Articles

Without records, most land managers are unable to tell. Livestock managers are trained to monitor forage availability and body condition of their herd. Except in extreme cases, deer forage conditions are subtle, and body condition observations are limited to the check station.

Lanceleaf ragweed, Western ragweed, and Annual broomweed are the most frequent forbs that we have to deal with in pasture management. We should look on the presence of high populations of these plants in our pastures as indicators that something is not right in the management of our forage resource.

The difference between California's central valley and the Red River valley are weather extremes. From late spring and early fall, freezes to torrential rain and hail storms, Oklahoma's weather is good at throwing knockout punches.

With over 25 years on record, the field of doublecrop winter pasture and crabgrass on the Noble Research Institute Pasture Demonstration Farm has the longest consecutive production that I know of. We have researched and trial and error studied, numerous combinations and methods of managing the doublecrop.

Bulls should be evaluated for breeding soundness at least 30 days before the breeding season. This will give you time to buy a replacement(s) if you have a bull(s) of questionable breeding ability.

If you are in the business of growing grass and selling it through cattle, you should be interested in knowing what is happening to cattle numbers in the United States. Each year in January and July the USDA publishes an estimate of what they believe to be the cattle inventory as of the first of that month.

Why are there so many grass burs in the bermudagrass pastures this year? What can be done to inhibit the grass burs this spring? These two questions were posed by many producers this past fall. Not only is this a good time to ponder these questions, it is also the right time of year to develop a plan of action.

Predator guards for nest boxes minimize predation of eggs, nestlings, and adult birds at the boxes. Predation is a major cause of mortality among cavity nesting birds.

A spring calving cow experiences two periods of increased nutritional need which are significant and must be accommodated or her performance for the rest of the year can be negatively affected. One of these periods, of course, is at calving.