Latest Updates from beef.unl.edu

Nebraska Extension is hosting hands-on Calving Workshops at Sidney and Curtis, Nebraska in January featuring Becky Funk, DVM and Extension Specialist, and Lindsay Waechter-Mead, DVM and Extension Educator. Topics will include calving equipment and proper use, techniques for managing dystocia, when to call for help, and hands-on demonstration and training using a life-size model cow and calf.

Dr. Mitch Stephenson, associate professor and range management specialist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln stationed at the Panhandle Research, Extension, and Education Center in Scottsbluff received the 2023 Nebraska Range & Conservation Endowment from the Nebraska Cattlemen. The endowment honors professors or instructors who are providing cutting-edge research and/or student instruction in a range management and conservation-related areas.

The Center for Agricultural Profitability at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will present Returning to the Farm, a workshop series for families who are in the transition process of bringing members back to the farm or ranch. It will begin with a two-day workshop in Grand Island for multi-generational families on Dec. 8 and 9 at the Bosselman Convention Center located at Fonner Park, 700 E. Stolley Park Road. 

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Agricultural Profitability will present a series of workshops in central and eastern Nebraska for those planning and involved in farmland succession who want to learn more about the best strategies for managing and owning this asset and how it may impact the transition plan.

This article was first published in RightRisk News in October 2023.

University of Nebraska Extension is seeking a Livestock Systems Educator for Northwest Nebraska.  The position will serve Sheridan (5th Cow/Calf County in Nebraska), Dawes, Sioux, and Box Butte counties.  The region covers 1.5 million acres of agriculture land which includes 1.2 million acres of rangeland.

Feed costs are often the largest category of expense for cow-calf producers in Nebraska. Understanding how the cow’s nutrient requirements change throughout the year and how to cost-effectively meet those requirements with the feed resources available can greatly influence an operation’s bottom line. 

The year was dry, forage is limited, last winter’s feed shortage is frozen into your memory, and you have cows to feed. With these thoughts in mind, maybe you harvested hay from the roadside—“ditch hay”— and will be feeding that hay soon. There are several things for you to think about and keep in mind as you feed the hay.

Recently, we discussed Measures of Cow Herd Performance that included calculating pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed. In that article, we concluded that while weaning weight is important, it is not the best measure of cow herd performance. To increase weaning weight, emphasis is often placed on increased milk production, increased growth, or both.

Put roast in oven, insert oven thermometer, remove 1 to 3 hours later. EAT. Enjoy any leftovers for 3 to 4 days in such menu items as sandwiches, soups, salads and casseroles. What could be easier?

Nebraska’s farm income is projected near $7.8 billion in 2023, according to a new report from the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center (RaFF) at the University of Missouri, produced in conjunction with the Center for Agricultural Profitability at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

The report, “Fall 2023 Nebraska Farm Income Outlook,” indicates that Nebraska’s stronger 2023 farm income projection is driven largely by higher livestock prices and recovery in ending year inventories and values.

An upcoming virtual workshop series for Midwestern farm and ranch women will teach the basics of tax planning for agricultural operations. Hosted by women in agriculture extension programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, and Purdue University, the three-part series will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Central time on Nov. 28, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12.

This article was first published in Beef Magazine.

1.  Collect a representative sample of your hay with a probe.

Sampling is the largest source of error and doing it right is important to ensuring you get an accurate estimate of the feed value of your hay. Make sure to keep different “lots” of hay separate. Guidelines for sampling can be found here.

As spring-born calves are weaned, now is a good time to grade your cow herd performance. This will take records or a pretty good memory because numbers needed in the calculations will be numbers of cows exposed to the bull last year that resulted in the calf crop weaned this fall. The first three measures to calculate cow herd performance come from the Beef Improvement Federation Guidelines: number of cows exposed, pregnancy percent, and live calving percent. Here’s how to calculate them.

Be safe, get the daily amount and leave a smooth face. These are the key factors when it comes to feeding out corn silage.

Silage is a conservation technique that relies on anaerobic fermentation to primarily convert plant carbs into acetic and lactic acid, and those acids will then preserve the rest of the material for future use. Because the ideal point of corn silage harvest is at black layer, by now (November) all silages would have almost sixty days since they were chopped and stored.

Nebraska beef producers and corn growers can enhance their operations by attending the 2023 Cover Crop Grazing Conference. Scheduled for November 7, the conference will take place at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center near Mead.

The conference kicks off with registration, refreshments and a trade show at the August N. Christenson Building at 8:30 a.m.  Educational programs are from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and include a producer panel session and live field demonstrations.  

Looking back at late November of 2014, when the negotiated fed steer price reached an all-time high, $172.06/cwt, makes one wonder why—today, at fed steer prices at least $10/cwt higher, margins are still narrow.  A 1,550-lb fed steer is worth $155 more today than one finished in late November 2014.

While cattle placed against current live cattle marketing might have a wider margin for profit, cattle placed in October of 2023 will have a narrower margin of profit.  Why?

As the 2023 calendar year winds down, this is a good time for spring calving herds to look at what it cost them to produce a calf in the past year. What did it cost to run a cow on your operation this year? How do you calculate the costs? How do you value raised feed, labor, equipment, as well as replacement females grown on the ranch? These questions are frequently asked when the conversation of annual cow costs comes up.

It’s fall, and for cow/calf producers throughout the region that often means it’s time to preg check. Confirming pregnancy in the herd is an important milestone in the overall cow/calf production system, but there’s still a lot that needs to go right before you’re admiring next year’s weaned calf crop. Unfortunately, reproductive losses can still happen between confirmation of pregnancy and calving. Beef producers and veterinarians often refer to any death loss before calving as an “abortion”, but in reality, true abortions only make up a portion of this loss.