Cattle producers in the western provinces will get extra decision-making time this year on the calf price insurance available through Western Livestock Price Insurance (WLPIP). The Prairies’ Crown ag insurance corporations announced Thursday that the deadline to buy WLPIP calf price insurance for 2020 has been extended to June 18. The new deadline, reset from […] Read more
WLPIP calf price insurance deadline extended
Three-week extension includes nine purchasing days
Now is a good time to check udders of cows and bred heifers
Paying attention to teat and udder conformation greatly reduces the odds of having a cow with mastitis
Reading Time: 3 minutes Before calving is a good time for scrutinizing the udders of cows and bred heifers. Occasionally chronic infected quarters (probably emanating from the year previous) are highly visible as large swollen quarters compared to the other three. They will often flare up a few weeks before calving as the colostrum is being formed. Usually the […] Read more
Inducing cows is always a risk-and-reward scenario
Many factors need to be considered and no two cases are exactly alike
Reading Time: 3 minutes There comes a time in cow-calf production to induce cows to calve for a number of reasons. This may be because there is an abnormal pregnancy, the cow has a life-threatening condition, the pregnancy has gone on too long leading to health issues or other reasons. All require careful thought and examination as every case […] Read more
Are you willing to share animal traits info?
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cow-calf producers in Alberta are being asked to take a survey aimed at improving the productivity of the industry. Researchers at the University of Alberta are conducting the survey on the willingness of commercial cow-calf producers to accept compensation for sharing their animal traits information and the willingness of breeding associations to pay to obtain […] Read more
The benefits of vaccinating calves for BRD
Reading Time: 2 minutes Bovine respiratory disease is one of the costliest health issues facing the beef industry today. While BRD research has focused on the feedlot stage, the disease is also the most common cause of death for nursing calves older than three weeks. USDA research that tracked the annual incidence of BRD in pre-weaned calves over a 20-year period […] Read more
Now’s your time to catch up on cattle feeding tips
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Cows and Chaos webinar series has wrapped up, but the entire series is available online. Although the series covered timely topics for producers dealing with feed issues, its timing (it started airing in the summer and concluded earlier this month) coincided with harvest and the fall calf run. Each episode, put on by Alberta […] Read more
There are extra challenges in wintering cows this year
Early weaning, supplement feed, and feeding vitamins earlier should be considered
Reading Time: 2 minutes With feed quality and quantity “all over the map this year,” producers face challenges weaning calves and maintaining cows, says a provincial beef and forage specialist. “If calves were not provided with creep feed over the summer, weaning weights will be lower than in most years — as much as 150 pounds per animal,” said […] Read more
Rules of thumb when pricing cattle
Reading Time: < 1 minute ‘Multiply the price of a steer calf times two, and that is the price you can afford to pay for a cow.’ Does this rule of thumb still hold true? That and other common sayings in the cattle biz are the subject of a new fact sheet by Canfax. “Rules of thumb can help evaluate […] Read more
There’s progress but best practices often ignored
A deep dive into uptake of recommended cow-calf practices shows ‘there’s room for improvement’
Reading Time: 7 minutes ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ seems to be the common thread among cow-calf producers who haven’t yet adopted recommended practices on their own operations. “Producers are happy with the performance and productivity that they’ve been getting, so they see no reason to change,” said Brenna Grant, manager of Canfax Research Services. “That can […] Read more
Cattle producers have made a lot of progress but still have a ways to go
The latest in-depth survey of the cow herd shows higher rates of vaccination, but gaps remain
Reading Time: 4 minutes A recent article on the results of a very in-depth survey of cow-calf herds across Western Canada notes there has been decent improvement in vaccination usage since surveys done in the early 2000s. But it pinpoints gaps in vaccine coverage that could be improved. There are things to be learned by every producer and veterinary […] Read more
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