It’s time to start thinking about preparing for your cow herd’s breeding season, and one of the most important considerations is keeping them on a consistent nutrition plan. What? You are just getting geared up for spring calving? Then, now is the perfect time to start making sure your females will be in proper nutritional […]
Category: Breeding/Calving
Calf Scours: Causes, Signs, Prevention, and Management
By Janna Kincheloe SDSU Extension Research Associate II For many cattle producers, this time of year means sleepless nights, partly due to checking cows during calving and partly due to the worries that come after calves are safely on the ground. Calf scours, the common term for neonatal calf diarrhea, is one of the primary […]
Charging Up Your New Bull Battery
by Dr. Twig Marston, Technical Field Sales Manager Managing yearling bulls can be a challenge. Stressors such as adapting to new surroundings and the uprising of social activities bring extra burdens on their physical and mental wellbeing. Because yearling bulls have a considerable amount of growth and development ahead of them, giving them extra care […]
6 Tips to Make Calving Season Easier
If you have a spring calving herd, you are now either finding yourself in the thick of things or it won’t be long before you have new calves hitting the ground. We polled our VitaFerm Facebook followers, asking them for their best calving tips. Take a look and see what tips you can utilize to […]
3 Tips to Prepare for Calving Season
You’ve been waiting nine months to see if your cattle nutrition and breeding decisions were on track and D-day is almost here. Kevin Glaubius, Director of Nutrition and Regulatory Support at BioZyme® Inc., offers three tips to make sure you are prepared for this calving season. Make Sure Your Calving Kit is Ready There is […]
Focus on Body Condition Scores Prior to Calving
There is a little bit of irony when we say “spring” calving is around the corner. However, regardless of when calves will hit the ground, you want to make sure you and your cows are prepared. Calf prices are certainly not what they were last year, but at this point, every live calf means dollars […]
Prepare for the Worst During Fall Calving
Source: Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service – Northeast District’s Timely Topics Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar is quoted saying “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” Most cattle producers do a really good job with management while expecting the best but sometimes we lack on preparing for the worst. There are steps that each […]
Donor Cow Nutrition
Thoughts of next year’s breeding decisions are in full swing. In addition to natural service and A.I., you may be considering embryo transfer. Flushing those cows with superior phenotype and genetics can be an easy way to make rapid improvements in the quality of your cowherd. However, flushing and embryo transfer comes with an elevated […]
Mineral Supplementation Proven to Optimize Reproductive Performance of Cattle
For cow/calf producers, there are certain times that significantly impact the operation’s profitability. Failure to manage the nutrition of the cow herd during these critical times can hurt productivity in ways that producers often do not think about. Supplementing the herd with important vitamins, minerals and proteins before calving and through breeding has been research-proven […]