beef production

Good help can be difficult to secure for your ranch, and that makes finding ways to maximize animal performance with less labor input even more important to your bottom line. 

Joining us on this segment of Feedstuffs in Focus to explain how labor efficiency can be maximized through feed is Dusty Abney, Ph.D., with Cargill Animal Nutrition.  

This podcast is brought to you by Cargill Animal Nutrition and its Ranger Limiter Technology, a proprietary technology that works with your forages and feeding programs to meet your animal performance goals in a self-fed format. Ranger provides versatility to fit a variety of commodities and feed ingredients while optimizing performance and the right gain for your cattle and operation. Ranger Limited,  do it your way. Find out more about Cargill and Ranger Limiter at RangerLimiter.com

For more information, on this and other topics, we invite you to visit our websites - www.beefmagazine.com, www.Feedstuffs.com,  and www.NationalHogFarmer.com. While you are there be sure to check out our digital editions and our new Feedstuffs 365 platform.

Natalie Kovarik is a modern-day ranch wife and mom! Natalie, along with her husband Luke and their three sons, ranch in central Nebraska in a beautiful area known as the Nebraska Sandhills. She shares her personal journey of ranching and family-ing as a way to showcase the beauty behind the western lifestyle, as well as foster a community who believes in the Agricultural world as much as she does. Tara Vander Dussen, AKA the New Mexico Milkmaid is a dairy farmer and New Mexico native, growing up on her family dairy farm in Eastern New Mexico. Now Tara and her husband, Daniel, dairy farm along with their two young daughters. Tara has worked as an environmental scientist for the last 10 years on dairy farm projects throughout the Southwest. Together, they host the DISCOVER AG Podcast! Discover Ag hosts Natalie and Tara give their professional farming opinions on the top trending topics and news in the agriculture and food space to help you better understand the food system and connect with the hands that feed us. Expect to be wildly entertained and informed, as you can discover what's new in the world of agriculture!

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The Discover Ag Podcast

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IG- @taravanderdussen

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In this episode, Adam Mason, who operates HEAL Farms, shares his journey into the world of sustainable farming, from developing an interest in farming, setting up agricultural systems in a Haitian orphanage, to finally establishing his own farming operation during the pandemic. He discusses the challenges of direct marketing farm produce and the importance of wise purchasing decisions. He also delves into a unique approach to land restoration using pigs, his experiences in applying the teachings from Joel Salatin's book, Polyface Designs, and his use of social media for farm transparency and reaching wider audiences.

Books/Resources Mentioned:

Grass Productivity by Andre Voisin (Amazon) (Bookshop)
Polyface Designs by Joel Salatin

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Website: https://www.healfarms.com
Facebook: HEAL Farms
Instagram: @_healfarms

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Timestamps and Summary 

Dr. Greg Eckerle (02:05)
When we see where we’re at with the cattle cycle, where do you think the next three to five years of production are going to go?

Dr. Lee Schulz
Just to give a bit of background, the cattle inventory cycle has three phases. It has expansion, has liquidation, has a turnaround phase. We’re currently in the liquidation phase. This cattle cycle started in 2014, inventories peaked in 2019, and we’ve been on a slide of inventories over the last several years. Most cattle cycles are nine to 14 years. And so, if you do the math, we’re in year nine of that cattle inventory cycle. […]

Dr. Greg Eckerle (06:33)
Have we seen any change in the way that our beef are being marketed, or what’s that in comparison to the domestic market supply?

Dr. Lee Schulz
I’ll note demand has been incredible the last several years. If you look at it internationally or domestically, it has taken a bit of a step back in the last couple of years, but you compare it to a really high base level when you think about demand. So even though we’ve taken a bit of a step back, we still remain historically in a really good demand spot. And prices reflect that along with the tighter supplies. […]

Dr. Greg Eckerle (08:48)
When we look at the domestic market and we see things happening domestically here: interest rates are on the rise, things that are affecting the American household, etc. What would we see at the retail side?

Dr. Lee Schulz
Well, I do need to commend you. You sound like an economist there, Greg, and because I think you highlight really the issue with demand, it’s not prices. So, the price of beef does not impact demand, it impacts quantity demanded, but it doesn’t impact demand. What we know impacts demand is income. […]

Dr. Greg Eckerle (11:04)
July 4 and Labor Day are historically great holidays for us protein market when we have a summer barbecue season and things like that. Have you looked at that impacting demand this year or is it going to remain relatively flat?

Dr. Lee Schulz
Well, I think you can look at the value of wholesale, the choice beef cut-out for this time of year, it’s a record high. I think that points to, yes, we have tighter supplies, but you need the demand to pull it as well. I think you’re seeing very strong demand within the wholesale and retail level that is really spurring prices. […]

I think it is really important to highlight it’s not a tight supply situation. The fundamentals there are a little bit easier to understand. We know that much tighter supplies will increase prices. […]

Dr. Greg Eckerle (12:52)
What are we going to be looking at in the fall? The best-case scenario with moisture and then maybe worst-case scenario if we maintain a drought consistency pattern.

Dr. Lee Schulz
That’s really a key question as we look at crop markets for cattle markets. […]

So, now we’re really focused on the crop development and conditions which are going to impact that new crop supply here come fall. […] If you look at the report for weekending June 12th, 61% of the nation’s crop was rated good to excellent. That’s three percentage points lower than last year. So, for benchmark it against last year, the crop isn’t as good this time of year, slightly below. It’s also slightly below the five-year average as well. […] So, we’re in a much weaker spot than we were a year ago or in really the last couple of years. […]

But I always like to remind folks we have a whole growing season in front of us. There’s a lot that has to go right and a lot that can go wrong that could impact this year’s crop. 

Dr. Greg Eckerle (19:56)
Can we have an expectation to see cows kill numbers increase, stay the same, or because we’re still in liquidation, I don’t expect them to decrease, so what kind of forecast in the cow kill numbers?

Dr. Lee Schulz
I’m glad you asked this question because I think there are a couple of keyways to really look at this data. So, as you look at beef cow slaughter year to date, we’re down about 12% compared to a year ago levels for the same period. That’s almost 200,000 beef cows over that period. This comes after last year, we were up 11%, right? Almost about 400,000 beef cows. Now you look at that and say, well, we’re killing a lot fewer beef cows this year, it must mean we may be seeing that turnaround phase. But I’ll remind us that we have a lot fewer cows than we did last year. […]

Dr. Greg Eckerle (25:09)
I guess the overall evaluation of the US marketplace seems to be on the upswing then what would be some of the main challenges coming within the next twelve to 18 months?

Dr. Lee Schulz
I think the big challenge for me is costs. I think when you look at it, not only feed costs as we talked about the crop market situation and potential for a lot of lower prices or at least lower prices as we get into the fall, which doesn’t mean that our cost of gains and dollars per cow are going to decrease all that much. I think they will decrease, but we’ve added a lot of cost to this industry over the last couple of years in the form of non-feed, variable costs, fixed costs, everything really has gotten much more expensive and those are rather sticky costs. […]

A great nutrition program is foundational to success in livestock production, and mineral supplementation is a big part of proper nutrition. One company says it has pioneered a unique approach to mineral supplementation that will lead to improved daily gains and profitability.

Neil Bumgarner is the Director of Sales for Ridley Block Operations, an Alltech Company, and manager of the Blueprint animal nutrition program. Since graduating from West Virginia University, Neil has spent almost 17 years in plant operations, sales, and sales leadership in the animal nutrition business throughout the eastern half of the US.  Neil, his wife Blair, and their two young sons also own Mountaineer Meadows Farm in Point Pleasant WV, a 100-cow Angus seedstock operation.

In this episode, Bumgarner discusses Alltech's new Blueprint animal nutrition program, and why a program built around 100% organic trace minerals is a major step forward in a beef supplementation program.

This episode is sponsored by Alltech, makers of the new Blueprint animal nutrition program. Blueprint products contain 100% organic trace minerals made from the highest quality, most research-proven trace minerals available. Blueprint goes beyond just meeting trace mineral requirements — its superior bioavailability supports exceptional animal performance and health. Blueprint is targeted nutrition, without excess, for peak performance. To learn more, visit BlueprintAnimalNutrition.com.

Last month Elanco and Ducks Unlimited announced a partnership to emphasize the strong bond between environmental sustainability and agriculture – specifically beef cattle production – across North America. Over the next two years Elanco will invest $50,000 annually with Ducks Unlimited to help purchase grass seed to support reseeding efforts on working lands in western Kansas, enough to reseed at least 1,000 acres during the course of the project.

The grassland restoration initiative is part of the existing SAFE (State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement) project. The SAFE project is an existing collaboration between the USDA Farm Service Agency and Ducks Unlimited with the goal of restoring grasslands and protecting embedded playa wetlands in western Kansas.

How does this partnership relate to the sustainability of beef cattle production? And what is one of the world’s leading animal health companies doing to help producers address consumer concerns about the overall environmental impact of livestock and meat production?

In this episode we talk with Dr. Sara Place, Elanco’s Chief Sustainability Officer, to answer those questions, and to get her take on ways the beef industry has improved its sustainability in recent years, and how producers can better communicate those improvements to a highly-engaged consuming public. Prior to joining Elanco, Dr. Place worked as senior director of sustainable beef production research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and was previously an assistant professor of sustainable beef production systems at Oklahoma State University. 

RELATED WEBINAR: A Pulse on the Beef Industry’s Environmental Hoofprint: Sustainability & Policy Perspectives

Dr. Andres Cibils reflects on the first year of the Sustainable Southwest Beef Project - what's been accomplished, what's in the works, and what's changing. Want to learn about the beef and what's being researched? Check out this podcast, and visit https://southwestbeef.org/.  

The Sustainable Southwest Beef Project is funded by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) program. Grant #2019-69012-29853

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DOI Southwest CASC: https://www.swcasc.arizona.edu/
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Sustainable Southwest Beef Project: https://southwestbeef.org/

Since the first trading day of the year, the April live cattle futures contract is off 25% and the April feeder cattle contract is down 22%. All segments of cattle production have taken a significant market hit over the past several weeks, sending ripples up and down the beef value chain as the market reacts to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode, National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn. CEO Colin Woodall offers his insights into what the COVID-19 pandemic is doing to the beef business, including concerns over continued availability of USDA meat inspectors, securing emergency-type loans for producers, ensuring packers remain committed to keeping plants up and running, and conversations with the CME over market volatility. 

Drilling into the beef-specific effects of the pandemic, Feedstuffs policy editor Jacqui Fatka spoke with Woodall about the latest developments and how the industry is responding. The two also talked about the latest updates on a “Product of the USA” label for beef, USDA’s recently lifted ban on Brazilian beef and the GIPSA rule.

For more information on this and other stories, visit Feedstuffs online.
Follow Feedstuffs on Twitter @Feedstuffs, or join the conversation via Facebook.

Last month Walmart officially entered the beef business when it opened a case-ready beef plant in Thomasville, Ga. The plant will process whole-muscle cuts produced by Walmart’s new Angus beef supply chain for 500 stores in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. As the largest grocery retailer in the U.S., Walmart’s move toward vertically-integrating part of its beef supply sent ripples through the industry.

In this episode of Feedstuffs In Focus we talk with Will Sawyer, lead animal protein economist at CoBank, about what Walmart’s move means for the beef supply chain in general, and how it compares to other similar moves by retailers such as Costco.

Sawyer recently authored a report on Walmart’s new beef plant in which he called the investment “more sizzle than steak” for now, but said that the development bears watching as much for how consumers react as for how it changes the dynamics of the supply chain.

At the Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show earlier this month in San Antonio, Sawyer talked with Feedstuffs editor Krissa Welshans about Walmart and how this plant could lead to much bigger and more significant investments in the future. The two also discussed recent developments in plant-based and lab-grown meat alternatives.

For more information on this and other stories, visit Feedstuffs online.
Follow Feedstuffs on Twitter @Feedstuffs, or join the conversation via Facebook.

Most people don’t know where their food comes from. They’re concerned about the way food is produced and are looking for answers. But how do we know when the story stops and the marketing starts? Episode three of The Growing Debate will explore the challenges conventional beef farmers face when making decisions about their operations. They want their stories told and are learning to stand up for their beliefs and practices in the age of social media.

Episode Breakdown: Why use growth hormones and antibiotics? | What goes on in the Arndt cow pens? | Why are meat labels so confusing? | What is it like in the Arndt cow pastures? | How big is Austin’s biggest bull?

To learn more about Austin Arndt and his conventional beef practices, visit: www.arndtfarms.com.

On this week's season premiere of Sharp & Hot, Chef Emily Peterson speaks with Janet Ranganathan, the Vice President for Science and Research at the World Resources Institute, an action-oriented global research organization that works in more than 50 countries, with offices in the United States, China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Europe. She is also an architect and co-author of the current World Resources Report, Creating a Sustainable Food Future.

Tune in to hear them discuss how shifting away from a meat-dominated diet is vital for the health of not only our bodies but the planet itself.