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Beef producers have patience

September 30, 2011

Getting a finished publication in the mail is to a writer what sale day or getting carcass data reports back is to a rancher or feeder.

I get a good feeling about seeing pictures and words I sent in then turned into nice-looking, easy-to-read copy. And although it’s been a number of years, I remember taking my cattle checks to the bank and getting that same feeling of satisfaction. After all that hard work and anticipation, you finally get to see the results of your final product.

Do you remember these guys?

I put this very picture up on the blog back in June while I was on a story trip through southern Iowa and then I gave you just one little piece of their story.

That was June 3. By the time I got the September Angus Journal in the mail earlier this month, I had written dozens of other stories, been on three more work-related trips, and my 1 ½ year old daughter went from simple words to talking in phrases.

Basically, it felt like a long time!

But for farmers and ranchers, that wait would be a breeze considering the timeline you live by. If you want to make genetic change it literally takes Continue reading “Beef producers have patience”

Tell the story, curb those regs

By Miranda Reiman

Agriculture stays ahead of the curve in caring for land and livestock, but that’s too much of a secret, according to a Nebraska Cattlemen environmental specialist.

One of Kristen Koch’s first slides at the Feeding Quality Forum in Omaha this August set the tone for her talk with, “Eat our dust, EPA.” She talked about public misconceptions and strategies to rebuild the beef industry image.  At the Garden City, Kan., event a couple of days later, Clayton Huseman of the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) delivered related comments on regulations.

“I want to arm you with an arsenal of scientific facts so you can feel comfortable and confident talking about the great job the beef industry does managing its environmental impact,” Koch began.

Shooting down bogeys in order, a myth about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock was first. Noted at 18% of the total by a still-quoted 2006 United Nations report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2009 put it closer to 3%.

M&M feedyard pen

Efficiency helps the planet, she pointed out, as we generate more beef with less feed, energy, land, water, fossil fuels and even fewer cattle. Of course, that also decreases the GHG methane and ammonia produced per unit of beef.

“We can talk positively and confidently, with our heads held high,” Koch said. But even though the livestock industry’s impact is small and technology is further reducing that impact, “we’re one of the most heavily regulated industries.”

Huseman, director of KLA’s Feedlot Division, said in Garden City that all those regulations began by targeting issues outside of agriculture. He detailed how the regulatory aim shifted and expanded its impact on the beef industry, especially large confinement operations, and then reviewed current and pending laws.

Koch and Huseman agreed beef producers must become more efficient communicators. They see public misinformation as a big reason for the increase in governmental control, which Huseman said brings even more operational challenges and uncertainties.

As a call to action, he said producers must become more aware of what they are actually doing. “Too many times we obtain permits for production without truly knowing the contents, except for how long it lasts.”

He also stressed the need to look at regulations, in and outside of agriculture, in a new light: Consider not only the effects they could have today but in the future as well.

“We’ve got to review absolutely everything,” Huseman said.  “Even if it’s not directed at our industry now, someday it will be.”

Gaining that awareness, producers need to pass the information along.

“I think every single environmentalist, animal activist, scientist, homemaker—anyone in the world—would agree the purpose of animal agriculture is to generate high-quality food at an affordable cost, low environmental impact and in an animal-welfare friendly way,” Koch said. “Find the common ground on the purpose of the industry.  Then start speaking up about your practices.”

The Feeding Quality Forums were co-sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health, Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), Feedlot Magazine and Purina Land O’Lakes. More information and proceedings are available at www.cabcattle.com.

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Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

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Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

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As drought conditions persist across much of cattle country, farmers and ranchers are at a pivotal juncture in the cattle industry’s landscape. What impact does this prolonged dry spell have on the nation’s herd numbers? When will heifer retention begin? How will industry dynamics influence the spring bull sale season?

On the road to window rock

September 29,2011

My travels took me to the Great Southwest; more specifically, Window Rock, Arizona.  I was right in the heart of the Navajo Nation, along with Jared Murnin, the regional manager with the American Angus Association, who covers Texas and New Mexico (Window Rock is just inside the Arizona border, so he cheated a little bit on his territory!).  So did I, as my area really only takes me to New Mexico; but our first visit with the Navajo Department of Agriculture came via a tribal rancher’s meeting Crown Point, New Mexico, which I have blogged about previously.  Therefore, I was semi-legal!

The Department of Agriculture hosted a three-day conference on the fairgrounds at Window Rock.  The DOA folks are working with their people to help better the lives of the Native American agriculturists, and it looks to me like they are succeeding.

The Navajo people still have their own unique culture, and not all of the old traditions are gone.  But the opportunites to learn have been heightened, and producers there are taking advantage of the research and knowledge being shared via the conference.

Several different topics were presented:  native grassland management, Breeding Soundness Exam for cattle and sheep, horse dentistry, marketing sheep, cattle, and horses, wild horse roundups, and livestock castration methods, among others. I was on a breakout session to discuss how tribal ranchers can target and benefit from the Certified Angus Beef brand. Continue reading “On the road to window rock”

It’s time to pay attention

As the quality spread widens, prepared cattlemen profit

 

by Laura Nelson

Boxed beef climbed 15% in value to start the year, but with the passing of summer into fall value trends began a dramatic differentiation. “At these prices, buyers wanted better quality,” said Larry Corah, vice president of Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB).

The spread between USDA Choice beef and lower quality Select, moderate since 2008, shot up $15 per hundredweight in a matter of weeks. It was partly attributed to a major retailer switching to higher quality beef, but others had set the stage.

“Two of the largest retailers in the United States had added a premium-Choice program to their marketing plans in the past couple of years,” Corah noted. They were winning more satisfied customers, and the competition was quietly building demand at the high end.

The latest retail shift signaled a sudden need for more Choice and better beef, he said, but more importantly an excess of the low-Select product formerly in those cases.

“Combine the retail factors with an improving middle-meat market in our upscale, fine dining restaurants and a whole new demand profile for high-quality beef has been created,” Corah explained.

What does it mean at the feedlot and ranch? More money for informed marketers.

“There’s no reason not to sell high-quality cattle on a grid,” said Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist for the Certified Angus Beef ® brand, commenting on prices for CAB Prime. “When you’re looking at nearly $250 per head in premiums, that makes a guy pay attention.”

Those figures are based on mid-October calculations of an 850-pound (lb.) carcass, sold on a popular Nebraska grid (Table 1). The difference is much larger when compared to Select, which brought $187-per-head less than CAB on the grid. The premiums for quality represent a significant jump from recent annual averages.

Before anybody tallies potential premiums, Dykstra warned that it’s important to understand how area-weighted averages work (Table 2).

“Many people believe they’ll get the full Choice/Select spread over and above the carcass price for Choice,” he said. “Not true. It all depends on the plant location and grid structure.”

If a plant averages 65% Choice, the packer will likely pay 35% of that Choice/Select spread on every Choice carcass. Southern plants with historically lower grading may pay up to 50% of the spread, Dykstra noted.

Even in Nebraska, where quality competition is fierce, there’s plenty of reward for those who have focused on carcass quality.

“Select is always a discount by the full Choice/Select spread below the base, and Choice is that area-average premium over the base,” Dykstra said. “The spread covers the up- and the down-direction from the base.”

Regardless of whether you think about quality, it affects your price, he added: “Cattle with a track record for quality are the ones now bringing higher bids as calves and feeders.”

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South Dakota cows

Back for the fall run

September 28, 2011

Hey fellow seekers,

I am back for a fall run with the Purpose Driven Herd. Talk about “Other Disappearances!”  That situation only got worse, including the effect as seen in this AWOL blogger.

I suppose it had to do with keeping busy on the job with CAB as I have been on more farms and ranches this summer than any for a decade… and being older than some other more prolific bloggers.

There was also putting up hay in the pastures (which turned out better than expected), and walking daughter #2 down the aisle on July 2.  Daughter #1 was last summer, and there is no daughter #3, so we can hope normalcy returns, whatever that is. Anyway, the big things continue to go well for us.

Not so much for cow 158, the victim of lightning in late July, making for another orphan heifer in the herd; and then there was 804 heifer… I know she WAS, but have no idea where she went because at roundup for pre-weaning shots in August, she turned up gone. Tough year to try raising heifers here. In the first place they made up an unusually small percentage of all at 35%,and with the other disappearances we only weaned 26 last week where it is often 40.  We do have 45 nice steers ready to join the load bound for Iowa and custom feeding in November,and we’re selling a stock-trailerload that fell short in one or more traits. Continue reading “Back for the fall run”

Going green, meeting today’s beef demand

September 27, 2011

You may have heard the buzz… last week was a big one for us at Certified Angus Beef LLC. More than 600 of our closest friends gathered in Sunriver, Oregon for our Annual Conference to celebrate a year of success, from pasture to plate.

Annual Conference is all about honoring our partners – we award our Feedlot Partners of the Year, identify seedstock and commercial producers for their Commitment to Excellence, recognize innovation in retail and foodservice marketing and celebrate those who contributed to selling more than 800 billion pounds of Certified Angus Beef® brand product this year.

How the Best get Better” is a book that has floated around the CAB office for many years and is often quoted by our team. Taking that mentality to heart, Annual Conference is also a time to learn how to get better. With an audience including everyone from cattle ranchers to executive chefs, Annual Conference has a host of guest speakers and workshops that focus on education, innovation and research that will help our great partners and ourselves improve our personal and professional skills.

One of those speakers was Dr. Jude Capper, an assistant professor at Washington State University. Dr. Capper’s presentation created a lot of great discussions at Annual Conference and amongst our Twitter followers, so I thought I’d share a few highlights:

Bigger is better? To an extent: We’ve increased beef yield/animal by 31% from 1977 (603 lb) to 2007 (773 lb). If that rate continues, we’d be averaging 892 lb carcasses by 2027. Capper says that won’t work unless there is a complete overhaul of current packing plant equipment, etc. They literally can’t handle carcasses that size with today’s standard processing systems. “But what we can do is improve productivity and improve growth rate. That equals a lower carbon footprint,less water use,land use, etc.”

This ain’t grandpa’s beef system: In 1977, it took 5 animals to produce the same amount of beef that 4 animals produce today. It also takes 19% less feed, 12% less water, 33% less land per unit of beef produced today. Capper says that’s not due to any overly complicated technology: “That’s simply because they’ve been doing what they do best—improve productivity.” Continue reading “Going green, meeting today’s beef demand”

California duo wins CAB seedstock award

 

by Laura Nelson

David Medeiros and David Dal Porto – “the Davids”– have more than a few similarities. The native Californians share cattle philosophies and even a bull sale venue. Most recently, they shared the Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) 2011 Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award at the brand’s annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

They each grew up showing cattle in the northern San Joaquin Valley, maintaining small cowherds. Those were put on hold when Medeiros headed to Cal Poly and Dal Porto to Chico State, where their paths continued to cross in livestock judging.

“They were real rebels… er, rivals back then,” Dal Porto’s wife Jeanene teases.

After college, their black herds seemed a bit rebellious. Rancho Casino and Dal Porto Livestock were among the few locals that focused on Angus. But they stuck with it, building those show herds up with functional, seedstock genetics.

“They both had a great customer base, but both realized at about the same time that they needed to do business differently,” Medeiros’ wife Carol says.

In the late ’70s, the men saw an opportunity that led to eventual collaboration: Commercial cattlemen were looking to Angus for balance and calving ease in replacement heifers.

“We wanted to offer a large number of bulls that had low birth-weight EPDs [expected progeny differences], and several generations of it,” Dal Porto says.

Nearly year-round forage availability means California cattlemen expect unassisted performance in the pasture, and that includes calving season.

“We believe you should never have to pull a calf,” Medeiros said. Stacked generations and strict culling deliver on that.

“We have a short breeding season, so if they don’t breed we cull them,” Dal Porto says. “There are no second chances.”

Cows from their bulls also have to calve unassisted and excel in udder quality, mothering ability and disposition.

End-product performance is a factor, too. “There are enough cattle out there that we can identify and stack generations that have the lower birth weight, wean a good-sized calf, and add some carcass to go along with it,” says Medeiros.

Their common maternal base established, the partners turn to serving diverse customers who need individual attention.

“We want to work with our customers, not just to make sure they get the right bull, but after that, too,” Dal Porto says.

Age-and-source verification (ASV), AngusSource® enrollment and compliance with non-hormone treated cattle (NHTC) protocol—those acronyms denote extra dollars for their customers.

Some, like John Ginochio of Walnut Creek, Calif., have taken the plunge into finishing cattle. Medeiros and Dal Porto often play the catalyst in developing relationships between feeder and customer, or even go in on partial ownership of calves at Beller Feedlot, Lindsay, Neb., which nominated them for the CAB award.

Ginochio uses data from Beller and CAB to improve his herd, and began building his reputation by noting his bull source 10 years ago.

“People know these aren’t just black cattle, and they aren’t just great Angus cattle,” he says.

Other Dal Porto Livestock and Rancho Casino customers have been “name branding” their calves at auction as well, often paired with another value-adding brand.

“There’s a reason people put ‘CAB-candidates’ next to our cattle,” Medeiros says. Dal Porto chimes in, “Everyone knows what that stands for, and people pay more for those.”

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Angus capital

Keeling Cattle Feeders shares data and family-style connections

 

by Wyatt Bechtel and Steve Suther

Hereford, Texas, is known as the “Beef Capital of the World.” It is also home to Keeling Cattle Feeders, CAB 2011 Feedlot Partner of the Year for all yards with more than 15,000-head capacity.

In 2007, only about one-quarter of the feedlot’s 17,000 head were Angus type, and of those just 9.6% reached Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand acceptance. Becoming a CAB partner that year added an Angus focus to the Keelings’ overall commitment to quality. Last year, the yard enrolled 6,200 head that made 21% CAB – well above the Texas average.

“We changed our whole business over the last few years,” says Scott Keeling, who owns the yard with wife Karen. The couple accepted the CAB award at the brand’s annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

Risk management has been increasingly important as the feedlot moved up from 25% to 50% cattle ownership while upgrading animal type. Oldest son Tyler has been a big help in that regard. He’s a commodity broker in Amarillo, and with wife Trudy, parents of the Keelings’ only grandchild, Reid.

Second-oldest son Levi is a feedlot-operations major in a nearby junior college, and Tom, the youngest at 13, is just getting into the junior-high school years with lots of activities. The Keelings always made time to attend local sporting events for the sons who span 16 years in age, devoting time to teach life’s lessons along with golf and fly fishing.

Grading effects, weather and variable lot sizes are a few of the challenges the feedlot faces. “Sometimes it’s like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall,” Keeling says. “But that’s part of what I like about our business.”

He also likes the results, as real opportunities get nailed down, herds improve and everybody from rancher to consumer wins.

“There’s a circle of friends that comes with being a CAB partner,” says Keeling, who was honored in 2008 as CAB Progressive Partner of the Year.

One of those friends is state and nationally prominent Angus producer Steve Olson, who started feeding with Keeling when it became a CAB-licensed yard.

“The feedlot is the right size to give personal attention,” Olson says. “He’s involved himself in the marketing and feeding. He knows what’s going on in his yard and that is a plus to me.”

Olson was looking for a feeder who could provide carcass data on the calves he was raising.

Keeling Cattle Feeders has served as a tour stop for chefs from big cities and other beef specialists who want to learn more about the products they sell, prepare and serve.

“We do a lot of things like that; we’re really transparent with what we do and I love to show it to people,” Keeling says. “They ask good questions and appreciate what you’re doing.”

The feedlot is a model with its beef-industry advocacy and a commitment to quality; much of its business revolves around building bridges.

“Those relationships have only gotten stronger with our CAB affiliation,” Keeling says.

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Relationships rule

Will Feed honored by CAB

by Miranda Reiman

Matt and Anne Burkholder earned their degrees at Dartmouth—an Ivy League college in Hanover, N.H.—and considered jobs in Midwestern cities, but the Burkholder family’s central Nebraska diversified agriculture operation was calling.

“When we told Matt’s dad that we wanted to come back, he about dropped his coffee cup,” Anne recalls. “But the double surprise was when Matt said, ‘Anne wants to try to work at the feedyard.’”

Dave Burkholder laughed. 

But he wasn’t about to tell his daughter-in-law “no.” After all, he could use another hand at Will Feed Inc., the 3,000-head yard he’d built in the early 1970s.

“It took a tremendous leap of faith to give a job to a 22-year-old woman who had no background in agriculture,” she reflects. “But he didn’t give me the manager job right from the start. I went to work for $6.85 an hour, running the feed truck, scooping bunks and processing cattle.”

As manager today, she still does most of those tasks.

Perhaps it’s because she’s a woman in a male-dominated field. Maybe it’s her Florida “city girl” roots, her perspective as a mother or her psychology degree. Likely it’s all that rolled into one, but whatever the impetus, Burkholder has made many changes at the feedyard and within the greater beef industry.

One of the more recent was Will Feed signing on as Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB)-licensed feedlot in 2008. The overriding quality focus, data-gathering and details management took hold long before, but those became increasingly apparent.

They helped earn recognition as the 2011 CAB Feedlot Partner of the Year for operations with up to 15,000-head capacity. Matt and Anne accepted the award at the CAB annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

“The niche we’ve really tried to get into is tracing calves from ranch to rail,” Burkholder says.

She’d dreamed of a business plan where she was the only “middleman” sharing information between ranch and packer. Then the rising oil market gave her an additional incentive to give that a try.

Rather than pay several hundred extra dollars to truck in a calf from Idaho or down South, she tapped into the local pool of high-quality genetics.

“I can give a good chunk of that money to the rancher instead of putting it into freight,” she says. It’s also a stress-reducer for the animals.

She started working the connections she’d made from involvement on Nebraska Cattlemen committees and the list grew. Today there are times when the yard is 100% full of Nebraska-born, age- and source-verified calves.

Many of them are Angus and sold on the U.S. Premium Beef (USPB) grid.

Pat Laird, who lives just a few miles down the road, starting selling his calves to Burkholder in 2002.

“She’s very conscientious about their environment, and I like how she treats the cattle when they’re there,” he says, noting he appreciates all the feedlot and individual carcass data.

“I can make management decisions based on that,” he says.

Like many customers, he has Burkholder wean his calves.

“Through a real focus on the minute details, we’ve come up with a plan that really works,” Burkholder says. “We do all the little things right. If somebody doesn’t get to the bunk that day, we make sure we get them looked at. We exercise and acclimate our calves when they come in.”

Exercise goes on for five to seven days. During that time they’re being fed mostly prairie hay with “just a touch” of wet distillers on top and that gradually that gives way to a calf ration before they work their way through the normal feedlot formulations. 

Nothing gets an implant until it’s been there for 30 days.

“When you implant an animal and they’re under stress, your implant isn’t as effective and it can impede the animal’s ability to marble,” Burkholder says.

Health programs are all coordinated, and everybody—from suppliers to consultants—knows her end goal.

“I want to produce something that tastes good and something that’s tender,” she says. “Beef is not inexpensive, so it’s something that a lot of people have to sacrifice to put on the dinner table.”

So there’s the greater good, plus a monetary benefit.

“Even when the Choice-Select spread isn’t very big, if you can get your animals to go CAB, that’s a really nice kicker,” she says.

From June 2010 to May 2011, more than 1,300 head of Will Feed cattle enrolled in CAB’s Feedlot Licensing Program went 59.8% CAB and CAB Prime.

In addition to her feedlot work, Burkholder has become an “agvocate” who puts a face on that segment.

“I want to put good content out there so people can understand what I do every day,” she says.

For more of her story, visit her blog at http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/.

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$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

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Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

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Feeder educates commercial producers, consumers alike

Gregory feedlots wins CAB Progressive Partner award

 

by Miranda Reiman

It’s luck of the draw. Your calves get sick in the feedyard. That sets them back, costs you all kinds of money and ruins your hopes for what could’ve been.

The guy next to you catches a break. His cattle gained and graded like crazy.

The kicker is, it’s not all luck.

David Trowbridge, manager of Gregory Feedlots at Tabor, Iowa, uses a hypothetical scenario like that to educate feedyard visitors on how everything from genetics and ranch care to implants and markets can impact beef quality later on.

Everyone gets a workbook and a virtual calf when they begin, and the story is revealed as they make stops at the processing barn, the feed mill and the pens.

At the end, some make a profit. Some lose money. But all leave with a greater understanding of the many variables involved with feeding cattle and producing beef.

“Cattle producers care about what they’re doing; they care for the animals humanely and they provide nutrition and great health care,” Trowbridge says. “If we can convince the whole world that that’s what we’re doing, we’ll sell a lot more beef.”

This philosophy, along with a commitment to driving interaction at every point in the production chain, earned Gregory Feedlots the Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) Progressive Partner of the Year Award. Trowbridge accepted at the CAB annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

He and feedyard owner Jim Gregory “understand the importance of educating end users on their segment of the beef industry,” says Nikkie Allen, corporate meeting planner for CAB. “They take time and put thought into what things they want attendees to walk away with when they leave their property.”

CAB’s National Roundup seminar, which brings folks from across the globe to U.S. cattle country, has visited the feedyard twice. They also host diverse groups, from the American Angus Association’s Beef Leader’s Institute to local cattlemen’s events.

 Of course, tours or not, cattle must be looked after and Trowbridge gives a lot of credit to his small crew.

“All I do is talk on the phone and get customers here,” he says with a quick smile. “They do the work.”

The hint of truth is probably rooted in the sheer amount of effort it takes to build and maintain relationships. Trowbridge estimates 85% of the cattle in the 7,000-head feedyard are retained ownership.

Everything they learn about cattle coming in—from recent history, like vaccines and implants, to cowherd history—helps them do their jobs better, he says.

“Working with the producers we do, we are able to save money, time and stress on the cattle by customizing what’s done,” Trowbridge says. “Those calves should never have had a bad day. When you wean them, you want them gaining just as good as they do in the feedlot.”

They aggressively sort because most of the cattle are grid marketed even when the Choice/Select spread is low.

“I’ve been able to show customers that even if we get $1 over the base meat price, and if your cattle will grade 85% Choice or better and yield decent, we can beat that price,” he says. “Even if we’re looking at a $2 Choice-Select spread, we’re still selling a majority of our cattle on a grid, and making money doing it.”

But the ultimate payout is seeing repeat customers make progress.

“It makes you feel good when they come back and the cattle are better than they were,” Trowbridge says.

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$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

Certified Angus Beef is offering $100,000 in scholarships for agricultural college students through the 2024 Colvin Scholarship Fund. Aspiring students passionate about agriculture and innovation, who live in the U.S. or Canada, are encouraged to apply before the April 30 deadline. With the Colvin Scholarship Fund honoring Louis M. “Mick” Colvin’s legacy, Certified Angus Beef continues its commitment to cultivating future leaders in the beef industry.

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

Raised with Respect™ was developed as part of a strategic cattle care partnership between Sysco and CAB. The collaboration focuses on supporting farmers and ranchers, equipping them with continuing education to stay current on best management practices and helping to increase consumer confidence in beef production.

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

As drought conditions persist across much of cattle country, farmers and ranchers are at a pivotal juncture in the cattle industry’s landscape. What impact does this prolonged dry spell have on the nation’s herd numbers? When will heifer retention begin? How will industry dynamics influence the spring bull sale season?