Reading Time: 4 minutes Older producers may remember a preconditioning program implemented by the provincial Agriculture Department in the 1980s. There were criteria for procedures and shots, while veterinarians certified that procedures such as dehorning and castrating were done properly and correct pre-immunization shots were given properly. Two categories of calves (either pre-immunized or pre-immunized and weaned a specific […] Read more
Preconditioning is good for the entire cattle industry
Beef 911: There are a multitude of benefits but producers need to be compensated for the extra work and risk
Talk about a yo-yo: Cattle prices jump to near-record highs
The glory days of 2015 were a distant memory last fall — and then all of a sudden prices shot up again
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta cattle producers are enjoying unexpectedly strong pricing this spring with both fed cattle and calf prices in Alberta rallying almost 50 per cent since last fall’s painful lows. “There’s always going to be someone who says they saw it coming. We didn’t,” said Brian Perillat, manager and senior analyst with CanFax, the Canadian Cattlemen’s […] Read more
They’ll drink to that — cows and calves do better with cleaner water
Study finds cattle drink more from troughs, and that results in more milk and faster-gaining calves
Reading Time: < 1 minute Pumping dugout water into troughs can boost weight gain in calves. In a study done at the Western Beef Development Centre, cow-calf pairs were provided with either direct access to a dugout or access to troughs of untreated water pumped from the same dugout. Calves with cows that drank from the troughs gained an additional […] Read more
Green grass and newborn calves a perfect match, says longtime grazer
The list of pluses is long, says Jim Bauer, including easier calving, reduced feed requirements, and calves that outgain their winter-born cousins
Reading Time: 3 minutes Assisting a cow with her calf is much nicer when the weather is pleasant — and matching calving season with the onset of green grass makes you more money, too. “When you can line up that reproductive cycle with the grass production cycle, that’s huge,” said Jim Bauer, an Acme-area rancher and former manager of […] Read more
You can still get good protection by vaccinating very young calves
Beef 911: The label may say it’s not approved for young calves, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work
Reading Time: 4 minutes There has been a lot of trial work over the years regarding vaccinations of our calves and when would be the most ideal time. Immunologists would debate this but as situations on farms changed and herds got larger, trends changed. Producers no longer boostered vaccines at four to six weeks apart as was often recommended. […] Read more
Set the agenda for Bov-Innovation
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Beef Cattle Research Council wants beef producers to take a 10-minute survey on what topics they would like to see presented during Bov-Innovation at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in August 2017. Bov-Innovation is an extension event for producers and features innovative, underutilized, or emerging production practices that feedlot and cow-calf operators may want […] Read more
Calving problems are becoming rare, but be prepared to act
Beef 911: The first key step is to note when the birth process starts and investigate if too much time passes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Numerous articles have been written over the years on how and when to intervene at calving, how to recognize malpresentations, and what to do about them. Producers now see fewer and fewer calving-related problems as our breeding has improved and we select for easy-calving heifers with larger pelvises and moderate birth weight bulls. Ensuring cattle […] Read more
Make sure calves get the colostrum they need
University of Calgary animal health professor offers her tips on how to assess a situation and when to intervene
Reading Time: 2 minutes Many beef calves are not getting enough colostrum at birth, and the fallout can be drastic and last a lifetime. That’s why it’s important that calves consume some colostrum within the first four hours of life, said Claire Windeyer, assistant professor of production animal health at the University of Calgary. The probability that a calf […] Read more
Managing scours so they don’t manage you
Scours, the most common disease in calves, can quickly put you behind the financial 8-ball
Reading Time: 2 minutes Scours can put you in a financial hole in a hurry. “For every percentage of the herd that you lose, the rest of the herd has to pick up the slack,” said Claire Windeyer, assistant professor in production animal health at the University of Calgary. Producers who had relatively low calf mortality, around five per […] Read more
Save feed costs by improving body condition scores, says expert
A body condition of 3 can boost pregnancy rates by a third and add 55 pounds to calf weaning weights
Reading Time: 2 minutes If you want to save some money feeding your cows this winter, maintain a good body condition score. “Prudent use of feed resources to maintain body condition on the cows to maximize efficiency reduces your feeding costs,” said provincial forage specialist Barry Yaremcio. The amount of fat a cow is carrying will influence how it […] Read more
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