Schumacher Memorial Livestock Day Recap

Over 30 producers attended the annual Jim Schumacher Memorial Livestock Day on January 24, 2018.

The first presentation was by Dr. Jeffery Hall, Professor at Utah State University Common. Dr. Hall is very familiar with the troubles in balancing mineral and vitamin requirement for cattle in areas with poor water quality. Water levels with sulfates as low as 500 parts per million (ppm) can cause copper (Cu) deficiencies in cattle. These complications can lead to polio or even death from secondary complications in cattle. The best way to know the mineral status of your animals is to perform a test. For Cu, a liver biopsy is the best test of Cu in the animal. Combining this information with known levels of minerals in the feed and water allow a producer to balance the mineral requirement for the animals.

Vitamins are also very important for the production of livestock. Unfortunately, a plant in Germany that supplies 40-percent of the world's of vitamin A and E has been shut down due to a fire in November 2017. This has caused prices to rise from the $200 dollar per tonne (metric ton) in 2017 to over $100,000 per tonne in 2018. Proper mineral and vitamin balance in cattle can result in 50 to 100-pound gains in calves alone, Dr. Hall mentioned.

Dr. Emily Meccage, MSU Extension Forage Specialist, discussed new research varieties for annual forage production. She has performed many state-wide trials and spring Triticale is a promising crop. On average throughout the study, the Triticale varieties produced from 4,898 lb/ ac up to 5,854 lb/ ac, while the winter wheat entries produced an average of 4192-4978 pounds/ ac. For reference, Willow Creek produced approximately 4698 lb/ ac and headed later compared to all the other entries.

Triticale also did well in a state-wide project where it was planted with 13 other monoculture and mix entries, and the statewide production average was only second to that of oats when planted in the spring.

Eric Riley, of Montana Farmers Union, provided an overview of the Pasture Range Forage (PRF) insurance program. PRF insurance can be placed on pasture, rangeland, and forage that you own or rent. Base values for Phillips County rangeland are $17.30 per acre with the ability to adjust value down to as little as 60-percent ($8.82) and up to as much as 150-percent ($22.06). Non-irrigated hay acre's value is $118 per acre that can be adjusted from 60-percent of the base to 150-pecent of the base value. Irrigated hay base value is $12, and can be adjusted down to 60-percent and up to 150-percent.

Producers can insure any number of acres for their operation in two-month intervals, with the maximum of insured acres in each interval not exceeding 70-percent of insured acres. Intervals are two-month periods with acres insured in up to six intervals.

Indemnity payments are issued when your insured acres that are insured in a certain interval come in under the percentage of normal precipitation you pick. You can insure acres from 70-to-90-percent of normal precipitation for any one interval. All precipitation measurements are recorded by NOAA Dopler Weather Stations and reported to the insurance companies. They use the four closest stations to your grid to get a precipitation average as your ranch will miss some rains and get some that the NOAA stations miss. Sign up is Thursday, November 15 for the production year 2019.

Dr. Brian Warr, Veterinarian from Feedlot Health in Canada discussed how producers can perform necropsy investigations on animals that are post-mortem (pm). Dr. Warr demonstrated the critical photos that are helpful in determining the cause of death for a pm animal with a video of his assistant performing a necropsy. In less than 15 minutes his assistant, started by taking a photo of the animal on its left side showing all four feet. Next, she exposed the entrails of the animal by cutting the animal just under the skin from jaw to tail one hand width above the midline of the belly of the animal. This keeps all the entrails from falling out of the animal. She took photos of exposed hip joint, sampled lung, liver, heart, and esophagus. Each photo should have a marker in it with the ID of the animal or use the animal tag as a marker. Don't hold the tag too close to the camera or the camera will focus on the tag and not the animal, Dr. Warr cautioned. Placing the sampled tissue on the animal for photos provides a better contrast than laying them on the dirt or snow.

This program could not be possible without the cooperation of the local veterinarians, contributions by the animal pharmaceutical companies, cookies from CattleWomen, and the donation of the meal by the Malta Area Chamber of Commerce and Agricultural.