Here at Ward Laboratories Inc there is always something happening. This past month and the coming months include construction projects and new lab equipment. This past week, we also became a zoo, I kid of course. In the lab we are adding new fume hoods and expanding for new stations and lab equipment. Once the […]
The other day while it was raining cats and dogs outside, a customer asked how that rain would affect his freshly cut alfalfa hay. Unfortunately, rain after cutting and before bailing only decreases the nutritional value of the hay. As the freshly chopped forage lays in the field getting rained on, water soluble compounds leach […]
Last week I attended both the Colorado Cattlemen’s Annual Convention and the Sandhills Ranch Expo at the Ward Laboratories Inc tradeshow booths. At both locations, producers had concerns about nitrates. The climate and weather however were contrasting conditions. Colorado producers wondered how drought stress might affect the nitrate levels in their forages, while Nebraska and […]
Last week I attended the Silage for Beef Cattle Conference in Mead, NE. For those of you who put up corn silage, or provide advice for those who do I would highly recommend listening to the online uploads from this conference as well as looking over the proceedings. Here are 8 key concepts I took […]
Recently, here at Ward Laboratories, Inc., birds have been the topic of conversation. We have had birds in nest over our doorways: birds in nests in surrounding trees: and even birds in the ceiling! Additionally, being located in Kearney, NE, we see our fair share of avid bird watchers who are drawn to the area […]
Proper hay sampling procedures are a must. Today I was brought a sample from a single bale of mixed hay. I was asked to sort the alfalfa from the grass hay and use those as individual, separate samples. I was not the only one whose first reaction was, are they planning on sorting it out […]
Summer has arrived, for livestock producers heat stress is something they face each year. Cattle not well equipped to handle heat stress and are usually grazing or in a feedlot during this time of year. Unlike swine and poultry who are housed in a more controlled indoor environment with fans and sprinklers to help keep […]
Soon we will be entering forage grazing and harvesting season. Although many producers test their hay or silages when buying and selling, there is still a group who either only test for nitrate when they believe they may be having an issue or do not bother to test at all. There are many benefits to […]
The function of carbohydrates in any animal’s diet is to provide energy. Some carbohydrates are more easily digestible and provide energy to the animal, or in the case of the beef cattle, to the rumen microbes more rapidly. These carbohydrates are Non-Fiber Carbohydrates (NFC). Examples of NFC are starch and sugars, such as glucose and […]
This spring we have had some very untimely snow storms. Some have even been historical, such as the blizzard that hit most of the midwest including Minneapolis as I was traveling to the Montana Nutrition Conference and Livestock Forum. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the conference as my airplane was diverted and the […]
Nutritional deficiency in poultry, is an common issue when I consult with people raising chickens in their backyard. With the rise in popularity of raising backyard, “City Chickens”, I have received phone calls from owners with nutritionally deficient chickens in June and July. They are wondering what is happening to their birds. Additionally, how can […]
Baby calves are hitting the ground, and lush, green pastures ready for grazing, and grass tetany potentially. Cattlemen know there’s a danger in those beautiful, green spring grasslands. A nutritional disorder known as Grass Tetany, Grass Staggers or Hypomagnesaemia. Grass Tetany is a deficiency of magnesium that causes them to stagger, look alert and become […]
Here at Ward Laboratories Inc., we often encourage producers to be creative and try newapproaches to agricultural production. A couple of weeks ago at the American Society of Animal Science Midwest meeting in Omaha, I listened to a talk about getting more creative with corn silage: “Production of High-Quality Forage through Unique Forage Blends” presented […]
Intermittently, I receive a phone call asking me about the interpretation of a feed analysis for wild animals as opposed to domesticated livestock whose nutrient requirements I am more familiar with. These phone calls usually make me do a little more research and I learn something new about animal nutrition with each inquiry. The first […]
The highlights of this year’s KSU Cattlemen’s Day were the tour of the Feed Intake Measurement Facility given by Dr. Bob Weaber and the necropsy demonstration given by DVM A.J. Tarpoff. The take away I want to reiterate to any livestock producers is that a post-mortem exam is crucial in determining the cause of death […]
The two most common issues that occur when feeding ruminant animals are bloat and acidosis. Bloat is the result of gases not being able to escape from the rumen. It can occur on a forage-based diet due to rapid fermentation of soluble protein and readily available carbohydrates resulting in a frothy entrapment of rumen gases. […]
Soil microbes are all the buzz these days, but what about rumen microbes? Currently, it is very common to go to a ruminant nutrition meeting and hear about feeding the microbes first. This is especially the case with the NRC Nutrient Requirements of Beef using the microbial protein and bypass protein system. There are four […]
Phewy! Smell that? From an early age, we are often told the old phrase “That’s the smell of money!” Although this phrase is often used to indicate cattle profits, the manure in those pens also holds a wealth of resources that can help enrich and strengthen your soil. Once used routinely in integrated farming systems, […]
The state of Nebraska is in the center of the High Plains Region of the United States. The states that make up this region are Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. I checked the current drought monitor and found that southern Nebraska and southern Wyoming are abnormally dry, and Kansas, Colorado and the Dakotas […]
When it comes to hay testing, producers commonly grumble about the variation in Relative Feed Value (RFV) and protein content, based on their observations and what the lab reported. Producers often have these concerns, because the RFV determines the price of a forage and how much customers are willing to pay. An underestimated RFV can […]
