| December 1998 |
| 3 |
SE Round Up Angus Bull Sale
Sale at 12 noon - Selling 65 Angus Bulls
Sumter County Farmers Market, Inc. - Webster, FL
For A Free Catalog or Info, Phone: Jarvene Shackelford (601) 837-4904 |
| 3-4 |
FCA Quarterly Directors' Meeting
Melbourne, FL |
| 14 |
Charolais Bull Sale
Sale starts at 1:00 P.M. - Arcadia State Livestock Market
Hwy 17 N - Arcadia, FL
For Information Call Phil Turner, Office: (941) 494-1808 |
| 28 |
Special Slaughter Cow & Bull Sale
Sale starts at 1:00 P.M. - Arcadia State Livestock Market
Hwy 17 N - Arcadia, FL
For Information Call Phil Turner, Office: (941) 494-3737
or Mac Turner, Office: (941) 494-1808 |
| January 1999 |
| 14-15 |
10th Annual Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium
Holiday Inn West - Gainesville, FL
For Information Call: (352) 392-5930 |
| 21 |
16th Annual Florida Cattlemen's Institute and Allied Trade Show
"Controlling the Cost of Production Through Better Management"
Kissimmee Valley Agricultural Center - Hwy 192 East
For Reservations Call: (407) 846-4646 |
Sexual Performance in the Cow Pasture -
A Critical Look At The Bull
Reproductive performance has a more
significant impact on economic returns on a
cow-calf operation than any other single
factor. Today's cattlemen are being
bombarded by advertisements about
growth rate and carcass quality and that's
all well and good. But when we set out to
purchase a bull or turn out a bull we
already own, how much do we really know
about his ability to settle cows? If the bull
cannot find, follow and impregnate cows,
then he is only worth salvage value at the
local livestock market. Over the past
twenty years as a ranch manager I have
been responsible for managing sixteen bull
sales in Florida, Texas and Colorado, as
well as private treaty sales in excess of
1500 bulls. It has been my observation
that not all bull buyers are alike. Many are
simply too casual about bull selection. It's
unnerving to witness a buyer show up at a
sale after the sale has already begun, grab
a sale catalog and shove it is his back
pocket and sit down and within the next two
hours purchase 30-40 commercial bulls.
Don't misunderstand me. I was always
happy to see them show up! On the other
extreme, I have had the satisfaction of
showing bulls for several days to
prospective buyers who not only wanted
the individual performance data and ratios
(birth, weaning, and yearling weights,
EPD's, scrotal circumference, and semen
evaluation scores) but who took the time to
inspect sires and dams and full and half
siblings. The same bull will not fit the
individual needs of every buyer. Is the bull
going to be used in a single or multiple-sire
herd? Will the calves be sold at weaning or
will heifers be kept for replacements? Will
ownership be retained for backgrounding or
the feedlot? Will the bull be used on
heifers or mature cows? Each of these
factors will determine the choice of breed
and the relative emphasis placed on
performance and EPD information and,
ultimately, the price of the bull. However,
every bull buyer has one thing in common.
Each is searching for a bull who will
impregnate cows as they come into heat
and live to tell about it. We don't want the
bull falling apart on us and we all want to
just place the bull into the pasture and
forget about him until it's time to pick him
up at the end of the breeding season. We
expect a very high percentage of the cows
to be pregnant and to calve early in the
calving season without assistance. That's
all.
Consider this. Nationally, the percent calf-crop is approximately 70 percent. Only 70
calves are weaned per 100 cows exposed
to the bull during the breeding season. In
other words, 30 percent of the nation's
cowherd is failing to contribute to income.
Many factors contribute to low fertility, but
more individual emphasis needs to be
placed upon sire selection and evaluation
simply because of the multiple offspring
sired by the bull. Surveys indicate that up
to 20 percent of the bulls tested are either
questionable or unsatisfactory potential
breeders and many bulls are never tested.
Due to space limitations let us discuss only
the more important considerations involved
in selecting and evaluating bulls for
reproductive performance. First, and to me
the single most important consideration, is
the reputation and integrity of the
breeder. Does the breeder stand behind
the bull? Will the breeder refund your
purchase price and/or replace the bull with
another of comparable value if the bull fails
to perform? Does the breeder develop the
bulls in large pastures with high forage
diets or are the bulls raised in small traps
with self feeders? Have you taken the time
to visit the breeder and inspect the bulls
prior to the sale? Does the breeder allow
private treaty sales prior to the annual bull
sale? If so, the cattle may be picked over
by sale time. Can the breeder provide you
with all the production/pedigree information
on demand? Is the ranch picked up and
neat? What is the condition of the ranch
vehicles? Is the working area of the
cowpen and chute area washed down?
What do the scales look like? Is there a
small portable scale in the truck used to
check calving cows? How does the
breeder obtain birth weights? Are they
estimated? Are calves creep fed? Are the
dams of the bulls you are considering on a
twelve month calving interval? Are visitors
welcomed and does the ranch
management give you their undivided
attention? What does all this have to do
with the bull you may purchase?
Everything. The next time you visit your
doctor, look around! Next, a breeding
soundness evaluation (BSE) needs to be
performed. This is useful in identifying
bulls which have physical problems or poor
semen quality. A BSE consists of a close
examination of temperament, eyes, feet
and legs, sheath, penis, prepuce, scrotum,
and palpation of the testes and spermatic
cords for firmness and bilateral symmetry.
It also includes a measurement of scrotal
circumference and semen evaluation for
concentration, motility and morphology.
Scrotal circumference varies with the breed
but a yearling scrotal measurement needs
to be provided as well as the scrotal
measurement taken when the bull is semen
evaluated within 30 days of sale. Larger
scrotal circumference is positively
correlated with higher volumes of
spermatozoa as well as earlier puberty in
heifers. Be familiar with the figures within
your breed of choice. After a bull has
satisfactorily passed a BSE examination,
there may be problems which do not
become apparent until bulls are exposed to
some form of mating assessment. In most
instances, bulls receive no form of
assessment prior to sale or use. Three
traits need to be measured and tested at
this point:
A. Libido-The willingness and eagerness of
a bull to attempt mount and service.
B. Mating ability - The ability and
competence of the bull in fulfilling this
aspiration.
C. Serving capacity - The number of
services achieved by a bull under
stipulated conditions.
Some studies have indicated that bull libido
assessment provided greater prediction of
bull fertility than did semen evaluation
alone. Higher libido bulls will service more
cows more often and will result in more
pregnancies when the bulls are placed
under sufficient breeding stress. If sex
drive in bulls is measurable and
predictable, then why don't seedstock
producers provide this service? Because
commercial bull buyers have not yet
demanded it! There was a time when
performance, EPD's and ultrasound
information was not provided. I have some
very old sale catalogs where the only
information provided was the bull's
pedigree. The pedigree tells us how the
animal should perform but the performance
and libido scores provide us with what has
actually occurred to date. Commercial bull
buyers are spending money on bulls which
have not been tested and screened for
libido and serving capacity. From personal
experience I can attest to the fact that four
good cowboys can set up and handle the
testing requirements needed to libido test
100 bulls per day. The actual observations
and scoring need to be performed by a
licensed veterinarian trained in this
specialty. The testing can be videotaped
and filed by the seedstock producer as
evidence that this screening has been
done. Bulls failing the test are retested in
four weeks. Those retested bulls failing the
second test or scoring poorly need to be
immediately slaughtered. Lastly, consider
a few points which are often overlooked.
Prolonged nursing has been shown to
retard sexual expression. Bulls fed a high
concentrate ration may have lower libido
scores. The standard recommendation of
turning out one bull per 20-30 females does
not represent optimal bull usage and it
allows sub-standard bulls to go undetected.
Bull to female ratios as high as 1:60 have
obtained good reproductive efficiency.
Blood typing to determine paternity has
shown that dominant bulls can sire the
majority of calves in multi-sire groups.
Dominance is expressed more strongly in
older bulls and appears to be more related
to seniority than to age or weight.
Dominance and sex drive may be separate
traits. The dominant bull could impair herd
fertility through failure to service females
while preventing less dominant bulls from
serving. This problem is more acute when
older and younger bulls are used in the
same breeding pasture. In multi-sire
mating programs, more efficient breeding
and exploitation of sires would occur if bull
groups were young (preferable < 3 yrs), of
similar age, size and genotype. In
conclusion, bull fertility is best predicted
when bulls are assessed for a number of
traits, including sex drive. There may soon
come a day when a fertility index for bulls
which combines a number of critically
important traits becomes a standard
management practice. This would provide
considerable advantage over single trait
measurements. It will become a reality
when the all important commercial bull
buyer demands it.
The Liver Fluke: A Growing Concern In The Cattle Industry
The common liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica,
is a parasite of increasing concern to the
cattle industry. Fluke associated liver
condemnation rates were reported as 5% in
1973, to 17.24% in 1989-90, and 19.2% in
1994. Condemnation rates, in some areas,
have been much higher. Adult liver flukes
are about 20-30 mm long and 7-14 mm
wide. They are leaf-shaped, broader
anteriorly than posteriorly, with an anterior
cone-shaped projection that bears the
anterior ventral sucker and mouth. Liver
flukes are prolific egg layers, producing an
average of 19,000 eggs per day. The eggs
are deposited in the bile ducts of the host,
pass through the gall bladder to the small
intestine and are voided with the feces.
Due to sporadic emptying of the gall
bladder, fluke egg counts on any given day
can be a poor indicator of the actual level
of infection. When an egg comes in
contact with water, and with proper
environmental temperatures, each egg will
produce a larva, called a miracidium in 4-15
days. The miracidium can gain access to
the intermediate host, the lymnaeid snail, in
one of two ways: 1.)The snail may eat the
egg, and the miracidium will hatch out and
begin its development within the snail.
2.)The egg will hatch in water or a moist
environment, and the miracidium would
actively swim and seek out a snail, actually
penetrating the skin of the snail. Several
factors are necessary for infection with liver
fluke (fascioliasis) to occur. Presence of an
infected animal in the area is necessary. It
should be noted that the liver fluke is
capable of infecting and reproducing in
several animal species other than cattle.
Numerous lymnaeid snail species which are
distributed across the United States and
worldwide can act as the intermediate host
of Fasciola hepatica. In a three-month
period a single snail is capable of
producing up to 100,000 descendants.
Several environmental conditions are
necessary for propagation and
development of both the lymnaeid snail and
the developing larval forms of the fluke.
Moisture is necessary for the amphibious
snail, and also for the swimming cercariae.
The ideal temperature range for optimal
development of both snail and fluke larvae
is 59-68 degrees F (15-20 degrees C). The
snails also prefer a slightly acid pH. Eight
to ten weeks after cattle ingest
metacercariae, adult flukes will be present
in the bile ducts of the liver. The multi-site
feeding pattern in combination with the
irritation from the spines on the fluke's
cuticle irritate the bile ducts, which cause
thickening of the bile duct walls and
impairment of liver function. If sufficient
numbers of flukes are present, they can
cause a primary anemia from their blood
feeding. Adult liver flukes in the bile ducts
lead to very classical clinical signs: there is
gradual loss of condition, progressive
weakness, anemia and hypoproteinemia
with development of edematous
subcutaneous swellings, especially in the
intermandibular space and over the
abdomen. The main effects are low weight
gains in young cattle, decreased milk
production and condemnation of infected
livers. Liver condemnation due to
fascioliasis causes and economic loss to
the packer that is passed on to the cattle
finishing unit; this economic loss is
becoming a more important concern in the
cattle industry due to increased liver
condemnation rates.
Treatment and Control
The economic impact of Fasciola hepatica
on both liver condemnation and productivity
has been well documented in numerous
studies and publications. Consideration of
the cow's role as a source of fluke infection
for their calves is also necessary. Cows
infected with liver flukes can be a
continuous source of contamination for the
pasture. Fluke control in all cattle can aid
in the control of egg shedding and pasture
contamination. Cows can be treated with
IVOMEC Plus at any time of year, since
they may have had acquired liver flukes
over several seasons. Southern calves
should be treated in September with
IVOMEC Plus. IVOMEC Plus Injection
provides a convenient formulation to
control a wide range of internal and
external parasites, including sucking lice,
mange mites, grubs and nematode
parasites plus mature liver flukes. This
product provides unsurpassed broad-spectrum control of cattle parasites,
including the added insurance of adult liver
fluke control.
Source: Merck Technical Bulletin
Improve Cattle's Health With Fall Parasite Control
Fall is an ideal time to treat cattle infected
with damaging internal and external
parasites acquired during summer grazing.
Reducing the parasite load during fall
weaning increases immune response,
which helps calves respond better to
vaccination programs and other treatment
protocols. External parasites, particularly
lice, may become a problem for some
producers this winter. Biting and sucking
lice found on the skin surface around the
neck, withers and root of the tail might
cause animals to itch and scratch
themselves on fences or other objects.
Heavy infestations could cause severe hide
damage, hair loss, anemia and decreased
weight gain and milk production. Internal
parasites also may affect your productivity
this season. The brown stomach worm is
the most economically devastating internal
parasite of cattle. This nematode can
cause the disease, Ostertagiasis, which
often occurs in young calves causing
significant weight loss. Good management
practices, including fall parasite control
treatments, will ensure a healthy herd
throughout the long winter months.
Source: Drovers, Nov. '98
16th Annual Florida Cattlemen's Institute
And Allied Trade Show
The theme for this year's 16th Annual
Florida Cattlemen's Institute and Allied
Trade Show will be "Controlling the Cost
of Production Through Better
Management". This year's Institute and
Allied Trade show will be held on January
21, 1999 at the Kissimmee Valley
Agricultural center on Highway 192 East.
The motel will be the Holiday Inn Express
located just east of the Agricultural center
on Highway 192. For reservations call 407-846-4646 and let them know that you will
be attending the Florida Cattlemen's
Institute and Allied Trade Show for their
special rate of $39.00 per night. The
institute will begin with the trade show
opening at 8:00 a.m., followed by the
welcome given by Dr. Mike Martin, the new
Vice-president for Agricultural and Natural
Resources at the University of Florida's
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
(IFAS). Dr. Martin comes to us by way of
the University of Minnesota. This will be an
excellent opportunity to hear and meet Dr.
Martin. The keynote speaker for this year's
Institute is Allan Nation. Allan has been the
editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer
Magazine since 1977. This magazine,
based in Jackson, Mississippi, is the only
North American publication specializing in
intensive grazing and pasture production
systems for beef, sheep, and dairy cattle.
As the son of a commercial cattle rancher,
Mr. Nation grew up in Greenville,
Mississippi, and has traveled the world
studying and photographing grassland
farming systems. He is a frequent speaker
in the United States, Canada, Mexico,
Ireland and New Zealand on grassland
farming topics. Allan will be speaking on
"Harvesting Sunshine to Lower Production
Cost" at this year's Institute. He is the
author of Pasture Profits with Stocker
Cattle, Quality Pasture, Grass Farmers,
and Paddock Shift. With the industries
economic situation, you will not want to
miss this talk on lowering production cost
for your operations. Interested
individuals/companies who would like to
exhibit their products at the trade show
should contact Dr. Mike Fanning, Extension
Livestock Specialist, at 941-658-3400, or
Mr. Terry Weaver, Chairman of the FCA
Allied Membership Committee at 941-465-5856. For any cattlemen interested in
exhibiting cattle, contact Doug Mayo,
Extension Livestock Agent, at 941-533-0765.
South Florida Beef - Forage Program
Has New Website on Internet
The South Florida Beef-Forage Program
has a new website designed especially for
cattle ranchers. This group of livestock
extension agents has developed this page
which is dedicated to making timely and
practical information available to cattle
producers in South Florida via the Internet.
The URL or Internet address is:
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~sfbfp/beef.html.
So far, 12 separate categories of
information have been established. A
members link gives users access
information for the livestock agent in each
county along with a brief description of their
programing focus and background. A
calendar of events link gives an ever-changing listing of upcoming extension
programs, cattle sales and dates for
organizational meetings. There is a
discussion group which allows producers to
e-mail all the extension personnel as well
as all the other producers that are members
of the cattletalk discussion group. This
provides a means for getting a number of
opinions on issues pertaining to cattle
production and management. Each agent
submits their newsletters, so users have
access to a wide variety of current
information. There is a link which features
contact information by county for people
who provide a wide array of custom
services such as crop dusting, hay for sale,
tractor work, grass planting material, by-product feeds, day workers and many
others. University of Florida publications
are available for both cattle and forages on
the publications link. Producers can quickly
locate the fact sheets they need right at
their desktops without having to go by the
extension office or wait for them in the mail.
Cattlemen can also link to breed sire
summaries and search each breed for EPD
and performance information. This
extensive web site brings together a
tremendous resource of both local, state
and nationwide information to help
ranchers make better more informed
decisions. The response from cattlemen
has been very good. Many owners and
ranch managers have made this site their
home page and access it every week. The
page has currently received over 1600 hits
and has been increasing steadily.
Service Directory Grown to Cover South Florida
We are developing a list of names and
contact information for companies who
provide custom services for cattle industry
in Hardee County. The other agents in the
South Florida Beef-Forage Program have
been assembling this information as well,
and now have developed a directory of
service providers from all across the state.
This information is easily accessed through
our web site at
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~sfbfp/beef.html. There
are numerous types of businesses which
provide hay cutting, day workers, fence
repairs, horse shoeing, grass planting
materials, ag chemicals, feed wholesalers,
citrus pulp, tractor work, seed dealers, hay,
A.I. service, cattle hauling and many
others. This is a tremendous resource for
cattlemen and an excellent way to let
people know what you can do. This is a
free service so complete the enclosed form
and return it to the address at the top of
this newsletter. The Hardee County
directory will be enclosed with a
subsequent newsletter.
4-H Shooting Sports
Recently, myself and three volunteers from
Hardee County attended training in Ocala
to qualify us to teach shooting sports.
Shooting sports includes pistol, rifle,
shotgun and archery. We hope to start a
new 4-H Shooting Sports Club in the near
future, probably sometime in January. If
you or your child are interested in becoming
involved in this club, please contact the
Extension Service office at 773-2164. This
club will be for boys and girls alike. We are
excited about getting this club started, so
please let us know if you are interested.
If you know of anyone who would benefit
from receiving this newsletter, please call
the Extension Service Office at 773-2164
with their name and address. Also, I would
like your feedback on the newsletter. Let
me know if the articles are helpful to you,
and what other information would be
beneficial to your operation. This
newsletter is intended to bring you up to
date information to aid you. Keep me
informed on the types of articles you would
like to see.
Sincerely,
Lockie A. Gary
County Extension Director
STAFF CONTRIBUTORS
Lochrane A. Gary - County Extension Director
Mary Alderman - Administrative Secretary