NEWS

Tariffs and trade deals took the spotlight during the Cattlemen’s College session on international beef trade at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention and trade show in New Orleans in January.

Normally, the cattle and beef production discussion in the February report would reflect cattle inventory data from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Cattle report in this month’s report. However, due to the government shutdown, the Cattle report was not to be released until Feb. 28.

The length of the breeding season and the number of breeding seasons per year are questions that must be addressed by all cow-calf producers. While we talk about a breeding season, what we are really focused on is the resulting calving season.

Once again it is that time of year when our email inboxes and our mailboxes are full of bull sale catalogs. It is an exciting time of year as we are getting ready for or already calving, and we are starting to evaluate the genetics we are going to incorporate into our herds this coming year.

Calving season is in full swing for much of the region; hay supplies are tight; and we’re impatiently waiting for green grass to turn pairs out on. With a wet spring predicted, turnout may be delayed later than hoped for and may require extended stored feed delivery.