Ration-balancing tools can help cattle feeders make changes to their rations to include alternative feed types.

Do your homework on alternative feeds

What looks to be another dry year will mean added emphasis on byproduct feeds

Alternative or non-conventional feeds, such as grain screenings, cull potatoes or distillers’ grains, can be an economical means for beef cattle producers to supplement forage and grain inventories while continuing to meet animal nutritional requirements. However, due to variability in supply, nutrient composition and quality of these feed ingredients, there can be pitfalls if not […] Read more

Heifer rations are a balance of enough nutrition for optimum growth and low cost.

Balancing low cost with enough nutrition

Use caution when feeding low-quality forage to dairy replacement heifers

Most dairy producers always look for ways to reduce the livestock feed costs. Some people have taken advantage that three-month-old replacement dairy heifers have a fully developed rumen and can truly digest lower quality/cost forages. There is nothing wrong in feeding this way, but these forages must be well balanced with other more nutritious feedstuffs […] Read more


CME February 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Chicago cattle firm on export demand

CME hog futures fall on meaty supply

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures firmed on Thursday, as relatively steady cash cattle prices offset higher feed costs weighing on the feeder market, traders said. Meanwhile, lean hog futures continued to slide on a seasonal trend of robust supplies, even as hog slaughter rates showed signs of slowing. […] Read more




(USDA.gov via Flickr)

U.S. March hog herd hits record high

Chicago | Reuters — The number of hogs on U.S. farms in the December-February quarter was up 3.1 per cent from the same period a year ago, a record high for the quarter, according to Thursday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report. Farmers added extra pigs, encouraged by less-costly feed during that period and the […] Read more