Digital Commons Network^™

Crossbreeding The Forgotten Tool, Jim Gosey

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Most ranchers know crossbreeding can increase output, but perhaps, don’t appreciate the potential 25% crossbred advantage in lifetime productivity of crossbred cows. Yes, you read that correctly; 25% crossbred advantage in lifetime productivity. In recent years many commercial cow herds have changed dramatically as producers have opted to repeatedly top-cross Angus bulls on their commercial cows resulting in loss of heterosis and loss of complementary breed effects. Some of the reasons for this shift are; 1) a desire to simplify breeding programs (perception that crossbreeding systems are too complex), 2) use of black hide color as a proxy for market …

Improving Feed Efficiency Through Genetics, Mark F. Allan

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Feed efficiency is not a new topic to the beef industry. Historically this topic has been revisited by the industry every 10 to 15 years with little benefit to the producer. The lack of progress in understanding the genetics of feed efficiency stems from the difficulty in trying to accurately measure individual intakes, coupled with extreme costs and a long generation interval. Feed efficiency is difficult to define and needs to be evaluated in the producing female, as well as the growing/finishing animal. Heritability of feed efficiency has been estimated to be moderate, with values ranging from .28-.44. These values …

Using New Selection Tools, R. Mark Enns, D. J. Garrick, B. W. Brigham

Range Beef Cow Symposium

The goal of most beef production systems is to increase or at least maintain profitability. Producers can attempt to increase profitability in a variety of ways that might include reducing feed costs, changing their marketing program, or perhaps by changing the performance of their herd through genetic improvement. Focusing on this latter option, there are two primary genetic tools available: selection and mating where selection refers to the selection of breeding animals and mating includes which females are mated to which bulls, for example, crossbreeding systems. This paper focuses on the former, the selection of the appropriate animals for a …

Utilizing Carcass Traits In A Breeding Program, Rich Blair

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Blair Brothers Angus is a multi-generational ranching operation in Western S.D. near Sturgis, which is much better known worldwide for Hogs than Angus cattle. However, by hogs I mean Harley Davidson motorcycles and the local biker bar does advertise Certified Angus Beef. Our normal annual rainfall is 14-15 inches, but normal the past few years would be welcome. We calve the heifers in late February, and cows begin the first of March. We run the cows in groups of 300-400 head, on a timed rotation grazing system, which works well with June rains. We supplement cows in the wintertime with …

Management Strategies To Reduce Embryonic Loss, Tom Geary

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Embryonic loss may represent the single greatest economic loss for cow/calf producers. With 40,000,000 beef cows and heifers exposed to breeding each year in the U.S., annual losses exceed $1.2 billion. The mechanisms involved in pregnancy establishment and maintenance are complex, and based on the literature, we have made little progress reducing embryo wastage in the past 90 years. This paper will focus on when and why pregnancy failures occur and discuss some management practices that may alleviate these losses.

In beef cattle, it is generally accepted that fertilization rates to a single service are between 90 and 100% regardless …

Factors Affecting Breeding Success, George Perry

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Reproductive failure is a major source of economic loss in the beef industry. The majority of this loss occurs because cows do not become pregnant during a defined breeding season. Therefore, the goal of any breeding program is to maximize the number of females that become pregnant. This means that fertility plays a major role in the success of any breeding program. There are several methods by which fertility can be measured: 1) conception rates (number of animals pregnant/number of animals inseminated), 2) pregnancy rates (number of animals pregnant/number of animals available for breeding), and 3) calving rates (number of …

Heifer Development: Revisiting Target Weights And Management Approaches, Trey Patterson, Richard T. Clark, Robin Salverson, Wayen Fahsholtz, Tony Line

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Developing heifers can be among the most expensive practices in many beef production businesses (Sprinkle, 2000). We have heard time and again about the importance of getting heifers bred at high rates. The logic used is that it is expensive to develop heifers, so you can reduce the cost of a pregnant heifer by improving pregnancy rates. This tends to lead into a cycle of adding more costs to further increase pregnancy rates. A production driven approach to developing heifers may have negative impacts on ranch profitability.

It is generally recommended that heifers need to be developed to 60-65% of …

Forecasting Forage Production, Alexander J. Smart

Range Beef Cow Symposium

The ability to forecast annual forage yield from weather data would be useful for making appropriate adjustments to stocking rates in order to achieve or maintain desired plant communities. Identifying the key weather variables that determine forage yield would help managers focus their attention on what to measure and when to make grazing decisions.

Stocking rate decisions are critical in determining long-range sustainability and productivity of range ecosystems and ultimately the financial success of ranches. Over-stocking of rangeland has led to reduced vegetative cover, increased runoff of water and sediment, and increased weedy forbs and woody plant species. All of …

Supplementation, Winter Cow Nutrition, Don C. Adams

Range Beef Cow Symposium

It is generally accepted that protein supplements help beef cows efficiently utilize dormant forages and maintain body condition score (BCS) during fall-winter grazing. Additionally, protein supplements fed during fall and winter may impact subsequent cow reproductive performance and calf growth. Applications of supplementation in different extended grazing systems are presented.

Bovine Trichomoniasis, Russ Daly

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Trichomoniasis is a venereal disease of cattle that has caused significant economic losses in American cattle herds for many years. Its return to prominence in South Dakota in 2004-2005 is contrasted by the long-standing more endemic nature of the disease in other western states. The rate of diagnosis of trichomoniasis in the region has increased in recent years; whether this is due to an actual increase in numbers of affected herds or simply heightened awareness of the disease is not clear.

Few detailed studies have been conducted to determine the actual prevalence of trichomoniasis in U.S. herds, but a 1990 …

Putting Bvd Control On Your Radar Screen, Jim Kennedy

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a major viral disease impacting beef cattle reproduction and performance. The key source of BVDV infection is the BVDV PI animal. PI animals are the result of fetal exposure to the virus prior to the development of its immune system approximately between day 18 and day 125 of gestation. Exposure to the virus prior to day 18 may result in embryonic death and apparent infertility, while exposure after day 125 is more commonly associated with abortion, stillbirths or congenital abnormalities. BVDV not only lessens reproductive performance but also produces disease in cattle including diarrhea, …

Getting The Most Out Of A Vaccine Program, Charles L. Stoltenow

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Vaccination programs have long been touted to be the answer to all your cattle disease problems. It isn’t that way. Vaccination is only one of many tools that producers and ranchers have at their disposal to try and manage an efficient and profitable operation. There are many other tools at their disposal.

When discussing vaccines, I have a favorite quote from Dr. Tim Richards at Kamuela, HI. He was the veterinarian for Parker ranch, the largest ranch in the United States. When Dr. Richards made that quote, Parker ranch was sending their feeder cattle by boat to the mainland for …

Family Communication In Ag Operations: Getting The Cards On The Table, Randy Mckee

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Why communication is so important.
A. Saving the family relationships
B. Avoiding the Family Feud
1. Have to back this up with a plan and with good documents
C. Producing desirable outcomes
1. Starts with having a plan
2. Plan does not have to be carved in stone
3. New techniques offer flexibility
A. Trusts
B. Durable Powers of Attorney
C. Business Entities

“Decoding” The Alphabet Soup Of Animal I.D. And Marketing Programs, Jack C. Whittier

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Wow! What a difference two years makes. At the Range Beef Cow Symposium in 2003, we endeavored to address the topic “Traceback, Verification, and Animal Identification on the Ranch: Big Brother of Best Buddy?” On the very day of this presentation, December 9, 2005, a Holstein cow in the state of Washington was harvested and due to abnormalities observed in this cow, tissue samples were taken for further evaluation. Later that month, on December 23, 2003, it was announced that this cow tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This event, along with associated policy from USDA, combined to rocket …

Key Indicators Of Success In Ranching: A Balanced Approach, Barry H. Dunn, Matthew Etheredge

Range Beef Cow Symposium

While it has often been recognized that a ranch is greater than the sum of its parts, measuring and reporting the performance of the parts seems to be the common method of measuring the success of a ranch. Depending on the interest of the owner and manager, emphasis may be focused on cattle performance, or range management, or financial performance, or individual or personal accomplishments. Seldom does the discussion of success encompass some overarching measurement. The management tool known as “The Balanced Scorecard,” first developed by Robert S. Kaplin and David P. Norton in the early 1990s (Kaplin and Norton, …

Determining The Best Time To Wean, Steve Paisley, Kellie Chichester

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Production analysis and survey data suggests that the greatest contribution to annual cow production costs in the Northern Plains is harvested and purchased feed (Taylor and Field, 1995). Harvested hay is not only expensive to purchase, but it is expensive to put up and feed. Dunn (2002) showed that interest and depreciation on capital (required to handle hay) were major factors limiting profitability of ranching operations. Profit margins in cow/calf production are slim due to high production costs (Taylor and Field, 1995) and lost opportunity to capture value from marketable ranch products (NASS, 1999). Low input systems, or systems that …

A Producer’S Experience On Moving Calving Date, Mark H. Mccarty

Range Beef Cow Symposium

I grew up on a purebred operation, where we did everything the hard way. If it involved more labor, more overhead, and more inputs we did it that way. Calving season was of course the most labor intensive, coldest time of the year. We calved every cow through the barn and watched them around the clock. Each calf was weighed, tagged, vaccinated at birth, and not to mention probably nursed. Now we calve around 2,500 commercial cows and sometimes we check them, but most of the time we don’t even see the calves until branding time.

Natural Beef In The Feedlot: Risk & Return To Feeder Calf Premiums, Turk Stovall, Jack Mccaffery

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Significant premiums can be realized in producing and marketing cattle through natural beef programs. However, if not executed with caution, the premiums can be quickly replaced with losses. “Natural” has been one of the hottest buzz words in feeder cattle sales over the last several years. The challenge is to make sure that everyone defines the term “natural” the same way. The “never-ever” programs seem to have been adapted as the industry’s gold standard. This standard requires natural cattle to “never-ever” have been given antibiotics or hormones of any kind from birth to harvest. Thus if you treat a calf …

State Of The Beef Industry And Cattle Market Situation And Outlook

Range Beef Cow Symposium

No abstract provided.

Independent- Dec. 6, 2005, Patrick O'Brien

The Independent (1988-present)

No abstract provided.

The New Hampshire, Vol. 95 [96], No. 23 (Dec. 6, 2005), The New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Print Edition

An independent student produced newspaper from the University of New Hampshire. This volume was printed as 95, but it is the 96th volume in the series. This was corrected in pencil.

Mostly Music: Concert In Honor Of Dr. Constance Speake And Dr. Vincent Oddo, Dec. 6, 2005, Mostly Music Staff

Mostly Music

Guangyue Su, Jane Kenas-Heller, Brian Torosian

2005 - Constance Speake, Neiu Music Department

Music Department Performance Programs

Constance Speake, Vincent Oddo, A Concert in Honor of Retiring Music Professors, Mostly Music

Lanthorn, Vol. 40, No. 29, December 5, 2005, Grand Valley State University

Volume 40, July 14, 2005 - June 15, 2006

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Arbiter, December 5, Students Of Boise State University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Study: Fall Book And A Natural Spring; Focus: Water Chemistry

Watershed Access Lab Projects

The purpose of the study was to compare two fresh water resources in the Freetown Lakeville area. One site found was a natural spring located in Lakeville near Morgan Reserves off Long Pont Road. The Spring is located in the woods and in a remote location. The water from the spring enters into Little Quittacas Pond, a reservoir for New Bedford drinking water. The other freshwater site was a brook called Fall Brook in Freetown located off Gurney Road. The brook is located near Still Water Fastener Factory and flows under Gurney Road.

The focus of the study was on …

December 5, 2005, James Madison University

The Breeze, 2000-2009

The Breeze is the student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Understanding And Improving The Inefficiencies Of An Engineering Change Management System Using The Action Research Model, Allen L. Samson

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The change management system at a manufacturing company is a bottleneck to the new product release cycle, causing numerous product releases to be delayed resulting in lost revenue and financial impact to the business. The change management system was developed when the company was small. As the company grew, the change management system could no longer meet the demand placed on it. The action research model establishes the issues that have created the symptoms. Data collection and analyzes using value-stream mapping and questionnaires determines that the process is inefficient and does not have the capacity required to sustain new product …

Response Of Stress Levels In Domestic Canines To Calming Pheromone, Kathleen Barrett

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Unh To Establish Organic Dairy Farm, Beth Potier

Media Relations

No abstract provided.