Special section/livestock
Bette McKibben with McK Ranch fills a meat delivery order on Nov. 19. The direct retail business delivering product to customers all over Oregon. ÒThe end user is going to be your best advertiser,Ó she said. ÒThey're the ones that promote it at the restaurant or grocery store.Ó
Cattle producer Bette McKibben has a simple marketing strategy for approaching restaurants with her beef: She doesn't bother.
It's not that their business doesn't appeal to McKibben, who raises cattle with her husband, David, on a 400-acre ranch near Dallas, Ore.
She just doesn't th ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Selling meat directly to the public sounds like pretty straightforward concept, but it's typically much more complex in practice.
Farmers are exploring various channels for direct marketing, with each technique subject to intricacies and caveats.
On the hoof
Sales of livestock t ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
With its latest herd retirement under way, Cooperatives Working Together will have sent about 250,000 dairy cows to slaughter over the past year.
The impact on beef producers has been large.
Beef producers lost $4 to $5 a hundredweight during a three-week period in June when CWT sen ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Cattle groups are hoping that actions by Congress and input from producers will put an end to talk of making participation in the National Animal Identification System mandatory.
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture considers comments it received in more than a dozen listening sessions i ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Now that the dust has settled on the H1N1 issue that arose in late April, and China has announced it will lift its ban on U.S. pork, the industry can look back on the harm the issues caused to already struggling pork producers.
Since September 2007, the U.S. pork industry has lost $5.4 bi ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Chris Schneider points to a photo of the first graduating class of the Bovine Veterinary Experience Program.
Each face he points to tells a different story: This student grew up on a ranch. This one was a dairy manager before participating. This one had never been on a farm in her life be ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Chicago-based Food Animal Concerns Trust wants the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of poultry litter in cattle feed, saying the practice poses human and animal health risks.
The organization, with the endorsement of 11 other groups, including Consumers Union, formally petitio ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Leo McDonnell has a keen interest in seeing the new country-of-origin labeling regulations succeed.
The rancher and feedstock business owner from Columbus, Mont., helped craft the legislation that governs the labeling of beef, chicken and various other commodities.
Recently McDonnell ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
As a cattle trader in Chihuahua, Mexico, Eduerdo Guerrero said he's felt the brunt of U.S. country-of-origin labeling regulations.
Since COOL went into full effect in early 2009, Guerrero has been receiving steep discounts on the Mexican-born cattle he sells to U.S. feedlots.
Guerrer ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Buying and selling livestock online might help larger producers expand their customer base, as long as they stick close to their local auctioneers.
California Polytechnic State University beef cattle specialist and animal science professor Mike Hall said online auctions are increasing in ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
In 2005, Julie and Tony Rossotti of Petaluma, Calif., were looking for something different in livestock production and found what they wanted -- something "new" with an old history.
"We found the African Boer goats in Oklahoma as part of a drought rescue project," Julie said. "Their size ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Agricultural Research Service
Using sheep to control leafy spurge works best if it's done in the spring every year, according to an Agricultural Research Service study.
After a few years of sheep grazing during spring, desirable forage grasses gain the upper hand as leafy spurge declines. ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
Landowners can spray them, hack them down or burn them, but pesky weeds often creep back.
One of the most effective tools in the ongoing battle against invasive weeds is often right on the farm: Livestock.
Sheep and goats in particular are increasingly being used across the West to r ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
When Ray E. Holes bought 450 goats and put them on his ranch near Grangeville, Idaho, he hoped just to break even on the critters.
The idea was to use the goats to control yellow starthistle in areas where chemical control was cost-prohibitive. If he could reduce the thistle and brush density, ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:50 AM
