Change is never easy. That is true if you’re a young person moving away to attend college, someone changing jobs or a freshly weaned calf with a long truck ride in its future. However, in each of these scenarios there are ways to reduce the stress and make the transition a little easier. Up until this […]
Tag: Stress Tubs
A Guide to Low-Stress Shipping
The cool, crisp mornings are a hint that fall is just around the corner. And for cattle operations, that means one thing – shipping time is quickly approaching. Shipping your cattle might seem like an easy task. Get them penned up, load them up and send them on their way. However, keeping your calves healthy and as low-stress as possible during this […]
Take the Stress Out of Weaning
A high-quality, healthy calf crop doesn’t just happen. It takes well-planned matings, caring for gestating and lactating cows with proper nutrition and management, and a low-stressed, healthy weaned group of calves. Producers know that perhaps the most challenging aspect of that equation is reducing the stress during weaning time, but one progressive seedstock operation in Central Illinois has found a […]
A Three-Step Approach to Successful Weaning
If you are a cattle producer who has raised kids, there are a lot of similarities, especially when it comes to challenges. Think about weaning time and compare it to the first few days of sending your littles to pre-school. Who sheds more tears? At weaning, it could be a toss-up as bawling calves missing […]
How to Get Weaned Calves a Healthy Start
Freshly weaned calves are a lot like small children starting their first day of preschool. They’re learning a new routine in a different environment and eating from a new menu all while being without their mamas for the first time. That equals a lot of stress, which can lead to sickness, going off feed and […]
Progressive Cattleman: Tips for Growing Bulls During Summer Heat
Oil and water. Cats and dogs. Bull fertility and summer heat. All of these are things that don’t necessarily mesh. When it comes to reproductive performance of your herd, you work hard to make sure your cows are in an ideal body condition and are reproductively sound; however, the bull’s reproductive health and condition also […]
Vista Farms Beats Summer Stressors
Summertime heat can be both a blessing and a curse to those in production agriculture. For those who have planted crops, and received adequate rainfall, the heat is the element that makes those crops grow and thrive. However, for the cattle producer, heat stress can wreak havoc on reproduction, growth and efficiency, as the cattle […]
Seeing is Believing When it Comes to Healthy Calves
For one progressive cattleman, seeing is believing. And seeing a program on RFD-TV several years ago, has made a difference in the way Tom Carter, Reidsville, North Carolina, backgrounds and markets cattle. Carter buys 300 head of calves throughout the year that he backgrounds on grass, hay and mineral. He puts the calves together and […]
How to Reduce Weaning-Time Woes
Weaning time in the cattle business is ultimately the most stressful time in the calf’s life. However, with proper preparation, good management practices and a solid plan, you can decrease the stress incurred on your calves and yourself at weaning time. When preparing for weaning and making a management plan, there are several conditions to […]
Summer Gains are Possible
Summertime. For cattle producers the season means turning cows out to green grass, having cows bred, and backgrounding weaned calves. However, expecting young calves to gain in extreme conditions can sometimes be a challenge. That’s why providing them with the best nutrition possible is imperative during this most stressful time of their lives. “During that […]
