Feed & Nutrition

Feed efficiency is highly heritable and can be measured with residual feed intake (RFI). Dr. Randall Raymond, director of research and veterinary services at Simplot Livestock, says most breeders want to make cattle more efficient using less inputs.

Make sure you get more than you spend. This seems like an incredibly basic principle – and, in fact, it is. Stated in a different way, it is also one of the foundational principles of profit maximization in economic theory.

Urea remains one of the most widely used yet mysterious and misunderstood options for beef production. How can we supplement cattle diets with the same product we use to fertilize crops?

Salt, minerals … minerals, salt … aren’t these the same things? Everyone, it seems, has a question about minerals, like “Why do some mixtures contain only 4 percent salt while others contain 90 percent salt?” or “Why won’t my animals eat it?”

The full force of summer months and hot temperatures are almost upon us. With it will come heat stress, a major concern in the beef industry. Heat stress can cause countless problems in cattle, such as a decrease in feed intake, changes in the rumen which lead to diminished digestibility and a significant negative impact on performance.

The short-term feeding of grain-based diets to cull cows can represent an opportunity for both cow-calf producers and finishing operations.