BEEF Daily November 9, 2009

Laura Nielson is a born and raised cowgirl. She grew up on her family’s farm near Hartford, S.D., where the Nielsons raise 450 dairy cows, 400 replacement heifers and 3,000 acres of crops. At a young age, Nielson always knew she wanted to be a farmer. She loved being outdoors with the animals more than anything else in the world. Today, this 22-year-old is still on the farm, enjoying her passions for agriculture as she works alongside her dad and uncle at Nielson Farms.One day, Nielson was looking up farming videos on YouTube. She typed in, “farm girl,” and discovered a list of videos by a teenage girl impersonating a farm girl, mocking real farm girls everywhere with her pig tails, big accent and far-fetched ideas about the agriculture industry. Nielson was offended by the videos and appalled that tens of thousands of individuals had watched the videos.

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Cull cows that are destined to be go to the packing house are graded by their fleshiness. The fattest cows are called “Breakers”. Moderately fleshed cows are “Boners”. Thin cows are called “Leans” or “Lights”, depending upon the weight of the cow. There will be price differences among these four grades. However, within each grade, large variation in prices per hundredweight will exist because of differences in dressing percentage. Cow buyers are particularly aware of the proportion of the purchased live weight that eventually becomes saleable product hanging on the rail. Dressing percentage is (mathematically) the carcass weight divided by the live weight multiplied by 100.

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A year ago Proposition 2 in California was approved by voters and spelled the end to the California egg industry because it caused the abolition of common production practices. Voters in other states have spoken out, and in some caused significant changes in the way livestock are raised. Last week Ohio voters approved Issue 2 on the ballot, which was a pro-active move by the Ohio livestock industry to pre-empt an effort by the Humane Society of the US to change livestock production practices in that state. The public debate over what livestock producers should and should not do to raise their animals has barely begun.

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Late fall can be a good time to apply fertilizer and lime to pastures. Make sure that weather conditions are right, mainly that soil is not getting compacted or ruts created during the application of lime or fertilizer. Pasture fertility is complicated by the fact that grazing livestock move and transfer nutrients. This will result in pockets of higher or lower fertility compared to average pasture values. For this reason, applications of fertilizer and lime to pastures should be based on good soil sampling procedures.

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Meet BEEF Daily Editor Amanda Nolz. With her boots planted firmly on the ground as both a cattle producer and an agriculture writer and speaker, this young cattle industry professional presents her unique perspective on pertinent industry issues and trends each Monday to Thursday morning.

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