Idaho Range Livestock Symposium April 7-10th

Click on Image to Enlarge

"New Tools for Bull Selection" Free Webinar February 19th

http:/ /www.beefusa.org/cattlemenswebinarseries.aspx

Dear Educator, We would like to invite you to view an important webinar to be held on February 19^th at 6:00 pm MST.  The title of this webinar is “New Tools in Bull Selection”.  Please go to the web site to register.

The seedstock cattle business has experienced an information explosion in the past decade thanks to new technologies for genetic prediction and selection.  As a commercial cattleman heading to bull sales this spring, how do you best utilize these new selection tools to move your breeding program in the right direction?

Cow Camp Chatter: Gestation and Dystocia

Ron Torell, Long-Standing Educator and Advocate of Agriculture

Oftentimes when a first-calf heifer experiences calving difficulty we automatically cast all the blame on the immediate sire of the calf.  We may forget that the sire contributes only half of the genetic merit.  The pedigree of the dam determines the other half.  If the dam’s pedigree is stacked with growth and large birth weight sires and dams this is likely to influence calf delivery as a first-calf heifer.  Conversely, if the dam’s pedigree is stacked with calving-ease sires and dams, one would expect shorter gestations, lower birth weights and less dystocia.  

What's Important in Ranching?

by Chad Cheyney

I give a short talk at the Lost Rivers Grazing Academy about paradigms. (No...not "pair of dimes".) The human brain is lazy, and paradigms are a trick the mind uses to make dealing with the world easier....at least for the brain. Paradigms also keep us from seeing (and understanding) the world and our businesses and professions in new or different ways....because..."that's the way we have always done it."