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Dairy Cow Slaughter Above 2022

Year to date calf slaughter totals are down more than 15 percent, and nearly 40 percent below the five year average. Calf slaughter is primarily dairy bred calves that enter the veal market. The veal market has seen declining consumption for several years, and the pandemic accelerated that trend to some extent. Cold storage numbers for veal at the end of the first quarter showed supplies on hand are down 40 percent from last year.

Dairy cow slaughter has been above last year but is tracking very closely with the five-year average.

livestock

April’s milk production report from last Friday by USDA NASS showed the U.S. milk cow herd is shrinking. Total U.S. milk cows shed 16,000 head compared to the previous month but are still above a year ago even though milk prices are well below last year’s levels.

Source : iastate.edu

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Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way



Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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