Profitability vs. productivity can be a tough concept because those of us involved in production agriculture want to produce more. We want to be more productive, raise higher yielding crops, and achieve and exceed our yield goals. But at what expense does that additional productivity come? First, a trip down memory lane… I earned my...Read More

Surveying the financial horizon may lead some cow/calf producers to determine feed analysis is an unnecessary cost. However, upon closer examination there is value in feed testing. Let’s see how knowing the actual protein content of feed-stuffs can pay off in just 1 week. The cost of the the feed and the analysis Of course...Read More

This year’s Swine Day at Kansas State University, like previous years, was a tidal wave of information.  So, here are some of the highlights I found to be most interesting.  Dr. Joel DeRouchey gave two interesting research summaries one on the effects of Bacillius probiotics fed to sows and the second on iron injection supplementation...Read More

Recently, I attended the University of Nebraska State of Beef Conference. One of the speakers was Rick Funston, a reproductive Physiologist at UNL. Dr. Funston reminded producers that when we feed the gestating cow, we aren’t just influencing her performance, but also the future performance of the calf.  This concept is called fetal programming. It emphasizes...Read More

With Halloween being over, you might start to wonder what happens to all the pumpkins left in the field that weren’t chosen to be carved into Jack o’ Lanterns or set out as a fall decoration. As it turns out pumpkins are great to supplement a livestock diet! They are also cost-effective as they become...Read More

As we move closer and closer to winter and some producers still  haven’t put their hay up, I have received a growing number of questions about windrow grazing.  The typical question I am asked as a feed testing consultant is how sitting in the windrow through the fall and early winter affects the forage quality...Read More

Last Saturday I spent the day in a classroom at the US Meat Animal Research Center learning about sheep production and tools put out by University of Wyoming Extension to help producers make the best possible management decisions. The meeting was a cooperation between the University of Wyoming Extension, Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center, Nebraska...Read More

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...Read More

Integrated agriculture can benefit beef producers. Intensive, specialized crop production has several widely agreed upon downfalls.  These specialized systems tend to have stationary yields all while profitability is widely dependent on a global market over which we have little control.  Dependence on these practices  leads to reliance on fertilizers due to nutrient depletion  in the...Read More

Here in Central Nebraska we have experienced several mid-summer thunderstorms. These hail producing storms have wreaked havoc on crops and forage productivity, particularly in the Broken Bow and Ansley areas. As producers move forward with crop insurance, they will also be scrambling to utilize what is left of their standing row crops and forages. There...Read More