Despite the time and equipment costs, growing your own feed can be a powerful strategy. It allows you to maintain an inventory, reducing the risk of short supplies and protecting you from seasonal price fluctuations. Moreover, it empowers you to tailor energy and protein production to match your herd’s feed requirements, giving you a strong sense of control and confidence in your operations.
However, despite all of this, there is still the risk of the weather turning against you. Weather events in the weeks, days, and even hours leading up to the harvest can ruin your best efforts. They can transform a carefully raised feed source into a nutritional time bomb. If you are not careful, they can reduce your production and endanger your animals’ lives.
Times of extreme stress, like during a drought, can cause a build-up of nitrates. While consuming some of them is not bad for your animals, if they eat too much, it can become deadly. Here are some things to look for to prevent this from happening.
Gut health, often overlooked but crucial, is a vital component of a successful operation. While most people have a basic understanding of its role in nutrient absorption, there’s much more to it. As producers, fully grasping the concept and the factors that influence it can empower us to make informed decisions for our cattle’s well-being.
Trichomoniasis, or Trich for short, is not just a disease; it’s a severe economic problem for cattle producers. It impacts your bottom line significantly, leading to a reduced calf crop and lower weaning weights. This disease can render your breeding cows infertile and potentially extend your breeding season, causing substantial financial losses.
Internal parasites are a problem that every beef producer must face. They are a constant annoyance that can rob a beef operation of its productivity. They impair production by increasing maintenance energy costs, diet digestibility, and immune activity.
Summer pneumonia, sometimes referred to as pasture pneumonia, is a disease that is usually observed in calves on pasture late in summer. It can affect calves from one month old to even five months old who have yet to be weaned. The issue with this disease is that little is known about it, and it can pop up from nowhere.
With summer arriving, treating pinkeye is an issue many cattle producers will face. As conditions get drier, dust levels rise, increasing eye irritants that can lead to this painful infection. Pinkeye doesn’t just affect the health of your cattle; it has a significant economic impact as well. Each year, pinkeye costs the cattle industry approximately $150 million due to decreased weight gain, reduced milk production, and the expenses associated with treatment.
It is never good when your cattle suffer from diseases. They can reduce your performance and increase your expenses.
Pinkeye is a very common as well as a highly contagious disease in cattle. Once it shows up, if you do not take proper steps immediately, it can quickly affect all of your cattle.
Bovine Leukemia Virus is a hidden but damaging infection. In fact, it could be in your herd right now, and you would likely not even know it is there. It already has a significant impact on the cattle industry at large.
Dehydration among calves is a severe problem that is often overlooked among producers. It can be caused for many reasons, typically from the summer heat and scours. The time from recognizing the symptoms to providing treatment is crucial.
