Take a hard look at the loads of solid black and solid red, 9-weight steers prowling the August grass at Gracie Creek Ranch north of Burwell, NE. You’d be forgiven for assuming such uniformity is the result of a single breeding program....More

Value-of-gain projections that account for future change in the marketplace offer a clearer picture of current opportunity, says Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University (KSU) ag economist, in a recent issue of In the Cattle Markets....More

“Profitability of nontoxic endophyte-infected tall fescue-based stocker programs was, at a minimum, three times greater than toxic endophyte-infected tall fescue-based stocker programs in any scenario.” That’s the conclusion of a four-year study – “Impact of Clover Additions to Toxic or Nontoxic Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue on Animal Performance and Economics of Stocker Programs” – conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas (UA) and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation at Ardmore, OK....More

For Brian Grant and Gideon Fox, risk management starts the minute that calves arrive at their stocker and backgrounding programs; it continues until they’re sold and shipped away. And testing for persistent infection (PI) cattle that spread bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is vital in keeping animals healthy so that gain and performance aren’t hindered....More

Given the rightful wonderment surrounding this year’s drought and its game-changing potential, it pays to keep in mind that value of gain also ratchets up with grain prices as the market seeks pounds outside the feedlot....More

"The events that released the trapdoor on this week’s feeder markets were largely the previous week’s USDA crop report that lowered quarterly corn stockpiles and the ensuing Chicago frenzy that sent nearby corn contracts up the limit and cattle futures down over $2,” Say analysts with the Agricultural Marketing Service....More

“Managing for a margin is much more important today than at anytime in the past,” says John Rakestraw, CEO of Colorado-based Agra Holdings, which feeds cattle, provides feedlot consulting, and manufactures feedlot nutritional supplements, among other feedlot-based activities. Between 1984 and 2003, Rakestraw worked for ContiBeef LLC – he was CEO and president from 1995 to 2003. ContiBeef – sold to JBS and operating currently as Five Rivers Cattle Feeding – was and is the largest cattle feeding organization in the world....More

Regionally, calves, stockers and feeder cattle traded in a narrow range on either side of steady. More specifically, according to AMS, new-crop calves sold lower for the second straight week, with fall-born calves selling steady to $5 lower....More

Injectible trace minerals were beneficial in improving performance and health parameters of shipping-stressed stockers in a University of Arkansas (UA) receiving trial....More

With cheap corn appearing to be a thing of the past, producers can capitalize on the ruminant's ability to digest forages and fibrous byproducts by looking to those feedstuffs as their primary backgrounding ration...More