That’s according to two years of results from the Southern Carcass Improvement Project (SCIP) as presented by an advisor to the demonstration. Tom Brink, president of J&F Oklahoma Holdings, Inc., helped compile a white paper on last fall’s results (www.

Last week’s cattle industry convention held in Tampa, FL, was, for the most part, uneventful, and I suppose the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association prefers it that way after years of arguing over the checkoff and governance issues. There was a new committee structure in place that seemed to produce CROW.

This was a special year at Red Bluff for several reasons. Following a strong sale season last fall, there was much anticipation for this year’s event. As fall faded into winter, much of the southwest experienced a wetter than normal year, but it has since slowed up and has the radar as very close to average moisture at this point.

Veterinarians in both small and large animal medicine have been facing economic pressures along with owners and producers alike.

We have entered the DNA era in selecting cattle…now what? Most of the breed associations are, in fact, moving in that direction, and over the next several years, tools and traits derived from DNA analysis will continue to expand and the data will become more and more useful.

The bull-buying season certainly is here, and I hope those who need some good replacement bulls are busy shopping. Like a good ice pond with way too many ice houses loaded with fishermen, who gets the fish (in this case, the bull) takes luck and good planning.

protocols. The findings showed synchronized naïve beef heifers vaccinated with a five-way MLV were more likely to have abnormal estrous cycles. This same group of heifers also had significantly lower pregnancy rates than those vaccinated with a well-adjuvanted, inactivated vaccine (INV).

Plainview was the sixth largest plant on the Southern Plains and its idling causes 4,650 head of daily slaughter capacity to be lost to cattle feeders. But the market grossly over-reacted and Plainview’s absence will have little impact on Southern Plains’ live cattle prices this year.

“Producers do put pressure on growth, since they get some of the benefit in added pounds at weaning,” he said. “Unfortunately, grade is often overlooked as folks think, ‘It’s not my problem.’” More than 70 percent of today’s cattle are sold on a grid or formula where quality is a key component.

The live cattle market regained all the losses that were realized two weeks ago after Cargill announced the closing of their Plainview, TX, beef plant. The market has made nearly a full recovery. I’ll admit, it was a bizarre day at the CME when the news came about.