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Cattle Producers Dealing With Desperate Situation

Dry conditions continue to create challenges for many cattle producers.

Allan Munroe is owner of Killarney Auction Mart.

"We're getting these little shots of rain that green things up and give us a little bit of optimism but the crops are slow emerging, the pastures are very slow, there's a lot of guys still feeding their cows, not wanting to throw them out on the pasture and damage what is there. The rule always was 'a day in the spring can give you a week in the fall' as far as grazing. Guys are being very cautious but it's just very, very slow coming and we're seeing a lot of action at the market this June that we normally wouldn't."

He notes it's a little bit of survival mode right now, because the feed is not out there.

"You can't just go buy a load of round bales right now. The grass isn't growing. There's a lot of these guys that have been through this before, with talk of 1988 and going back to 1959. You talk to some of the older fellows and it's just a matter of making sure you don't run out and moving some cattle and making those tough choices and those deep cuts early and a head of time so you don't end up completely against the wall with no feed for your animals at all."

Munroe says they plan to put a sale on June 28th because of the high number of cattle booked for the 14th.

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Trending Video

What Happens When Pigs Adapt to High Soybean Meal Diets? - Gustavo Lima

Video: What Happens When Pigs Adapt to High Soybean Meal Diets? - Gustavo Lima



In this special rerun episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Gustavo Lima, PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University, discusses how grow-finish pigs respond to high soybean meal diets. He explains the initial drop in feed intake, changes in backfat, later adaptation, energy efficiency, amino acid utilization, and the rise in nitrogen excretion at higher inclusion levels. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/...

“Once they got adapted to the diet, they can handle higher levels of inclusion of soybean meal.”

Meet the guest: Gustavo Lima / gustavo-lima-a9867127 is a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University whose work focuses on swine nutrition, ingredient characterization, energy metabolism, caloric efficiency, and applied data analysis. With more than 15 years of experience in swine production across Latin America, Gustavo also brings expertise in environmental control, performance evaluation, barn ventilation, and grow-finish housing. Learn more from Gustavo Lima on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.