NBC says 2000 cattle dead?

[nap]

This is a good reason for having some Brahman influence. Around here, the English and continental breeds spend the day laying in the shade or standing in a pond, whereas the Brahmans and Brahman crosses are out grazing during the hottest weather.

:nod: :nod: :nod:

i have brahman influence... even they are standing in the shade right now

At least they are standing!

 

[djinwa]

Oh they know. But the $$ is in the gain. Since feedlot cattle are terminal anyway it's not that much of a concern and they probably have a certain % loss calculated in....but it's one of the major reasons dairy cattle last less than 3 lactations.

Yep, just keep your dead pile to a certain height and you're okay.

And then wonder why the animal welfare crowd complains and fewer people eat beef. I hope they put the loss of beef eaters and demand into their % loss calculations.

I am amazed at how well the cattle industry does in spite of it's efforts to kill it's market.

I heard journalist Michael Pollan on PBS telling his story of driving down the freeway in California and wondering what the awful smell was. He finally realized he was driving by a feedlot and began investigating what was going on there. My question was why cattlemen would put a smelly feedlot by a freeway and have thousands daily associating beef with stink.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Maybe they put the highway by his feedlot.

 

[VanC]

All I know is when travelling on I-80 through western Iowa and eastern Nebraska a few years ago I saw a lot of feedlots. Some huge, some small, and everything in between. I'd think a place like that where trucks are constantly coming and going would want to be located near a major highway.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

FWIW

Most of the larger feedyards are in W Kansas, Ok & Tx where the usual humidity is much lower. However, there are a very few times where there the humidity is much higher than normal and wind speed is less than normal which can result in these extreme conditions. Most of the feedyards that I am familiar with do have sprinklers. When the humidity is high and there is little wind, running the sprinklers does not cool the air like it would in more favorable circumstances. These are extrordinary conditions that no amount of preparation can totally manage. You can put it in the same category as blizzards, ice storms and flooding. There is no way to totally eliminate the effects of mother nature upon anything with magnitude of exposure.

The milder winter, lower rainfall/humidity are the main reasons the cattle feeding industry moved from the midwest to the southern plains. On a year around basis, cattle gain more efficiently in these areas.

Regarding changing rations. We are talking of many yards that feed 50,000+ plus head at a time and the rations have very high grain content as this is what gets the fastest and most important, lowest cost of gain. When feeding these high starch rations, much care has to be taken anytime a ration change is made. If ration change is made too rapidly, you can get into a major wreck that is spelled in $$$$$$$$. All of the yards use a professional nutritionist and no ration changes are made unless it is coordinated with the consulting nutritionist.


Although they may seem to be simple operations. An large, efficient feeding operation has a lot of very technical variables. Like most everything in our world, cattle feeding has become very high tech, yet is still at the mercy of mother nature.

Hope this has clarified some misperceptions.

 

[Arkieman]

We're in a pretty good drought in my neck of the woods. Started feeding hay last week. Heifers with calves on them are looking rough. I started feeding them rice bran yesterday. I have hay out also. Any thoughts on whether this could be trouble? I got to do something, they are struggling.

 

[TexasBred]

We're in a pretty good drought in my neck of the woods. Started feeding hay last week. Heifers with calves on them are looking rough. I started feeding them rice bran yesterday. I have hay out also. Any thoughts on whether this could be trouble? I got to do something, they are struggling.

Shouldn't hurt a thing as long as they'll eat the hay. Rice bran is a very good by-product, a very good buy for what you're getting (especially in your area) and safe. Just hate it that you're having to feed already.

 

[alacattleman]

We're in a pretty good drought in my neck of the woods. Started feeding hay last week. Heifers with calves on them are looking rough. I started feeding them rice bran yesterday. I have hay out also. Any thoughts on whether this could be trouble? I got to do something, they are struggling.

Shouldn't hurt a thing as long as they'll eat the hay. Rice bran is a very good by-product, a very good buy for what you're getting (especially in your area) and safe. Just hate it that you're having to feed already.

in this heat,, a couple days without rain looks equal to a month long drought... pastures are wilting like a rose

 

[Jovid]

Black may very well be a factor

:nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:

Studies show short haired red cattle do better in the heat.

 

[backhoeboogie]

....Boogie that "all grain' is probably "hotter" than 90% of the pelleted commercial feeds on the market because they have so much filler in them.

You may be right TB. I haven't a clue about that. What I do know is that they refused to eat anything else and they quit panting when they went on the 9% all grain dairy ration. I bought the ration over in Glen Rose at Bobbie's Feed if that clarifies anything for you.

 

[Brute 23]

Did they not realize it was hot outside or what? You would have thought they would have moved them or done some thing.

 

[TexasBred]

....Boogie that "all grain' is probably "hotter" than 90% of the pelleted commercial feeds on the market because they have so much filler in them.

You may be right TB. I haven't a clue about that. What I do know is that they refused to eat anything else and they quit panting when they went on the 9% all grain dairy ration. I bought the ration over in Glen Rose at Bobbie's Feed if that clarifies anything for you.

Sorry Boogie, not familar with the feed or the store as most feed labeled "dairy" or 16-18% crude protein and
"hot". But most pelleted feed (especially the cheap stuff) labeled creep or something along that line doesn't contain much grain but it will meet all the guarantees on the tag.

 

[andybob]

This is a good reason for having some Brahman influence. Around here, the English and continental breeds spend the day laying in the shade or standing in a pond, whereas the Brahmans and Brahman crosses are out grazing during the hottest weather.

Sanga breeds and composites are heat proof without having to take a dock for 'ear' at the salebarn. One British breed always stood out in the heat in the Kalahari bushveld, the Sussex, a breed worth crossing to in the southern states.

 

[VCC]

If he was on the 5 or the 99 in california, chances are it was a dairy and not a feed lot, crap ponds can stink pretty good when it's 100+

 

[Roadapple]

Harris Ranch has a feed lot on 5 at Coalinga. But they did have a sprinkler set up. But that was about 15 yrs. ago, as I went by it every day hauling "dirty dirt". Don't know if it's the same set up today.

 

[djinwa]

I googled Michael Pollan and came up with some of his story. Unfortunately, such views are going to be more prevalent, and makes you wonder about the future of the feedlot industry, though I guess most people just want cheap beef.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/105 ... ct/?page=1

Mark Eisen: You argue that consumer ignorance is essential for maintaining the industrial agriculture system.

Michael Pollan: If people could see how their food is produced, they would change how they eat. My interest in the topic traces to two moments, in 2000, when I learned how our food is produced.

One was driving down Route 5 in California and passing the Harris ranch, which is a huge feedlot right on the highway. It's a stunning landscape. I had never seen anything quite like that.

Miles of manure-encrusted land teeming with thousands of animals and a giant mountain of corn and a giant mountain of manure. And a stench you can smell two miles before you get there.

Most feedlots are hidden away on the High Plains. This one happens to be very accessible.

 

[upfrombottom]

This guy needs to travel by a grain elevator, an oil refinery, and a paper mill. They'll make cows smell like lilacs.

 

[TexasBred]

This guy needs to travel by a grain elevator, an oil refinery, and a paper mill. They'll make cows smell like lilacs.

This is probably the same guy that farts in the elevator and thinks it's funny.

 

[3waycross]

This guy needs to travel by a grain elevator, an oil refinery, and a paper mill. They'll make cows smell like lilacs.

This is probably the same guy that farts in the elevator and thinks it's funny.

and it's sure not funny if you happen to be a midget :help: :nod:

 

[Livestock-D]

Many (common folk) people don't understand the real effects of global warming, and the snowball effect it has on agriculture and livestock.
This year is the first time the government and USDA is actually acknowledging the problem. There is a climate change research currently underway to study the full effects on agriculture.

http://livestock-id.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... earch.html