Gene Johnston

Iowa

Freelance Agriculture Journalist at Freelance

Freelance Writer at Dotdash Meredith

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Articles

10 Ways to Save Money on Winter Feed Costs

2 months ago | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

How much feed does a beef cow need to get through the winter? Probably less than you think, says Mary Drewnoski, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension beef specialist. Here are her 10 tips for saving money on feed in the cold season. The big differences are between mid-gestation and late-gestation. “In mid-gestation the calf is not growing much, so the needs are considerably less,” Drewnoski said. “Then they pick up in late gestation.
How to Use Crossbreeding to Improve Cattle Performance

Oct 24, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

Not many things in the livestock business are free, but heterosis — the bump in performance from crossbreeding — is one of them. Then, why don’t we take full advantage of it in our commercial beef cattle herds? It’s unfair to paint everyone with that same broad brush, but it is true that the cattle industry significantly lags its biggest competitors, pork and poultry, in capitalizing on heterosis.
Should you be using a round or square baler?

Sep 8, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

Utah rancher Brady Thornock has used about every haymaking system there is, trying a big square baler a few years ago. Now he’s back to a round baler for his 400-cow operation. Thornock makes about 2,000 tons of hay a year on the family ranch and occasionally custom bales for neighbors. “At one time we were selling 600 tons a year to other ranchers,” he says.
Are probiotics right for grazing cattle?

Sep 2, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

There’s a growing selection of nutritional products called probiotics being offered to beef cattle producers. These living bacteria supplements are mixed with feed or mineral and claim to enhance digestive functions, feed efficiency, and overall health in beef cattle. One new probiotic this year is from Novonesis and is called Bovacillus.
Calf buyback programs can make upgrading the genetics of your beef herd pay off

Feb 25, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

Calves out of a bull like the one pictured above might qualify for a premium from the breeder where he was purchased — maybe $120 to $150 per calf over standard market. This buyback program is offered by HeartBrand Ranch (heartbrandcattle.com) in Flatona, Texas. Its Akaushi breed of cattle, noted for the extreme marbling, tenderness, and eating quality of its meat, was brought here from Japan about 30 years ago.
What beef producers learned at Cattlemen’s College 2024

Feb 6, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

There’s a lot more to the Cattle Industry Convention than the eight acres of indoor trade show exhibits and the politics of beef industry leadership. There are also several hours worth of educational seminars that fall under the banner of Cattlemen’s College. Cattle ranchers and farmers at the convention in Florida can choose to attend sessions on a couple of dozen topics. Here’s what they learned at three of the more popular Cattlemen’s College classes.
Cattle and beef prices hit the stratosphere

Feb 1, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

When it comes to the cattle market at the beginning of 2024, there’s good news . . . and then there’s more good news. Record prices for all classes of cattle are being paid right now, and there will almost certainly be new record average prices for all of 2024. That’s according to the cattle market experts at CattleFax, an outlook firm that specializes in meat markets. They presented their latest report at the National Cattle Convention in Florida this week.
Cut the middleman out of your beef operation

Jan 29, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

Andrew Donnell is quick to admit he made mistakes during the journey to building his beef processing facility. The mistakes tended to be small and didn’t torpedo the business. “I should have put in three-phase electrical power.” Donnell put in single-phase because he thought that was all he’d need, and it saved money. “I should have spent the extra money up front,” he says. “I should have bought a meat-stuffing machine.” They do it by hand and it is very time-consuming.
USDA introduces Weaned Calf Risk Protection for cow-calf producers

Jan 15, 2024 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

The new Weaned Calf Risk Protection (WCRP) insurance program for cow-calf producers started as the brainchild of Windmark, a private agribusiness insurance company, and Nebraska insurance agent Bill Halligan. Windmark president Kelly Deterding then teamed with AgriLogic Consulting, a risk analysis and crop insurance development company, to further develop the concept and present it to USDA’s Risk Management Agency.
Raising healthy cattle

Dec 19, 2023 | agriculture.com | Gene Johnston

Viral diseases in beef cow herds are pesky and serious. That’s why you vaccinate at least once a year for such things as BVD (Types 1 and 2), IBR, PI3, Lepto, and a few others that your veterinarian recommends. If that were the whole story, it would be fairly simple. But sometimes the type of vaccine becomes an issue with reproductive performance. Vaccines come in two types: killed vaccine and modified-live vaccine (MLV). A killed vaccine has a killed portion of the pathogen and no live material.