This Month in Drovers

January 2013
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Drovers MORE

Playing the hand we're dealt

2013 offers challenges and opportunities for ranchers. Full story.

Prospects hinge on moisture

America’s cattlemen are poised to reap the benefits of historically reduced supplies — if only it would rain. Full story.

Bringing it home

Working off the ranch after college provides young rancher additional education and exposure to new business ideas. Full story.

Tangible evidence cattlemen care

Consumers want to feel good about their food choices. Research repeatedly shows Americans want assurances that the food they feed their families is raised in a manner that is environmentally friendly and — in the case of meat and dairy foods — that the animals are treated humanely. Full story.

Features MORE

Playing the hand we're dealt

2013 offers challenges and opportunities for ranchers. Full story.

Prospects hinge on moisture

America’s cattlemen are poised to reap the benefits of historically reduced supplies — if only it would rain. Full story.

Bringing it home

Working off the ranch after college provides young rancher additional education and exposure to new business ideas. Full story.

Markets MORE

Import/Export: Export values on record pace

Despite declines in beef tonnage exports last year, beef exports helped support strong U.S. cattle prices throughout 2012. Full story.

Economic Indicators: Profits elusive for feeders, packers

Average monthly prices for all classes of cattle were higher during December, despite continuing concerns over a two-year drought. Full story.

Annual averages signifi cantly higher

Stocker and feeder cattle prices were steady to $1 lower during December, but the 2012 annual averages were significantly higher, according to Drovers/CattleNetwork’s 50-market auction summary. Full story.

Columns MORE

Fighting food miles

Calculating “food miles” — the distance a particular food item travels from the farm to the consumer — has become a kind of shorthand for a particular food’s “greenness,” at least in terms of its greenhouse-gas emissions. Full story.

Bringing it home

Working off the ranch after college provides young rancher additional education and exposure to new business ideas. Full story.

Tangible evidence cattlemen care

Consumers want to feel good about their food choices. Research repeatedly shows Americans want assurances that the food they feed their families is raised in a manner that is environmentally friendly and — in the case of meat and dairy foods — that the animals are treated humanely. Full story.

Departments MORE

Profit Tips: Nutrition - Using silage to stretch hay supplies

Due to the shortage of conventional forages and drought damage to many corn fields this year, cow-calf producers are feeding more corn silage than usual. Full story.

Profit Tips: Reproduction - Cow temperament affects reproduction

Research from Oregon State University indicates aggressive cows have lower reproduction rates than calm cows and that acclimating heifers to low-stress handling can benefit fertility. Full story.

Profit Tips: Equipment - Precondition for animal welfare

Might preconditioning of calves become a requirement? Dan Thomson, DVM, PhD, Beef Cattle Institute, Kansas State University, thinks it could happen and that it should. Full story.

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