Using new fitness traits like heat tolerance and grazing behavior, Milt Thomas, a department of animal science professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is determined to help improve beef cattle systems in South Texas.

Before the summer months arrive, it’s important to prepare for the potential havoc heat can cause to your cattle.

Encouraging animals to disperse and utilize the full range can be a pain this time of year, but necessary for the health of the range plants. 

It’s no secret that reproductive success is the most influential factor determining profitability in beef production. If a cow doesn’t produce a live calf, the operator is left holding the bag of her annual production cost without an opportunity for a return.

With heat stress comes lameness and negative impacts on hoof health. In fact, heat stress is one of the biggest factors contributing to dairy cow lameness.

By midsummer last year, many streams were just a series of stagnant pools. When livestock crowded the streambanks for water, state and local officials issued stern warnings again and again.

Doug Gross specializes in all things potatoes on his Wilder farm. “We learned early that there were some things I wasn’t good at and shouldn’t be growing,” he says. Rather than doubling down on those weaknesses, he focused on his strengths.

Water resources have become a legitimate concern for U.S. agriculture.