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With the current cattle market – calf prices reached an all-time high in late 2011 – having healthy, productive calves when marketing time arrives is vital to overall ranch profitability.

While a few inches of rainfall these last few months may have provided a reprieve from the drought and pastures might be greening up – there is no doubt 2011 was a challenging year.

For many years, producers have heard that tightening up your calving season can be beneficial. University research centers have also stressed that a tighter calving season improves efficiency on the operation.

It is generally accepted that adequate supervision at calving has a significant positive effect on reducing calf mortality, which has been of increasing importance with the use of larger beef breeds and cattle with larger birth weights.

A recent publication listed the top New Year’s resolutions for 2012. As you might guess the most popular ones had to do with pushing away from the table, getting more exercise, getting their lives more organized including budgeting and getting more out of life. By the time you read this you have probably already broken one of them.

Looking back, U.S. agricultural industries have changed dramatically over the past decade. Given mounting political, social, technological and economic pressures, it is safe to assume not only that change will continue, but that it could even increase in rapidity.