotics

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it will continue to allow the use of cephalosporins in food-producing animals, reversing an announcement made...

Tyson shakeup

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Dick Bond, president and CEO of Tyson Foods Inc. for the past three years, announced his immediate retirement early last month. Leland Tollett, Tyson...

Argentina building feedlots

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The Argentine government is financing construction of five major cattle feedlots, with the capacity of 40,000 head each. The feedlots will free up more...

Roberts to head NCBA

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Forrest L. Roberts, former marketing manager for Elanco's Beef Business Unit, is the new CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), effective...

They like us

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Consumer confidence in beef has been growing for the past five years, and a November checkoff-funded survey found that 91% of consumers have strong confidence...

BEEF Online Poll

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

As the new administration and Congress begin to work in Washington, D.C., do you think the costs of doing business as a U.S. beef producer will go up,...

BEEF Book Corner

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Livestock Guardians In a 232-page manual on using dogs, donkeys and llamas to protect against predators, author Janet Vorwald Dohner details for producers...

The Canada brand

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) has developed a generic branding program called the Canadian Beef Advantage (CBA). Meant to market and communicate...

Correction

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Figure 2 in the December 2008 story Dealing With Curly Calf (page 30) contained an error. Below is the corrected figure....

Cattle Economics

Demand more

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Wes Ishmael

For all the technical advances, beef cattle production and the genetics fueling it remain a fairly straightforward proposition: pounds pay; least-cost...

Vets' Opinion

A little ammo

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Mike Apley

More and more, I run into self-proclaimed experts expounding on antimicrobial use in food animals. I don't suggest the food-animal industry doesn't have...

Market Advisor

Costs & returns: Part II

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Harlan Hughes

Particularly in today's tough economic times, there are three red flag/green flag business measures on which astute ranchers should focus, and all are...

My Turn

MCOOL my way

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Walt Barnhart

As a government regulation, mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the product information to which...

BEEF Basics

Feeder-calf grades

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 originally mandated the standards for feeder-calf grades. Changes were made to the grading standards for live feeder...

Meat Matters

Eat more beef

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Steve Kay

Beef packers face an uncertain year. Their biggest concern is the economic crisis, its continued impact on beef demand and how quickly a recovery in consumer...

BEEF Tech

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Colostrum replacer Colostrx 130 Colostrum Replacer from AgriLabs contains 130 grams of globulin protein protection in every dose. Calves not receiving...

Research Roundup

Calving to first estrus

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Keep cows in moderate body condition score (BCS) after calving to decrease interval to first estrus, Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station researchers...