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molymfg.com/cow-country

Building for the Future Spring Sale Vol. III

April 30, 2022

12:30 p.m. c.s.t. at the farm in Rockfield, Kentucky

The Offering

50 LOTS OF ANGUS, SIMANGUS & SIMMENTAL FEMALES fall born open heifers, spring pairs, & frozen genetics from Pleasant Hill Farms, Dogwood Hills Angus and Barlow Farms. Brooklyn Graham (812) 530-0748 • brooklyn@liveauctions.tv

For more sale information & Sale book requests

Gil, Mary, Corbin, Caroline, and Catherine Cowles 508 Richpond Rockfield Road Rockfield, Kentucky 42274 Gil Cowles — (270) 791-3526 • pleasanthillfarms@twc.com Corbin Cowles — (270) 991-2534 • Harvey Mast — (270) 791-6873

w w w.p leasa n t h i llfa rm s . c o m

COLUMNISTS 07 Cary King: President’s Thoughts 08 Dave Maples: Thoughts from Dave 10 Ryan Quarles: Commissioner's Corner 24 Candace Smith & Lindsay Burley: Enforcing Agister’s Liens 26 Dr. Michelle Arnold: Expanding your Herd? Frequently Asked Questions about Johne’s Disease and How to Keep it Off the Farm 32 Chris Teutsch: Practical Considerations for Managing the Spring Flush 68 Darrh Bullock: Let It Rain! What Does The Weather Have To Do With Genetics?

FEATURE STORIES 12 UK Research: Plant-based Meat Alternatives Growing But Not Enough to Impact Beef Industry 19 Cattlemen’s Beef Board Releases 2021 Annual Report 22 Soil Testing: What It Is and What It Does 28 Cow-Calf Profitability Estimates for 2021 and 2022 34 Reducing Your Dependency on Commercial Fertilizers: Strategies for Cattle Farms in 2022 and Beyond 36 X10D: A New Era of Connectivity for the Beef Industry 38 Tall Ironweed Control in Grazed Pastures 40 Six Things to Consider When Developing a Price Risk Management Strategy 42 Fly Control in Pastures 44 What Opportunities Are You Missing By Not Considering Your Ranch’s Context? 46 Beef Expo Sales Exceed $900,000 48 Spring into Safety 14 NCBA Legislative Update 16 County News 20 Economic & Policy Update 52 Membership 54 Kentucky Beef Council 56 Kentucky Beef Network 59 Kentucky Angus Association News 66 Calendar of Events 67 Advertisers Index 67 Classifieds

4 • Cow Country • April

QUALITY ANGUS GENETICS

YOU CAN AFFORD Registered Angus Bulls for sale. One On One Personalized Service. Give us a call today. All Bulls Delivered to Your Farm.

270-222-0489

Like most children growing up on a farm, I was a cheap labor source. I remember at 12 years old I was making $2 an hour. When I heard a friend from school the same age was making minimum wage for farm chores ($5.15 at the time), I asked for a raise. I was informed when I was worth more I would be paid accordingly. At that time, I was only worth $2 evidently. In 2002 and for the 20 years since I have always had the same offer. “You can live at home as long as you want, but every morning you get up and go to work.” Due to my lack of other employment options as a 12-year-old and my father’s requirement, I was stuck. I eventually received incremental raises as I developed new skills. By 13 or 14 I was trusted to drive the tractor on the roads to feed hay or move feeders. Looking back, the fact I could legally operate a John Deere 7410 going 26 mph at that age but not legally drive an F150 at 35 mph on that same road feels like a real victory for farm lobby groups. I continued to work part time through high school and in college when I was home during the summer or breaks. I have been full time for over eight years since finishing my M.S. in Agricultural Economics. I have 20 years of significant experience with cattle at the age of 31 and this has resulted in 95% of the jobs I do on the farm to be relatively mindless work for me. My brain never shuts off, and if the work is mindless I tend to get bored. I claim it is just because I am operating at a higher skill level than most while my kindergarten teacher wife tells me it is probably just undiagnosed ADHD. Regardless, I have Bluetooth headphones on 30-40 hours a week. I listen to a lot of long form podcasts that can often last over three hours. For those that may be unfamiliar, a podcast is essentially talk radio that you listen to on your own time. That means I listen to conversations between individuals that are often smarter, better read, better communicators and more accomplished than myself in their various fields. It doesn’t matter what the field is, if you listen to two intelligent individuals talk for 3 hours you are going to learn a lot. One of my favorite podcasts is from a military veteran that now runs a consulting firm to help businesses utilize military leadership tactics to develop leadership and communication skills within their companies. I listen to stories for hours at a time and come away with the tiniest sayings that make the gears in my brain turn for hours at a time once I take my headphones off. Sometimes they may be something like, “you can micromanage the initiative out of people.” Other times they may be, “if you blame the weather, you have developed a permanent excuse when the weather happens.”The one that really stuck with me today is, “if it is not inspected then it is neglected.” He was speaking of his own experience of typical troops only focusing on what was checked. He made sure he checked the things that mattered the most far more often than if their shirts were tucked in correctly. He was also checking to give compliments on a job well done and not criticism. This led to them taking their own initiative and implementing the given standards much more willingly. He gave numerous asides about companies having employees only focusing on what the boss nagged them about. If you nag on the little things then that’s what your employees are going to think is the most important. If you nag on everything and make it sound like everything is the most important thing then nothing is seen as important. My cows are my employees. They each have specific jobs. The job of my yearling heifers is to breed at 15 months of age so they calve on their second birthday. I take care of the cow, and her job is to take care of her calf and breed back. Bulls are turned out and expected to cover their set of cows. If any of these standards are not met, they are no longer on our farm. The difference in cows and traditional employees is that I can (and do) inspect everything constantly. I neglect nothing and everything matters. I have written over and over that no one collects more cow herd data than I do. If you can find someone that does, I will buy all three of us a steak dinner and we can talk about it. We udder score, hair score, collect mature cow size data and foot score every single year. This isn’t a one-time measurement like weaning or yearling weights on a calf crop. This is every cow every year for the entirety of their time in the cow herd. It is tedious work that slows us down significantly when processing cattle, but it is unbelievably valuable to our selection process when evaluating our employees. I have

volumes of hand-written field records that have been entered into spreadsheets and turned into subsequent tools to analyze their job performance. Everything is on the table and everything matters. I micromanage our cow herd to a level that is unattainable with any other workforce. Every single year we replace the bottom 25% of our cow herd despite the fact they have overwhelmingly satisfactory performance when it comes to profitability. Typically, I can fit the sale barn culls from our 200+ head spring calving cow herd in a 20-foot gooseneck. We know that our data tells us the replacement heifers are better and need given an opportunity to show us. My data also tells me that on average my cow herd is more profitable at weaning than any other cow herd in the industry. They show that in EPDs and back it up when it comes to their breed back percentages and the calf crop. My average 2021 born calf was in top 10% of the breed for the economic selection index $M. There is truly no bottom end to our herd. Every single animal is capable of making a significant contribution to the gene pool. Subsequently, my bulls are able to make a significant contribution to commercial cow herds across the southeast. You have a lot of options this spring breeding season for your bull power. There are plenty of intact bulls in Kentucky that “look” like they would sire good calves. There is not a shred of data or pedigree information to back that up, but many people choose to go that route for some unknown reason. There are also bulls out there that are merely backed by a registration paper. There is no data to back it and EPDs are merely pedigree averages, but that’s only marginally better than the last option I mentioned. Then there are bulls that have genomic data to back them up and maybe a weight or two. That should be your absolute minimum threshold when looking for a bull this breeding season. However, I am not interested in doing the bare minimum. Bare minimum work gets bare minimum results. We must remember that if it is not inspected then it is neglected. A producer simply puling a DNA test and collecting a couple different weights is not serving your cow herd. If you are worried about feet and disposition on your bull, ask how they foot scored and docility scored them at yearling. If you are worried about calving ease, ask how they weigh their calves at birth and what percentage of heifers they have to assist. If you are worried about cow size, ask them what their weight and height measurements are at pregnancy check on their mature cows. If you are worried about environmental adaptability to fescue, ask them what they see when they hair shed score their cow herd in May. If you are worried about udder quality ask them what they saw with udder scores on different sire groups they calved out. Every single one of these traits I just mentioned has an EPD (or research EPD) associated with it that is developed using data I collect. It is exponentially better than visual generalizations based on what they “remember” about the animals at an arbitrary point in time. There is no excuse for the absence of those evaluations because you don’t have to pay someone to come collect them like you do carcass ultrasound (which we also do). There is a reason we have the cow herd we do, and we achieve the results we do with them. That is because we neglect nothing. Come see us this spring, and we will get you the bull that is the most profitable for your cow herd based on evaluations and not guesses. - Joe K . Lowe II M.S. Agricultural Economics SERVICE READY BULLS AVAILABLE FALL BRED FEMALES AVAILABLE WWW.OAKHOLLOWANGUS.COM KENNETH LOWE 270-202-7186 JOE K. LOWE 270-202-4399 SMITHS GROVE, KENTUCKY

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OFFICERS:

KCA PAST PRESIDENTS:

PRESIDENT Cary King 250 Bright Leaf Drive Harrodsburg, KY 40330 (859) 613-3734

PAST PRESIDENT Chris Cooper 2140 Tates Creek Road Richmond, KY 40475 (859) 200-7711

PRESIDENT ELECT Andy Bishop 6135 High Grove Road Cox's Creek, KY 40013 (502) 350-7609

KCA PROGRAM CHAIRMAN Daniel Hayden 6333 Herbert Road Whitesville, KY 42378 (270) 570-2815

VICE PRESIDENT Jeff Pettit 5745 US Highway 41 S Seebree, KY 42455 (270) 836-2963 TREASURER Ken Adams 90 E Horseshoe Ave. Upton, KY 42784 (270) 734-1443

1972-73 Jere Caldwell - Boyle

†

1974-77 Smith T. Powell† - Lincoln

2003 Mark Williams - Crittenden

1978-79 Larry Lovell† - Union

2004 Paul Napier - Lincoln

1980-82 John Masters† - Mason

2005 Eddie Young - Washington

1983-85 Seldon Hail - Laurel

2006 Greg Ritter - Barren

1986-87 Bob Vickery - Wayne

2007 Don Pemberton - Christian

†

KBN CHAIRMAN* Allan Bryant BEEF SOLUTIONS CHAIRMAN* Jeff Pettit

REGION 1 Bobby Bell*.................................270-547-8547 Buddy Cook.................................270-275-1274 Ashley Holloway................................................. Leland Steely...............................270-339-3476 Don Pemberton...........................270-889-3855 Wayne Zoleman...........................270-315-7812

1988 Glenn Mackie - Bourbon

2008 Billy Glenn Turpin - Madison

1989 Dale Lovell - Muhlenberg

2009 Scotty Parsons - Christian

1990 Steve Henshaw - Union

2010 Corinne Kephart - Shelby

1991 Jerry Fraim - Grayson

2011 Greg Robey - Mercer

1992 Glen Massengale† - Wayne

2012 Mike Bach - Bath

1993 Dell King - Christian

2013 Don Reynolds - Hart

1994 Kenneth Lowe - Warren

2014 Steve Downs - Marion

1995 Dr. J.L.Cole - Monroe

2015 Gary Woodall - Logan

Dennis Smith..............................270-590-2840

1996 Harvey Mitchell - Mercer

2016 David Lemaster - Clark

Trent Jones.................................270-590-5266

1997 Jim Naive† - Spencer

2017 Chuck Crutcher - Hardin

Chuck Crutcher...........................270-272-6269

1998 Shelby Hughes - Logan

2018 Bobby Foree - Henry

Allison Nissley.............................270-403-3205

1999 Hoppy Lovell - Barren

2019 Tim White - Fayette

Steven Green...............................270-528-1720

2000 Charles Miller - Jessamine

2020 Steve Dunning - Christian

Maggie Vaughn...........................270-590-8017

2001 Larry Clay - Perry

2021 Chris Cooper - Madison

Mike Bullock................................270-792-9644

†

KBC CHAIRMAN Joe Lowe PO Box 205 Smith’s Grove, KY 42171 (270) 202-4399

REGIONAL DIRECTORS: 2002 Jack Kimbrough - Shelby

†

*ex officio

Mark Heimgartner........................270-875-2585 Jeremy Armstrong......................270-668-2056 Blake Munger..............................270-293-8830 Sara Roberson............................270-668-2428 REGION 2 Adam Maulden*..........................270-590-1005

(Deceased)

†

Corbin Cowles.............................270-991-2534 Kirk Cecil.....................................270-692-7698 Isaac Thompson.........................270-789-8712 Rayetta Boone.............................270-230-5488 Andy Joe Moore..........................270-590-0841 Brian Manion...............................270-868-0253 Phyllis Gentry..............................502-331-1146 REGION 3 Allan Bryant*..............................502-548-1379 Allen Phillips...............................502-220-0948 Wanda Hawkins..........................502-321-5602 Phillip Douglas............................502-552-0688 Larry Bryant................................502-845-4615 Amanda Hall................................859-333-5001 Nicole Goecke.............................606-782-2263 Maynard Stetten..........................502-609-4986 Kevin Perkins..............................502-269-7189 John Allison................................502-220-3170 Michelle Simon.................................................. REGION 4 Randy Warner*............................859-771-5280 Lisa Baesler................................859-509-5020 Tim White....................................859-509-5401 Amy White...................................859-227-2552

Photo submitted by Joanna Porter Warren County

Donovan Pigg..............................502-229-9187

VOLUME 35 • ISSUE 4

Bruce Witt...................................859-585-8889

176 PASADENA DRIVE • SUITE 4 • LEXINGTON, KY 40503 • PHONE: (859) 278-0899

Mike Ravencraft...........................606-584-0310

FAX: (859) 260-2060 • WWW.KYCATTLE.ORG • INFO@KYCATTLE.ORG

Brandon Sears...................................................

Jodi Purvis..................................606-336-3540

Danny Callahan...........................859-388-0910

Dave Maples Executive Vice President

REGION 5

Staff Accountant Kelly Tucker

Membership Coordinator Nikki Whitaker

Graphic Designer Todd Brown

Director of Kentucky Beef Network Becky Thompson

KBC Director of Product Development Katelyn Hawkins

Video Production Specialist Danny Coy

Tommy Spalding..........................270-402-9157

KBN Industry Coordinator Dan Miller

KBC Director of Brand Management Kylie Trail

Office Manager/Communications Assistant Jesslyn Watson

Brent Ware..................................606-305-8612

Publication Coordinator Carey Brown

KBC Director of Education Bradon Burks

National Advertising Sales, Livestock Advertising Network Debby Nichols (859) 321-8770

Adam Chunglo*..........................859-613-2985 Herman Benge.............................606-862-6451 Dean Craft....................................606-634-0191 Rick Brewer.................................606-682-2352 Danny Ray Spalding....................859-336-0444 Gary Ford....................................270-402-2194 Aaron Burke................................859-265-1172 Ryan Miller..................................502-827-5027

COW COUNTRY is published monthly by THE KENTUCKY CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION. The publisher reserves the right to refuse any material which he feels is unsuitable for the publication. Although the highest journalistic ethics will be maintained, the KENTUCKY CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION limits its responsibilities for any errors, inaccuracies, or misprints in advertising or editorial copy. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for all content of advertisements made against the publisher.

6 • Cow Country • April

C. Mike Spalding..........................270-699-6587 Jared Foley..................................270-585-1331 * Denotes member of Executive committee

Presidents Thoughts Cary King President, Kentucky Cattlemen's Association I think spring is about here! I’m sure if you are like me, you are ready to see some dryer ground, and green grass. We had a good March Board meeting at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville where the Kentucky Farm Bureau Beef Expo was being held. We had a superstar lineup of speakers! First, we heard from David Beck, the President and CEO of Kentucky Venues, about all that is going on at the Fairgrounds and Convention center in Louisville. We then got an update from Mr. Mark Haney, President of Kentucky Farm Bureau. They are always looking out for Kentucky’s farm families, and our good friend Dr. Ryan Quarles, Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture shared the many things he has going on to benefit all of Kentucky.

We are also working together to possibly help UK build a new meats lab at the farm, this facility could help with educating our workers employed by our many packers. This could allow us to involve cutting edge industry partners to introduce robotics and other new technologies to bring our state to the front as not just a cattle producer, but a total animal protein leader. Let’s stop just taking what they give us, and build a complete protein supply chain. I have been enjoying visiting some of our county meetings. I had great meetings in Mercer County, Owen County, Rockcastle County, and Christian County where we heard from Chris Milam from Hampton Premium Meats in Hopkinsville. They are working on expanding their operations in just about every way. It was so exciting to hear of all the plans moving forward. In Casey County, Phillip Reese and Jacob Settles had a great speaker, Daniel Reynolds, talking about animal nutrition. I would love to visit your county and see what you have going on, maybe give an update on what’s happening at KCA, and answer any questions you might have,

It is so good to see people face to face again. If you have not attended the Expo I highly recommend that you do so next year. On Friday and Saturday you will see some of the best cattle from every breed being shown, then they have a great sale where you can bring home some outstanding genetics to your operation. The Junior Cattlemen are just amazing and there is also a trade show where you can find the Contact me directly at 859-613-3734, or call the office at 859-278latest and greatest in the cattle world. 0899 if I can help you in any way. I thought it might be a good time to give an update on some of the things we are working on to benefit our industry. Our goal is to ensure that Kentucky cattle producers can make a sustainable living raising cattle in our state. One thing we have been focusing on is increasing packing numbers for several years by working to help increase the capacity of the many small to medium sized plants and start up news ones. Several of these facilities have been able to get funds from the Ag Development Fund which was formed with moneys from the tobacco master settlement agreement to advance agriculture in Kentucky.

Cary King

Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association President

I read recently that the packers in Kentucky are processing more cattle per day than a year ago and I see that as a great thing! I would think that some of this growth might be attributed to the COVID pandemic when we saw the big four slow their output due to worker shortages. We then saw a lot of empty shelves at our grocery stores leaving us vulnerable to issues beyond our control, and leading us to look for other sources for our beef. Do you think we could finish a greater number of our cattle here by utilizing barns to get them out of the mud, then process and package more of our improved genetics through some of these packers? In addition to the smaller plants, we have worked to attract a largescale plant that could supply large quantities of our products to national customer’s. We were very close with American Foods Group who are planning a plant to process more the 2000 head a day. Sounds like they may be going to St Louis. In our long-range plan, we set a goal to develop a “Livestock Center of Excellence” that could be a one stop shop for everything beef, for not only Kentucky’s producers, but for the entire region. I call it the “Denver” of the east and that idea has been evolving for several years now. We looked at several locations and have narrowed it down to the University of Kentucky research farm in Woodford County. We have developed a memorandum of understanding for a long-term lease of 15 acres of prime high visibility land to build on. This facility is still evolving but would include office space for KCA, and other commodity groups, a board room for meetings, a commercial kitchen for cooking demonstrations, and a classroom where KCA or the University could have educational events.

Stone Gate Epic 3868 CED

Milk

Marb

Fat

+0.7

+56

+107

+25

+38

+1.03

+35

+.036

+57

+91

+62

+153

April • Cow Country • 7

Thoughts From Dave Dave Maples Executive Vice President

It was suggested to me that I should write a reflection of my week during the National Farm Machinery Show. Farm Show week has always been a highlight event for me. I enjoy the equipment and getting to see so many people. But for KCA it also comes with the cooking booths, a trade show booth and all other KCA work continues, despite the show. KY Cattlemen’s Ground Beef The week started with Valentine’s Day. For years I have always stopped by Rebecca Ruth Chocolates in Versailles to get chocolates for everyone in the office. I went over on Sunday and got my chocolates and had them on everyone’s desk when they got to work on Monday morning. Monday was off to a good start! When I got to the office on Monday, Katelyn had the checks ready for the producers that had sold cows in to the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Ground Beef (KCGB) program. My family had delivered four cows the week prior so I was excited to see how they performed. I like this program because they are priced on hot carcass weight and I can get a live weight and a carcass weight. Katelyn also gave me an update on the purchase order from Kroger. We are constantly working to provide a consistent supply but it can be difficult because there are so many variabilities in the supply chain. It was also brought to my attention that many on Facebook were calling me out again about COOL, County of Origin Labeling. I really have a hard time understanding this because KCA has listened, developed and implemented a program just for this. Beef Solutions is starting on its fifth year with Kentucky Cattlemen’s Ground Beef. We sell to Kroger and several other venues. It has products in 160 Kroger stores in 4 states offering local ground beef! At the end of the month, we will expand into the Northern KY market. If you remember COOL was implemented back in the 2009 Farm Bill and it sounded good. However, when you read the fine print there were things that were not so good. The stockyards were liable for 8 • Cow Country • April

maintaining the data on cattle that came through the yards and food services were exempt. Most of the foreign product goes to food service, so the only product that was getting labeled was at retail and if any further processing was done you didn’t have to label it. So, a steak in the meat case had to be labeled and one from the same animal with peppercorns added didn’t. The biggest concern was that in reality, the majority of consumers really didn’t care. It is mostly about price, followed by the look and freeze by date. One last comment regarding COOL is that our trading partners in Canada and Mexico were about to include tariffs on many products because of COOL, including Bourbon, that could have been disastrous. Senate Ag Committee Meeting On Tuesday, I was off to Frankfort for the Senate Ag committee meeting. There wasn’t much on the agenda but there were several people getting confirmed for board seats. Marshall Coyle, David Wallace and Dr. Mark Lynn were up for appointment to the State Fair Board. Brenda Paul, Michael Peterson and Suzanne Cecil White were up for the Kentucky Ag Development Board and Dr. Kenny Burdine and Frank Penn were up for the KY Ag Finance Corporation. Plus, several more were confirmed. A very impressive list of names was presented and those people will be making decisions on investing Kentucky Agriculture money. After the meeting, I was off to Lexington and then to my farm in Nicholasville where I got to feed in the pouring rain.

attended with me to work at the food booth. The cooking booth in the West Wing was short staffed so Chelsea covered a register and I jumped in filling drinks. We couldn’t get enough fries and we would run out of steaks, burgers and hotdogs. Thursday they were short staffed behind the curtain so Nikki, Kylie and I jumped in and built sandwiches all day. But we were still short on meat and fries most of the time. By Friday, my body was tired and I was hoping that they had enough people show up to work the cooking booth. When I arrived, I saw a parked Kubota. Mr. Bracken had to make a supply run because they couldn’t get supplies. That was my opportunity to ride around the fairgrounds all day making deliveries for Maxine. My first run was only steaks and burgers, but the next call was for 10 cases of water and 5 cases of Gatorade in the South lobby. I ended up being a runner again on Saturday and as I rode around it gave me a lot of time to think. After working in the cooking booth for 4 days, I really have a much deeper appreciation for the people that work in these booths. I also have a better understating of the pressure that the food supply chain is under. It is hard to find help and finding supplies is harder than ever. I am in a job that really gets to see the industry from the farmers point of view all the way through to the consumer both at retail and food service.

KCA works with producers selling directly off the farm, we work with restaurants and retailers to promote beef, we have our own program to sell beef in a major grocery Farm Machinery Show store chain as well as restaurants and food Most years I have worked in the trade show service, and we have our cooking booth at booth, but this year was different. I talked the fairgrounds. I see what happens behind with Maxine Bracken, the manager of the the scenes and hear of the problems they cooking operation, and she let me know that are experiencing. The supply chain is under she was having a hard time getting workers. tremendous pressure and I know we see it I knew that I might need to make some every day. My week at the Farm Machinery adjustments in what I normally do during Show helped to teach me more about the this farm show. Dan Miller, Cary King and supply chain and was a great opportunity to Bradon Burks covered the trade show booth see so many familiar faces. Know that your so I could focus on helping Maxine. KCA office is out working on your behalf, no matter what role you may have in the beef The Show started on Wednesday and Chelsea Smither, one of our student interns, supply chain!

NEED A GOOD ANGUS BULL? WE HAVE ONE FOR YOU. Bridgeview Angus Bulls For Sale

570 Snavely Road • Stamping Ground, Kentucky 40379

50 REGISTERED ANGUS BULLS: 18 MONTHS OLD, BSE CHECKED • LOW BIRTH WEIGHT HEIFER ACCEPTABLE WITH EXPLOSIVE GROWTH HERE IS A SAMPLE OF BRIDGEVIEW ANGUS BULLS OFFERED PRIVATE TREATY TATTOO

CED

AI SIRED

211

-2.3

107

Magnitude

214

-3.5

106

Brickyard

215

+0.9

112

Playbook

220

+0.8

135

Jet Black

221

+2.2

135

Crackerjack

222

-3.1

137

Growth Fund

228

-1.5

137

West Point

229

+0.5

127

Plus One

230

+1.1

135

Jet Black

234

+0.9

115

Rain Dance

248

+1.6

131

Fireball

250

+0.6

121

Enhance

All bulls subject to first 90 day breeding season guarantee!

BVA SPRING PRODUCTION SALE MAY 1st • 1:30PM AT THE FARM 125 TOTAL HEAD

FALL BRED HEIFERS, SPRING CALVING PAIRS, 18 MONTH OLD BULLS , FALL BRED COWS AND FALL CALVES.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE! 570 Snavely Road Stamping Ground, Kentucky 40379

Sale location 570 Snavely Road, Stamping Ground

FOR INFO CALL OR TEXT

C O RY: 859- 338-5826, KIP : 859-6 0 8 -77 9 8 , KY L E : 5 0 2 -3 3 0 -8 9 14 , O R RO G E R: 8 59 - 3 3 3 - 2 7 0 7

Middle Tennessee Hereford Association

Ryan Quarles

Commissioner of Agriculture

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Office of the State Veterinarian is dedicated to protecting the health and welfare of Kentucky's livestock, poultry and agricultural industries. That dedication has been put to the test as of late with a series of animal health emergencies and devastating weather conditions we experienced in the Bluegrass the past few months. State Veterinarian Dr. Katie Flynn and her team have been busy the past four months, working long hours with the back-toback-to-back challenges including chronic wasting disease, which was detected in a Tennessee deer near our state border, avian influenza (AI), which was detected in two commercial poultry operations in our state, and the devastating effects of the December tornadoes on many livestock operations in western Kentucky. I want to extend a huge “thank you” and an acknowledgement of gratitude to those who are protecting our state’s agricultural livestock. If you see somebody from OSV, please give them a pat on the back for the yeoman’s work they’re doing, particularly their work to protect Kentucky poultry during this Avian Influenza outbreak. The KDA continues to work with our neighbors at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and our federal partners at the U.S. Department of Agriculture after testing in February confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic AI at commercial operations in Fulton and Webster counties.

In response, the KDA’s Office of Communications set up a webpage with the latest information on AI at www.kyagr. com/statevet/HPAI.html. Two things I want to emphasize: • AI does not present a food safety risk; poultry and eggs are safe to eat when handled and cooked properly. There is no risk to the food supply because birds 10 • Cow Country • April

from the flock will not enter the food system. • No human cases of avian influenza viruses have been detected in the U.S., but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns "it can happen." The CDC recommends "as a general precaution, people should avoid wild birds and observe them only from a distance; avoid contact with domestic birds (poultry) that appear ill or have died; and avoid contact with surfaces that appear to be contaminated with feces from wild or domestic birds." *** It was great to see so many friendly faces at the 2022 Kentucky Farm Bureau Beef Expo. I was there to present checks to the 10 cattle breeds represented, as well as the Pen Sale. The Beef Expo is one of my favorite times of the year because it signals spring is just around the corner. And recent warm temperatures and sunshine have got me longing for the end of winter. With spring temperatures comes the start of more than 160 farmers’ markets in 110 Kentucky counties. They’re not only a great place to buy local fruits and vegetables grown by your friends and neighbors, but now many also sell Kentucky beef harvested from the largest herd east of the Mississippi River. Purchasing food from 2,700 Kentucky Proud farmers’ market vendors means your food travels fewer miles from the farm to your plate and keeps the money you spend in your community. According to Forbes magazine article, for every $100 spent at locally-owned businesses, $68 remains in the local community. Plus, visiting your local Kentucky Proud farmers’ market is just good, clean fun for the whole family. It’s a social event in many communities, where you can relax, eat a meal made from local ingredients, and enjoy live entertainment, cooking demonstrations, activities for kids, and many other attractions. Hope to see you soon at a farmers’ market near you!

Annual Sale Saturday April 23, 2022 11:30 am CT KY/TN Livestock Market Cross Plains, TN Exit 112, I-65 North of Nashville

Selling Registered Horned & Polled Breeding Stock • Registered Females: Spring and Fall calving pairs, bred and open heifers • Registered Service Age Bulls • Hereford Influenced Commercial Cattle For more information or catalogs contact:

Dale Stith 918-760-1550 Billy Jackson 615-478-4483

Sunday • 1:30 pm • At the farm

May 1, 2022 15th Annual e Production Sal Selling progeny out of these donors!

Lawsons Donna E66

EXAR Elba 2864

18916492 Sire: Basin Payweight 1682 • Dam: Coleman Donna 714

Lawsons Chloe D908 17327821 Sire: Connealy Final Product • Dam: Summitcrest Elba 1M17

Brown Blackcap May 0001

18439876 Sire: S A V Renown 3439 • Dam: Lawsons Chloe Z341 A full sister to Lawsons Chloe C815, pictured, will be a sale feature on May 1.

The Sparrow Family

19934855 Sire: Hoover No Doubt • Dam: SAV Blackcap May 7888

Cory – 859.338.5826 sparrowcc@hotmail.com

Kyle – 502.330.8914 kylesparrow041@gmail.com

kcspar2@uky.edu

rsparrow@uky.edu

Kip – 859.608.7798

Roger – 859.333.2707

570 Snavely • Stamping Ground, KY 40379

www.bridgeviewangus.com

UK Research: Plant-based Meat Alternatives Growing But Not Enough to Impact Beef Industry Katie Pratt University of Kentucky Plant-based meat alternatives are an emerging industry, growing more than 200% since the beginning of the pandemic. University of Kentucky agricultural economists are studying consumer demand for these products and how it could impact the meat industry, specifically beef.

UK AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS FOUND THAT WHILE PLANT-BASED MEAT ALTERNATIVES ARE A GROWING INDUSTRY,

Plant-based meat alternatives taste, smell and look similar to red meat, but they are made of plants including peas, potatoes and soybeans. They are designed to appeal to meat eaters. In 2018, the industry had $10 billion in global sales, and economists project the industry to top $30 billion in sales by 2026.

THEY ARE NOT CURRENTLY GROWING ENOUGH TO REPLACE THE CURRENT DEMAND FOR BEEF

In a paper recently published by Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy, UK’s Shuoli Zhao and Yuqing Zheng found that consumers are trying plant-based meat alternatives but not at a rate that would replace current demand for beef.

researchers found that consumers were often purchasing plant-based meat alternatives alongside beef and pork and instead used the plant-based meat alternatives as a substitute for chicken, turkey and fish.

Zhao, Zheng and collaborators Wuyang Hu from Ohio State University and Lingxiao Wang from the University of Wisconsin analyzed Nielsen sales data collected from grocery and convenience stores across America during 2017 through 2020. Their study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, found that only a small percentage of consumers have tried plant-based meat alternatives. While plant-based meat alternatives were intended to serve as a substitute for beef, the 12 • Cow Country • April

“The demand is not currently there yet for plant-based meat alternatives to replace a portion of beef sales,” said Zhao, assistant professor in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. “Even though the market has grown, plantbased meat alternatives only make up 0.5% of the fresh meat market share,” said Zheng, UK associate professor. Due to their high processing, plant-based meat alternatives often cost more than many other meat options and are currently priced similar to Angus beef. The researchers also

found that consumers were more likely to try plant-based meat alternatives if they were on sale. “The plant-based meat alternative industry is a new industry that is still evolving and currently not at a consumer-friendly level due to the high prices,” Zhao said. The entire paper is available online at https://bit.ly/3JoJ40i The researchers recently received a nearly $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture to further investigate plant-based meat alternatives including the consumer base, market, supply chain and any potential challenges the plant-based meat alternative industry faces. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1TR001998. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 202267024-36734. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Department of Agriculture.

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE CATTLE PRODUCERS WELCOME CONTRACT LIBRARY PILOT PROGRAM WASHINGTON (March 11, 2022) – Last evening, the Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations package. In addition to providing funding for a number of programs of importance to U.S. beef cattle producers, the bill also maintained key provisions the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has long advocated for, such as the Electronic Logging Device exemption for livestock haulers, important EPA regulatory relief, and an extension of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting program. Also included in the package is a Cattle Contract Library pilot program, a critical tool as NCBA works to increase market transparency for cattle producers. The pilot program marks a win for the U.S. cattle industry as it equips producers with the market data they need to make informed business decisions and work to capture more value for producing the highest quality beef in the world. “We are grateful to Ranking Member Hoeven and Chairwoman Baldwin for spearheading this effort, as well as the many members of Congress who worked behind the scenes to advance this important transparency tool for cattle producers," said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. "This pilot program will allow USDA to work on the model for a contract library that works for everyone in the supply chain while Congress and industry continue to work out the details of a permanent library in subsequent legislation like the Cattle Contract Library Act.” NCBA stands ready to ensure proper implementation of this program and looks forward to working with members of Congress to establish permanent solutions to ensure a viable business climate for cattle producers.

Allison Char Charolais Breeder Sinc AllisonAllison Charolais • Charolais

appreciates the Administration’s efforts to expand and diversify processing capacity and looks forward to working with USDA to ensure proper implementation of the funds.

• •

Bulls Available Bulls CHAROLAIS Available

Ø Bred for calving& ease and gro BULLS

As part of previously announced federal Ø Bred for calving ease and growth. HCR investments totaling $1 billion, theseSPIRIT funds Ø4007. Bulls for both purebred and com will be allocated to three main areas: the Ø Bulls for both purebred and commercial breeders. Øand Bred for calving and growth. newly created Meat Poultry Processing Ø Yearlings and two-year-olds available. Øease Yearlings and two-year-olds av Expansion Program (MPPEP), workforce Bred heifersand to calve in fall available. Bullsassistance. for bothØpurebred commercial development, andØ technical Ø Bred heifers to calvebreeders. in fall ava

HEIFERS AVAILABLE

Background:

Ø Yearlings and two-year-olds available.

John Allison, Owner David Carter, Farm Manager John Allison 545 Eminence Road 502-706-0075 USDA Rural Development will make $150 John Allison, Owner David C 545 Eminence Road New Castle, KY 40050 million available through the Meat and Poultry 545New Eminence 502-220-3170 Castle, Road KY 40050 Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). New Castle, KY 40050 Under this program, grants of up to $25 million (502) 220-3170 John Allison, Owner David Carter, Farm Manager will be available to offset costs of construction, 502-220-3170 expansion, and acquisition equipment. Road 545of Eminence 502-706-0075

Ø Bred heifers to calve in fall available.

KY 40050 The National InstituteNew of FoodCastle, and Agriculture (NIFA) will allocate $40 million dollars to 502-220-3170 existing workforce development programs to assist new and expanding processors with recruiting, training, and retraining adequate labor. USDA is also making $25 million available through the MPPEP for technical assistance. These funds will be used to establish partnerships between organizations who specialize in meat and poultry processing and MPPEP applicants, recipients, and future applicants of Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants.

14 • Cow Country • April

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NCBA PLEASED TO SEE NEXT STEPS IN PROCESSING CAPACITY FUNDING WASHINGTON (February 24, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of up to $215 million in grants and resources as part of a continued effort to strengthen the meat and poultry processing sector and create a more resilient food supply chain. NCBA

Bulls Availa

Charolais Breeder Since 1962

“Investing in packing capacity is critically Charolais Breeder Since 1962 important for the cattle industry,” said NCBA Director of Government Affairs and Market Regulatory Policy Tanner Beymer. Ø Bull calves out of HCR Answe “The expansion of regional processing facilities will bolster resiliency within the SPIRIT Ø Bull calvesHCR out of HCR Answer4007. 2042 and beef supply chain and help return marketing Bull calves out ofHCR HCR Answer leverage to cattle Ø producers." SPIRIT 4007. 2042 and

GIVE US A CALL. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has represented America’s cattle producers since 1898, preserving the heritage and strength of the industry through education and public policy. As the largest association of cattle producers, NCBA works to create new markets and increase demand for beef. Efforts are made possible through membership contributions. To join, contact NCBA at 1-866-BEEF-USA or membership@beef.org.

SALE MANAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY VIDEOGRAPHY RING SERVICE!

BARREN COUNTY NEWS Submitted by James W. Bailey

The Barren County Cattlemen’s meeting was held Thursday evening, February 17th, 2022 at Barren County High School Trojan Academy. During the meeting members of the Barren County FFA Chapter presented a program on their member’s Agricultural Experience programs. Pictured back row from left to right is; Daniel Crain and Jon Keightley representing Pro Solutions of Hiseville, Bradley Sturgeon, Coby Lee, Cory Lee, Cody Moore, and Matthew Estes, representing the Barren Count FFA chapter. Pictured front row from left to right is; Glen Byrd, program coordinator of the Barren County Cattlemen’s Association, Ana Kate Alexander, Carrie Carver, Bailey Pedigo, Sammi Brewington, and Mary Schalk, representing the Barren County FFA Chapter. A delicious steak dinner was served which was sponsored by PRO SOLUTIONS OF HISEVILLE

BRACKEN COUNTY NEWS Submitted by Nicole Goecke

Bracken County Cattlemen’s Association hosted their winter membership meeting on February 28th. Multimin USA (Sheri Pitzer-Chapman) and ABS Global (Brad Bennett) were our meal sponsors and speakers for the evening. Bracken County 4-H served the meal to 100 members and guests.

WEBSTER COUNTY NEWS Submitted by David Tapp

The Webster County Cattlemen's Association, along with the Webster County Cooperative Extension Service held a Spring Beef Education Meeting and WCCA Board Meeting on February 24th. Meeting participants were treated to a ribeye meal prepared by the WCCA Cooking Team and served by WCCA Board members. A very informative educational program was presented by Greg Halich. University of Kentucky Associate Extension Professor, on bale grazing. 16 • Cow Country • April

LINCOLN COUNTY NEWS Submitted by Tyler Miller

The Annual LCCA Cow/Calf Farm Bureau Chemical meeting was held February 28. County producers had the opportunity to pay LCCA dues that night. Thelma and Jack Blair helped collect membership dues while the LCCA and Farm Bureau board of directors helped to prepare and serve the meal. Dr. Josh McGrath and Dr. J.D. Green from the University presented to the group.

TWIN LAKES NEWS Submitted by Steve Peddicord

On February 26, the Twin Lakes Association held its first quarterly meeting of 2022 at the Clinton County Extension office in Albany. A good crowd of 45 attended the meeting. The evening started with a beef burger meal cooked by the cooking team of TLCA. The half pound Cattlemans burger that is sourced through Krogers from Beef Solutions was served on the menu. The Clinton county FFA members served the meal. Following the meal, Jay Craig, auctioneer and local member provided his services to auction a 1 liter bottle of Dectomax that was donated by Burkmann Nutrition of Glasgow. All proceeds from the auction were donated to the FFA chapter in appreciation for helping serve the meal. The evening’s featured speaker was Dan Miller from Beef Solutions. Dan gave a very informative and interesting talk explaining the procedure for submitted slaughter cows to Beef Solutions. Some of the Twin Lakes members had recently delivered cattle through the program and shared their personal experiences. Following Dan’s presentation, the local group expressed much interest in trying to pool a group of cattle for delivery later in the spring. Business items from the group that were discussed included announcing the members only mineral buying program, cooking fundraisers for Beef month in May, and sponsoring the local CAIP program again for 2022 by the Twin Lakes association. April • Cow Country • 17

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Cattlemen’s Beef Board Releases 2021 Annual Report

West Kentuck y Select B r e d H e i fe r S a l e Selling 250 Fall Calving Bred Heifers

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) has released its official 2021 Annual Report. Visitors to the CBB’s website can view specific sections of the report online or download the full report as a PDF. The 2021 CBB Annual Report includes information about projects and results within each of the organization’s program areas: promotion, foreign marketing, consumer information, industry information, research and producer communications. The report also contains a financial statement of assets, liabilities and net assets from September 30, 2020, to September 30, 2021. “Compiling our annual report is an opportunity for us to examine what the Beef Checkoff and its contractors accomplished during the previous fiscal year and consider what we should focus on in the future,” said Greg Hanes, CBB CEO. “It’s also another example of the Checkoff ’s ongoing efforts to be more transparent with the producers who invest in our programs. We want them to know how their dollars are making a difference.” Highlights within the 2021 CBB Annual Report include: •

Fifteen million views of the Beef in the Early Years educational content encouraging parents to consider beef as a first food for their children.

•

A 20 percent increase in export value compared to the previous record pace established in 2018.

•

Incremental beef sales of 1.5 million accomplished through a partnership with retailer Sam’s Club designed to increase online beef purchases.

•

A 27.8 percent increase in producer subscriptions to the CBB’s newsletter, The Drive, both in print and online.

“The CBB shares the information within the annual report to solicit feedback and encourage producer involvement,” Hanes said. “The Beef Checkoff is an industry-wide initiative, and it has the greatest impact when all stakeholders work together. We’re looking forward to even more collaboration and success throughout 2022.” For more information about the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the Beef Checkoff, visit DrivingDemandForBeef.com. To learn more about Beef Checkoff programs and initiatives, subscribe to The Drive print or e-newsletter or watch the latest episode of the new video series The Drive in Five. The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The Checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national Checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.

Saturday, May 21, 2022 12:00 Noon Central Time

Kentucky-Tennessee Livestock Market Guthrie, Kentucky All heifers qualify for both Kentucky and Tennessee Cost Share Programs See these heifers at: www.kyheifersale.com For more information contact: Kevin Laurent, University of Kentucky (270) 625-0994 Mark Barnett, KY-TN Livestock Market (270) 483-2504 All heifers are guaranteed bred to bulls with known EPDs and have met stringent requirements for health, quality and pelvic measurements. Sponsored by the Univ. of Kentucky and Univ. of Tennessee Cooperative Extension Service

Amburgey Charolais Farm

Annual Bull & Female Sale & Herd Reduction Sale Saturday, April 9, 2022 • 1 PM Followed with the Commercial Cow Sale Blue Grass Stockyards East, Mt. Sterling, KY (1/2 mile off I-64 at exit 113)

Selling: Charolais Bulls

Performance tested, good disposition, semen checked Bred & Open Heifers For More Information Contact:

Robert Amburgey 3171 Camargo Road Mt. Sterling, KY 40353 (859) 498-2764 Home (859) 404-3751 Mobile

Blue Grass Stockyards East Jeff Copher (859) 229-7587

April • Cow Country • 19

E C O NO MI C & P O L I C Y U P D A T E

Impact of Government Payments Jerry Pierce Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky

How important is a new farm bill? That depends on a number of factors like what you grow, where you farm, and what happens during a year to trigger payment to you. What impact have farm bills and other government programs had on Kentucky farms in terms of profitability over the last decade? They appear to have had a considerable effect. The graph shows Total Net Farm Income (NFI) for crop farms participating in the Kentucky Farm Business Management (KFBM) program between 2010 and 2020, and projections for 2021. Projections are based on USDA forecasts applied to average KFBM 2020 crop farms. The graph also shows Net Farm Income minus Government Payments. This represents net farm income from farm operating alone without government assistance. The gap between the two equals government payments. The 2008 Farm Bill provided direct payments to farmers that supplemented high net farm income from farm operating alone. However, payments were critical to KFBM crop farms in 2010 suffering from late-season drought.

Retaliatory tariffs on agricultural commodities from trade wars with China held back net income from farm operating in 2018 and 2019. Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments offset the impacts of the tariffs in these years to help return crop farms to higher profitability by 2019. Average government payments from all programs, including MFP, grew to $187,311 for KFBM crop farms; 56% of Total NFI in 2019. COVID-19 payments, existing government programs, and increased profitability from farming operations combined to push Total NFI to a record high in 2020. Average payments grew to $251,056 for farms participating in KFBM, but this represented only 45% of Total NFI. This does not include PPP loans and Employee Retention Credits. Total NFI is projected to be even higher for 2021, but

government payments are projected to be 60% less without COVID-19 payments. These KFBM farms will receive about $100,000 less than in 2021, though the amount is still higher than the 10-year average. Government programs have supported crop farm incomes most years. The lack of support was painfully apparent in 2014. Resumption of government payments provided underlying support during the following turbulent years. MFP contributed substantially to offset the impact of Chinese tariffs on agricultural commodities that were depressing farm income. COVID-19 programs further contributed to a rebound of Total NFI in 2020. The impact of farm bills and other government programs on farm profitability has been significant

Figure 1. Difference Between Total Net Farm Income and Net Farm Income - Government Payments

A new Farm Bill was not passed, so the 2008 bill was extended through 2013. A new farm bill went into effect in 2014 that replaced direct payments with payments based on price or revenue targets. The first payments were made in 2015. This left a void in government support programs for 2014. Unfortunately, commodity prices fell dramatically in 2014 and net farm income for KFBM crop farms fell 65% from a record high in 2013. Government payments averaged only $15,430 per farm, mostly from conservation programs. Payments under the 2014 Farm Bill were critical as NFI from farming activities alone was slow to recover, remaining under $200,000 for KFBM through 2019. This was a turbulent time in agriculture as low revenue created a weakening of financial health and an increase in farm closures and bankruptcy.

The Agricultural Economics Department publishes the Economic and Policy Update towards the end of each month. Each issue features articles written by extension personnel within the department and other experts across the country.

20 • Cow Country • April

Topics will vary greatly but regularly include marketing, management, policy, natural resources, and rural development issues. If you would like to recieve this newsletter by email, please contact Kenny Burdine at kburdine@uky. edu.

You can also view current and past issues online at https://bit.ly/2PoHsZj Co-editors: Kenny Burdine, Alison Davis, and Greg Halich

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SOIL TESTING: What It Is and What It Does W.O. Thom, K.L. Wells, L.W. Murdock, and F. Sikora Department of Agronomy What Is Soil Testing? Soil testing is a special chemical analysis that provides a guideline for lime and fertilizer needs of soils when considered in conjunction with post-fertilizer management and cropping history. A soil testing service is available to every Kentucky citizen through the University of Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service. There is a small service charge to cover the cost of handling and laboratory operation. Why Soil Test? Different soil types, different fields, and often areas within the same field vary in the availability of plant nutrients. Also, a field may contain a low level of one nutrient and a high level of another nutrient. Such variations are usually due to differences in: • previous fertilizer and lime applications • cropping history • nutrient contents of the parent materials, • losses of surface soil through erosion. Soil testing is the best way to identify these differences and to adjust liming and fertilization practices. Soil test results should be included in a record system for each production field on a farm, along with the amounts of lime and fertilizer applied each year, the crops grown, and the yields obtained. In an effective sampling program, each production field should be tested at least every three to four years. Some intensive cropping systems should be sampled every two to three years. Annual sampling is preferable for high cash crops, e.g., alfalfa and double-crop silage production. Only through such a record system can fertility and/or production levels be monitored over time. This is valuable information when making decisions on fertilizer investments and production practices. How Does It Work? Soil samples, carefully collected according to instruction (see Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service publication AGR-16, Taking Soil Test Samples), are delivered with the necessary information to the local county Extension office. Samples are then sent to the laboratory for testing. After 22 • Cow Country • April

considering soil test levels, past fertilization and liming, cropping history, and the crop to be fertilized or limed, county Extension agents base their lime and fertilizer recommendations on guidelines in Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service publication AGR-1, Lime and Fertilizer Recommendations. For correct lime and fertilizer rates, the soil test must be calibrated with crop yield responses to lime and fertilizer applications. Personnel from the University of Kentucky Department of Agronomy annually conduct field experiments throughout Kentucky to provide a basis for the guidelines published in AGR-1. Recommendations in AGR-1 apply only to test levels obtained in laboratories under supervision of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and should not be used for soil test values from any other laboratories where testing procedures may differ. What Tests Are Made? Routine Soil Test -All samples tested by the University of Kentucky labs are routinely analyzed for pH (water), pH (buffer), and extractable phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and an estimated CEC. Greenhouse Saturation Test -This special test includes pH (water), pH (buffer), nitrate-nitrogen, soluble salts, and extractable phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Other Special Tests -See your county Extension agent for details. Why Is Additional Information Needed? Along with the soil sample, you need to submit the appropriate information form (available at your county Extension office) for either: • agricultural soils • home gardens, lawn, and turfgrass • commercial horticultural crops, or • greenhouse crops. Your county Extension agent needs the information on the appropriate form to make recommendations.

What about Nitrogen Tests? Neither the amount of organic matter nor the amount of nitrate has proven to be a reliable indicator of available nitrogen for field crops grown under Kentucky conditions. For this reason, present nitrogen recommendations for field crops are based on past cropping history, soil management, soil properties, and experimental data. The University of Kentucky Soil Testing Lab does provide an optional organic matter and a greenhouse saturation test (the latter includes nitrate-nitrogen). These tests are most useful for greenhouse, landscaping, and specialty crops. However, the nitrate-nitrogen results from this test may be used in unusual situations to help determine if large amounts of nitrogen have been lost during extended wet periods or flooding, or if nitrogen levels are adequate for crop growth from heavily manured fields. More recently, some states have used soil nitrate concentration when corn is 8 to 12 inches high to adjust N fertilizer rates at sidedressing. Kentucky has limited research data to demonstrate consistent results from this testing. The greatest opportunity for this test may be in fields receiving manure or organic N nutrient sources. What about Tests for Secondary Nutrients and Micronutrients? Predicting deficiencies for secondary nutrients and micronutrients from a soil test is much more difficult than for the major nutrients. Most micronutrient tests and recommendations were developed for specific soil types and conditions, and it is difficult to adapt these tests to a wide range of soil types and other conditions. Calcium and magnesium levels are determined routinely in the Soil Testing Lab. Calcium deficiency in field crops has not been observed in Kentucky. Many field trials have been conducted with applications of magnesium on several Kentucky field crops. These trials have shown only slight yield increases at a few locations where testing has indicated extremely low magnesium levels and have shown no response to

additional magnesium at locations with low magnesium soil tests. However, the soil test will indicate when the possibility of a response exists. The zinc test can detect low soil levels but does not always reliably determine when crop yield responses will occur in a specific year. As in the case for many of the micronutrients, weather and soil conditions strongly influence the availability of soil zinc to the plant. Field trials in Kentucky have indicated that low zinc test levels in Central and South Central counties are more likely to indicate zinc deficiency (corn and snapbeans) than in other areas of the state. Low zinc levels combined with high phosphorus and pH levels are usually associated with zinc deficiency. Guidelines for interpreting the zinc soil test for corn are listed in AGR-1. Deficiencies of boron, molybdenum, and manganesein certain crops do exist in some areas of Kentucky. Because of the rather specific crop needs for boron, molybdenum, or manganese, producers should contact their county Extension agent about the need for these micronutrients. For field crops grown on Kentucky soils,

the addition of iron, copper, or sulfur has resulted in no measured yield increase. The University will continue to monitor these nutrients in crops and soils but will not offer testing until economic yield or quality increases have been shown. What Is Cation Exchange Capacity? Because of the negative charges in their chemical structure, most clay minerals and soil organic matter have the ability to attract or retain positively charged ions (cations) of calcium (Ca++), magnesium (Mg++), potassium (K+), aluminum (Al+++), hydrogen (H+), and others. Attraction between the clay minerals and these ions is weak enough that an exchange between ions can occur; those ions most strongly attracted or occurring at higher concentrations in the soil solution may displace other ions from exchange sites on the clays. The capacity of a soil to retain cations under specific conditions is called the cation exchange capacity (CEC). This property affects the availability of potassium, calcium, and magnesium to plants. The term used to report CEC is milliequivalents/100 grams (me/100g) of soil.

A recent addition to the Kentucky soil test results reports a calculated CEC that uses results from the current extractant in the Kentucky Soil Test Lab (Mehlich III). This extractant is different from most standardized research procedures used to measure CEC. The information on the soil test report is strictly an estimate of potentially exchangeable ions based on the amount of potassium, calcium, and magnesium extracted by the Mehlich III extractant, and an estimate of hydrogen from the buffer pH reading. Therefore, the CEC reported as part of the soil test results is usually higher and should not be directly compared to results conducted by the research method. Fortunately, most Kentucky agricultural soils are rather uniform in their CEC due to the vast majority having a silt loam texture. The few high-clay soils occurring in certain areas have much higher CEC’s, and the rare sandy loams have much lower CEC’s. Because these variations are localized, county Extension agents can use their personal knowledge of the local soils to make any adjustment in fertilizer rates for those occasional soils with unusually low or high CEC’s.

Tag

DOB

Sire

Dam

Reg#

CED

Milk

101

01/01/21

Justified

Summit

20187153

-1.9

104

01/01/21

Rainfall

Bismark

20185951

0.4

114

107

01/01/21

Rainfall

5175

20185952

-1.0

111

01/04/21

Justified

Raindance

20187155

0.8

142

115

01/04/21

Atlantis

Confidence

20187215

-1.0

104

128

02/08/21

Rainfall

Insight

20185924

2.5

115

129

02/13/21

Atlantis

Rampage

20187213

-0.4

107

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April • Cow Country • 23

Enforcing Agister’s Liens in Kentucky Candace Smith & Lindsay Burley Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC

A recent case from the Kentucky Court of Appeals highlights the importance of parties ensuring they enter into an enforceable agreement under Kentucky law when deciding to work together to raise and sell cattle. O'Connell v. Bianco, 2021 WL 5856336 (Ky. App. Dec. 10, 2021). In Bianco, Bianco entered into an oral agreement with O’Connell through which Bianco would provide cattle to O’Connell to raise and care for until calves were born and weaned. Id. at *1. It was also understood under the oral agreement that after the calves were born and weaned, they would be sold, and Bianco and O’Connell would split the proceeds. Id. Although Bianco and O’Connell did not originally reduce their agreement to writing, their relationship began to deteriorate, and O’Connell filed what he believed to be an agister’s lien under KRS § 376.400. Id. O’Connell sent a letter to Bianco informing her of the lien, but Bianco did not respond. KRS § 376.400 states that when a party takes possession of another’s livestock and agrees to assume exclusive care and responsibility for the livestock, that party has an agister’s lien for one year for “his or her reasonable charges for keeping, caring for, feeding, and grazing the animal.” Under this statute, the lienholder can only cause the livestock to be sold if: (1) the owner of the animal is at least fortyfive days in arrears on payment for the feeding and care of the animal, and the animal is in the possession of the person providing care for the animal; (2) the proposed sale is published in one or more newspapers with a publication area in both the locale where the person providing care for the animal is located and the locale where the animal’s owner was last known to reside; and (3) written notice of the sale is sent by certified mail to the owner of the animal and to all lien holders of record at least ten days before the sale. Id. The written notice must contain the amount due the person providing care for the animal; the date, time, and location of the sale; and a statement of how the sales proceeds will be disbursed. Soon after O’Connell filed the purported agister’s lien, some of the calves that were born under O’Connell’s care were stolen, but O’Connell failed to inform Bianco of the thefts. Bianco, 2021 WL 5856336 at *1. O’Connell sold some of the cattle pursuant to the purported lien; however, he failed to follow the requirements for sale outlined in KRS § 376.400 and did not provide Bianco with any portion of the proceeds. Id. These materials are public information and have been prepared solely for educational purposes. These materials reflect only the personal views of the authors and are not individualized legal advice. It is understood that each case is fact-specific, and that the appropriate solution in any case will vary. Therefore, these materials may or may not be relevant to any particular situation. Thus, the authors and Steptoe & Johnson PLLC cannot be bound either philosophically or as representatives of their various present and future clients to the comments expressed in these materials. The presentation of these materials does not establish any form of attorneyclient relationship with the authors or Steptoe & Johnson PLLC. While every attempt was made to ensure that these materials are accurate, errors or omissions may be contained therein, for which any liability is disclaimed. 24 • Cow Country • April

Bianco filed suit against O’Connell for breach of contract because O’Connell failed to provide Bianco with proceeds from the sale of the cattle. Id. O’Connell subsequently brought a claim against Bianco for breach of contract, claiming that Bianco failed to reimburse him for any expenses. At trial, the court found that the agister’s lien filed by O’Connell was invalid because O’Connell had not complied with the requirements of KRS § 376.400. Id. at *2. As such, the district court enforced the oral contract between Bianco and O’Connell and held that O’Connell breached that contract by selling the cattle pursuant to an invalid lien and failing to share the profits. Id. Ultimately, Bianco was awarded $128,200 in damages. Id. The Court of Appeals affirmed this decision. Id. at *7. If you agree to assume care for another party’s livestock, the type of agreement you enter into can greatly impact your rights. An attorney can help you determine what type of agreement is best for you and what steps are necessary to ensure the agreement is enforceable. Additionally, if you need to file an agister’s lien, an attorney can help you with that process to ensure the lien is enforceable.

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Expanding your Herd? Frequently Asked Questions

about Johne’s Disease and How to Keep it Off the Farm Michelle Arnold University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory What is Johne’s Disease? Johne’s (pronounced Yo-knees) Disease is a slow, progressive disease characterized by profuse, watery diarrhea and weight loss or “wasting” in adult cattle (Figure 1). It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, also known as “MAP”. This disease begins when calves (not adult cattle) are infected with MAP-contaminated colostrum, milk, feed or water, most often around the time of birth. Once MAP enters a calf, the organism lives permanently within the cells of the large intestine where it multiplies and causes the intestinal lining to slowly thicken. Over years of time, the thickened intestine loses the ability to absorb nutrients, resulting in watery diarrhea and weight loss despite continuing to eat well. These symptoms do not show up in adult cattle until 2-5 years of age or even older. There is no treatment available and the animal eventually dies due to starvation and dehydration.

signs. Obviously death loss and premature culling will mean higher replacement costs to keep herd numbers stable. Perhaps less obvious is that MAP-infected cows showing no signs of disease are less fertile and produce less milk, resulting in lighter calves at weaning and more open cows at pregnancy check. Why worry about buying Johne’s Disease? No beef producer in his or her right mind would buy a cow or bull with diarrhea and weight loss to add to their own herd! Very true but the infection can be present long before diarrhea and weight loss begins. In a typical case, an infected cow starts shedding the MAP bacteria in her manure after delivering her first calf but she doesn’t develop diarrhea until after her third calf, resulting in 2 years of “silent” disease spread. In almost all cases, the MAP bacteria arrives on the farm when an infected but healthy-looking animal is purchased and added to the herd. The bacteria can be hiding in replacement heifers, cows, breeding bulls, recipients used for embryo transfer, or even in an infected calf purchased to graft on a cow. It is easy to buy (and sell) infected, young breeding age animals with no obvious symptoms even though they are already incubating and spreading the disease. These infected animals will shed the MAP organism in increasing numbers as the disease progresses, contaminating the farm environment and increasing the risk of infection spread within the herd. Unfortunately, infected animals will often test negative when young and may not have a positive test result until they reach 3-5 years old. How do calves get infected with MAP bacteria?

Figure 1: Cow with signs of Johne’s disease; dull hair coat, profuse watery diarrhea and weight loss. Photo used with permission from Dr. Amy Jennings, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Why should a commercial beef producer care if they have Johne’s Disease in the herd? Economically, Johne’s disease can be costly in a beef operation. It is believed that for every clinical (sick) cow with Johne’s in a herd, there may be 10-20 more who are infected but not yet showing 26 • Cow Country • April

Johne’s infection is mainly through calves ingesting MAPcontaminated manure when nursing dirty teats. Most infections (75+%) occur around the time of birth up to 6 months of age. In beef cattle operations, mud and manure are frequently splashed on the udder when calving cows in dirty sheds or barns, in high traffic areas (around hay rings, feeding areas) or when cattle are held in close confinement. MAP is also found in colostrum and milk of infected cattle. There is great opportunity for transmission thru colostrum and milk in beef calves since they remain with dams 6-7 months or more and many calves steal extra milk from cows other than their own dams. Colostrum obtained from other herds, especially from dairies, is another potential source of MAP. There can be MAP transmission from an infected cow to her fetus during pregnancy but this rarely happens unless the dam has already developed diarrhea. Infected bulls can contaminate the environment with their MAPinfected feces. To date, transmission by bulls through infected semen has not been proven. Diagnosing a clinical case: Does this animal exhibiting weight loss and diarrhea have Johne’s disease? Options for testing individual cattle: • Best test if animal is dead or near death: Submission of a dead animal to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory. The affected animal

should be humanely euthanized then promptly taken to the lab for a necropsy. Histopathology (with special staining) on necropsy-collected tissue is definitive confirmation of Johne’s. • Best test in a live animal: If this is the first suspected case of Johne’s disease in the herd, PCR on a fecal sample is the best primary diagnostic test to confirm the disease. PCR is an “organism detection test” meaning it detects the DNA of the MAP bacteria in the feces. The PCR result is very accurate and also a good indicator of the amount of MAP being shed in the feces (see Figure 2). If the PCR is positive, the first question to consider is “was this infected animal born and raised in this herd?” If the answer is yes, there are likely to be other infected animals in the herd. • The blood test (known as a “Serum ELISA”) is an “antibody detection test”. It can be used if the herd is already known to be Johne’s-infected. The test is not perfect; cattle with Johne’s disease can test negative on serum. However, the blood test is considered a good herd screening test for MAP antibodies and positive results can be confirmed with PCR. Once a diagnosis of Johne’s Disease is made, what are the next steps? Once a diagnosis is made, the next steps depend on the type of beef operation involved. For registered herds selling seed stock, the goal should be to classify as test-negative or work towards it as quickly as possible. Farms that sell any breeding stock should enter a rigorous testing program using fecal PCR to eradicate this disease once identified. Seed stock producers are often reluctant to test for Johne’s Disease for fear that a positive diagnosis will ruin their reputation. However, a seed stock herd’s reputation may be damaged much more severely by selling a MAP-infected animal to a customer when that animal is eventually diagnosed with Johne’s disease. Not only does the customer lose the diseased animal but has also introduced a contagious, incurable disease into his or her herd. Commercial operations, on the other hand, may opt to reduce the disease prevalence gradually through blood testing and herd management

changes to improve hygiene, especially during calving. After the goal is established, decisions on which animals to test and what test to use will depend on the answers to the following questions. What management changes will be made based on test results? Will positive animals be culled or will test positive and test negative herds be established based on results? How much money will be allocated for testing? How quickly is progress needed towards goals? Remember that herd testing is performed on healthy animals over multiple years so decisions should be made in advance on how positive results will be handled. It takes at least 5 years of consistently following a written plan of action to control this disease. If no management changes will be instituted, then testing is a waste of time and money. How does a producer avoid buying MAP-infected cattle? The safest option is to have a “closed” herd with no purchased animals. If this is not possible, the next best option is to buy from low-risk herds with Johne’s test results on the adult herd available within the last year. Remember that MAP-infected cattle, especially young cattle under 3 years of age, may test negative although they are actually positive for the disease. Purchased animals should be tested at least 3 years in a row (begin testing no younger than 2 years of age) before calling them “negative” or “low risk”. Since low-risk beef herds are uncommon, a good rule of thumb is to purchase animals from as few different herds as possible and test all individual animals prior to mixing with the home herd. The number of cattle purchased is not as important as the number of herds these animals came from. However, buying randomly sourced cattle from many different herds is a guarantee your herd will become MAPinfected at some point. Where can someone learn more about Johne’s Disease? First and foremost, talk with your veterinarian about detection and prevention strategies tailored for your specific operation. The Johne’s Information Center at the University of Wisconsin maintains an excellent website full of information at https://johnes.org.

Figure 2: Sample result from a Mycobacterium paratuberculosis real time PCR test for detection of the MAP organism (UKVDL)

April • Cow Country • 27

Cow-Calf Profitability Estimates for 2021 and 2022 Greg Halich, Kenny Burdine, and Jonathan Shepherd University of Kentucky Agricultural Economists The purpose of this article is to examine cow-calf profitability for a spring calving herd that sold weaned calves in the fall of 2021 and provide an estimate of profitability for the upcoming year. Table 1 summarizes estimated costs for a wellmanaged spring-calving cowherd for 2021. Every operation is different, so producers should evaluate and modify these estimates to fit their situation. Note that in this table we are not including depreciation or interest on equipment/fencing/facilities, as well as labor and land costs. Calves are assumed to be weaned and sold at an average weight of 550 lbs. In the fourth quarter of 2021, steers in this weight range were selling for prices in the upper $140’s and heifers in the low $130’s, on a state average basis. Therefore, a steer / heifer average price of $1.40 per lb is used for the analysis, which was $0.10 per lb higher than last year. However, it is important to note that calf prices were much higher in December of 2021, than in October and November. So, the timing of calf sales would have had a significant impact on cow-calf revenues. Weaning rate was estimated at 85%, meaning that it is expected that a calf will be weaned and sold from 85% of the cows that were exposed to the bull. Based on these assumptions and adjusted for the weaning rate, average calf revenue is $655 per cow. Pasture maintenance costs are assumed to be relatively low at $20 per acre, and would include only basic cash costs of pasture clipping (fuel, maintenance, repairs), and a limited amount of reseeding, fertilizer, and fencing repairs. Producers who consistently apply larger amounts of fertilizer to pasture ground would see much higher pasture maintenance costs. The pasture stocking rate is assumed to be 2.0 acres per cow, but producers should carefully consider the stocking rate for their operation, as this will vary greatly. Stocking rate impacts the number of grazing days and winter feeding days for the operation (i.e. high stocking rates will mean more hay feeding days), which has large implications for costs on a per cow basis. These spring calving cows were assumed 28 • Cow Country • April

to use 2.5 tons of hay per cow, and the estimated cash cost of making this hay (fuel, maintenance, repairs, supplies, fertilizer, etc.) was $35 per ton. Mineral cost is $35 per cow, veterinary / medicine costs $25, trucking costs $15, machinery cash costs for winter feeding and other miscellaneous jobs is $15, and other costs (insurance, property taxes, water, etc.) are $40. Breeding costs are $40 per cow and should include annual depreciation of the bull and bull maintenance costs, spread across the number of cows he services. Marketing costs are currently around $25 per cow, but larger operations may market cattle in larger groups and pay lower commission rates. Breeding stock depreciation and interest are major costs that are often overlooked. They are generally not cash costs that need to be paid on a yearly basis, unless you have a loan on the cattle, but they are real costs that need to be paid at some point. As an example, assume a bred heifer is valued at $1500, has eight productive years, and has a cull cow value of $700. The average yearly depreciation is calculated as follows: $1500 bred heifer value

–$700 cull-cow value $800 total depreciation $800 depreciation / 8 productive years = $100 cow depreciation per year. The actual depreciation will vary across farms. When buying bred replacement heifers, the initial heifer value is clear. With farmraised replacements, this cost should be the revenue foregone had the heifer been sold with the other calves, plus all expenses incurred (feed, breeding, pasture rent, etc.) to reach the same reproductive stage as a purchased bred heifer. At an average value of $1100 (halfway between bred heifer and cull value) over her lifespan on your farm, and assuming a 3% interest rate results in a $33/cow/year interest cost, or a total of $133/cow/year in combined depreciation and interest. Note that based on the assumptions in our example, total specified expenses per cow are $456 and revenues per cow are $655. Thus, the estimated gross return is $199 per cow. At first glance, this positive return looks impressive, but is also misleading. A number of costs were intentionally excluded because they vary greatly across operations. Notice that no depreciation or

Table 1: Estimated Gross Return to Spring Calving Cow-calf Operation Revenues Steer / Heifer Calf Average

550

lbs

Discount for Open Cows

15%

open

$1.40

$770 $115

Total Revenues per Cow

$655

Specified Expenses Pasture Maintenance (cash costs)

2.0

acres

$20

$40

Hay (cash costs)

2.5

tons

$35

$88

Mineral

$35

Vet

$25

Breeding

$40

Marketing

$25

Winter Feeding and Other Machinery (cash costs)

$15

Trucking (calves, supplies, etc.)

$15

Cow Depreciation and Interest

$133

Other (insurance, prop taxes, water, etc.)

$40

Total Specified Expenses per Cow

$456

Gross Return (Doesn't include Depreciation or Interest on Equipment/Fencing/Facilities, Land, or Labor)

$199

interest on equipment/fencing/facilities was included. Notice also that labor and land costs were also not included. Thus, the gross return needs to be adjusted by these costs to come up with a true return to the farm. Since these costs vary so much from one operation to the next, it may be helpful to pick a specific sized farm and provide estimates for these costs: a 40-cow operation that is producing its own hay and has all farming operations on its own land (80 acres of pasture and 30 acres of hay). Assume this farm has on average $50K in equipment which depreciates roughly $1000 every year, or $25/cow/year in depreciation. At 4% interest, an additional cost of $2000 in interest per year, or $50/ cow/year, would be realized. Assume also this farm has fencing, barns, working facilities, etc., with an initial value of $50K and a lifespan of 25 years. That would amount to $50/cow/year in depreciation and $25/cow/year in interest. If we have 2.0 acres of pasture and .75 acres of hayground per cow, and value that at a land rent of $36/acre, that would be $100/ cow/year in land rent. Assume also that we have determined we have $100/cow/year in labor, which would amount to $4000 total per year for the entire herd. Summary of Additional Non-Cash Costs (Example Farm) Equipment Depreciation

$25/cow/year

Equipment Interest

$50/cow/year

Fencing-Facilities Depreciation

$50/cow/year

Fencing-Facilities Interest

$25/cow/year

Land Rent

$100/cow/year

Labor

$100/cow/year

Total Additional Non-Cash Costs

$350/cow/year

These non-cash costs add up to $350/cow/ year on our example farm: $150 per cow in depreciation/interest on equipment/ fencing/facilities and $200 per cow in land rent and labor. We encourage you to estimate these for your own operation, but the unfortunate reality is that they quickly add up on most farms. The $199/cow/ year gross return over cash costs and cow depreciation does not look quite as good now. After adjusting for these other costs, the net return (all costs included) is –$151 per cow per year, or –$6,040 for the 40-cow farm. Another way to look at this is to just include the depreciation and interest for equipment/fencing/facilities ($150/cow/ year), and not include land and labor

Table 2: Estimated Return to Land and Labor (per cow) to Spring Calving Cow-Calf Operation given Changes in Cost Structure and Calf Prices Avg. Steer/Heifer Price, 550 lbs Change in Cost Structure (per cow per year)

$1.30

$1.35

$1.40

$1.45

$1.50

-$100

$101

$125

$149

$173

$197

-$50

$51

$75

$99

$123

$147

$25

$49

$73

$97

$50

-$49

-$25

-$1

$23

$47

$100

-$99

-$75

-$51

-$27

-$3

Note: Returns are based on costs shown in Table 1, plus $150 per cow in depreciation/interest on equipment/fencing/facilities

($200/cow/year). In this case, the return would increase to $49/cow/year, and would represent the farms return to land and labor. Did this farm actually lose money on a cash basis? No, not if they are using their own labor and their land is paid for. But the farm also did not make a real profit. This farm essentially paid the equipment/ fencing/facilities depreciation and interest in full and part of the labor-land cost. However, the farmer and the land worked for free roughly 3/4 of the time. These numbers will vary across operations, but estimating your own cost structure is extremely important. Our guess is that compared to our example farm, there are far more cow-calf operations of similar size with a higher cost structure than there are operations with a lower cost structure in Kentucky. Put simply, well-managed spring calving herds were likely covering all cash costs, breeding stock depreciation/ interest, and depreciation and interest on equipment/fencing/facilities, but were not generating much of a return on their labor or land this last year. Readers can use Table 2 to modify the analysis based on their cost structure and calf prices for 2021. It uses all costs except for land and labor, so the table shows a return to land and labor. As an example, we used $1.40/lb in our base scenario as the expected steer/heifer price for 2021. Given the cost structure we used ($0 change on the left hand side of the table), the expected return to land and labor is $49/cow/year, just as was previously described. If a cattle farmer also sold their calves for an average price of $1.40/lb, but had a $50/cow/year cheaper cost structure (-$50 change on the left hand side of the table), their expected return to land and management would increase to $99/cow/year. If another cattle farmer sold their calves for an average price of $1.35/lb calf, and had $50/cow/year more

expensive cost structure (+$50 on the left hand side), their expected return to land and management would decrease to -$25/ cow/year. In this last example, they had no return to their land and labor and were $25/cow/year short in fully covering all their depreciation and interest expenses. Predicting cattle prices is nearly impossible given the numerous factors that are likely to impact the market. However, there is good reason to expect higher prices for 2022, and calf prices have already risen quite a bit since last fall. The size of the US cowherd continues to shrink and is actually 5% smaller than it was in 2019. Additionally, beef exports set a record in 2021 and are likely to remain relatively strong this year. Despite high feed prices, 2022 should be the best calf market we have seen since 2015. Given that, our best guess for fall 2022 prices for that same 550 lb steer/heifer are in the $1.50-1.60/lb range. Spring prices are likely to be much higher than this, but we do expect calf prices to decline seasonally by fall. At a $1.55/lb price, and using the same cost structure as in 2021, the return to land and labor would now be estimated at $119/cow/year. This would compensate a cow-calf operator for about 60% of the value of their labor and land cost, which would be a considerable improvement over 2021. However, fertilizer costs have increased exponentially in the last year, and will significantly reduce profitability on those cattle farms that rely heavily on commercial fertilizer. For an acre of hay fertilized at 60 units N, 30 units Phosphorous (P2O5), and 100 units Potassium (K2O), this would increase the overall cost from $67 to $144 per acre, an increase of $77 per acre. For an acre of pasture fertilized at 60 units N, 10 units Phosphorous (P2O5), and 33 units CONTINUED ON PAGE 30 April • Cow Country • 29

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29 Potassium (K2O), this would increase the overall cost from $38 to $87 per acre, an increase of $49 per acre. If we assume one acre of hay and two acres of pasture needed per cow, this would amount to a $175 increased cost for every cow in the herd. Thus at that same average steer/ heifer price of $1.55/lb, the return to land and labor estimated at $119/cow/ year with the 2021 cost-structure, would sink to -$56/cow/year. The cattle farmer and the land would now be working for free again, as well as being $56 short in fully covering depreciation and interest costs. Managing around these high fertilizer prices will be the paramount challenge in 2022 and potentially beyond. For details of the fertilizer price increases as well as practical strategies to reduce or eliminate fertilizer use on cattle farms see the accompanying article this month “Reducing Your

30 • Cow Country • April

Dependency on Commercial Fertilizers - Strategies for Cattle Farms in 2022 and Beyond”. In the spring of 2021, the authors of this article partnered with the Kentucky Beef Network to offer a webinar series entitled, Managing Cow-calf Operations for PROFIT. Over the course of three evenings, a large number of topics were discussed that aimed at improving the profitability of cow-calf operations. Videos and materials from each session can be found at: https://agecon.ca.uky. edu/managing-cow-calf-operationsprofit Greg Halich is an Associate Extension Professor in Farm Management Economics for both cattle and grain production and can be reached at Greg. Halich@uky.edu or 859-257-8841. Kenny Burdine is an Associate Extension Professor in Livestock Marketing and Management and can be reached at kburdine@uky.edu or 859-257-7273. Jonathan Shepherd is an Extension Specialist in Farm Management and can be reached at jdshepherd@uky.edu or (859) 218-4395.

I WILL BE ATTENDING THE FOLLOWING SALES. IF YOU DESIRE “BOOTS ON THE GROUND” AT THESE SALES, GIVE ME A CALL

April 9: Branch View Angus, Hustonville, KY April 16: CKAA Spring sale, Danville, KY See ad on page 37

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Practical Considerations for Managing the Spring Flush Chris Teutsch Univerity of Kentucky Grain and Forage Center of Excellence, Princeton, Kentucky

In March we often find ourselves wringing our hands waiting for grass growth to start and a short time later our pastures are growing so quickly that we can’t seem to keep up with them. This time of the year can often be one of the most challenging for graziers. Grass growth goes from nonexistent to excessive in a matter of weeks and if you are properly stocked grazing livestock can have a hard time keeping up with it. The following suggestions can help you to control spring growth and get the most out of your spring pastures. •

•

Implement rotational grazing. In order to fully utilize the spring flush of pasture growth YOU must be in control of grazing. In a continuous grazing system, the cows are in charge. By utilizing rotational stocking, you start to make the decisions. Implementing a rotational stocking system may be as simple as closing some gates. The key is to just get started! Start grazing before you think the pastures are ready. One of the most common mistakes that graziers make is waiting too long to start grazing in

the spring. If you wait until the first paddock is ready to graze, by the time you reach the last paddock it will be out of control. Starting early allows you to establish a “grazing wedge” (Figure 1). •

Rotate animals rapidly. The general rule is that if grass is growing rapidly then your rotation should be rapid. This will allow you to stay ahead of the grass by topping it off and keeping it in a vegetative state.

•

Do not apply spring nitrogen. This should not be a problem this year since nitrogen prices are off the charts. Applying nitrogen in the spring will make the problem of too much grass at once even worse. In many cases you are better off to save your nitrogen for stockpiling in the fall.

•

Remove most productive paddocks from rotation and harvest for hay. Graze all paddocks until the pasture growth is just about to get away from you and then remove those productive paddocks from your rotation and allow them to accumulate growth for hay harvest (Figure 2).

Figure 1. The “grazing wedge” simply refers to having pasture subdivisions or paddocks at varying stages of regrowth from just grazed to ready to graze

32 • Cow Country • April

•

Increase stocking rate in the spring. If it is possible, a good option for utilizing spring growth is to increase your stocking rate. This will allow you to harvest more of the available forage and convert it into a saleable product. This can be done by adding some stockers or thin cull cows to your rotation and then selling them when pasture growth slows. If you are in a fall calving system, you are better positioned to take advantage of spring forage growth since the calves will be larger (Figure 3).

•

Even out seasonal distribution of forage by adding a warm-season grass. Adding a well-adapted warm-season grass that produces the majority of its growth in July and August would allow you to concentrate grazing on your cool-season paddocks during periods of rapid growth (spring flush). After cool-season grass growth is slowed by higher temperatures in late spring and early summer, animals can be shifted in the warm-season paddocks for summer grazing.

•

Bush-hog out of control pastures. The benefits of clipping include maintaining

Figure 2. In the spring during periods of rapid growth, some paddocks can be removed from the rotation and harvested for conserved forage. Cutting at the late boot or early head stage will optimize yield and forage quality

pastures in a vegetative state, encouraging regrowth, and controlling weeds. Clipping pastures costs money, so make sure that the primary reason for bush-hogging is pasture management, not aesthetics. •

Stockpile out of control pastures for summer grazing. Although forage quality decreases as the plant matures, the quality of spring stockpiled pasture is sufficient for dry cows and in some cases can actually result in reasonable gains on growing animals (Figure 4) during the summer months. This is especially

true if using novel endophyte tall fescue and the pastures were clipped at the early boot stage to promote vegetive regrowth. This could be a cost-effective and simple way to provide additional grazing during the summer months.

FEATURED PUBLICATION This month’s featured publication is: AGR-229: Warm Season Annual Grasses in Kentucky

One of the things that I enjoy the most about grazing operations is that there is no one size fits all. What works on your farm may not work on your neighbor’s. One of the most important features to build into your grazing system is flexibility. This will allow you to adapt as conditions change!

Figure 3. An alternative to harvesting excess forage as hay or baleage is to increase your stocking your stocking rate by adding more animal units in the spring and then decreasing animal numbers as plant growth slows due to higher temperature during the summer months. While this is a viable approach, it is not practical on smaller part-time operations

Figure 4. Excess growth in the spring could also be stockpiled for grazing during the summer months. This is accomplished by removing some paddocks from the rotation and allowing growth to accumulate during late spring and early summer. It is important to remember that only about one-half of the available biomass should be grazed. The remaining residue will protect plant crowns from high temperatures and reduce soil moisture loss during the summer months

FEATURED VIDEO This month’s featured video is: Summer Stockpiling: Thinking Outside of the Box

FENCING TIP Connect wires in parallel at the end of runs. A good way to increase the ability of a fence to carry voltage is to connect all the wires at the beginning and end of runs of multi-wire fence. This allows the multiple strands of high tensile wire to function as one large wire that is capable of carrying higher levels of voltage. FORAGE MANAGEMENT TIPS • Graze winter annuals. • Flash graze paddocks that were frosted with clover. • Allow calves and lambs to creep graze. • As pasture growth begins, rotate through pastures quickly to keep up with initial growth. • As pasture exceeds the needs of grazing livestock, remove some pastures from the rotation and allow growth to accumulate for hay or silage harvest. • Get equipment ready to harvest hay at the late boot stage to early head stage top optimize yield and forage quality. • Determine the need for and prepare to plant warm-season annuals. April • Cow Country • 33

Reducing Your Dependency on Commercial Fertilizers: Strategies for Cattle Farms in 2022 and Beyond Greg Halich Associate Extension Professor Fertilizer prices have risen to all-time high levels in the last few months. Table 1 shows these increases over the last year for the most common commercial fertilizer sources used by cattle farmers. Nitrogen and potassium fertilizers have both more than doubled over the last year. For an acre of hay fertilized at 60 units N, 30 units Phosphorous (P2O5), and 100 units Potassium (K2O), this would increase the overall cost from $67 to $144 per acre, an increase of $77 per acre. For an acre of pasture fertilized at 60 units N, 10 units Phosphorous (P2O5), and 33 units Potassium (K2O), this would increase the overall cost from $38 to $87 per acre, an increase of $49 per acre. If we assume one acre of hay and two acres of pasture needed per cow, this would amount to a $175 increase in cost for every cow in the herd. For a 50 cow herd, that would be an increased fertilizer bill of nearly $9000, or roughly $16,000 total. This total fertilizer bill would represent over 40% of the calf crop at expected prices this fall for a typical spring calving farm. The most common advice I have heard about managing these prices increases have been to increase soil testing, and to not fertilize when you are in the medium level for P and K. These recommendations may help reduce fertilizer expenditures, but they are not going to make a significant dent in that $9000 increased cost. This article focuses on three practical methods that can significantly cut fertilizer costs on cattle farms, and to possibly eliminate the dependency on commercial fertilizer entirely. 1) Use Legumes Instead of Commercial N: I have been amazed by the amount of commercial nitrogen that is used on cattle farms in Kentucky. Decades ago when it was cheap it may have made more sense. However, at $.40/unit it is an expensive way to boost production, and at $1.00/unit it is economic suicide. Table 2 shows the cost to obtain an extra ton of forage production using commercial nitrogen at two prices (spring 2021 and winter 2022), and compares this to getting similar production 34 • Cow Country • April

Table 1: Fertilizer Price Increases 2022 Spring 2021 Fertilizer:

$/ton

Winter 2022

$/unit

$/ton

$/unit

Urea (N)

$370

$0.40

$920

$1.00

DAP (P2O5)

$515

$0.40

$860

$0.54

Potash (K2O)

$370

$0.31

$815

$0.68

increases with clover or annual lespedeza. In a good year, 50 units of nitrogen applied in early spring would likely get around one ton of extra forage production (40 lbs of dry matter production per unit N) on a conventionally managed farm in Kentucky. At $.40/unit and with a $6 per acre application cost, that would translate to $26 per extra ton of forage produced. At $1.00/unit N cost, it would translate to $56 per ton forage produced. If hay is selling for $60/ton (roughly $30 for a 5x5 bale), you would have a $4 per ton margin to pay for everything else in making that hay – good luck! Now compare this to getting this same increased production from seeding clover or annual lespedeza. The clover seeding would be every three years, the lespedeza every year. With a $24 clover seeding cost plus the $6/acre application cost once every three years, it would cost $10 per ton forage produced if we averaged one extra ton of forage per year. If we got 1.5 extra tons of forage per year from the clover seeding, the cost per ton would decrease to $7. Both of those figures are well below the $26 per ton cost for $.40/unit nitrogen, and a small fraction of the $56 per ton cost at $1.00/ unit nitrogen. Seeding annual lespedeza at $16 per acre cost every year doesn’t look quite as good as the clover ($20 per ton vs. $10 per ton at the 1.0 ton increase level), but almost all of that production will come in July and August when pasture forage is needed the most. Pasture forage produced during this time is more valuable than forage produced in late April and May when

you are generally swamped with too much pasture growth. Moreover, with both the clover and lespedeza, the quality of the increased forage will be much higher than typical fescue pasture or hay. It seems like a slam dunk for using legumes. So why do so many cattle farmers continue to rely on commercial nitrogen? From my experience, the first and most important reason is tradition. Many of these cattle farms have been applying fertilizer for multiple generations, in many cases back to an era when nitrogen was relatively cheap. Another important reason is that the management skills for getting good growth with nitrogen is much lower than getting good growth with legumes. In many cases all that is necessary is one phone call in March to get it done. It takes better management skills to establish and keep a good stand of clover. A final reason is obsolete soil test recommendations. For example, the University of Kentucky soil lab recommendations for grass-based pasture is to apply up to 100 units of N Feb. 15 – March 15, and up to 50 units of N May 1–15. While this might make sense on hay ground with cheap nitrogen, it won’t pencil-out with anything close to current prices. Moreover, applying high amounts of nitrogen on spring pastures is like pouring gas on a fire: You will never be able to keep up with the added growth. There will typically be a transition period going from a commercial N-reliant system to a legume-based system where forage production is poor. Soils that get regular

Table 2: Cost per Ton Extra Forage Produced Various Methods Extra Forage Production (tons)

50 units N $.40/unit

50 units N $1.00/unit

Clover $24 Seeding

Lespedeza $16 Seeding

0.5

$52

$112

$20

$40

1.0

$26

$56

$10

$20

1.5

$17

$37

$13

doses of commercial nitrogen become dependent on it, just as people that get regular doses of drugs become dependent on those drugs. Removing that dependency will be painful in the short-run and there will be a transition period before either can function well without them. Do not attempt to establish legumes and continue to apply commercial fertilizer. Doing so is like driving with one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake: the increased grass production will choke out the legume seedlings. First year production for clovers seeded into a grass sod will usually not have significant production in the first year. They are establishing and you will not get the full benefit from that clover until the second year. However, with annual lespedeza, you will get all of the benefit in that first year as it is an annual, and you will get the bulk of its growth when it is needed the most in July and August. It also does well with less-thanideal fertility conditions and in pastures that have low biological activity. Thus I consider annual lespedeza to be a great “bridge” legume for the 1-2 year transition period. You can also seed clover with the annual lespedeza for the next year’s production. 2) Feed Hay to Retain Nutrients: Most cattle farms in Kentucky will feed 2-3 tons of hay per cow in an average winter. This amounts to approximately 72-108 lbs N, 24-36 lbs P, and 104-156 lbs K cycling through the cows. In theory, around 90% of these nutrients could be retained on the farm to feed the next year’s crop of hay and pasture. In practice, we have cattle farms that need constant applications for P and K, as well as N if they have not learned how keep good stands of legumes in their pastures and hayfields. Confinement feeding is the primary reason for this loss of nutrients, whether in a sacrifice area, feeding pad, or conventional feeding barn. “How could this be?” many cattle farmers will ask? “We scrape up every last bit of manure from our feeding pads and spread it back on to our pastures and hayground each spring. We must be getting the bulk of the benefits of those nutrients”. Or not. Approximately 90% of the potassium, and 67% of the nitrogen that comes out the back end of a cow is in the urine. Unless you have a deep, high-carbon source such as sawdust on that concrete pad to soak up and hold the urine, most of it will be lost. If you have your doubts, here

is an on-farm experiment you can conduct: Fill a 100 gallon tank with water and dump it out on your concrete feeding pad, wait 30 seconds, and then see how much of the water you can scoop up with your front-end loader. If you capture more than 5 gallons you just set the Kentucky Olympic record. Still don’t believe it? A Saskatchewan analysis compared feeding directly on pasture where bales were fed in checkerboard fashion to frozen drylot feeding which mimicked a feeding pad. Nutrient capture and subsequent forage growth was compared in the two systems where the manure from the same number of cows was spread back onto an equivalent amount of pasture for the drylot system. Soil inorganic N (easily available to plants) was 187 percent higher and extractable potassium was 185 percent higher in the direct-fed pasture system. Subsequent forage growth over the next two years was 127 percent higher and protein levels of this forage were 74 percent higher in the direct-fed pasture system. The results from this research indicated most of the nutrients from confinement feeding are being lost. Unrolling hay or bale grazing are the two best ways to retain nutrients on your farm from winter hay feeding. The Saskatchewan direct-fed system used bale grazing, but unrolling hay would have had a similar effect. I prefer bale grazing due to the substantial reduction in equipment hours needed as well as keeping equipment off pastures when they are wet. But unrolling hay is exponentially preferred over feeding in sacrifice lot, feeding pad, or feeding barn. I have been bale grazing on one of my farms for over a decade now and have never had to apply a pound of commercial fertilizer. Ed Rayburn, Extension Forage Specialist for West Virginia University has been bale grazing for two decades on his hayfields and has maintained soil test levels for P and K without adding one pound of commercial fertilizer. For the basics of bale grazing see the following article in Hay and Forage Grower: https://hayandforage.com/article3766-feed-hay-the-rotational-grazing-way. html or the following link for a recorded presentation: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_M3zs0TWmrg 3) Reduce Your Stocking Rate: There is a tradeoff between having a high stocking rate where you sell more calves on the farm, but incur a high amount of

costs, versus a low stocking rate, where you sell fewer calves, but have a much lower cost structure. Not just overall costs, but a lower cost per cow. There are a lot of variables that go into the calculus of what the most profitable stocking rate will be on a particular farm, but the two biggest drivers will be the cost of hay for that farm, and the marginal profitability for that farm (the gross profit of adding or removing one more cow). Without going into details, I will summarize that the vast majority of commercial cow-calf farms in Kentucky are overstocked and feeding too much hay. The average cow-calf farm in Kentucky is likely feeding 120-140 days in a normal year, while in most situations the most profitable number of hay feeding hays will be around 60-90 days. In that analysis I assumed a cost structure that used no nitrogen, and had replacement rates for P and K with pre-2022 fertilizer prices. By reducing your stocking rate and feeding less hay, you will substantially reduce your dependency on commercial fertilizer. For details of the analysis see the following article in Hay and Forage Grower: https://hayandforage.com/ article-3635-find-the-hay-feeding-dayssweet-spot.html Summary: Calling your farm supply store each spring to buy your fertility may be a convenient and easy way to maintain good yields. It is also expensive. Even at 2020 prices, cattle farms that relied heavily on commercial fertilizer effectively traded away most of their potential profits for that convenience. At 2022 fertilizer prices, they will trade away a lot more than that. It is also a wasteful. Well-managed cattle farms should have a closed nutrient cycle. On farms that are constantly bringing in commercial fertilizer, that effectively means nutrients are leaking out of that system. At some point in the future, if we don’t collectively close the nutrient cycles on our farms someone else will offer to do that for us. One silver-lining of high fertilizer prices will be that it provides incentive to figure out how to get that done on our own. In the long-run, that will be a winning approach for everyone. You can complain about high fertilizer prices or you can do something to reduce your dependency on them. What will be your strategy for 2022 and beyond? Greg Halich is an Associate Extension Professor in Farm Management Economics for both cattle and grain production and can be reached at Greg.Halich@uky. edu or 859-257-8841.

April • Cow Country • 35

X10D: A New Era of Connectivity for the Beef Industry Les Anderson Associate Extension Professor

Remember trying to find a remote location “back in the day?” To find a remote town in an unfamiliar place required work. First, we would likely ask our friends and neighbors if they knew of the place and could write down directions. The accuracy and dependability of these directions were quite variable. But it was cheap and obtaining the directions was easy. Sometimes, perhaps, we found a Road Atlas. For the younger generations, this was a hardcopy book or pamphlet that had the names of towns and the roads connecting them. Normally very accurate but not always simple to use and cost a few dollars. Then the journey began. Maybe you could drive right there

36 • Cow Country • April

but most often wrong turns and maybe even stopping to ask for directions. A few times. But technology has really changed our ability to navigate the world. Today, type an address in your phone, leave the sound on, and you will get turn by turn navigation to your goal. If you want to eat, type in “restaurant near me” and you will get a ton of choices. And directions to get there! It struck me the other day that the beef industry is similar in some ways to navigation. Most beef producers have goals, targets for their enterprise. Even though the lifestyle is likely the biggest

draw to raising cattle, I think many producers would like to profit. But their path to profitability is like navigation from “back in the day”. According to the USDA, nearly 100% of cattle producers say they take records but only 3% use electronic methods for data collection and management. I know a lot of producers and I think these numbers are pretty accurate. Most write things down, but few write everything down. We get weaning weights, sometimes, cow weights occasionally. Maybe vaccination dates. Seems like we are trying to reach a destination with handwritten directions to the beginning of the trip, but the last few turns are left out!

In 2014 the KADB funded the UK Farm Program, a cooperative effort of UK Beef Extension and Kentucky Beef Network. This program was designed to provide participants with modern beef practices, demonstrate their adoption into these farms, and then document the outcomes. Since we had as many as 147 farms in this program at one time, we needed a tool to help us with data collection and management. We found several options in the industry but, frankly, they were all too expensive and far too complicated. So, we decided to make our own. Thanks again to the KADB, we received funding to develop a new program to help cattle producers “navigate” to higher revenue and profits. This new app is X10D (pronounced “extend”). X10D is a cloudbased web/app interface and can be used on any device (iOS, Android, PC). X10D is designed to conveniently connect cattle producers with the information they need for their operation to grow and thrive. X10D has three major components; Learn, Connect, Manage. The Learn component is the users connection to the Cooperative Extension Service. Educational content will be pushed

to the system and available to users on any device in a fast, simple, convenient, searchable format. State and local events will be publicized, and all users will have access to unbiased information from a trusted source. It will take some time to populate the database with educational content, but it will be worth the wait. The Connect component is an exclusive social media feed designed strictly for beef cattle producers, agribusinesses, extension professionals, and veterinarians in each county. Users can post questions, events, comments, sale items, or items for purchase to other users in their county. Both components connect users with information. The Manage component helps users collect and manage data from their beef cattle operations. Depending upon the size of your herd, setup will take a little time. Typically, it takes about 1-2 hours to input the animals in a normal 30 cow herd. Once your herd is in the system, collection and reporting are incredibly easy. Data input and recording is simple with most inputs requiring fewer than 10 button pushes and takes less than 30 seconds to enter. Reports are even easier as most can be obtained in

fewer than 4 button pushes and less than 20 seconds. Imagine spending less than 1 minute a day recording your management data and yet having all that data available anytime, anywhere, on any device. If interested, you can go to the website, x10d.org, and signup for the PC version. The app is available for use on iOS devices (Apple) now and will be available for Android devices by going to Google Play soon. We highly recommend calling your local ANR Agent. Many counties have promo codes for free use to the app. Even if a promo code is not available, X10D only cost $20 per year per farm, less than one trip for your family to a local fastfood restaurant. Revenues collected will be used for maintenance and upgrades to the system. Any additional funds will flow through the Animal & Food Science Department at UK and used for beef extension programming. Fast, convenient access to information can put the world at your fingertips. The beef industry has been slow to adopt technology, but we have an option now. Give X10D a try. We are confident you will see a difference.

56th ANNUAL SPRING SALE • 22nd ANNUAL PREMIER BULL SALE SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 • 1PM EDT • CKAA Sales Pavilion SELLING: 75 Head Of Registered Angus Bulls & Females • 5 Commercial Open Angus Heifers 24 PREMIER BULLS: Bulls must meet specified EPD, weight, & health requirements to qualify as Premier bulls. All will sell with a current BSE and will be DNA tested. 4 2 Year olds, 14 fall yearlings, 6 spring yearlings. 12 OPEN HEIFERS: 7 registered, 5 purebred Angus commercials. Ready to breed to the bull of your choice. Registered includes daughters of Rainfall, Stunner, Conley Turning Point, Atlantis. 8 BRED HEIFERS: Spring & fall calvers.Sires & service sires include E & B PLUS ONE, POWER PLAY, HPCA VERACIOUS, GAR DUAL THREAT, & WILKES REGIMENT 25 COWS WITH 10 CALVES: Many 3-n-1 packages. Ready to turn out on grass and go to work for you. LIVE INTERNET BIDDING THROUGH TOP SHELF AUCTIONS TopShelf-Auctions.com or call Dan Wells (740) 505-3843 Saturday, April 16, 2022 • 1:00 PM EST • Central Kentucky Angus Sales Pavilion 4 miles NE of Danville on State Route 34 and then Chenault Bridge Road and then Fork Church Road.

CKAA CALENDAR:

59TH ANNUAL FALL SALE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13 GPS Address: 2286 Fork Church Road, Lancaster, KY 40444 Sale Day Phone: (859) 238-3195 or (859) 583-0364 Auctioneer: Eddie Burks (270) 991-6398 Sale Manager: DIEVERT SALES SERVICE • Tim Dievert • 478 Dry Fork Road Danville, KY 40422 • (859) 238-3195 • tdievert@dievertsales.com 231st Sale Sponsored by the Central Kentucky Angus Association Tim Dievert 478 Dry Fork Rd. Sale Sponsor: CENTRAL KENTUCKY ANGUS ASSOCIATION Danville, KY 40422 CKAA Sales Pavilion • Danville, KY See ad on page 41

859/238-3195

President: Adam Chunglo (Harrodsburg, KY) • Vice-President: Willie Baker(Perryville, KY) • Treasurer: John tdievert@dievertsales.com www.dievertsales.com Goggin (Danville, KY) • Secretary: Joe Goggin (Danville, KY) • Past President: Henry Smith (Russell Springs, KY)

April 16, 2022 56th Annual Spring Sale September 10, 2022 Ladies Day - 2022 November 12, 2022 60th Annual Fall Female Sale January 21, 2023 59th Annual Winter Sale

April • Cow Country • 37

Tall Ironweed Control in Grazed Pastures J. D. Green Extension Weed Scientist

Tall ironweed (Vernonia altissma Nutt.) is one of the more commonly found weeds in grazed pasture fields and other non-cropland areas. In Kentucky, tall ironweed is ranked as the most troublesome and third-most common weed found in grazed pastures. The quantity of grass available for grazing can be substantially reduced in pastures by the presence of tall ironweed because of its unpalatability to livestock. This further leads to an increase in tall ironweed populations over time as animals graze and selectively avoid this weed. Mowing alone can help suppress top growth of tall ironweed plants, but does not reduce plant populations. Mowing or clipping pasture fields, which is often performed once per year, can also lead to more multistemmed tall ironweed plants. Whereas, using a timely herbicide application in problem fields is one method to effectively reduce tall ironweed populations. Based on several field research studies tall ironweed

38 • Cow Country • April

(June and July) treatments can provide good control, better herbicide movement to the root system occurs with perennial weeds such as tall ironweed with late summer applications. Consult product label or Extension bulletins for recommended use rates for herbicides.

populations can be reduced 80 to 95% the year following herbicide treatment when combined with other management strategies. One of the drawbacks to the application of broadleaf pasture herbicides is that they can A herbicide-based control program for tall impact desirable clover stands. Emerged ironweed in grazed pastures may require clover within the treated areas of the field are a 12- to 18- month time period to reduce likely to be killed. Consult the herbicide label tall ironweed populations and allow for of the product used for minimum reseeding reestablishment of clover. Tall ironweed intervals for clovers and other desirable forage control should start in early to mid-July grasses. Also, observe other precautions prior by mowing emerged tall ironweed stems. to application. Mowing removes top growth of currently emerged plants which often have older, This approach for tall ironweed control is best tattered leaves. This also forces the plant to suited for fields with moderate to heavy tall use more stored energy from its roots to ironweed populations. For lighter infestations develop new shoots. When plants regrow levels, a spot treatment of individual plants 10 to 20 inches in height (generally in mid may be warranted to keep tall ironweed to late August) the younger stems and populations from becoming a major problem. leaves are more conducive for herbicide Use of rope wick applicators and roller wipers uptake. In August or by early September have also been evaluated for tall ironweed apply a pasture herbicide containing either control as a method to minimize injury to triclopyr (eg. PastureGard, Crossbow, etc.) clover. However, the results have consistently or aminopyralid (eg. GrazonNext, etc.) as a been less successful than broadcast herbicide broadcast treatment. Although mid-summer treatments for control of tall ironweed.

SoKY Select Gelbvieh Sale SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 • 1:00 PM CT United Producers • Bowling Green, KY

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Six Things to Consider When Developing a Price Risk Management Strategy Kenny Burdine University of Kentucky Over time, I have probably done more programs focused on price risk management than any other cattle marketing topic. This article will not be focused on specific risk management tools and how they work, but rather will focus on some overarching considerations as cattle producers look at ways to manage price risk. Some of these are based on generally accepted strategies, while others are things that I felt important to share based on my experience working with producers. I often share some of these ideas at the conclusion of my risk management programs, but wanted to briefly walk through a few of them for this article. While they are in no particular order, these are some things that I think producers should understand as they develop their risk management plans. I also think the timing is good as the market has offered some pretty attractive pricing opportunities this year and recent events have reminded us how volatile cattle markets can be.

Know what risk management tools are available For the first 10 years of my career, my price risk management extension programs were almost always focused on futures and options strategies. I would also briefly cover forward contracts, although they tend to be used on a limited basis in Kentucky. As internet sales became more common, I was able to discuss using internet sales with delayed delivery. Over the last 15 years, I have been able to also discuss Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) Insurance, which opened the door for smaller scale operators to better manage price risk. And, recently increased subsidy levels have made LRP much more attractive. There are a lot more price risk management tools available than there used to be and producers need to be familiar with what is available to them. Regardless of the strategy or tool that is used, downside price risk needs to be a consideration in every producer’s marketing plan.

Know how changes in sale price impact profit Producers need to fully understand the impact that changes in sale price can have on profitability. This may be best illustrated through a backgrounding or stocker illustration. Let’s just say for the sake of argument that after purchasing calves, incurring all expenses, and using futures to estimate an expected sale price, return per head was expected to be $120 per cwt. If the expected sale weight on the cattle were 800 lbs, a drop in expected sale price of $0.15 per lb results in profit going to zero. If the last several years have taught us anything, we have learned that this level of market fluctuation is absolutely possible. This speaks to the importance of doing something to manage that downside price risk. Once those cattle are placed, it is unlikely that anything will have more impact on return than what they eventually sell for. Fully understand the strategy being used

WHEN ONLy ABOVE AND BEyOND WILL DO, CHOOSE LONGrANGE.

Price risk management strategies range from very simple to very complex. But, whichever strategy that a producer employs, they need to fully understand its mechanics and potential outcomes. As an example, I have been contracted more than once by a producer asking me how they were getting margin calls after purchasing a put option. After looking over their paperwork, they had actually purchased a put option and simultaneously written (sold) a call option. They were unaware that the written call was a marginable position and they would be losing money on the call as the market moved upward. This strategy is commonly called “fence” in cattle price risk management. To be clear, there is nothing wrong this with strategy and I actually teach it in my advanced price risk management programs. But, these producers did not fully understand the strategy they were utilizing. There is nothing wrong with simple strategies and producers may need to start simple and increase the complexity of their risk management strategies as they become more comfortable over time. Manage the downside first, then worry about the upside Most risk management strategies involve tradeoffs. Forward contracts and short futures positions trade most all upside price

potential to eliminate downside price risk. The exception to this is basis risk, which still exists with futures positions. Strategies like put options, synthetic puts and LRP insurance require payment of premium, which becomes an additional cost. But, these strategies have the advantage of providing some downside protection, while also allowing for upside potential. For the most part, I do like strategies that allow for upside gains as we have seen some crazy volatility over the last several years. However, I typically tell folks to make sure the downside is adequately covered before worrying about upside potential. Set pricing targets ahead of time It is nearly impossible to make risk management decisions in real-time as our minds start to play tricks on us. Take for example a backgrounder that places calves in the fall to feed through winter. Then, during the first month or so after placement, the market runs up considerably and expected profit doubles. He / she may really want to take advantage of the higher price expectation, but the market is moving very quickly. And, human nature has them questioning how much higher the market might go. They don’t want to lock in a price, only to see the market continue its rally. This often leads to inaction and sometimes that pricing opportunity

gets away. For this reason, if a producer does not want to implement a pricing strategy at placement, I suggest having predefined targets and automatically moving on them when they become available. This might be a certain forward contract price level or an attractive premium for a specific option or LRP coverage level. By setting these targets ahead of time, much of the real-time human nature hesitancies are removed. Don’t look back once a decision is made When I talk about this during in-person extension programs, I jokingly say “reach up and rip the rear-view mirror off the windshield.” The point is that it is impossible to manage risk looking backwards. Risk management is about planning and looking forward. If you do a good job managing price risk, you will occasionally jump on a market too soon and price cattle well below what would have been possible. This is frustrating for anyone as it feels like money was left on the table. But, there will also be times when you prevent a significant loss by jumping on an opportunity that was attractive at the time. Risk management is not about maximizing price, it’s about managing downside risk. I like to say that if you aren’t leaving some money on the table occasionally, you are probably taking on too much risk.

THE LONGrANGE ® (eprinomectin) yEArLING STUDy.4 In a study of 3,047 yearlings sorted into two randomized groups, researchers found that yearlings treated with LONGRANGE dewormer had higher average daily gains (ADGs) than those treated with generic topical ivermectin.

ADG

+23 lbs.

11%

.15 lbs.

PEr HEAD

MOrE PEr DAY

Yearlings treated with LONGRANGE gained an average of 23 lbs. per head more over 156 days than those treated with generic ivermectin. (P -value <0.001)

Yearlings treated with LONGRANGE had 11% greater weight gain (vs. generic) over the 156-day grazing period. Those extra pounds actually reduce your cost of gain.

Yearlings treated with LONGRANGE gained 1.49 lbs. per day, while those treated with generic topical ivermectin gained just 1.34 lbs. per day. That’s an ADG of .15 lbs. more. (P -value <0.001)

Fly Control in Pastures University of Kentucky

Flies are one of the most difficult pests to manage and although they cannot be totally controlled, it is possible to reduce populations and irritation to livestock. Flies not only cause irritation, but can carry and spread diseases, such as mastitis, and infections and can cause economic losses due to reduced gains and performance. There are various methods that can be used to manage fly populations. Various fly species are common problems in Kentucky livestock operations. Face flies gather on and irritate the animal’s face. These flies not only cause irritation, but can also spread pink eye. Horned flies, which are very common in Kentucky, feed on the animal’s blood. According to Dr. Lee Townsend, UK extension entomologist, weaning weights of calves and yearling cattle are around 15 pounds less when there is an average of 200 horn flies on calves throughout the summer.

Making an effort to control flies can reduce irritation and economic losses. Manure management on a farm can greatly affect fly populations. Reducing breeding grounds is an effective way to manage these pests. Bedding, spilled feed, decaying organic matter, and extremely wet areas act as breeding grounds for many flies. Some of these areas are easier to control than others. These pests reproduce and thrive in areas where manure accumulates such as in corrals, sacrifice areas, feeding areas, and near water sources and shade. It is important that these areas are designed to have good drainage to reduce the occurrence of extremely wet areas and standing water. Manure should be removed from these areas regularly. Because fresh manure is a main breeding site for face and horn flies, dragging fields to spread manure in pastures can be used as a method to reduce fly populations. When applying

manure from barns, winter lots, or other sites, spread the waste thinly over the fields to increase drying time. Be sure to conduct a soil test before spreading manure on pastures and not to over apply nutrients which can cause detrimental effects to the environment. Composting manure is ideal to control flies as it will kill the majority of fly eggs. Non-chemical means of controlling fly populations include trapping or using natural predators. Fly traps can be set up around the farm to reduce fly populations. However, these may not significantly reduce populations. Walkthrough fly traps scrape or causes flies to take flight and leave the animals as they pass through. For this method to work, the animals need to pass through the trap often. Increasing the amount of natural predators is another natural, non-chemical way of reducing flies. Dung beetles and hister beetles can reduce

rEPrODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF rEPLACEMENT HEIFErS2 100 80 60 40 20 0

LONGRANGE ® (eprinomectin)

77%

GENERIC (ivermectin) 1% 3

95% 47%

Artificially Inseminated (P-value = 0.03)

73%

Breeding Season (P-value = 0.02)

PErCENT OF CALVING DISTrIBUTION2 LONGRANGE ® (eprinomectin)

100 80 60 40 44% 20 16% 0 days 21

(P-value <0.04)

GENERIC ( ivermectin) 1% 3

86% 79%

72%

100% 100%

58% 42

42 • Cow Country • April

pass under them on a daily basis such as around waterers. Dust bags require less maintenance because they do not need to be replenished as frequently and are less affected by weather. Dust bags are also better at controlling face flies than back rubbers and back oilers. If using back rubbers or oilers, use a high grade mineral oil and not motor oil. These should be saturated and serviced weekly. Tying long strips of cloth, commonly referred to as face flips, to the rubber can increase the control of face flies.

fly populations by eating fly eggs in the manure. Parasitic wasps are very small insects which do not harm humans or livestock. These wasps, often called fly predators, kill fly pupae. These insects are available for purchase to increase onfarm populations. Various bird species can also greatly reduce fly populations. Some birds will eat flies directly off the animal. Providing an adequate ecosystem to increase the population of these birds can be beneficial. Putting up bird houses is a common practice to increase bird populations. These biological approaches may be good options for both organic and conventional farmers. Chemical means of controlling flies may be the most effective. Sprays, mists, fogs, and pour-on insecticides are directly applied to the animals hide. Dust bags, back rubbers, face rubbers, and back oilers are often preferred because they are self-applied and do not require the livestock be brought in from the pasture. These self-applied devices should be placed where livestock

Ear tags that include insecticides are another common form of fly control. These tags effectively control flies by slowly releasing the insecticide over time. Read labels and follow directions as some active ingredients may not be recommended for use on lactating dairy cows or calves younger than three months. Horn flies may become resistant to an insecticide found in an ear tag over time. Therefore, it is recommended that insecticides found in ear tags be rotated when horn fly

the following parasites for the indicated amounts of time following treatment:

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION Durations of (eprinomectin) should be given only by subcutaneous injection in front of the shoulder at the recommended dosage level of 1 mg eprinomectin per kg body weight (1 mL Gastrointestinal Roundworms

control appears to be markedly less than in previous years. Switching from pyrethroids to organophosphates is a common rotation applied. Remember that this rotation of insecticide should include products applied to rubbers, dust bags, or directly to the animal as well. Feed additives can also be used to control fly populations. Feed additives are used to reduce fly larvae in fresh manure. Cattle must consume the minimal amount of additive regularly for this method to be affective. Results from controlled studies show variable results regarding their effectiveness. Pests that cause irritation to cattle and possible economic loss can be difficult to control throughout the grazing season. There are various ways to control flies through chemical and non-chemical methods. If using chemical means, always read the label and follow direction for safe use of any pesticide.

When to Treat Cattle with Grubs

Parasites LONGRANGE®

Bunostomum phlebotomum

150 days

Environmental Hazards treat 110 lb (50 kg) body weight. Extended-Release Injectable Parasiticide 100 daysDivide doses greater than 10 mL between two injection sites to Cooperia oncophora Not for use in cattle managed in feedlots or under intensive rotational grazing because the reduce occasional discomfort site reaction. 5% Sterile Solution 100or days Cooperia punctata environmental impact has not been evaluated for these scenarios. Do not underdose. Ensure each animal receives a complete dose based on a current body weight. For the Treatment and Control of Internal and External Parasites of Cattle on Pasture with Persistent Effectiveness Haemonchus placei 120 days Other Warnings: Parasite resistance may develop to any dewormer, and has been reported for most Not for use in female dairy cattle 20 months of age or older, including dry dairy cows. Not radiatum 120 days Oesophagostomum classes of dewormers. for use in calves to be processed for veal. 120 days LONGRANGE is to be given subcutaneously only. Animals should be appropriately restrained Ostertagia lyrata Treatment with a dewormer used in conjunction with parasite management practices appropriate to to achieve the proper route of Inject under the loose skin in front of the shoulder (see 120administration. days Not for use in breeding bulls, or in calves less than 3 months of age. Ostertagia ostertagi the geographic area and the animal(s) to be treated may slow the development of parasite resistance. illustration) using a 16 or 18 gauge, Trichostrongylus axei 100 days½ to ¾ inch needle. Not for use in cattle managed in feedlots or under intensive rotational grazing. Lungworms Fecal examinations or other diagnostic tests and parasite management history should be used to CAUTION: Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian. Sanitize the injection site by applying a suitable disinfectant. Clean, properly disinfected needles Dictyocaulus viviparus should be used to reduce the150 days for injection site infections. potential INDICATIONS FOR USE LONGRANGE, when administered at the recommended dose volume of 1 mL per 110 lb (50 kg) body weight, DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION a fecal egg count reduction test or another appropriate method). Body Weight (lb) Volume (mL) LONGRANGE is toDose be given CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY LONGRANGE® (eprinomectin) 110 1 subcutaneously only. Animals Due to its unique formulation characteristics, when LONGRANGE is injected should be given only by Gastrointestinal Roundworms Lungworms 220 2 indicate development of resistance dewormer administered. should be appropriately restrained subcutaneouslythe in the shoulder area of cattle,toathe polymeric PLGA matrix is Your parasite management plan subcutaneous injection in front of Bunostomum phlebotomum – Adults and L4 330 3 the shoulder at the recommended should be adjusted accordingly based on regular monitoring. to achieve the proper route of 440 4 Cooperia oncophora – Adults and L4 Dictyocaulus viviparus –dosage Adults level of 1 mg eprinomectin administration. Inject under gel, which allows alactones gradualprovide releaseprolonged of eprinomectin from the formulation. Macrocyclic drug exposure that may increaseTheselection pressure for resistant 550 5 the Cooperia punctata – Adults and L4 per kg body weight (1 mL per 110 lb loose skin 660 in front of the shoulder 6 body weight). Cooperia surnabada – Adults and L4 Grubs (see illustration) using a 716 or 18 its mechanism of release, absorption characteristics can be highly dependent Each mL of LONGRANGE contains 770 Haemonchus placei – Adults TARGET ANIMAL SAFETYused and the corresponding surface to volume Hypoderma bovis gauge,880 ½ to ¾ inch needle. upon the injection technique 8 Oesophagostomum radiatum – Adults to treat 110 lb (50 kg) body weight. Sanitize ratio ofClinical the gel.studies have demonstrated the wide margin of safety of LONGRANGE® (eprinomectin). Overdosing 990the injection site 9 by Ostertagia lyrata – Adults Mites Divide doses greater than 10 mL 1100a suitable disinfectant. 10 applying Injectable Parasiticide Ostertagia ostertagi – Adults, L4Extended-Release and inhibited L4 between two injection sites to gain when behavior, comparedand to the at labelexposure dose. Treatment-related pharmacokinetic thegroup timetested of parasite to active drug lesions observed in most cattle 5%L4 Sterile Solution Trichostrongylus axei – Adults and Sarcoptes scabiei var. bovis reduce occasional discomfort or site Clean, properly disinfected needles should be used to reduce the potential administered the product included swelling, hyperemia, or necrosisactivity in the subcutaneous tissue of the for injection siteWithdrawal infections. Periods and Residue Warnings concentrations is relevant to obtain optimal and persistent antiparasitic the Treatment and Control of Internal and External reaction. Trichostrongylus colubriformis – For Adults skin. The1997; administration of al., LONGRANGE at 3 times recommended therapeutic dose had no adverse Animals intended human must notsyringes. be slaughtered within 48 days of the 50 mL bottlefor size: Use consumption only polypropylene Not for use with (Lanusse et al., Lifschitz et 1999; Lifschitz et al.,the2004; Shoop et al., Durations This drug product is notIfapproved for use inisfemale dairy cattle 20 months syringe material. syringe material not known, contact the polycarbonate 1996). Lifschitz et al. (1999) indicated that plasma concentrations between Not for use in female dairy cattle 20 months of age ofor older, including dry last treatment. Parasites Not for use in bulls, as reproductive safety testing has not been conducted in males intended for of age or older, including dry dairy cows. Use in these cattle may cause drug residues in 0.5 and 1 ng/mL would represent the minimal drug level required for optimal dairy cows. Not for use in calves to be processed for veal. Gastrointestinal Roundworms breeding or actively Notsuggested for use in minimum calves less levels than 3ofmonths milkafter and/or in calves these cows. ADiscard withdrawal not beenpunctures. established for nematocidal stopper hasborn beentopunctured. bottleperiod after has 15 stopper activity, whilebreeding. others have 1 to 2 of age because safety testing Not for use in breeding bulls, or in calves less than 3 months of age. Bunostomum phlebotomum 150 days has not been conducted in calves less than 3 months of age. pre-ruminating calves. Do not use in calves to be processed for veal. 250 mL and 500 mL bottle sizes: Use only automatic syringe equipment Not for use in cattle managed in feedlots or under intensive rotational Cooperia oncophora 100 days provided by Merial. To obtain compatible equipment, contact Merial at 1-888plasmaSTORAGE levels remain for an extended period of time (at least 100 days). grazing. Animal Safety Warnings and Precautions Cooperia punctata 100 days 637-4251 yourtissue veterinarian. notincluding be storedpossible in automatic CAUTION: Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a The product is likely toorcause damageLONGRANGE at the site of should injection, granulomas and Store at 77° F (25° C) with excursions between 59° and 86° F (15° and 30° C). Protect from light. Haemonchus placei 120 days syringe equipment. Automatic syringe equipment should be thoroughly cleaned Mean Eprinomectin B1a Plasma Concentration Versus Time licensed veterinarian. necrosis. These reactions have disappeared without treatment. Local tissue reaction may result in trim Oesophagostomum radiatum 120 days Approved by FDA under NADA # 141-327 Following a Single Subcutaneous Injection of LONGRANGE® at a loss of edible tissue at slaughter. Made in Canada. Ostertagia lyrata 120 days Rate of for 1 mg Eprinomectin per kg Body Alternatively, a 50-mL polypropylene compatible withveterinarian. Dose DESCRIPTION Manufactured Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USAWeight Inc., Duluth,inGABeef 30096Cattle Ostertagia ostertagi 120 days Observe cattle for injection site reactions. If injection siterepeater reactions syringe are suspected, consult your Mean ± StandardareDeviation of the Mean, LONGRANGE may be used. To obtain a list of compatible equipment, contact ®The(Arithmetic Cattle Head Logo and ®LONGRANGE registered trademarks of n=42) LONGRANGE® (eprinomectin) is a ready-to-use, sterile injectable preparation Trichostrongylus axei 100 days This product is not for intravenous or intramuscular use. Protect product from light. LONGRANGE® Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc. Merial at 1-888-637-4251. When using a repeater syringe, do not use beyond containing eprinomectin, a member of the macrocyclic lactone class of Lungworms © 2019 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc. All rights reserved. months after stopper has been punctured. Discard bottle after 15 punctures. antiparasitics. Each mL of LONGRANGE contains150 50 days mg of eprinomectin in a other animal3 species. Dictyocaulus viviparus 1050-2889-08, Rev. 01/2019, 8LON016E US-BOV-0597-2021B LONGRANGE should not be stored in the repeater syringe. co-solvent system of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (30% v/v) and triacetin (qs), along

LONGRANGE IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: Do not treat within 48 days of slaughter. Not for use in female dairy cattle 20 months of age or older, including dry dairy cows, or in veal calves. Post-injection site damage (e.g., granulomas, necrosis) can occur. These reactions have disappeared without treatment. Not for use in breeding bulls, or in calves less than 3 months of age. Not for use in cattle managed in feedlots or under intensive rotational grazing. Dependent upon parasite species, as referenced in FOI summary and LONGRANGE product label. Andresen CE, Loy DD, Brick TA, Gunn PJ. Case study: Effects of extended-release eprinomectin on cow-calf performance and reproductive success in a fall-calving beef herd. Prof Anim Sci 2018;34(2):223–229. https//doi.org/10.15232/pas.2017-01690. Generic Ivermectin 1% Injectable, Dectomax 1% Injectable and Cydectin 1% Injectable product labels. 4 Rademacher RD, Behlke EJ, Parr SL, et al. An evaluation of eprinomectin extended-release injectable (LongRange®) on the performance of yearling cattle on pasture in western Canada. Bov Pract 2018;52(1):46–52. 5 Safe-Guard 10% Drench, Generic Ivermectin 1% Injectable, Generic Ivermectin Pour-On, Dectomax 1% Injectable, Dectomax Pour-On, Cydectin 1% Injectable and Cydectin Pour-On product labels. 1 2 3

LONGRANGE® and The Cattle Head Logo® are registered trademarks of Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc. ©2022 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc., Duluth, GA. All Rights Reserved. US-BOV-0320-2021

April • Cow Country • 43

What Opportunities Are You Missing By Not Considering Your Ranch’s Context? Josh Gaskamp Noble Research Institute, www.noble.org The first of the six soil health principles is “Know Your Context.” Context is different for every agricultural producer, and includes a complex mix of geographic, environmental and cultural factors. It includes the dynamics surrounding family, employees, money and quality of life, as well as your business and personal goals.

going, where we want to go and what it takes to line those up.

If you don’t take the time to think about the items that make up your context and write them down, along with how they influence your ranching business, you may be missing major opportunities.

Make Time to Consider Context on Your Farm or Ranch

Often, producers weigh one component of context over all others, which can drive decisions on the ranch in a direction that may not be the most profitable, ecologically sound or enjoyable. One of the most common and challenging factors that I hear regularly within some ranchers’ contexts is “We have always done it this way.” Inertia is hard to overcome when we don’t step back and recognize where we are

Producers can often weigh one component of context over all others. This can drive decisions on the ranch in a direction that may not be the most profitable, ecologically sound or enjoyable. - Noble Rancher, Soil Health Principles: Context

Sit down with the other stakeholders, and take the time to figure out the context for your farm or ranch. When you think through your ranch, personal and business context independently of what is currently going on at the ranch day to day, opportunities will surface. You may notice some things that need to change. You may see some things you never noticed before that you can leverage or initiate. How to Take Inventory of Your Context Let’s walk through an example with “Susan,” a third-generation rancher. Her enterprise is cow/calf production, just like her grandfather’s.

Her 10,000-acre ranch is located in the Cross Timbers ecoregion of the Southern Great Plains and is home to many wildlife species, including elk. The elk damage her fences and compete for winter forages with her cattle. Susan lives on the ranch with her husband and two young children. A ranch hand occupies another house on the ranch and tends the fences, roads and facilities, but is only a parttime employee. He has another job in town. Susan’s brothers have moved away but visit the ranch a couple times a year. They stay in an old guest cabin that has a spectacular view of the lake. Susan wants to pass the ranch down to her children, but knows the ranch isn’t as profitable as it once was. Some things need to change, so she spends some time thinking and jotting down some notes about what the ranch has been, her personal goals and her vision for the ranch’s future. She recorded her ranch context as follows: • Property is 10,000 acres in the Cross

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For your free reference sale booklet, contact anyone in the office of the Sale Manager, TOM BURKE, KURT SCHAFF, CARTER WARD, AMERICAN ANGUS HALL OF FAME, at the WORLD ANGUS HEADQUARTERS, PO Box 660, Smithville, MO 64089-0660. Phone: (816) 532-0811. Fax: (816) 532-0851. E-Mail: angushall@angushall.com 44 • Cow Country • April

Timbers ecoregion, comprising primarily native forages, and receives about 40 inches of rainfall annually.

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• Property is 50% open and 50% brush, but has been transitioning to more brush.

Paris Stockyards

• Property has always had livestock, but carrying capacity has declined due to brush and elk populations. • Susan has read historical records from early settlers describing a mostly open savannah with tall grasses reaching as high as horses’ heads. • The historic records describe bison, elk, deer and antelope frequenting the region in large herds. • She recorded her personal context as follows:

REGISTERED

ANGUS

BULLS

FEMALES

COMMERCIAL FEMALES

• Susan wants to take a vacation with her family every year.

• Susan’s husband works in town and doesn’t want to work on the ranch. • She recorded her business context as follows: • Susan needs the business to pay her a salary.

PATRIARCH

• Susan wants to pass a profitable ranching business on to her kids, but is not assuming they will want to return to a ranching lifestyle.

• Susan wants to spend more time with her family. She wants to take the kids to school some days. • Susan wants to think about other enterprises such as sheep and goats, but she only knows cattle. • Susan farms for livestock forage, not crops. Now Susan probably didn’t write down every possible thing she could have within her land, personal and business contexts, but she did write down enough to evaluate her options and recognize that a current liability could be turned into a profitable enterprise. Act on Your Context What did Susan decide to do? She hired the ranch hand as a fulltime employee. This gave her more time for family and a vacation. She leased the old cabin out to a local hunting outfitter, but still uses it when her brothers visit. It turns out there are really big elk on the ranch, and some people from in the city will pay a lot of money to come hunt or just stay in the cabin. She evaluated her time spent in the cow/calf enterprise, her forage availability and timing, and is beginning to bring in stockers as an additional enterprise. She is really excited about the flexibility this added enterprise creates. Even if you do this exercise quickly at the kitchen table one morning, take the time to think about and record your context. Do it with all the stakeholders present, if possible. It can show you what current activities don’t align with your goals while helping you discover what opportunities are being left on the table. Are you ready to find the opportunities in your operation? Take the first step to identifying new opportunities by defining your context using your answers to these three questions:

DEER VALLEY GROWTH FUND

• Susan needs someone else to run the day-to-day operations so that she can focus on making management decisions to improve the operation and grow the business.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND SALE DAY PHONES John McDonald Jason Crowe Randel Arnett 859.404.1406 859.582.0761 859.585.2266

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EXCELLENT GENETICS - PERFORMANCE - QUALITY PROGRAMS April • Cow Country • 45

Beef Expo Sales Exceed $900,000 36TH ANNUAL BEEF SHOWCASE SAW HIGHER AVERAGE SALES OVER LAST YEAR FRANKFORT (March 10, 2022) – The 2022 Kentucky Farm Bureau Beef Expo finished with more than $900,000 in total sales in the 36th edition of the event at the Kentucky Exposition Center during the first weekend of March. Total sales in 2022 were $929,000 an increase of $155,410 compared to last year’s sales. In addition to total sales being up, the average sale also increased by $334 to $2,525 per lot, with 373 lots auctioned this year, 20 more than in 2021. “Kentucky showcases the fact that it’s the largest beef cattle state east of the Mississippi River each year at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Beef Expo,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Ryan Quarles said. “This year’s sales nearly reached the $1 million mark yet again, bringing sales close to what it was prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Average lot sales also increased, showing our agriculture producers’ resilience is allowing growth as we continue our recovery from pandemic hardships.”

22 BULLS: 2yr, Fall & Spring 15 Cow/Calf Pairs 8 Fall Bred Females 32 Open Heifers

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View Catalog online at : theovla.com Ohio Valley Limousin Association Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Ryan Quarles, center, met with Kentucky Farm Bureau's executive team and breed representatives during the Kentucky Farm Bureau Beef Expo last week. The group makes up the Beef Expo Board. Each of the breed representatives received a check for premiums and awards. (Photo courtesy Tim Thornberry, Kentucky Farm Bureau)

Auctioneer

COL JOHN SPIKER

For Catalog or Information Sale Manager

JOE PRYOR

740-516-1675 46 • Cow Country • April

pryorlimousin@yahoo.com

LIVESTOCK MARKETING GROUP Upcoming Sales Lexington Belles & Bulls of the Bluegrass Saturday, April 2—12:00 PM Hudson-Valentine Bluegrass Longhorns Sale Friday, April 8 & Saturday, April 9 Clifford Farms & Guests Production Sale Saturday, April 16 Lexington CPH Sale Tuesday, June 7—9:00 AM East Consignment Machinery Sale Saturday, April 2–9:30 AM Amburgey Charolais Saturday, April 9—1:00 PM South Consignment Machinery Sale Thursday, May 12–10:30 AM

***NOTICE***

BG Lexington Cow Sales

4th Wednesday of Every Month 6:30 PM (There was a misprint in the 2022 calendars) Exception is November & December due to the Holidays! 3rd Wednesday 6:30 PM

bgstockyards.com

April • Cow Country • 47

Spring into Safety Alyssa Dick Program Specialist, Value Added Agriculture Program, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Spring is officially here which means everyone is out and about enjoying the warmer weather. With this also comes increased yard work, field work and other outdoor projects. While we all love being outdoors more, we need to keep in mind some general safety guidelines when working around the farm. Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries and those working on a farm or acreage are at very high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries. Farming is also one of the few industries in which family members are also at risk for on farm injuries. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, about 1,000 farm-related injuries receive medical attention yearly. Review the safety tips from Farm Safety For Just Kids below and work towards keeping yourself and others safe around the farm this year.

An entanglement can occur in the driveline between the tractor and the implement and can cause some of the most serious injuries on the farm. Equipment manufacturers provide shields for PTO drivelines to protect operators and bystanders from becoming entangled in the rapidly spinning shaft. Never step over the PTO even if it is not running. Make a habit of walking around it at all times. Do not wear jewelry or loose clothing and always tie back long hair.

for 43% of vehicle deaths. Families have had a dangerous tradition of allowing children to ride on tractors, but you should never allow a rider on the drawbar, fender, lap, or loader bucket. Riders face the hazard of being run over as they are the first to bounce off the tractor. A rider can also distract the driver or bump controls. Roll Over Protection Structures (ROPS) are not designed to protect riders-only the operator. Many people believe that tractor cabs can keep riders safe. This is not true. A cab is designed to protect only the tractor operator; it does not prevent a rider from being thrown from the cab and run over. Doors might not latch and windows can pop open. And if the tractor overturns, the rider can be thrown or crushed against the tractor frame.

Animal Safety According to National Safety Council, 17% of all farm injuries involve animals. In comparison to humans, animals see in black and white, have difficulty judging distances, have extremely sensitive hearing, are frightened by load noises and high frequency sounds, and are very protective of their young. Many of these factors cause animals to spook and respond skittish and frightened. Even though an animal may look friendly, all animals need to be treated with respect as they can be unpredictable. Teach children to be alert when around livestock and do so yourself. CONTINUED ON PAGE 50

Learning about Power Take-Off (PTO) safety is often one of the first lessons on the farm. Power Take-Offs are used on the farm to transfer power from the tractor to another implement such as a grain auger, manure spreader, mower, or feed grinder, and they are found on most tractors. PTOs operate by turning at speeds of 540 or 1,000 rotations per minute. This speed and the device make the PTO very dangerous.

Tractor Safety Farm machinery, including tractors, is the leading source of fatalities on the farm in the United States. Each year, 250-350 people of all ages die in tractor incidents in the United States. Tractors are the single leading source of fatalities among youth working on the farm; tractors account

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Chemical Safety

Gases produced by animal wastes can be dangerous to children and adults. Those unaware of the dangers can become incapacitated before they even know they are in danger. Toxic gases, especially in confined spaces such as manure pits, silos and grain bins, can pose hazards to humans and animals. Four gases of major concern found in manure pits are: hydrogen sulfide (HS), ammonia (NH), carbon dioxide (CO) and methane (CH). The primary health hazards of these gases are:

Chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and fertilizer can enter the body by breathing, absorption through skin, eating or drinking, injection such as cuts or needles, and eyes. 97% of chemical spraying exposure happens through contact with the skin. When using pesticides, always check the pesticide label and see what PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is required by law. Each container label has specific requirements for PPE based on the ingredients in the chemical.

• Toxic or poisonous reactions that can occur in people or animals

Because most people do not wear their PPE, even though they should be, if you are out in the field spraying, at least stop, shut off sprayer, drive ahead into the dry plants, get out, and correct problem. Then back up, turn sprayer back on and continue. Do not try to fix the problem in the recently sprayed plants.

• Oxygen depletion can result in suffocation. During agitation of the pit, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and carbon dioxide gases, which are all heavier than air, will replace the oxygen in the air. This can occur even under good ventilation conditions • Explosions can occur when oxygen mixes with the gases. This is primarily a problem with methane. If possible, avoid entering a manure pit at all times, even if the pit has been emptied. Ventilate manure pit and buildings during agitation of waste, never enter a pit during agitation, and when repairing a waste storage area, wear an oxygen mask and tank.

50 • Cow Country • April

To prevent chemical hazards, lock all chemicals away from young children, heed all warnings listed on chemical labels, store all chemicals in original containers, and if chemical exposure takes place, seek immediate medical attention. Another important prevention method is safe laundry practices, which is something a lot of us may not think about. Protective clothing during chemical application will be contaminated. When the clothing enters the

house, the contamination can expose others in the household by washing machine residue to other clothing, direct contact, or indirect contact by placing garments on furniture, floors, and counters. Some general safe laundry tips are: wash PPE separate from family members, use hot water when washing, and rinse washing machine before washing other clothing. If you suspect someone has been exposed to a chemical, call for help as soon as possible by either calling 911 or the poison control center. After you call for help, be sure the victim is breathing, get victim away from area and to fresh air, remove contaminated clothing, if chemical is in the eye, rinse eyes for 30 minutes with cool water, cover victim with a blanket, and make sure the chemical label stays with the victim so that medical professionals can see it. How to Respond to Farm Emergencies When put in an emergency situation, remember the three C’s of first aid. The first is check: ask yourself what happened? Are there any dangers? Never rush into any emergency situation, always check for dangers. The second is call: calling for emergency help early can be one of the most important things you can do. The third is care: after checking for danger and ensuring the scene is safe, and after calling for help, you can now start to care for the injured person until EMS arrive.

April • Cow Country • 51

2021-22 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION * MEMBERSHIP YEAR 10/1/21– 9/30/22

NAME

SPOUSE NAME

FARM NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

COUNTY

RECRUITED BY

PHONE

FAX

ZIP

*Payments of KCA membership dues are tax deductible for most members as an ordinary and necessary business expense. However, charitable contributions of gifts to KCA are not tax deductible for Federal Income Tax purposes. Due to new IRS regulations, $2.24 of your dues would not be deductible. Approximately $12 of your dues will go towards the monthly publication Cow Country News. PLEASE CHECK THE MEMBERSHIP(S) YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN: KCA MEMBERSHIP ($30/YR) Membership dues are $30 unless otherwise listed below

NEW

RENEWAL

NEW

RENEWAL

KCA COUPLE MEMBERSHIP To add your spouse, please add $15 to your KCA Membership KENTUCKY JUNIOR CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION ($10/YR)

I WOULD LIKE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE YOUNG PRODUCER’S COUNCIL

COUNTY DUES Dues are $30 except for the counties listed below. Allen................................$40 Anderson........................$25 Bourbon..........................$20 Boyle ..............................$35 Bullitt ...............................$20 Butler ..............................$25 Franklin ...........................$25 Highlands .......................$20 (Boyd, Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, & Martin)

Hopkins ..........................$35 Laurel..............................$35 Lincoln ............................$25 Louisville Area ................$20 (Jefferson, & Spencer) Magoffin ..........................$20 Menifee ...........................$25

Mountain........................$25 (Breathitt, Knott, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Morgan, Owsley, Perry & Wolfe) Oldham ...........................$35 Taylor ..............................$20 Twin Lakes ......................$25 Warren ............................$40 Wayne ............................$25 Whitley ............................$25 Woodford ........................$25

TOTAL MEMBERSHIP: KCA

KJCA

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS: CATTLEMEN’S FOUNDATION DONATION (voluntary)

TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED: ALL DONATIONS TO KCF ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE

52 • Cow Country • April

IF YOU WOULD ALSO LIKE TO JOIN THE NATIONAL CATTLEMEN’S BEEF ASSOCIATION The NCBA is now a State Marketing Partner with the KCA. You can pay your dues to both organizations with one check, at the same time. # HEAD 1-100

DUES $150

# HEAD 1,001-1,250

DUES $1,150

101-250

$300

1,251-1,500

$1,400

251-500

$450

1,501-1,750

$1,650

501-750

$650

1,751-2,000

$1,900

751-1000

$650

> 2,000

$1,900 + .38/HD

Complete and return to: Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association 176 Pasadena Drive • Suite 4 • Lexington, KY 40503 Join online at www.kycattle.org or call (859) 278-0899

MEMBERSHIP

I’m a KCA member because... I have seen how important it is to have an “organization like ours to represent us at local, state, and national level. ” KCA President Cary King

DIVISION 1

2022

2021

Diff

Barren

368

472

-104

Adair

313

306

Shelby

286

335

-49

Bath

275

271

Marion

273

283

Breckinridge

264

Madison

DIVISION 2

DIVISION 3

2022

2021

Diff

Pendleton

Purchase Area

-2

Clinton-Cumberland

Calloway

Robertson

Fayette

-7

Out of State

-5

Taylor

-1

Campbell

-8

Rockcastle

Oldham

Mason

-3

Grant

-12

Nelson

-9

Woodford

-12

Webster

-24

Lewis

-2

Montgomery

Todd

-5

(UP TO 75 MEMBERS)

2022

2021

Diff

Edmonson

164

138

Whitley

-9

Warren

161

148

Ohio

-12

Larue

150

138

Estill

Metcalfe

146

143

140

136

-6

-10

Jessamine

Wayne

279

-15

Henry

135

150

-15

Nicholas

250

262

-12

Laurel

124

141

-17

Union

Christian

248

258

-10

Monroe

122

134

-12

Hancock

-10

Grayson

227

248

-21

Franklin

119

117

Highlands

-7

Lincoln

204

257

-53

Allen

118

106

Simpson

-5

Washington

198

179

Pulaski

112

128

-16

McCreary

-1

Northeast Area

105

104

Bullitt

-5

-14

Fleming

103

122

-19

Butler

-1

-32

Daviess

101

124

-23

Carroll

-9

-2

Clay

-2

Crittenden

McLean

-4

Livingston

-2

Hopkins

-7

(151+ MEMBERS)

Clark

195

Hart

183

Logan

177

187 197 209

(76-150 MEMBERS)

Casey

174

154

Scott

Mercer

156

171

-15

Anderson

Bracken

149

177

-28

Boyle

Harrison

146

162

-16

Caldwell/Lyon

110

-24

102

-16

Northern Kentucky

146

153

-7

Trimble

Hardin

142

174

-32

Bourbon

-4

Green

131

159

-28

Garrard

-7

Knox

-18

Meade

110

178

-68

Mountain

-2

Menifee

-1

Trigg

-11

Henderson

Totals as of: MAR 11, 2022

2022

2021

Difference

9,369

10,115

-746

Jackson

-20

Gallatin

Owen

-3

Magoffin

-4

Louisville Area

-14

Powell

-2

Russell

-14

Muhlenberg

-18

River Hills

Twin Lakes

-25

Eastern Foothills

-3

Pike

-3

Bell

Harlan

-1

If you need anything for membership, please contact Nikki Whitaker at (859) 278-0899 or nwhitaker@kycattle.org

Kylie Trail Director of Brand Management

Now that I am six months into my role, I am excited to say we are getting the ball rolling on a few original goals I had set for the KBC brand. If you look at most well-known brands, they will possess a few key attributes such as a strong recognizable voice, high visibility, and lots of consistency. Over the last six months I have been managing all of the great things our promotional efforts have in place but to take it to the next level and align with our ultimate goal of building consumer awareness of the benefits of beef and the connection that our industry has to the Commonwealth, KBC is now investing in a few exciting opportunities to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our brand. The first one is adding a strong recognizable voice... Tom Leach. Whether a wildcat fan or not, every Kentuckian recognizes Tom's iconic voice and as a huge advocate of our industry he is the perfect fit to be our voice of Kentucky Beef. We will be using his voice overs for radio and television commercials. Our second opportunity is to increase visibility and efficiency, creating lots of promotional ROI. It is the KBC Beef Bus, a Ford Transit Medium Roof Van, logoed up and ready to hit the road. This van will come complete with an awning and audio system for all of our tabling outdoor event needs, and the interior will be equipped with a triple basin wash station, refrigerator, and prep station as well as a promotional materials cabinet. This bus will serve our whole team well in many different capacities including but not limited to producer and consumer outdoor events, TV filming's, school group activities, and samplings. Both of these opportunities are exciting ways to help build the Kentucky Beef brand. In addition to those opportunities, I wanted to make sure this push came full circle as our consumers want to hear our beef stories now more than ever. Our May is Beef Month Campaign will be centered around telling your Kentucky Beef Story using #KYBeefStory on Facebook and Instagram. We will also be hosting Chandler Mulvaney, NCBA Director of Grassroots Advocacy & Spokesperson Development, for two Beef Advocacy Summits in the month of May! The first one will be May 19th geared towards all the tools needed to share our beef stories and the second one will be May 21st geared toward youth wanting to learn how they too can be beef advocates. 54 • Cow Country • April

May 19th at The Yards @ Blue Grass Stockyards we will be holding the Kentucky Beef Advocacy Summit. May 20th at The Yards @ Blue Grass Stockyards we will be holding a Youth Advocate Summit. Find more information and RSVP at kybeef.com

concept rendering is not nessarily the final graphics

We will be creating Beef Month Promotional boxes again this year but on a request basis. These boxes will have cuts charts, featured recipes, and more fun goodies to help your county celebrate accordingly!

The voice of the Wildcats is doubling as a voice for the cattle industry in the Bluegrass state. Kentucky Beef Council is ecstatic to announce a partnership with Tom Leach to serve as the spokesperson for the organization. Leach is the current voice of the Kentucky Wildcats announcing Kentucky sports games and host of the Leach Report, a daily radio show. “We are excited to kick off this partnership, it is the perfect time to gear up for summer grilling, spending time with friends and family, and of course, tailgating,” said Kylie Trail, Director of Brand Management. “With his passion for our industry stemming from his background of growing up on his family's farm in Bourbon county, to being the most recognizable voice in the bluegrass, Leach is the perfect spokesperson for our brand.”

MAY IS

BEEF MONTH

"I am excited and honored to partner with cattle farmers in Kentucky for their marketing efforts,” said Leach. “ We had a small herd of cattle on the farm on which I grew up so I know how important the industry is for Kentucky's economy and for those family farms across our state." Leach will be spotlighted promoting the Kentucky Beef Council on traditional and digital advertisements and at event appearances. Television commercials will begin airing in March in addition to radio commercials on Kiss 96.9 and 98.1 The Bull. Additionally, Kentucky Beef Council will appear on Leach’s Sunday Morning Sports Talk and the Leach Report.

Does your county have a Beef Month event? We would love to be a part of it! Let us know about it by emailing ktrail@kycattle.org

April • Cow Country • 55

Keeping up with Kentucky Beef Network Becky Thompson Director, Kentucky Beef Network

Scan for UK Beef Cattle Video Library

Scan for KBN Webinars

KBN has been busy the last few months hosting webinars on marketing and profitability for your operations, below is an outline of some you may have missed. Please visit www.kybeefnetwork. com/webinar or click the QR code for a link to each session recording.

Scan for UK Forages Video Library

• May 10, 2022 AFS Beef Research Update – TBD • June 14, 2022 Shooting the Bull: Answering all your beef related questions! Roundtable discussion with UK Beef Specialists

Backgrounding/Stocker Profitability Conference

Kentucky Forages Videos

• Session 1: Key Concepts for Margin Operations – understanding the current market environment, cost of gain vs value of gain, and using futures to estimate sale prices

A good resource of Kentucky forages videos is the UK Forages YouTube Channel, feel free to scan the QR code above to visit all of their forage related content.

• Session 2: Budgeting for Profit – stocker and backgrounding budget scenarios, estimating target purchase prices, and key marketing concepts

Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association Webinar Series:*

• Session 3: Managing and Protecting Your Profits – tax and financial management, Livestock Risk Protection Insurance, and revisiting the current market environment (focus on feed cost implications) 2022 Beef Efficiency Conference Adapting Production Decisions to Fit Available Resources • “Minimum Wage Cows” Dr. David Lalman, Oklahoma State University • “Putting it All Together to optimize Farm Resources” Don Schiefelbein, Schiefelbein Farms • “One Beef Industry: We can sell more Beef ” Dr. Dan Thomson, Iowa State University UK Beef Management Webinar Series If you haven’t had a chance to catch one of the University of Kentucky Beef Extension Team’s webinars from Beef Management webinar series there are three left, please contact your local county extension agent for details on how to join. • April 12, 2022 Simple Tools to Improve Management Decisions – Katie VanValin, Assistant Professor and Les Anderson, Professor

56 • Cow Country • April

2021 WEBINARS: New ways to market cattle or understanding more about how cattlemen can influence the price of their calves are always an interest for cattlemen. For with this webinar series, KBN partnered with the Kentucky Livestock Marketing Association to bring you a 3-part series on the evolution of auction markets, creating the foundation of a marketing structure, future of auction markets, and what is true price discovery. • Who is the Livestock Marketing Association and why should you sell at auctions? • Questions to the Sale Block (Q&A Session with Stockyard Managers) • Value Added Marketing Opportunities through your auction. Cow Calf Profitability Conference:* Did you have a chance to catch the Cow Calf Profitability Conference in 2019 and 2020 prior to COVID? Good News! KBN along with our UK partners have reformatted the conference into a 3-day webinar series including topics on, key profit drivers, managing for profit, bale grazing, controlling hay costs, and profitable stocking rates.

*These webinars are funded by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund through the Kentucky Beef Network.

Eden Shale Update Dan Miller Industry Coordinator, Kentucky Beef Network Calving season is in full force at Eden Shale. This year we have 107 head to calve, the most we have had since we took the farm over in 2013. The heifers started calving on February 15th and the cows started calving on February 26th. As of writing (March 7th) we have had 54 calves born in the first 21 days of the calving season. And as an additional bonus, March came in like a lamb this year. We had 5 consecutive days of temperatures in the 60’s with no rainfall. During these first 5 days of March we had 29 calves born! I still believe the best investment a commercial cow/calf operation can make is to synchronize the cow herd at breeding. Having half the calf crop born in the first heat cycle plays a huge role in the consistency of those calves at weaning.

This rotational calving system lets us take better care of cows that are close to calving. It also lets us foster better health for calves by moving them away from muddy conditions while they’re young and vulnerable. The rotation thru multiple fields allows us to keep the mud/manure load low and therefore keeping the cows udders cleaner and the new born calves healthier. Since implementing this system, we have

drastically reduced the number of calves that scour, and have eliminated broken legs and trampled calves around the hay feeding areas. As winter draws to an end I hope that your calving season is going well, and that your hay reserves are enough. And as we flip the calendar over we are reminded that green grass is right around the corner.

While calving is in full swing we are also managing the cattle through three different calving fields. To explain further, all our cows and heifers are rotated away from the herd as they calve. We have two separate barns for calving. The one by Greg’s house is for heifers, and the main working facility is for cows. For each group, the heavy bred animals are placed in a pasture (pasture A) with access to hay feeding structures. As the animals get close to calving, they are moved inside the barn. Once a calf is born, we give the pair one or two days in the barn to allow it time to gain strength on dry bedding and to ensure there aren’t any problems with baby or mama. After tagging the calves, we turn the new pairs out to a fresh field (pasture B) that provides a clean, mud free field with ample room for the babies to lie down in dry locations. The young pairs stay in pasture B for 7 to 10 days. We nicknamed Pasture B the nursery. After the calves gain strength, we move them from pasture B to pasture C for the remainder of the calving season.

K E N T U C K Y B E E F N E T W O R K FA C I L I TAT O R S

Ben Lloyd

Whitesville, KY (270) 993-1074 strridge@aol.com

Ron Shrout

Winchester, KY (606) 205-6143 ronshrout@bellsouth.net

Charles Embry

Cave City, KY (270) 646-5939 dale.embry@yahoo.com

Jeff Stephens

Ewing, KY (606) 782-7640 stephensbeef@gmail.com

Jacob Settles

Springfield, KY (859) 805-0724 jacob.settles4@yahoo.com April • Cow Country • 57

ANGUS THE BUSINESS BREED

President: Jason Crowe Vice President: Henry B Smith Secretary/Treasurer: Anne DeMott

BLEVINS BLACK CATTLE Gary, Nicole, & Ethan Blevins 59 Fieldstone Court Greenup, KY 4114 606.465.4040 blevinsblackcattle@gmail.com

HERITAGE FARM Tom McGinnis 1024 Hinkle Lane • Shelbyville, KY (502) 633-1634, home • (502) 633-5100, work (502) 655-0164, cell

RAGS ANGUS FARM Richard and Glenda Stallons 1240 Dogwood Kelly Road Hopkinsville, KY 42240 Home: (270) 885-4352 Cell: (270) 839-2442 rstallons@bellsouth.net

BOYD BEEF CATTLE 6077 Helena Road Mayslick, KY 41055 Charlie Boyd II: (606) 584-5194 • Blake Boyd: (606) 375-3718 www.boydbeef.com • cboyd2@maysvilleky.net

HILL VIEW FARMS Jimmy Gilles 5160 Lee Rudy Road Owensboro, KY 42301 (270) 686-8876 (270) 929-537

SHAW FAMILY ANGUS Jim & Cathy Shaw 935 Miller Road • Hodgenville, KY 42748 (270) 769-8260 www.shawfamilyangus.com Quality Registered Angus Cattle since 1975

BRANCH VIEW ANGUS 927 Old Liberty Pike • Hustonville, KY 40437 (859) 238-0771 • www.branchviewangus.com James S. & LuAnn Coffey, Donald & Donna Coffey Annual Production Sale- 2nd Saturday in April

JOHNSON FARMS ANGUS Angus Bulls & Females Slaughters, KY Keith: (270) 635-0723 Reese: (270) 635-1137

SMITHLAND ANGUS FARM 5202 East Hwy 80, Russell Springs, KY 42642 Charles “Bud” & Pam Smith: (270) 866-3898 Henry & Melissa Smith: (270) 866-2311

BURKS CATTLE CO. 531 Rick Rd. Park City, KY 42160 Eddie Burks • (270) 991-6398 www.burkscattle.com

LYNN CREEK FARMS Kris and Sara Lynn 2184 Bardstown Rd Springfield KY 40069 573-721-6663

ST. CLAIR FARMS REGISTERED ANGUS Eric & Sherry St. Clair 13433 Falls of Rough Road • Falls of Rough, KY 40119 Home: (270) 257-2965 • Cell: (270) 617-1079 www.stclairangus.com Performance Tested Bull & Female Sale April 2020

BURTON & SONS ANGUS

MT. MORIAH ANGUS FARMS Bob, Kathy, and Rob Clark (859) 748-5558 1446 Kennedy Bridge Rd. Harrodsburg, KY 40330 Bob: (859)339-2610 • Rob: (859)612-1594 mtmoriahfarms1@gmail.com www.mtmoriahangus.com

TAMME VALLEY FARM Jacob Tamme, Owner-Operator (859) 583-7134 jacob.tamme@gmail.com www.tammevalley.com & Find us on Facebook!

COFFEY ANGUS FARMS 661 Hopewell Road Liberty, KY 42539 Matt Coffey: (270) 799-6288 Dewey Coffey: (606) 706-2699 Genetics for Maximum Profitability since 1984

FOUR KINGS ANGUS 250 Bright Leaf Dr. • Harrodsburg, KY 40330 Cary & Kim King Carymking@yahoo.com • fourkingsangus.com Cary Cell: (859) 613-3734 • Colby Myers - Purebred Manager

TRIPLE D ANGUS Nathaniel & Darla Denham Nathaniel(Bub), Sarah, Ashley Denham (606) 423-2457 • (606) 875-0780 tripledangus.com

JASON & KATIE CROWE ELI HASKELL 10825 Red Lick Road Irvine, KY 40336 (859) 582-0761

OLD BARK FARM 370 Ferrill Hill, Buffalo, KY 42716 Kenley Conner 270/358-8057 Registered Angus Cattle

TWIN CREEK FARM Shawn, Melissa, Devin & Dylan Gibson (270) 337-3072 or (270) 692-5304 Dennis & Emily 270/337-2128 or 270/402-4338 Watch for us in Branch View Production Sale in April

DAVIS BEND FARMS 2315 Davis Bend Road Canmer, KY 42722 timmothyljeffries@gmail.com www.davisbendfarms.com Tim: (270) 528-6605 • Leslie: (270) 528-6435

4040 Taylorsville Rd Taylorsville, KY 40071 Gordon Schubert 502-477-2637 • 502-548-8440 Anne Patton Schubert 502-477-2663 • 502-548-2359

WHITE FARM Tim and Amy White 3664 Military Pike • Lexington, KY 40513 Home: (859)223-0326 Tim: (859) 509-5401 • Amy (859)227-2552 whitefarm4@twc.com

FALL CREEK ANGUS 448 Corder Farm Road Monticello, KY 42633 Ronnie Corder (606) 348-6588

PLEASANT HILL FARMS Gil, Mary, Corbin, Caroline, and Catherine Cowles 500 Rockfield Richpond Road Rockfield, KY 42274 (270) 843-9021 • Fax (270) 843-9005 Located 7 miles west of Bowling Green, 1/2 mile off Hwy 68/80

Joe D. or Karen Burton Bryan Carman, Partner, Ridgeview Angus 480 Hominy Hill Rd. Nancy, KY 42544 Joe: (606) 305-3081 • Bryan: (606) 875-3453 Located 15 miles West of Somerset • klburton01@windstream.net Bulls & females sold private treaty. Inquiries Welcome. Sell only what we would buy.

GREAT MEADOWS ANGUS ASSOCIATION Spring Sale: 4th Saturday in April Fall Sale: 3rd Saturday in October www.greatmeadowsangus.com Paul Bradshaw (502) 817-7502

KENTUCKY ANGUS ASSOCIATION

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Return to: Anne DeMott 1220 Angus Trail Lexington, Kentucky 40509 • Annual Dues $35

NAME

FARM NAME

ADDRESS

HAINES ANGUS FARMS 5294 Park City- Glasgow Rd. Park City, KY 42160 Kenneth Haines, Jr.: (270) 749-8862 HAMILTON ANGUS FARMS Eddie Hamilton 2142 Stilesville Road Science Hill, KY 42553 edjohami@aol.com (606) 271-1286 Bulls and Females for Sale

CITY

STATE

PHONE 1

PHONE 2

ZIP

KENTUCKY ANGUS ASSOCIATION NEWS Anne Stewart DeMott, Secretary/Treasurer www.kentuckyangus.org • kyangusassociation@gmail.com •

Greeting from the Kentucky Angus Association and the Board of Directors. In time, farmers get tired of the snow, the ice and the muck, then spring comes with blessings. The lush green grass, the chirping birds, and the new life that comes around the farm bring a positive outlook across the bluegrass. If you are looking to advance and improve your herd, the sale season is in full swing. We have just finished a successful Kentucky Beef Expo. We had a great crowd at ring side and the quality of cattle was outstanding from the top to the bottom. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the consignors and the Kentucky Sweepstakes committee for their hard work and dedication in making this a successful event. This show would not be possible if we did not have support from Kentucky Farm Bureau and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Their sponsorship makes this event feasible for the breeders in Kentucky. The Commonwealth is full of opportunities with multiple sales of endless prospects to buy genetics that will add quality and value to your herd. Breed leading EPD’s, replacement offerings and cutting-edge performance are just around the corner. Angus breeders are always willing to listen to your needs and make recommendations to make sure you select the right animal for your operation. We, as the Kentucky Angus officers and Board of Directors, are here to serve you. If you have any questions, ideas or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us. If you are not a member of the Kentucky Angus Association, we would like to invite you to join our organization. Please let me extend an opportunity to advertise and promote your farm with purchasing an ad in our Kentucky Directory. Ad copies and payments are due by April 15th. In order to be including in the Kentucky Directory, all membership dues must be paid. Mark your calendar for the Kentucky Preview Show in Louisville, Kentucky on June 10th in conjunction with the AllAmerican Futurity on June 11th and 12th. We look forward to seeing you there! Henry B. Smith Kentucky Angus Association President

@kyangusassoc •

@kyangusassociation

SAVE THE DATE

Field Day

2022 KENTUCKY ANGUS ASSOCIATION

JUNE 25

TRICKLIN’ CREEK FARM

MORE INFORMATION TO COME!

KENTUCKY

GELBVIEH GELBVIEH KENTUCKY

AA LAND & CATTLE

A S S O C I AT I O N

LARRY CLARK & SONS LLC

Registered Gelbvieh & Balancers William McIntosh, President...........................................................................(502) Registered Gelbvieh Cattle Cynthiana, KY 106 Clark Houk Road • Greensburg, KY 42743 Luke Arthur 298-8323 Luke(859) Arthur, Vice President.............................................................................(859) Larry Clark, Owner & Operator luke.arthur93@gmail.com (270) 299-5167 • (270) 405-6848 Bulls • Show Prospects • Embryos Pat Tilghman, Secretary/Treasurer.....................................................................(270) Lpclarkandsons@msn.com Bulls sell with GE EPD’s • Show Prospects

BAR IVAALIVESTOCK LAND & CATTLE

Barry, Beth & Ben Racke • Brad&Racke Registered Gelbvieh Balancers 7416 Tippenhauer Rd. • Cold Cynthiana, KY Spring, KY 41076 Phone (859) 635-3832 • Barry cell (859) 991-1992 Arthur (859) Brad cellLuke (859) 393-3677 • Ben cell298-8323 (859) 393-3730 Fax (859)luke.arthur93@gmail.com 635-3832 • bar4@twc.com

Bulls • Show Prospects • Embryos Bulls sell with GE EPD’s • Show Prospects

BEE LICK GELBVIEHS

Eddie Reynolds IV Rd. LIVESTOCK 277 OldBAR Bee Lick Barry, KY Beth & Ben Racke • Brad Racke Crab Orchard, 40419 7416 Tippenhauer Rd. • Cold Spring, KY 41076 606-379-2281(H) 606-305-1972(C) (859) • Barry cell (859) 991-1992 Bulls &Phone Females for 635-3832 sale Brad cell (859) 393-3677 • Ben cell (859) 393-3730 Fax (859) 635-3832 • bar4@twc.com

David Slaughter, President.......................(270) 556-4259 JoeA Piles, President...........................(502) 507-3845 S SVice OC I AT I O N PatTilghman,Secretary/Treasurer..............(270) 670-8449

867-3132 298-8323 670-8449

CLIFFORD BRIANFARMS W. DYER, DVM

3459Owner/Manager KY HWY 1284E GELBVIEH/BALANCERS Cynthiana, KY 41031 2050 Glasgow Road Since 1937 Cattle for sale Burkesville, at all times. (859) 234-6956 KY 42717 Brian, Lauren, Kristen Barry, Emily & Julia (270) 864-5909

BRIAN W. DYER, DVM

Owner/Manager FULL CIRCLE FARMS GELBVIEH/BALANCERS 2050Registered Glasgow Road Gelbvieh Cattle Burkesville, KY 42717 Brad Burke Brian,989 Lauren, Kristen & Julia Metcalf MillBarry, RoadEmily • Ewing KY 41039 (270)(H) 864-5909 606-267-5609 • (C) 606-782-1367

gbb789@windstream.net

FULL CIRCLE FARMS

BEE LICK GELBVIEHS

Eddie Reynolds 277 Old Bee Lick Rd. Crab Orchard, KY 40419 606-379-2281(H) 606-305-1972(C) Bulls & Females for sale CD FARMS Clayton & Debbie Cash 1214 Ottawa School Road BRAY’S GELBVIEH CATTLE Brodhead, KY 40409 Niles & Betty K Bray (606)-308-3247 • (606)-758-8994

1568 Bray Ridge Road Gelbvieh-Balancer Bulls & Heifers For Sale Bedford, by Private Treaty KY 40006 (502) 255-3584

UPCOMING EVENTS

CD FARMS

Saturday Clayton & Debbie Cash May 15 1214 Ottawa Road Kentucky JuniorSchool Gelbvieh Show & Learning Clinic Brodhead, KY 40409 McIntosh Brothers Farm • 3348 Frankfort Road • Georgetown (606)-308-3247 • (606)-758-8994

Registered Gelbvieh Cattle BradKILBOURNE Burke GELBVIEH 989 Metcalf Mill Road KY • Ewing KY 41039 East Bernstadt, (H) 606-267-5609 • (C) 606-782-1367 606-843-6583 gbb789@windstream.net

cell 606-309-4662 Black Replacement Heifers & Bulls Available Embryo transplant & AI sired calves

KILBOURNE GELBVIEH

East Bernstadt, KY 606-843-6583 MOCKINGBIRD HILL FARMS cell 606-309-4662 BlackRegistered Replacement Heifers &Cattle Bulls Available Gelbvieh Embryo transplant AI sired calvesRd. Shane Wells & 10172 Provo

Rochester, KY H: 270-934-2198 C: 270-791-8196 swells@logantele.com MOCKINGBIRD HILL FARMS Registered Gelbvieh Cattle Shane Wells 10172 Provo Rd. Rochester, KY H: 270-934-2198 C: 270-791-8196 swells@logantele.com

information at 270-670-8449 JOIN KENTUCKY GELBVIEH ASSOCIATION Mail to: 690 Lick Branch Road, Glasgow, Kentucky 42141 FARM NAME

JOIN KENTUCKY GELBVIEH ASSOCIATION Mail to: 690 Lick Branch Road, Glasgow, Kentucky 42141 FARM NAME

ADRESS

PLEASANT MEADOWS FARM

May 28 - May 30 CLIFFORDFriday FARMS AGJA 3459 Eastern Junior Show “Run for the Roses” KYRegional HWY 1284E

Gary & Pat Tilghman Carrie & Daryl Derossett Family BurleyCynthiana, Fields Livestock • 709 Oil Fields Road • Horse Cave KYCenter 41031 Lindsey & Garland Gilliam Family CallSince Carrie Derossett for more information. (270) 404-0828 1937 PLEASANT MEADOWS FARM 690 Lick Branch Road Glasgow, KY 42141 Cattle for sale & Pat Tilghman (859) 234-6956 Entry and room information available at www.gelbvieh.org • pleasantmeadowsfarm@hotmail.com at all times. Gary 270.646.7024

BRADBURY FARMS Bradbury Farms

American Gelbvieh Association Advertise today! 303-465-2333 | www.gelbvieh.org Contact Pat Tilghman for more

YOUR NAME

10AM Learning • 12:30PM Show Gelbvieh-Balancer BullsClinic & Heifers Sale McIntosh by Privatefor Treaty CallFor William more information. (502) 867-3132

(Juniors/Regional Shows/AGJA Eastern Regional)

Meeting modern industry demands: • Added Fertility • Increased Efficiency • More pounds of calf weaned

Lindsey Tilghman Jones Family Carrie & Daryl Derossett Family 690 Lick Branch Road Glasgow, KY 42141 270.646.7024 • pleasantmeadowsfarm@hotmail.com

Gelbvieh/Balancer Gelbvieh/Balancer Females Females Tom Bradbury KY Tom Bradbury • Fisherville, Fisherville, KY (502) 817-2869 (502) 817-2869 Taylor Bradbury Taylor Bradbury BRADBURY (502) 817-4421 (502) 817-4421 Hay and Straw Available FARMS Hay and Straw Available

YOUR NAME CITY, STATE

ZIP

ADRESS EMAIL

PHONE

CITY, STATE

ZIP

Dues are $25/year, payable to Kentucky Gelbvieh Association

PHONE

Dues are $25/year, payable to Kentucky Gelbvieh Association

AMERICA’S

COW The Simmental cow can handle any environment.

She’s built to last in heat, fescue or high altitudes. And thanks to the breed’s built-in adaptability, you can match Simmental genetics to your environment – SimAngus,™ SimAngus HT, Simbrah or proven Simmental genetics. Meet America’s all-purpose cow – gentle and consistent, with calves that give the heterosis boost commercial cattlemen need to stay profitable.

STAND STRONG

SIMMENTAL 406-587-4531 • simmental.org

KEVIN AND RACHEL BARRON Crestwood, Ky (502) 905-5851 rkbarron812@gmail.com

SWAIN SELECT SIMMENTAL 12113 Green Valley Dr. Louisville, KY 40243 frederickswain@bellsouth.net facebook.com/swainselectsimmental Fred & Phyllis: 502-245-3866 502-599-4560 Chi & Angie: 502-287-2116

JUDY AND RONDAL DAWSON 1156 Buzzard Roost Road Shelbyville, KY 40065 502-593-5136 • jrdawson22@outlook.com

ROCKING P LIVESTOCK 8308 Orangeburg Road Maysville, KY 41056 Chan: 606-584-7581 Keith: 606-584-5626 rockingplivestock@maysvilleky.net

JOIN KENTUCKY SIMMENTAL ASSOCIATION Mail to: Laura Jackson 1254 Cynthiana Road Paris, KY 40361 FARM NAME

YOUR NAME

BRIAN & HEATHER SWAIN 3906 Pottertown Road Murray, KY 42071 • 270-293-4440 wksbswain@murray-ky.net SIMMENTAL AND SIMANGUS BULLS FOR SALE

ADRESS

CITY, STATE

1939 Huntertown Road Versailles, KY 40383 BULLS FOR SALE Chris Allen 859-351-4486 callenuky@hotmail.com Dr. Henry Allen 859-229-0755

ZIP

WORK PHONE

HOME PHONE

Call or visit one of these Simmental breeders for cattle that work!

BILL KAISER • Shelbyville, KY • 502.639.4337

BRET AND LAURA JACKSON 859.533.3718 or 859.707.7200

www.kysimmental.com Membership Fee is $25.00

PRIVATE TREATY SALES CHECKOFF INVESTMENT FORM State and National Beef Promotion and Research Programs Information is required by 7 CRF 1260.201. Failure to report can result in a fine. Information is held confidential per 7 CRF 1260.203.

TODAY’S DATE

ID NUMBER (IF KNOWN)

SELLER’S NAME

BUYER’S NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP

CITY

SELLER’S SIGNATURE

STATE

ZIP

BUYER’S SIGNATURE

Both the seller and the buyer are responsible for making sure that the $1 per head assessment is collected and remitted to the Kentucky Beef Council. DATE OF SALE

TOTAL NUMBER OF CATTLE SOLD

STATE OF ORIGIN*

X X

$1.OO per Head Federal Checkoff $1.OO per Head State Checkoff

Total Checkoff Payment for Federal and State

PERSON REMITTING FORM

BUYER

SELLER

PHONE

*If the cattle purchased came from another state within the last 30 days, indicate from which state the cattle were purchased.

Send Report and Remittance to: Kentucky Beef Council 176 Pasadena Drive Lexington, KY 40503 For additional information: call 859-278-0899 or email beef@kycattle.org

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 05810093. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. April • Cow Country • 63

Kentucky Hereford Association Kentucky Certified Hereford Influence Sale May 12, 2022 Lowell Atwood (606) 669-1455

Toby & Debby Dulworth 2492 S. Kirkman Road LaCenter, KY 42056 (270) 224-2993 dogwood@brtc.net

The Dogwood Difference? Total Performance Polled Herefords that trive on forages. www.dogwoodherefords.com

WELLS FARM Polled Herefords

439 Flatwoods Frozen Camp Rd, Corbin KY 40701 Bobby & Brenda Wells (606) 523-0569 or (606) 344-0417 wells_farm@yahoo.com Kevin, Angela, Kenlea & Kyler Murray (606) 528-1691 or (606) 682-8413

KHA OFFICERS President: Chris Schalk Secretary/ Treasurer: Earlene Thomas 859-623-5734 thomasep@roadrunner.com

NJB Limited Dale Stith

5239 Old Sardis Pike Mays Lick, KY 41055 dalestith@yahoo.com (918) 760-1550 Home of Select Sires’ Boyd Fort Knox 17yxz54040

TK4 Herefords

K3 CATTLE REGISTERED HEREFORDS 6077 Helena Road Mayslick, KY 41055 Charlie Boyd II 606-584-5194

Annual Bull Sale second Saturday in March Hereford and Angus Bulls

MPH Farms

Registered Polled Herefords PAUL L. HANCOCK 8559 KY 56 Owensboro, KY 42301 270-771-4194

Chambliss Hereford Farms Brad, Carla, Clay & Clint Chambliss

1101 Driftwood Lane Elizabethtown, KY 42701 Home (270) 982-3905 Cell (270) 668-7126 fax 270-735-9922 www.chamblissherefordfarms.com

KYLE BUSH K3CATTLE@YAHOO.COM 859-588-4531 198 HICKS PIKE CYNTHIANA, KY 41031

THOMAS FARM

Jackson Farms

Registered Polled Herefords 8103 Bill Moss Road White House, TN 37188 Home/Fax: 615-672-4483 Cell: 615-478-4483 billymjackson@aol.com “Farming the Same Land Since 1834”

Eric & Ronnie Thomas 2396 Union City Rd. Richmond, KY 40475 (859) 623-5734 Eric’s Cell (859) 314-8256

“Cattle for sale at all times”

HEREFORDS

Codee Guffey • 1815 Grassy Springs Road Versailles, Kentucky 40383 (502) 598-6355 rockridgeherefords@gmail.com www.rockridgeherefords.com

Polled Hereford and Gelbvieh Cattle 3459 KY Hwy. 1284 E. Cythiana, KY 41031

Tony & Kathy Staples 992 Knotts Road

(859) 234-6956

Brandenburg, KY 40108 (270) 422-4220 tstaples@bbtel.com

Windy Hills Farm

Registered Polled Herefords

Ben, Jane, Shelby and Lincoln

Jackie D. Perkins II 367 Mt. Pisgah Rd. Bremen, KY 42325 (270) 543-3586

Breeding to produce good cows since 1981

PILE STOCK FARM HANSELL PILE, JR.

12045 St. John Rd. Cecilia, KY 42724 270-735-5192 270-862-4462 12 miles West of Elizabethtown

WOLF FARM

WCN Polled Herefords Since 1961 Bill Norris

2220 Celina Road Burkesville, KY 42717

Phone (270) 433-7256 Cell (270) 433-1525 “Every calf needs a white face”

Registered Polled Herefords

Bulls & Females for sale

Tim & Peggy Wolf 12939 Peach Grove Road Alexandria, KY 41001 Home: 859-635-0899 Cell: 859-991-3484

BECKLEY HEREFORDS L. Wayne Beckley • 1420 Fitchburg Rd. Ravenna, KY 40472 • 606-723-3021 Cell: 859-779-0962 L.W. Beckley D.V.M 284 Pyrse Lane • Irvine, KY 40336 Cell: 859-779-1419 • Clinic: 606-726-0000

www.beckleyherefords.com

“Breeding Polled Herefords for over 58 Years” Breeding cattle for sale at all times.

1999 Walnut Hill Rd. Lexington, KY 40515 (859) 271-9086 cell (859)533-3790

WATSON LAND & CATTLE Peyton’s Well Polled Herefords The Lowell Atwood Family

133 Edgewood Drive • Stanford, KY (606) 365-2520 home/fax (606) 669-1455 cell

Victor- influenced cattle bred for performance on grass.

“Black cows need a good Hereford Bull”

Danny Miller jmspolledherefords.com 270-465-6984 270-566-2694

Matt, Melinda, Harlee, & Wyatt Watson 6196 Mount Sterling Rd Flemingsburg, Kentucky melindawatson8660@gmail.com Matt - 606-748-1600 Melinda - 859-625-8660

CATTLE FOR SALE AT ALL TIMES

Tucker Stock Farms “Registered Angus and Polled Herefords”

John Tucker II 1790 Hidden Valley Lane Hudson, KY 40145 270-617-0301 “Bulls always for Sale”

LIMOUSIN

Breeders of the Bluegrass

Buck’s Tom & Limousin Farm Chris Daniel “secrets out”

Fullblood & Purebred Embryos & Semen Stephen: 270-799-8685 760 Emily Court Bowling Green, KY 42101 achhlimousin@twc.com Facebook: ACHH Limousin

CUMMINS POLLED LIMOUSIN

David & Donald P. Cummins 4312 Willow-Lenoxburg Rd. Foster, KY 41043 David: 606-747-5886 (C) 606.782.7003 cumminsd@windstream.net

5171 Camargo-Levee Rd. • Mt. Sterling, KY 40353 859-498-0030 859-585-1785 859-585-8388 “Your source of purebred homopolled/homoblack.”

ING T T E

S LAND & C AT T

Daniel Gettings

Elbow Bend & Center Point Rd. Tompkinsville, KY 42167

(270) 487-9454 or (270) 202-7755

“Registered Limousin - LimFlex - Angus Genetics”

John Buck: (606) 474-7451 • (606) 922-8174 2494 South St. Hwy. 7, Grayson, KY. 41143 johnbuck474@windstream.net “Black & Red Purebred & Limflex for sale - private treaty” “Qualifies for CAIP”

B.F. Evans Cattle Company Byron Evans

P.O. Box 1509 599 Ray Allen Lane Versailles, KY 40383 Byron 859-509-8046 bfevanscattlecompany@gmail.com byron.evans59@yahoo.com byron.evans59@yahoo.co m

Ri c c i R o l a nD Joey & Donnie Massey 80 Sublimity School Rd. • London, KY 40744 606-682-2126 • 606-682-2125

Allen & Jon Anderson 260 Henderson Rd. Eubank, KY 42567 Allen: 606-872-8072 Jon: 606-305-8859 “Quality Limousin + LimFlex Cattle!”

WHITE LIMOUSIN & WHITE ANGUS

Donald & Mary Ann Wenzel

994 Airport Road • Falmouth, KY 41040

(859) 654-3612 • (859) 322-0752 maryawenz@aol.com

TOMORROW’S REGISTERED WHITE ANGUS TODAY!

Ricci & Brenda Roland 423 Lebus Lane Cynthiana, KY 41031 859-234-3986 • 859-234-7344 rolandlimousin@earthlink.net

Greg Blaydes 859-338-9402 James Hicks 859-227-0490 1225 E. Leestown Rd. Midway, KY 40347

OA K S F A LLING RM O R Terry W. McPhetridge • 606-843-6903 Cell: 606-524-9241 1645 Winding Blade Rd. East Bernstadt, KY 40729

Bob Minerich, 859-582-6888 2003 Barnes Mill Rd. Richmond, KY 40475 minegwen@aol.com “Cattle for sale private treaty”

FOUNDATION SALE VIII

September 17, 2022 • 1PM CST United Producers Facility • Bowling Green, KY Selling FULLBLOOD & PUREBRED LIMOUSIN Genetics • To consign or for catalog call ACH Holdings, LLC, Steven Haynes 270-799-8685

Decker Family Limousin & LimFlex Kenny & Tiffany Decker Leitchfield, KY • (270) 589-7999

BULLS - HEIFERS PROCESSED BEEF

Brad Kidd (606) 495-6396 (606) 738-9493 Paul Kidd (606) 743-7349 8254 Hwy 711 West Liberty KY 41472

CALENDAR OF EVENTS DATE MARCH 25

EVENT Long Hall Cattle Bull Sale followed by Blue Grass Regular Cow Sale

LOCATION Maysville, KY

MARCH 26

Seedstock Plus South Missouri Bull & Female Sale

Carthage, MO

MARCH 26

Bluegrass Gelbvieh Alliance Joint Production Sale

Lexington, KY

MARCH 26

Genetic Advantage Bull Sale

Paris, KY

MARCH 26

The Clear Choice Bull Sale

Milan, IN

MARCH 26

The Cowman’s Kind XXV Bull & Female Sale

Lexington, TN

MARCH 28

Oak Hollow First Choice Bull Sale

Smiths Grove, KY

MARCH 31

Kentucky Cattlemen’s Foundation Youth Scholarships Due

APRIL 2

Laurel County Cattlemen’s Association 9th Annual Commercial Open Heifer Sale

London, KY

APRIL 2

Belles & Bulls of the Bluegrass

Lexington, KY

APRIL 2

The Andras King Red Angus Bull Sale

Manchester, IL

APRIL 2

33rd Annual Angus Opportunity Sale

Canmer, KY

APRIL 2

Grassy Valley Angus 29th Annual Production Sale

Greenville, TN

APRIL 2

West TN Angus Association 2022 Spring Sale

Bradford, TN

APRIL 5

Roan for the Roses

Online Sale

APRIL 8

Ingram Angus Spring Production Sale

Pulaski, TN

APRIL 9

Branch View Angus

Hustonville, KY

APRIL 9

Knoll Crest Farm Spring Bull & Female Sale

Red House, VA

APRIL 9

Crazy K Ranch 9th Annual Production Sale

Michie, TN

APRIL 9

Amburgey Charolais Farm Annual Bull & Female Sale

Mt. Sterling, KY

APRIL 11

Grass Time Partners Sale

Paris, KY

45 37

APRIL 16

CKAA Spring Sale

Danville, KY

APRIL 16

89th Indiana Beef Evaluation Program Performance Tested Bull Sale

Springville, IN

APRIL 16

Clifford Farms & Guests Hereford Production Sale

Lexington, KY

APRIL 16

TJB Kentucky Bull Sale

Upton, KY

APRIL 16

SoKY Select Gelbvieh Sale

Bowling Green, KY

APRIL 23

Middle TN Hereford Association Annual Sale

Cross Plains, TN

APRIL 23

11th Annual Highland Cattle Auction

Lebanon, MO

APRIL 23

Upper Cumberland Angus Female Sale

Cookeville, TN

APRIL 23

16th Annual Central KY Charolais Classic

Bowling Green, KY

APRIL 23

GMAA “Looking to the Future” Sale

Campbellsville, KY

APRIL 30

Pleasant Hill Farms Building for the Future Spring Sale Vol. III

Rockfield, KY

MAY 1

Bridge View Angus Spring Production Sale

Stamping Ground, KY

3 9, 11

MAY 7

Ohio Valley Limousin Association Spring Sale

Mineral Wells, WV

MAY 7

White Stone Pasture Performance - Tested Angus Bull and Female Sale

Aldie, VA

MAY 7

Lawson Family Farms Spring Female & Bull Sale

Ewing, VA

MAY 14

Burns Farms Annual Female Event

Pikeville, TN

MAY 21

West KY Select Bred Heifer Sale

Guthrie, KY

DIAMOND J SALERS

SALERS T H E

B A L A N C E D

B R E E D

Donald Johnson • 11660 N. Hwy 1247 • Eubank, KY 42564 606-379-1558

WILLIS FARMS

Danny Willis • 964 Johnson Rd • Frankfort, KY 40601 • 502-803-5011 drwc21@aol.com • Purebred + Optimizer Breeding bulls & heifers for sale.

DEL-SU FARM

Howard & Sue Edwards • 420 Rose Rd • Somerset, KY 42501 606-679-1675 • Jeriah Privett • 606-416-1154

KNOB LICK FARM - BULLS & HEIFERS FOR SALE Larry Cox • Tina Cox-Lynch • Amanda Cox Gibson • 1315 Knob Lick Road • Irvine, KY 40336 • 606-723-3077 • 606-975-1716

66 • Cow Country • April

AD INDEX

REGISTERED RED ANGUS BULLS FOR SALE

Allison Charolais.......................................14

* FREE DELIVERY *

Boehringer Ingelheim........................... 40-43

FOUR WINDS FARM

New Castle, Kentucky

(502) 296-1044

Amburgey Charolais..................................19 Arrow Farm Equipment..............................13 BioZyme, Inc...........................................30 Blue Grass Stockyards................................47

www.RanchWork.com • • • •

The oldest ranching job board online Post a job, or a job wanted Over 50,000 visits per month Since 1998

Branch View Angus ..................................72 Bridgeview Angus Farm..........................9, 11 Burkmann Nutrition....................................4 Burns Farms...........................................31 Central KY Charolais Sale..........................49 CKAA Spring Sale.....................................37

PERFORMANCE TESTED PUREBRED ANGUS BULLS FOR SALE Call 270-202-7186 for more info or check out www.oakhollowangus.com for current availability. POLLED HERFORD BULLS FOR SALE 19-20 month old Polled Hereford bulls. Good selection. Low birthweight, medium frame. Free Delivery Available. JMS Polled Herefords, Knifley, KY Danny 270-566-2694 Trent 270-566-2000 FOUNDATION SALE VIII September 17, 2022 Selling FULLBLOOD & PUREBRED LIMOUSIN Genetics For info call: A C H Holdings, LLC Stephen Haynes 270-799-8685 RED ANGUS FOR SALE Bulls: Yearlings and 2-year-olds. Open Heifers. Show Heifer Prospects. Contact: Johnnie Cundiff 606-305-6443 or 606-871-7438 REGISTERED BLACK SIMMENTAL BULLS Many blaze faced. Excellent EPD’s. Semen Tested. Delivery Available. Maximize your profit with proven performance. All bulls qualify for new CAIP cost-share. Adam Wheatley 502-349-2665 BREEDING AGE HEREFORD BULLS FOR SALE AT ALL TIMES Over 60 years of Line 1 Hereford Genetics. Groups of open and bred heifers available for sale at all times. Chambliss Hereford Farms. 270-668-7126 BUSH SIMMENTALS Black Simmental and Simangus Bulls Genomic Enhanced EPDS Homozygous Black 502-750-4190

New Meyer 510- TMR- in stock Meyer 4518-forage box Meyer 235/262 spreaders- 14 ft - single axle John Deere 35 Dtz- mini x-$28,500 Cu 80 Stoltzfus -LIME -LITTER- FERT- spreader 12 Silage wagons to select from John Deere 4020 -3 to choose from Silage Carts- 5 to select from @$3500 Manure spreaders- 200 bushel and up John Deere 5325 - 2 wd drive with loader John Deere 7200- cab -16 speed 12 ft Esch High speed Grain Drill in stock Horning Headers - 2 and 3 row headers John Deere 3975 - base unit- $32,500 Artex SB 600 Spreader -in stock John Deere 468 - net $14,500 John Deere 566- 567 -twine - call New- Cloverdale 420-500 T -TMR mixers - in Stock Stoltzfus 10 ton Litter spreader $35,000 New Holland 790 choppers-$8500 Gehl 8335 feeder wagon $7500 Artex SB 200- vertical beater- for rental JD 6400- loader-4wd- open$25,000 Farmco feeder wagons-5 in stock-call John Deere 6300- 4 wd- cab-12 speed-$35,000 WWW.REDBARNANDASSOCIATES.COM Charlie B. Edgington 859-608-9745 TREATED FENCE POST 4” x 7’, 8’, 10’ 5” x 8’ ,6” x 8’ Fence Boards 1x6-16’ Poplar 1x6-16’ Treated Poplar 1x6-16’ Oak Used Guardrail 13’6” Used Guardrail A.W. Graham Lumber LLC Call For Pricing 606-845-9663 Check out or Graham Good Deals @ www.grahamlumber.com REGISTERED BLACK ANGUS 18 month old, genomic tested bulls. Bred fall calving Registered heifers. All qualify for KAIP cost-share. For sale at the farm. Poe Triple P Angus. 606-724-5524 or 606-407-2355

Clifford Farms.........................................69 Dievert Sales Service................................30 Four Winds Farm......................................67 GMAA Spring Sale....................................71 Grass Time Partners Sale...........................45 Gray Lane Angus....................................... 4 Hayes Trailer Sales...................................24 Heartland Highland Cattle Sale....................10 Jackson Marketing Solutions.......................14 John Deere.............................................70 Kentucky Angus Association...................58-59 Kentucky Gelbvieh Association...................61 Kentucky Hereford Association....................64 Kentucky Salers Association.......................66 Kentucky Simmental Association..................62 Kuhn.........................................................48 Lawson Family Farm.................................44 Limousin Breeders of the Bluegrass..............65 Middle TN Hereford Association...................10 Moly Mfg. ............................................... 2 Multimin ...............................................51 Oak Hollow...............................................5 Ohio Valley Limousin Association.................46 P.H. White..............................................50 Pleasant Hill Farms................................... 3 RanchWork.com..................................67 Reality Farms..........................................23 SoKY Select Gelbvieh Sale.........................39 Stone Gate Farms.......................................7 TJB Gelbvieh...........................................15 United Producers, Inc.................................38 Upper Cumberland Angus Association...........25 West KY Select Bred Heifer Sale..................19 White Stone Farm.....................................60 Y-Tex......................................................21 Zoetis.................................................18 April • Cow Country • 67

Let It Rain! What Does The Weather Have To Do With Genetics? Darrh Bullock University of Kentucky Beef Specialist As I am writing this article it is raining in the Bluegrass. Again! Please do not get me wrong, I am not complaining; I would rather have too much than too little when it comes to rain. Based on data from the National Integrated Drought Information System, we have not had a serious drought in Kentucky since 2012 and only two relatively dry periods since then. Based on my unscientific interpretation of the historical data this is the longest period of favorable rainfall we have had in the state since 1900 and that is as far back as I went. From a geneticist perspective, what concerns me is that I am afraid we are getting spoiled. My fear is that this is not the new normal and soon we are going to have to deal with cyclical droughts again.

affected by the energy requirements of the cow and available nutrients. The higher the productivity of the cow (weight and milking ability) the greater her needs are for energy to stay reproductive. So, your cows that have stayed reproductive during these good times may have difficulty rebreeding when exposed to nutritional stress brought on by a drought. I am not promoting a doomsday approach to your breeding program; I am just reminding you that you need to consider the level of production that your herd can sustain during normal conditions so that you aren’t caught off guard. A couple of years of poor reproduction can undo several years of increased production from an economic standpoint in most herds.

The reason this concerns me is that we need to target our genetics program to fit both the market we are selling into and the environment we are subjecting our cattle to. Under the forage growing conditions we have been exposed to the last 10 years most operations could sustain larger, heavier milking cows than their management could support under normal conditions. This has coincided with a national genetic trend of increased size and increased milking ability of many of the popular breeds. The result of increased production genetics in combination with abundant forages has been overall increased beef production in many herds. So, what’s the problem?

What is the solution? The good news is that there are ways to position yourself to take advantage of the good times while limiting the negative impacts of the bad times. The most important practice you can implement in a commercial beef operation is a good crossbreeding program. The benefit of crossbreeding is referred to as heterosis and we get an increased benefit from heterosis under harsh conditions. Another plus is that one of the traits that is impacted the most from crossbreeding is increased reproductive performance. From a selection standpoint it is advisable to use Expected Progeny Differences (EPD) to identify bulls that fit your market and management, while considering the impact of extremes in environmental conditions. For most of us this is to avoid the lure of “more is better” and think of what is optimum for your conditions. If we do these things then we can avoid disastrous situations, most of the time, but when we are faced with nutritional challenges then we need to consider supplementing to get us through the hard times. Monitor the body condition of your cows going into calving through breeding and make sure you have them in good flesh. If they start getting thin, then provide them with additional nutrition to avoid a reproductive disaster. If this happens often, then your genetics for production are probably too high for the forage management you are providing and one or both should be adjusted.

We need to remember that total production of the herd is a factor of both reproduction and pounds of salable product. Increases in genetics for growth and milking ability lead to heavier calves and more pounds to sell. This is great as long as we can maintain reproduction and under the current, and near past, forage conditions this has not been a problem for most. However, we have been altering our cowherd’s genetics that has increased their requirements for both maintenance and production energy, even though that may not have been our intentions. This may become a serious issue when we get back into periods of limited forage production due to droughts. The problem is that reproduction is greatly 68 • Cow Country • April

Changes to the 2022 CAIP Beef Genetic Improvement Program At the beginning of every year, the guidelines for the CAIP Genetic Improvement Program are updated. These changes include adjusting the EPD requirements for any breed that has had a change to their genetic evaluation or any other changes that the Kentucky Agriculture Development Board’s Program Evaluation Committee decide to implement (pending final board approval). This year there were minimal changes to the EPD guidelines with Charolais being the only breed to have changes in their EPD values because of changes to their genetic evaluation. Also, Red Angus was included in the Alternative - Selection Index for the Balanced Trait category. Last year bulls were required to have Genomically Enhanced EPDs, which will continue, but an alternative is that the bull can have an Accuracy value for Calving Ease Direct of .25 or greater (this was lowered by the committee from .30). One last change is there is no longer an upper limit to Weaning Weight for a balanced trait bull (however, the upper limit for Yearly Weight remains). For all of the guidelines for the bull costshare program go to: https://www.kyagr. com/agpolicy/2022-Program-Guidelines-and-Applications.html. To get the latest updates to the EPD guidelines please go to: https://afs.ca.uky.edu/beef/ publications/breeding-management and click on the “Beef Sire Selection for Cattle Genetic Improvement Program - CAIP EPD Guidelines for Bulls” link. The KY Bull Assessment Tool (https:// afs.ca.uky.edu/beef/KBAT) can assist you in determining if a bull qualifies for cost-share.

Program Guidelines

Bull Assessment Tool

T I M E L Y

T I P S

Spring Calving Herds • Watch cows and calves closely. Work hard to save every calf (you can cull/sell them later). Calves can be identified while they are young and easy to handle. Commercial male calves should be castrated and implanted. Registered calves should be weighed at birth. • Cows that have calved need to be on an adequate nutritional level to rebreed. Increase their feed after calving. Don’t let them lose body condition. Keep feeding them until pastures are adequate. • Don’t “rush to grass” although it can be really tempting. Be sure that grass has accumulated enough growth to support the cow’s nutritional needs before depending solely upon it. Cows may walk the pastures looking for green grass instead of eating dry feed. This lush, watery grass is not adequate to support them. Keep them consuming dry feed until sufficient grass is available to sustain body condition. We’ve spent too much money keeping them in good condition to lose it now! • Prevent grass tetany! Provide magnesium in the mineral mix until daytime temperatures are consistently above 60oF. Mineral supplement should be available at all times and contain a minimum of about 14 percent magnesium. Make sure that your mineral mix also contains adequate selenium, copper and zinc. You can ask your feed dealer about the UK Beef IRM High Magnesium Mineral. • Make final selection of heifer replacements. Strongly consider vaccinating with a modified-live BVD vaccine.

F O R

A P R I L

You can also use this time to introduce them to electric fences which are used in rotational grazing. • Provide a good mineral supplement which contains a rumen modifier (Rumensin, Bovatec, etc.) along with adequate levels of copper and selenium General • We’ve made a muddy mess this winter, so be prepared to reseed bare spots. Our forage group has some excellent information on restoring heavily traffic areas. • Make plans to improve hay feeding areas to avoid muddy conditions like we have faced this winter. Consider geotextile fabric with gravel or concrete feeding pads. • Prepare for the grazing season. Check fences and make necessary repairs. Check your corral, too. • Get everything ready to make high quality hay in May! Have equipment serviced and spare parts on hand. Order baler twine now. Be prepared to harvest an adequate supply of hay when you have the opportunity. Re-supply the extra hay that you fed out of the barn. This past winter caused most producers to exhaust their hay supply, so it’s time to re-stock. • Plan now for fly control ... decide what fly control program that you will use but don't put insecticide eartags on cattle until fly population appears.

• Purchase replacement bulls at least 30 days prior to the start of the breeding season. Have herd bulls evaluated for breeding soundness (10-20% of bulls are questionable or unsatisfactory breeders). Get all bulls in proper condition (BCS 6) for breeding. • If you are going to use artificial insemination and/or estrous synchronization, make plans now and order needed supplies, semen, and schedule a technician. • Prebreeding or "turn out" working is usually scheduled for late April or May between the end of calving season and before the start of the breeding season (while cows are open). Consult your veterinarian about vaccines and health products your herd needs. Make arrangements now for products needed and have handling facilities in good working order. Dehorn commercial calves before going to pasture. Fall-Calving Herds • Pregnancy check cows now and cull open ones at weaning especially if the open cows are older than 5 years of age. • Re-implant feeders. • Consult with your veterinarian about a preweaning working of the herd. • You may let calves creep-graze wheat or rye, if it is available. Calves will benefit from extra feed until spring grass appears. • Plan marketing strategy for feeder calves Stockers • Don't go to pastures too soon, give plants some growing time. Then stock at two to three times the July rate and rotate rapidly. • "Condition" purchased calves prior to grazing. They should be processed and fed a conditioning diet prior to being placed on pasture.

April • Cow Country • 69

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April 23rd • 1 PM

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GMAA accepts credit cards!

Mobile 502-667-0142

Matt@jacksonmarketingsolutions.com

jacksonmarketingsolutions.com