It can be a challenge to keep stocker cattle healthy. Temperature swings, moisture, poor ventilation and commingling with calves from other points of origin are all stressors that impact the calves’ overall health and performance and can lead to Bovine Respiratory Disease or BRD, the leading cause of sickness in cattle. Even healthy-appearing cattle can […]
Tag: Gain Smart
How to Prepare a Health Management Plan for your Stockers
Just like any group of livestock you are handling, you need a solid health management plan for your stocker cattle. After being freshly weaned from their mamas or hauled in by a semi, these young, stressed cattle can be more susceptible to sickness than older calves. Knowing what kind of cattle you’ll be getting and […]
Good Nutrition Helps Keep Cattle in Natural Programs
Today’s consumers are more aware than ever before. They want to know where their food comes from, how it is raised, and that is safe and wholesome for the entire family. Consumers are attracted to words like natural, hormone-free and antibiotic-free, and the beef industry has responded with branded programs to meet consumers’ demands. Although […]
What You Should Know: Three Things Buyers Consider
Information is power. In today’s world, more information is available than ever before on about any topic you have an interest in. For cattle buyers looking to fill their feedlots and backgrounding yards, three pieces of information are essential when it comes time to buy calves: vaccination history, genetic makeup and the nutrition program history. […]
How to Put More Pounds on Calves
Changing just one management decision can increase gain, and gain increases profitability. Just ask Ray Fussell. The Tennessee Ridge, Tenn., stockman has been buying stocker calves and backgrounding them for 20-plus years. And after he shipped his 2017 calves, his cattle buyer suggested he look into changing his mineral program. So he did just that. […]
Loyal Customer Finds Reward in Healthy Calves
Red Rock Land & Cattle at Logan, N.M., strives to grow fresh weaned calves into strong, healthy yearlings on its expansive New Mexico ranch. Calf health and performance are the top priorities for the family-owned yearling operation that backgrounds calves until they are yearlings. “Our main goal is to get the cattle in, try to […]