Horse folks are often fond of the saying – No hoof- no horse. Well, horses aren’t the only animals in which we need to worry about hoof soundness. Hoof soundness in sheep is absolutely critical. Grazing sheep that are lame won’t venture out and forage well and thus may gain less weight or even lose weight. Breeding rams that are lame will not travel to seek out ewes in heat and may lose libido all together. Prolonged wet conditions make foot rot complaints common.
Treat your cows like 5-star recruits
I’m a huge football fan. As I sit here writing, it’s the first day of spring practice for my son’s football team. And on this day, it’s easy to observe which boys worked hard during the off-season and which didn’t. Who’s vying for a starter’s position and who’s in danger of being cut. In football the ground work for a successful program is laid in the many months leading up to the first practice, let alone the first game. One can draw similar comparisons when speaking about calving season with beef producers.
The future of CRYSTALYX: What is better nutrition?
With Agriculture, you can count on change, uncertainty, challenge, risk and opportunity. It’s only 5 months from 2017 when the new Veterinary Feed Directive becomes law of the land. This directive/ruling will regulate the feeding of Antibiotics in food animals giving oversight to veterinarians and has been well described in previous blogs by my colleagues.
Conception rate versus calving distribution
With bulls going into breeding pastures every day now, cattlemen easily understand the impact of a good conception rates on their bottom line. Another measure that can directly affect ranch profitability, is calving distribution.
