The number of dairy-beef cattle on the market is growing. Researchers at Oklahoma State University Extension (OSU) are watching closely, finding that 100 percent dairy steers are not holding a lot of value.
“A 100-percent dairy steer is very low in value, so the dairies have treated those like they’re a byproduct or just a kind of a waste,” said OSU Nutrition Specialist Paul Beck. “There has been a change in some reproductive technologies that our dairies are taking advantage of where they can use sex semen to produce heifer calves out of only their best cows to make their replacements. Then they’re opened up to the freedom of using a beef-type bull on their other mediocre cows because they need a pregnancy just to restart lactation.”
According to Beck, these beef-dairy hybrid cattle are grabbing the attention of livestock producers, and the industry is taking an interest.
“That has given us a large availability of some beef-dairy crosses that are very superior to a 100 percent dairy animal in beef production performance efficiency,” Beck said. “And they’re keeping a lot of the high-quality meat characteristics that we would see with a dairy calf. So, the industry is very interested in the right management of these cattle and how to best utilize those in beef production systems.”
Finding the best way to use beef-dairy crosses is still something OSU Extension researchers are still exploring.
“At Oklahoma State, we’ve been doing some research with some beef on dairy crosses, looking at how to incorporate those into the finishing period,” Beck said. “Whether we go to finish directly on feed and take them as a 200- or 300-pound animal all the way to slaughter, or if we look at him as a stalker animal and put them out on grass—get them a little bit bigger, a little bit more mature, more used to being in a beef animal—and then getting them on feed as a larger feeder-sized calf.”
The machines do all the work at Hickory Hill Milk in South Carolina, where the pampered cows get on-demand service. They make a premium cream line of milk you still have to shake. It is so good it is used to make the world-famous Clemson blue cheese.
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Today’s blog post by RFD-TV Agri-Legal Expert Roger McEowen takes a look at the “preferential payment rule,” a unique bankruptcy provision that can come as a suprise to farmers in financial distress.
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The meaning of a “double-fraction” clause and the impact on future oil and gas conveyances—that is the topic of today’s blog post by RFD-TV Agril-Legal expert Roger McEowen.
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Calling all FarmHers! RFD-TV’s sister network, FarmHer, just announced a new initiative in the works to empower women in agriculture at a one-day event in Iowa this November.
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RFD-TV had the privilege to speak with Susan Littlefield, Farm Director at KRVN in Lexington, Nebraska, who shared her unique perspective covering the event over the last 25 years in her work as a dedicated broadcasting professional.
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When it comes to Kansas’ “Right to Farm” law, and property rights with respect to road ditch right-of-ways and the common law and trespassing and nuisance — how far can one go without infringing on others? RFD-TV’s Farm legal expert Roger McEowen details a recent opinion by the Kansas Court of Appeals in a case involving a hog farmer, which, he says, is perhaps the most egregious ag nuisance case that has ever gone to an appellate-level court in Kansas.
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September 01, 2023 11:48 AM
Chefs Chris Carter and James Peisker believe we have the power to make the world a better place with every meal. Through Porter Road butcher, they are now turning this belief into reality.
August 23, 2023 01:29 PM
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