A Research-Based Summary on Trace Minerals for Cattle

Producers can utilize mineral supplementation to improve cattle production and herd health, which has the potential to reduce antibiotic usage. This publication presents a summary on trace minerals for cattle. Written by João H. Jabur Bittar and Roberto A. Palomares, and published by the UF/IFAS Veterinary Medicine—Large Animal Clinical Sciences Department, October 2021.

Farm-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions’ Decision Support Systems

In this paper, 15 farm-scale Green House Gas-based (GHG-based) decision support (DS) tools were evaluated based on a number of criteria (descriptive evaluation), as well as the parameters requested as inputs and the outputs, all of which are considered important for the estimation procedure and the decision support approach. The tools were grouped as emission calculators and tools providing indicators in terms of more than one pillar of sustainability. The results suggest an absence of automatic consultation in decision support in most of the tools. Furthermore, dairy and beef cattle production systems are the most represented in the tools examined. This research confirms a number of important functionalities of modern GHG-based DS tools.

A Study on prevalence, identification and status of Ixodid (Hard) Ticks Infestation in cattle in and around Honkola Wabe District

Ticks are one of the best known groups of ecto parasites, which affect the cattle production and productivity either by transmitting different tick borne disease or by affecting health of cattle and as well as the quality of hides. Cross-sectional study design was implemented with the objective to estimate the prevalence of tick infestation and to identify the type tick of cattle in and around Honkola-Wabe woreda of Arsi zone of Oromia regional state, from January 2021 to August 2021. 400 cattle (local and cross breed) were selected using simple random sampling from four randomly selected kebeles; and examined for tick infestation and adult tick were collected for tick identification. From these 292(73%) of the animals were infested with different tick species and 108 (27%) of them were free of tick infestation. The highest number of cattle was infested with Amblyomma 160 (40%) followed by Boophilus 71(18%), Rhipicephalus 48 (12%) and Hyalomma 12(3%). There were significant statistically difference between tick infestation prevalence among different factors like breed, age, and sex and body conditions scored. For example, the prevalence rate of tick infested cattle were higher in cross breeds (79.4%) than in local breeds (69.5 %) (χ2=4.57; p=0.033). The result of the current study fills the information gap on prevalence of tick infected cattle of different breeds found in Honkola Wabe area. Tick, therefore, can lead to highly damage the national economic. Thus, in order to provide effective control of tick infestation systematic intervention approach could be implemented that will reduced chance of tick infestation of cattle and thereby improve cattle production.

Effects of Temperament on the Reproduction of Beef Cattle

Temperament is often defined as the behavioral expression of animals in response to human interaction. Cattle temperament can be evaluated using an association of chute score and exit velocity, with cattle then classified as adequate or excitable temperament. To assess the impacts of temperament on various beef systems, these evaluation criteria were associated with productive and reproductive parameters of Bos taurus and B. indicus-influenced cattle. Consistently across studies, excitable cattle had greater plasma cortisol compared to animals with adequate temperament. Studies also reported that excitable beef females have poorer reproductive performance compared to calmer cohorts, including reduced annual pregnancy rates, decreased calving rate, weaning rate, and kg of calf weaned/cow exposed to breeding. Acclimating B. indicus × B. taurus or B. taurus heifers to human handling improved behavioral expression of temperament and hastened puberty attainment. However, similar benefits were not observed when mature cows were acclimated to human handling. Collectively, temperament of beef females measured via behavioral responses upon human handling impacts their reproductive and productive responses independent of breed type, and should be considered for optimal beef cattle production.

Undergraduate Certificate in Beef Cattle Production Management

owa State University (ISU) offers undergraduate certificates to demonstrate completion of a focused study in a specialized area across a variety of disciplines. The certificate has the significant benefit of allowing students to customize their curriculum and document completion of an approved course of study. A Beef Cattle Production Management Certificate is offered within the Animal Science Department at ISU. The certificate requirements are organized to correspond with faculty and employer-defined needs for a successful transition from ISU student to beef cattle industry professional.  The Beef Cattle Production Management certificate will integrate technical topics in animal science with practical considerations in enterprise management. Two critical components to the certificate are the capstone Beef Cattle Enterprise Management course and a required internship that focuses on beef cattle management. Students that complete the certificate will have the background to identify and address challenges in modern beef cattle production enterprises. Further, the certificate assists employers in identifying students that have shown the interest, discipline, and ability to complete this specialized study program. 

Conservation on the Frontier: Understanding and Influencing How Cattle Production Impacts Avian Diversity in the Dry Chaco Forests of Argentina

<p>This thesis combines the identification of land-use strategies that provide high yields and high biodiversity with the identification of the psycho-social drivers of land-use decisions in an agricultural landscape. I visited 116 landholdings in two agricultural landscapes of the Dry Chaco region in Argentina. In 27 landholdings producing beef cattle in production systems of different land-use intensity, I collected empirical information on: (i) cattle yields, (ii) avian diversity, density and composition, and (iii) structural attributes of habitat in the agricultural matrix. The Chaco avifauna responded non-linearly to increasing cattle production intensification as bird species richness was relatively unchanged from forests to intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems and decreased sharply at high-intensity pasture systems. This pattern indicated the presence of a threshold in habitat quality for birds when native tree cover falls below 30%. The concave trade-off function suggests that land-sharing through the integration of native trees and pastures in silvopastoral systems has more potential than land-sparing to simultaneously provide high cattle yields and high bird diversity. Intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems may represent a matrix type of high habitat quality for most bird species due to the lower frequency and intensity of disturbances resulting from agricultural management, compared to high-intensity systems. Bird functional groups responded differently to agricultural intensification and habitat modification. Forest-restricted and fruit-eating bird species occurred at low density in intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems and disappeared from high-intensity pasture systems. Therefore, low-intensity systems and forest fragments (larger than 1000 ha) should be maintained in the landscape to provide habitat for species of high conservation concern and potentially contributing to forest regeneration. In 89 landholdings varying in landholding size and land tenure condition, I interviewed landholders and collected information about their beliefs, values and perceptions regarding conservation of remnant forest fragments. Based on this information, I tested the ability of three social psychological models and nine psycho-social constructs to explain landholders’ conservation intentions. The Theory of Planned behaviour provided a parsimonious and plausible explanatory model of landholders’ intentions to conserve remnant forest fragments in their landholdings. A model integrating self-interest and pro-social motives as proximal predictors and self-identity as the ultimate predictor explained 42% of the variance in landholders’ conservation intentions. The perceived pressure from relevant others to conserve forests (i.e. social norms) and the tendency to value forests favourably or unfavourably (i.e. attitudes) directly and significantly influenced landholders’ willingness to set-aside remnant forests in their landholdings. Landholders’ self-identity and their level of awareness of the scale and consequences of deforestation underlay the effects of social norms and attitudes on conservation intentions. Policy interventions aimed at influencing the behaviour of landholders towards more conservation-oriented outcomes would be more effective if tailored to the characteristics of landholder identity groups. Influencing conservation intentions of high-intensity, productivist landholders may require policy incentives and regulations that link better environmental performance with agricultural production outcomes and can become peer-enforced in the long-term. Conservation and development outcomes can be jointly enhanced for low-intensity, pre-productivist landholders through policies that secure their land tenure and facilitate the implementation of silvopastoral systems.</p>

Conservation on the Frontier: Understanding and Influencing How Cattle Production Impacts Avian Diversity in the Dry Chaco Forests of Argentina

<p>This thesis combines the identification of land-use strategies that provide high yields and high biodiversity with the identification of the psycho-social drivers of land-use decisions in an agricultural landscape. I visited 116 landholdings in two agricultural landscapes of the Dry Chaco region in Argentina. In 27 landholdings producing beef cattle in production systems of different land-use intensity, I collected empirical information on: (i) cattle yields, (ii) avian diversity, density and composition, and (iii) structural attributes of habitat in the agricultural matrix. The Chaco avifauna responded non-linearly to increasing cattle production intensification as bird species richness was relatively unchanged from forests to intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems and decreased sharply at high-intensity pasture systems. This pattern indicated the presence of a threshold in habitat quality for birds when native tree cover falls below 30%. The concave trade-off function suggests that land-sharing through the integration of native trees and pastures in silvopastoral systems has more potential than land-sparing to simultaneously provide high cattle yields and high bird diversity. Intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems may represent a matrix type of high habitat quality for most bird species due to the lower frequency and intensity of disturbances resulting from agricultural management, compared to high-intensity systems. Bird functional groups responded differently to agricultural intensification and habitat modification. Forest-restricted and fruit-eating bird species occurred at low density in intermediate-intensity silvopastoral systems and disappeared from high-intensity pasture systems. Therefore, low-intensity systems and forest fragments (larger than 1000 ha) should be maintained in the landscape to provide habitat for species of high conservation concern and potentially contributing to forest regeneration. In 89 landholdings varying in landholding size and land tenure condition, I interviewed landholders and collected information about their beliefs, values and perceptions regarding conservation of remnant forest fragments. Based on this information, I tested the ability of three social psychological models and nine psycho-social constructs to explain landholders’ conservation intentions. The Theory of Planned behaviour provided a parsimonious and plausible explanatory model of landholders’ intentions to conserve remnant forest fragments in their landholdings. A model integrating self-interest and pro-social motives as proximal predictors and self-identity as the ultimate predictor explained 42% of the variance in landholders’ conservation intentions. The perceived pressure from relevant others to conserve forests (i.e. social norms) and the tendency to value forests favourably or unfavourably (i.e. attitudes) directly and significantly influenced landholders’ willingness to set-aside remnant forests in their landholdings. Landholders’ self-identity and their level of awareness of the scale and consequences of deforestation underlay the effects of social norms and attitudes on conservation intentions. Policy interventions aimed at influencing the behaviour of landholders towards more conservation-oriented outcomes would be more effective if tailored to the characteristics of landholder identity groups. Influencing conservation intentions of high-intensity, productivist landholders may require policy incentives and regulations that link better environmental performance with agricultural production outcomes and can become peer-enforced in the long-term. Conservation and development outcomes can be jointly enhanced for low-intensity, pre-productivist landholders through policies that secure their land tenure and facilitate the implementation of silvopastoral systems.</p>