Spring Annual Forages
With spring not far off, it is time to start planning and thinking about any spring annual forages that we might plant. Part of the process may be anticipating a need for extra feed or booking seed early.
Spanish:Como Satisfacer Las Necesidades De Agua Del Ganado en El Corral De Engorde
Nuevas Restricciones de Antibióticos Pronto se Harán Realidad
Calostro 101
Breaking the Stigma of Mental Health Among Producers
Agriculture is a rewarding business, but it does come with stressors – weather, cattle and grain prices, debt, etc. -- that can stack on top of each other. It’s important to recognize the value a person brings to an operation compared to the markets, number of acres you own, or the number in your bank account. Farmers and ranchers tend to struggle with a lack of routine, or lack of structure that comes with the business and having to always be flexible when dealing with the unknown. Producers tend to push through these adversities without giving themselves grace.
Spanish:Calculating Annual Cow Costs Webinar Series: January 19, 26 and February 2, 9, 16, 23
Knowing annual cow costs is the foundation for evaluating and making management decisions that can improve profitability for a cow-calf enterprise. Significant increases in input costs are challenging producers to examine cost of production and identify where there may be opportunities to adjust the production system. Calculating costs and breaking them into categories gives understanding into where there may be opportunity to make changes.
Spanish:Windbreaks for Protection and Snow Diversion
Summary
Spanish:2023 Beef Feedlot Roundtable Series
The 2023 Beef Feedlot Roundtable Series is an event that you won’t want to miss! We encourage feedlot owners, managers, employees, and allied industry to join Nebraska Extension February 7-9th as we dive into a series of timely topics covering feedlot management. Highlights from the program include the use of roller compacted concrete, implications of increasing hot carcass weight, and new requirements on implanting with speakers from UNL Extension and producers.
Spanish:Translating and Applying Genomic EPDs
Expected progeny differences (EPDs) are a widely utilized tool in making genetic decisions centered around breeding objectives. With the progression of DNA technology, the industry has been able to incorporate genomics into the numbers that calculate EPDs. Prior to inclusion of genomic information, we relied on pedigree-based relationships that operate on the averages. This assumes a 50% contribution from the dam and 50% contribution from the sire. However, we know that offspring can relate more heavily to one parent or the other and that relationship varies from trait to trait.
Spanish:Summary of the Beef Heifer Replacement Forecast for 2023 Production Season
This is a summary of the sixth annual beef cow replacement value forecast for Nebraska. The entire forecast can be found at this link, and past summaries are also available on the Farm¢ents site. The information presented in the forecast is intended as a guide to modify, depending on each producer’s circumstances, expectations of future production costs, and cow and calf values.
Spanish:TDN Translation: Understanding Energy of Forages
Total digestible nutrients (TDN) are the common energy reference for both feed content and animal requirement, so how are the two connected and what can we know to better examine TDN of feedstuffs and use energy economically?
The initial measure of energy begins with gross energy (GE), which is the term for all energy contained within a feed and consumed by the animal. By subtracting all the energy that passes through to manure from GE, you get digestible energy (DE). Digestible energy is the measure of energy converted into TDN within feedstuffs.
Spanish:Cow-Calf Cost of Production Workshops to be held in the Sandhills in January and February
Two-day workshops will be held in January and February that will provide a hands-on learning experience for producers to learn how to calculate a unit cost of production for a cow-calf operation.
Having information to make effective business decisions is important for ranch success. Enterprise analysis and unit cost of production (UCOP) are tools that can help ranchers identify where value is being created on the ranch, where costs are occurring, and what changes could be made to improve profit.
Spanish:2023 Cow-Calf College Beef Seminar
The 2023 Cow-Calf College Beef Seminar is set for January 19th at the Clay County Fairgrounds in the Activities Building. Registration starts at 9:00 am with programs scheduled from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm. This year’s program is focused on strategies to manage forage resources during drought, including eastern redcedar control and adjusting pasture stocking and rental rates. The hands-on format will allow participants to engage with specialists and peers throughout the day.
Spanish:Helping Cows Cope with Cold Stress
Cold stress increases a cow’s energy requirement and can pull down her body condition. Thin cows can result in weak calves being born in the spring and/or poor breed up. Winter storms have already swept across the Plains, giving indications this could be a long, cold winter for cows already thin due to summer drought stress.
Spanish:Farm Program Disaster Assistance for 2022 Drought and Fire Losses
The 2022 production year presented several challenges to Nebraska producers. Widespread drought conditions and several large wildfires created loss situations with significant financial impact. This article is a quick reminder to producers of available assistance from USDA programs that may apply to their situation.
Spanish:Do You Have Mold and Mycotoxins in Your Silage?
We typically suggest getting forage tested to determine nutrient content such as energy and protein. But with silage, additional testing may be needed, especially when grown under stressed conditions and/or put up in less-than-ideal conditions. The presence of mold in silage can decrease the energy value, feed intake, and performance of cattle. Additionally, some molds produce harmful mycotoxins that can impact animal production and health.
Spanish:Value of Gain on Winter Backgrounded Cattle
This article was first published by "In the Cattle Markets" on Oct. 31, 2022.
Cumulative national feeder and stocker cattle receipts are slightly lagging both 2021 and the 5-year average (2017-2021) at 12,098,700 head through Oct. 21. In 2022, more of the receipts are coming from cattle weighing less than 600 lbs. and heifers – both signals that the drought in various parts of the United States is affecting feeder and stocker cattle being sold.
Spanish:The Impact of Low Stocks-to-use Ratio and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict on the Distillers-to-Corn Price Ratio
Distillers’ grains play an important role in both maintaining ethanol plant profit margins and providing affordable, nutritious feed to livestock feeding operations. Distillers’ grains are produced as necessary by-products of the fuel ethanol production process and therefore rely on an input grain – most commonly corn in the United States – and fuel ethanol in their production (USDA ERS 2021).
Spanish:2022 Beef Update with Private Pesticide Recertification
Producers in central Nebraska will have an opportunity to learn from beef issues that impacted the area during the 2022 growing season. The Beef Update program will help producers make decisions for the 2023 growing season and they can renew their private pesticide applicator license. This year the program will be offered in two locations across central Nebraska in December in Taylor, NE and Valentine, NE.
Monday December 12th at Taylor, NE – Loup County Fairgrounds; 1 pm – 4 pm
Spanish:Get Perspective Before Deciding
I run across situations where one party, or both parties have decided that their estate plan isn’t fair or equitable. I have also had recent contact with landlords that think the tenant is taking advantage of the farm lease and are not paying an appropriate cash lease rate. Either situation is a dispute, and everyone stops listening to each other. The parties dig in their heals and have made up their mind that they are not being treated fairly or equitably. When that happens, the relationship between the parties is usually permanently damaged at some level.
Spanish: