Beef Management Tips

Livestock Update, November 1999

John Hall and Bill R. McKinnon, Extension Animal Scientists, Beef, Virginia Tech

November Beef Management Calendar

Spring Calving Herds

• Body condition score cows and separate thin cows
• Market calves at graded sales, telo-auction or as off-farm truckloads
• Background calves for sale in December
• Feed replacement heifers to gain 1.5 - 1.75 lbs per day or use the Target Weight method to calculate rate of gain
• Cull open, old and very thin cows; check feet and legs, udders and eyes; cull especially hard if feed is short
• Inventory feed supplies and secure feed for winter
• Move cows to stockpiled grass (if available) late this month or early December
• Get list of bull sales coming up early this winter
• Consider fall nitrogen application (early in month) to boost pasture vigor next spring
• Attend Cow-Calf Genetic Management Conference on December 6 in Staunton

Fall calving herds

• Finish calving
• Check cows 3 to 4 times per day, heifers more often - assist early if needed
• Keep calving area clean and move healthy pairs out to large pastures 3 days after calving
• Ear tag and dehorn all calves at birth; castrate male calves in commercial herds
• Give selenium and vitamin A & D injections to newborn calves
• Feed cows extra energy after calving; some protein may be needed also if good pasture is not available. Cows calving at BCS < 5 should receive special nutritional attention.
• Look for opportunities to secure low-cost feed supplies of bulk feeds or commodity feeds
• Keep high quality, high magnesium high selenium minerals available
• Move cows to stockpiled grass (if available) late this month or early December
• Begin breeding replacement heifers late this month; try AI on heifers
• Get breeding soundness exams done on all bulls
• Last minute to buy bulls at November-December bull sales
• Consider fall nitrogen application (early in month) to boost pasture vigor next spring
• Attend Cow-Calf Genetic Management Conference on December 6 in Staunton

Internet Websites of Interest - Many times cattle producers ask about what is being done with their beef checkoff dollars. A web site (http://www.beef.org) maintained by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association provides some excellent information regarding checkoff program efforts. The beef web site also provides an excellent opportunity for consumers to learn more about beef and the cattle industry.

Another web site that cattle producers may want to book mark is the Virginia Cooperative Extension Timely Topics site, http://www.ext.vt.edu/news. The site allows access to current and past articles of interest to livestock producers. Articles from Livestock Update dating back to 1996 can be retrieved. Other popular articles include Dr. Wayne Purcell's weekly Agricultural Commodity Market Report and the Meat Matters newsletter published by the Virginia Tech Food Science and Technology Department. Past and current Livestock Update articles can also be found by topic at the Virginia Cooperative Extension Information Resources web site, http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/, through the Livestock, Poultry, and Dairy link. Bill R. McKinnon

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