Pounds Of Beef Research Articles

The enteric methane emission conundrum: U.S. beef cattle producer adoption of climate-focused technology

Cattle are ruminant livestock that emit enteric methane (CH4) as part of their natural digestive process. The U.S. beef cattle industry is receiving pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including methane. The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef has set a target for the U.S. feedlot sector to reduce emissions by 10 % per pound of beef by 2030. Feed additive 3-Nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) has been developed to help mitigate methane emissions. While not yet approved for use in U.S. beef production, adoption of 3-NOP in U.S. feedlots upon approval remains unknown as no widespread economic incentive currently exists in the marketplace to spur adoption. The objectives of this study are: (1) to determine potential 3-NOP adoption by U.S. feedlot cattle producers given various marketplace incentives and (2) to explore how differing approaches to reducing emissions from beef production to achieve sector targets impact social welfare. Our study uses data from a U.S. feedlot producer survey to estimate willingness-to-adopt (WTA) measures. Regression results are used to map potential adoption of 3-NOP given various market and policy scenarios. The survey sample is then split into small producers (<2000 head sold in last 12 months) and large producers (2000+ head sold in last 12 months) to determine differences in WTA based on operation size. We find that producers prefer incentives in the form of processor premiums over government subsidies. The incentive level needed to spur adoption increases as the implementation cost of 3-NOP increases and decreases if net profit estimations are included in the messaging. On average, small producers require a higher incentive to adopt 3-NOP than large producers. Improving the emissions reduction efficacy of 3-NOP reduces the level of incentive needed to achieve aggregate emissions targets. The least expensive avenue to achieve emissions reduction targets results in greater outlays to large producers as compared to small producers. The marginal cost to society of feeding 3-NOP to an additional steer or heifer in the feedlot increases with each animal. As such, it may be that improving the efficacy of 3-NOP through increased investment in research and development is less costly than spurring more producers to adopt the additive in their feed rations. Ultimately, producers, processors, beef consumers, voting residents, taxpayers, and policymakers all have influence in shaping how the beef industry tackles the emissions reduction conundrum.

Beef’s intersection with ESG Metrics

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics are in­creasingly important to businesses for evaluating their perfor­mance in non-financial indicators to investors. Currently, the largest intersection of the beef industry with ESG metrics is re­lated to the area of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reporting and goals and targets. Many companies that sell beef products have made public commitments to reduce Scope 3 GHG emis­sions, which includes GHG emissions from all inputs, including emissions associated with the raising of cattle for beef. Cur­rently, there is a gap between company commitments and the U.S. beef supply’s ability to document and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from cattle production. Research filling these gaps, including improving models used for reporting and find­ing practical and scalable solutions to mitigate enteric methane emissions is a key focus of Colorado State University’ AgNext. Animal health and veterinary medicine is a key part of main­taining and achieving ESG metrics outcome goals, as lower rates of morbidity and mortality can lower resource inputs and GHG emissions per pound of beef produced. Additionally, animal health and well-being are fundamental components of the social license to operate for beef supply chains, thus bovine veterinari­ans can play a key role in ESG metrics related to beef production.

Market diagnosis to learn about the commercial snack scene for pets

Dog snacks consist of their flour-based production, which is extracted from crickets, these snacks contain the same protein as producing a pound of beef which consumes two thousand times more water than producing a pound of crickets , plus more land and energy, and emits 100 times more greenhouse gases. On the other hand, insects have as much protein as beef or chicken, and even have more vitamins. PRODUCT Dog biscuits based on cricket flour. PRICE The price to the public is $100 MXN. 450 Gr. (12 pcs). PLAZA Supermarket, Convenience Stores, Pet Stores, Veterinary, Pet Accessories Stores and Website. Promotion - Online Coupons - Discounts on special dates - Quantity discounts - Free shipping from a certain amount of purchase on the website - Giveaways by Social Media General Objective. Get information to see the commercial viability of selling snacks for canines on the ZMG. Methodology. A quantitative study was conducted on pet owners, specifically dogs; having as an instrument of data collection a survey applied in the Metropolitan Zone of Guadalajara to a representative sample of 380 surveys of men and women over the age of 18 with previous filter question with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of 5% error. The survey was conducted by simple random subsampling by clusters and random home routes. Contribution. This study has three important purposes: 1. Incorporation and participation of students from the career of Engineering in Development and Business Innovation in project initiated pro students of TSU Environmental Technology to identify areas of commercial opportunity of the product. 2. Awareness and active participation of the university community, consumers and the general public in relation to the sustainability and care of the environment. 3. The results of the study will serve as the basis for the design and realization of a business plan

Survey of gross pathologic conditions of cattle presented for slaughter in the southeastern United States

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, cattle slaughtered in 2017 totaled 32.2 million animals and approximately 6.4 million animals were adult cull cattle (USDA 2016; USDA-NASS 2016). This harvest accounts for an estimated 5.4 billion pounds of beef or 20.7% of the 2017, US beef production. In the Southeastern US, the production of beef from cull cattle included 583,300 animals or approximately 90% of the total animals harvested in the region. Establishing the prevalence of diseases within this population is necessary for improving the quality and profitability of this sector of the industry. The objectives of this study were; 1) determine the prevalence of gross pathologic conditions, 2) characterize the type and frequency of conditions eliciting carcass condemnation, and 3) evaluate the extent of carcass bruising in cull cattle presented to slaughter and originating from farms in the southeastern United States.

Prescribed Fire Effects on Activity and Movement of Cattle in Mesic Sagebrush Steppe

Prescribed fire has long been used worldwide for livestock and wildlife management. Prescribed fire effects on activity budgets and movement path characteristics of grazing animals, however, remain largely unknown. We evaluated whether prescribed-fire treatments in mesic sagebrush steppe affect cattle behaviors, which could influence foraging efficiency and, ultimately, impact animal productivity. Mature, lactating beef cows grazing within two study areas located in the Owyhee Mountains of southwestern Idaho, United States were tracked with Global Positioning System collars for 2 yr before and 5 yr after fall prescribed fire. Tracking data were then classified into stationary, foraging, and traveling activity types on the basis of movement distance and velocity thresholds. After fire, cattle in burned sites tended to increase their foraging activity budgets, bout durations, bout counts, and path lengths relative to prefire and cattle in unburned sites. Fire did not affect steepness of cattle foraging paths. Prescribed fire in mesic sagebrush steppe can be used to create opportunities for cattle to improve foraging efficiency by altering their activity budgets and movement path characteristics. Any consequent improvements in foraging efficiency could, in turn, promote increased rates of weight gain, better body condition, enhanced reproductive success, and ultimately, more pounds of beef for market.

Ranchers Feeding Kids: A Multi-Partner Approach to Programming

School districts face challenges to balance budgets and provide healthy meals. Oregon State University Extension agents joined with community partners to form Ranchers Feeding Kids (RFK). The program started with ranchers donating cattle that were harvested and processed for local schools' lunch programs. An educational event taught youth about livestock production, its importance to the local economy, and beef's health benefits. In 4 years, the program has grown to include 32 schools in 13 different school districts, providing over 5,500 students with meals. Forty donated cattle, with a value of over $40,000, have provided 30,000 pounds of beef to schools.

Effect of forage type in the stocker phase and its effect on subsequent feedlot performance and carcass characteristics of beef steers

ABSTRACT The focus of most research on beef weaning programs is to evaluate effects of age and diet on calf performance with a particular interest on preconditioned health program to maximize BW gain. In support of the forage-based production system, research needs to be conducted to evaluate the potential of different forages to facilitate weaning and continuation into forage-based development programs. In each of 2 yr, 48 weaned beef steers were used to evaluate performance when grazing monocultures of endophyte-free tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire = Festuca arundinacea Schreb.; TF] and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.; ALF) and the effect of these stocker treatments on subsequent performance and carcass characteristics. Forages were not limiting in terms of mass produced and nutritive value. The greater nutritive value of ALF resulted in greater performance and pounds of beef produced per hectare compared with steers grazing TF. Steers grazing ALF tended to be heavier at the beginning of the feedlot phase, and the difference resulted in heavier (P

Beef Production and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In their article discussing the impacts of farm animal production on climate change, Koneswaran and Nierenberg (2008) called for “immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices” to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One of their recommendations was to switch to organic livestock production, stating that Raising cattle for beef organically on grass, in contrast to fattening confined cattle on concentrated feed, may emit 40% less GHGs and consume 85% less energy than conventionally produced beef. These claims are terribly misleading. Koneswaran and Nierenberg (2008) compared organic beef produced in Sweden (22.3 kg of carbon dioxide-equivalent GHG emissions per kilogram of beef) with unusual and resource-intensive Kobe beef production in Japan (36.4 kg of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions per kilogram) (Cederberg and Stadig 2003; Ogino et al. 2007). To achieve the ultra-high fat levels in meat preferred by Japanese consumers, Japan’s wagyu cattle are raised and fattened for more than twice as long as typical U.S. beef cattle (Cattle Marketing Information Service Inc. 2007; Ogino et al. 2007). Moreover, all of the feed and forage for the Japanese animals (from birth through slaughter) must be shipped especially long distances—> 18,000 miles in the example cited. Hence, this beef has ultra-high GHG emissions and energy requirements. According to several analyses, typical nonorganic beef production in the United States results in only 22 kg of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions per kilogram of beef, which is 0.3 kg less than the Swedish organic beef system (Johnson et al. 2003; Subak 1999). These comprehensive life cycle analyses, which examined all aspects of beef production and all GHG emissions, seem to definitively rule out significant reductions in GHG emissions by switching to organic beef production. In fact, if nitrous oxide and other emissions from land conversion are included in the analysis, a large-scale shift to organic, grass-based extensive livestock production methods would increase overall GHG emissions by nearly 60% per pound of beef produced. According to Searchinger et al. (2008), each acre of cleared land results in 10,400 lb/acre/year of CO2-equivalent GHG (over a 30-year period, based on estimated emissions from a proportion of each land type converted to cultivation in the 1990s). Our own analysis (Avery and Avery 2007) using conservative beef production parameters from Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture shows that grain-finishing cattle is at least three times more land efficient per pound of finished beef compared to grass-finishing. Cattle industry statistics [U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2008] show that, in 2007, the United States used 2 billion bushels of corn to produce 22.16 billion lb finished grain-fed beef (17.3 million head steers and 10.2 million head heifers at average dressed weights of 830.2 and 764.8 lb, respectively). At 150 bushels/acre corn, this means we used 13.3 million acres to produce the feed grains. Converting all beef production to grass-based finishing would require at least an additional 26.6 million acres of pasture/grass to produce 2007 U.S. beef output. Using the 22 lb of CO2-equivalent GHG per pound of grain-fed beef from Johnson et al. (2003) and the 22.3 lb CO2-equivalent GHG per pound of beef for organic grass of Cederberg and Stadig (2003), each system producing 22.16 billion lb of beef would directly and indirectly result in 487.5 and 494.2 billion lb of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions, respectively. However, adding the “carbon debt” resulting from the additional cleared land required by the two-thirds less efficient grass finishing process (26.6 million acres × 10,400 lb/acre/year, or 276.6 billion lb/year) results in the organic system totaling 770 billion lb of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions; or 58% higher than the conventional system’s total of 487.5 billion lb.

Uchodźcy, and: Z głowy (review)

Henryk Grynberg, Uchodzcy Warsaw: Swiat Ksiazki, 2004, 245 pp. Janusz Glowacki, Z glowy Warsaw: Swiat Ksiazki, 2004, 268 pp. Books made their way to supermarket shelves while bookstores became supermarkets. Secretaries' secrets, revelations of famous men's wives, sons, daughters, concubines, and prostitutes, all sold like hotcakes. Anyone could become an author: politician, charlatan, conman, spy, murderer, thief--as long as he was or could be subject of a scandal.... There were more authors than readers and yet all who wrote made money. All except for the writer, who was a drop in the flood of print, of print mania, of books in hard and soft covers, in every size and color, on every possible and impossible subject. (Uchodzcy 93, my translation) Such was Henryk Grynberg's assessment of the state of American literature in 1964 when he first visited the United States. Forty years later he published his confessions, in which he embedded the autobiographical material that had appeared earlier as the short story Uncle Morris. In the age of post-literature, do we dare ask whether autobiography is literature? The recent publication of two autobiographies by Polish authors living in the United States nonetheless prompts such an inquiry. The novelist, poet, and essayist Henryk Grynberg came to America to stay in 1967, and the playwright and prose writer Janusz Glowacki arrived here in the wake of martial law in 1982. Both write in Polish and publish in Poland, are well known in Europe, and enjoy a select readership in the United States. Grynberg's works have been translated into most European languages and Hebrew, with four titles available in English: The Jewish War, The Victory, Children of Zion, and Drohobycz, Drohobycz. Glowacki's plays--Hunting Cockroaches, Antigone in New York, The Fourth Sister--have been performed in the United States and internationally. Last year both writers came out with ostensibly similar books. Grynberg's Uchodzcy (Refugees), unlike much of his work, deals not with the Holocaust directly (although it does take on anti-Semitism) but with the author's peripatetic postwar existence, while Glowacki's Z glowy (O. the Top of My Head) shuttles back and forth between his years in Poland and his life and career in emigration. Both books are similar in length (about 250 pages), both were published by Warsaw's Swiat Ksiazki, and both focus on or mention in passing a plethora of postwar Polish intelligentsia and artists--well-known writers, actors, filmmakers, painters, and professors--as well as many figures unknown to the public at large: drunkards, named and nameless prostitutes, thieves, hobos, and sexual deviants. In several cases the two categories overlap. In addition to being autobiographical, the two books are picaresque narratives in which a string of adventures is linked by the person of the narrator, who may or may not be present as a character. But they contain as well a sharp, unforgiving critique of both the Communist past and the capitalist present, whether in Poland or the United States. Both Glowacki and Grynberg remind those younger Poles who don't know and the older Poles who may have forgotten how unfreedom tasted. Glowacki recalls the nightmare that haunted him for the first few years after his arrival in America (Grynberg describes an identical nightmare in his essay Duty): would travel briefly to Poland, and when I was about to leave, they would take my passport away. I told a few friends about the and it turned out that it was a classic. All emigrants, including Czeslaw Milosz, have had that dream (Z glowy, 191, my translation). They both describe the grueling, humiliating--and now inconceivable--interrogations ordinary citizens in general and writers in particular had to undergo whenever they applied for a passport, an exit visa, an entry visa, even a transit visa. Obtaining an apartment or a pound of beef also demanded a supple spine and offered material for a study in the grotesque. …

Grazing cattle on winter cereal pasture on the sandy soils of south-central Kansas (2004)

Rye, wheat, and triticale pasture were evaluated during the winters of 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2002-03 for their ability to increase cattle weight from late fall through mid-spring. Large-scale studies were conducted on two 80-acre sites divided into either 25- or 40-acre pastures. Cattle at these sites were stocked at one head per acre, with an average initial weight between 500 and 550 lb. At the Sandyland Experiment Field, small-scale studies were conducted by using the same winter cereals for forage, but at greater stocking rates, ranging from two to three head per acre. Supplemental feeding, as necessary, included summer annual forage hay, prairie hay, and grain consisting of wheat middlings and processed grain sorghum. Winter cereals were planted at 100 lb/acre in September of each year. Rye provided the best pasture in terms of cattle weight gain and needed the least supplemental feeding. Wheat was next in producing pounds of beef, and triticale produced less gain than either rye or wheat. These data suggest that rye and wheat were able to support greater stocking rates than triticale.

An Economic Evaluation of Wheat Cultivars Based on Grain and Forage Production

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is extensively used for both forage for cattle (Bos taunts L.) and grain from the same planting in the southern Great Plains. Little information on the impact of cultivar selection on the economic return in such a wheat production system is available. Forage and grain yield data from 12 hard red winter wheat cultivars grown in nine environments were evaluated to assess the economic impact of cultivar selection. Trials in each environment were a randomized complete block design with four to six replications. Forage data were collected until the early joint stage of growth, and grain yield was obtained from the same plots. Forage data were converted into pounds of beef and then return from beef using three conversion procedures, since tested conversion ratios were not available. Returns from beef and grain were summed and cultivars were ranked in each environment. Rank statistics were used to evaluate cultivar stability across environments. Environmental mean forage and grain yields varied widely, 367 to 2450 for forage and 13.8 to 52.2 bu/acre for grain, resulting in average net returns across environments ranging from $2.29 to $164.78/acre. Higher grain yielding cultivars were not among the highest forage yielding cultivars, emphasizing the need to use the combined economic return in decisionmaking. Net return by cultivar across environments ranged from $51.18 to $78.47/acre. Cultivar rankings were consistent across environments, across methods of calculating conversion of forage into beef, and across price scenarios for both beef and grain. Producers interested in using wheat for both forage and grain can effectively choose cultivars based upon net return per acre, but choosing based on forage or grain yield alone seldom resulted in greatest economic return.

Optimum Treatment Rate for Tebuthiuron on Rangeland Infested with Sand Shinnery Oak

Over 4.2 billion pounds of beef were produced in Texas with a value of over $1.2 billion in 1971, the greatest for any of the fifty states. Texas production of range livestock is limited by the availability of rangeland. In 1967, over 53% of the land area in Texas was classified as rangeland and 82% of the grasslands of the state was infested with undesirable woody plants (Osborn and Witkowski). Brush problems, for the most part, are brought on by man himself. Brush is a problem because it competes with grasses needed for livestock grazing. Sand shinnery oak typically has a large root system which is extremely hard to kill. Top kill of the sand shinnery oak is relatively easy, but the root kill is usually low. Total plant kill from aerially applied liquid herbicides is rare. Following top growth disturbance new shoots may arise from buds along with the more shallow rhizomes, resulting in only temporary control. Tebuthiuron has been used on sand shinnery oak, and rates above 3 kilograms per hectare essentially cleaned out the plant community. Grass yields increased dramatically following oak kill, but judicious grazing management with occasional deferment is needed to retain a healthy plant cover (Pettit). At the end of a third growing season after treatment with tebuthiuron at different treatment rates of active ingredient per acre, it was found that oak was reduced as the rate of herbicide increased (Jones and Pettit). Tebuthiuron at a rate of 0.4 kilogram per hectare or greater converted the sand shinnery oak into a mid-grass prairie. At these rates, over 80% of the sand sagebrush was killed and the yield of sand shinnery oak was reduced by at least 90% (Jones). One goal of a rancher is to utilize his land at the highest productive capacity. Today, more ranchers are achieving this goal through initiating some type of brush control program. Chemical control of sand shinnery oak through aerial application of tebuthiuron has been introduced as an effective brush control program. Little economic analysis has been done on the costs and returns associated with aerial application of tebuthiuron; therefore, this paper attempts to explain those factors associated with determining the optimum treatment rate for aerially applied tebuthiuron on sand shinnery oak. The specific objectives of this paper are (a) to develop an equation which estimates the total grass production associated with different treatment rates, (b) to estimate the annual revenue and costs associated with the application of tebuthiuron, and (c) to estimate the optimum treatment rate to the Texas High Plains rancher under current economic conditions in the livestock market and application costs.

Coordinating Beef Cattle Management with the Range Forage Resource

Highlight: Seasonal changes in forage production and quality occur due to climatic factors, principally precipitation. Increased eficiency of livestock production could occur if livestock management were coordinated to the changes that occur in forage quality. Traditionally, calves are born in the spring in much of the western United States. Weaning then occurs sometime in late fall. Management practices of early weaning, supplementation on the range, time of calving, and length of the breeding period can be incorporated into a livestock system to take advantage offorage at its highest quality and therefore to maximize beef production from the existing forage resource. summers. The Southwestern pattern, including Arizona, southem Utah and Nevada, and parts of New Mexico, is biseasonal with winter precipitation followed by spring drought and summer precipitation followed by fall drought. The Plains pattern occurs in the area bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains and on the east by the Appalachian Mountains. Precipitation in this area is greatest in the spring and summer and then tapers off in the fall and winter. Great Basin Pattern Common ecological units within the Great Basin pattern are Box (1974) estimates the demand for red meat will increase in the sagebrush-bunchgrass of the lower elevations and coniferthe future due to an increase in population. He further states that ous forest communities in the mountains. Skovlin ( 1967) production of red meat will increase on rangelands. Red meat studied the protein content of important range grasses in the production on rangelands could be increased if better use were Blue Mountains of Oregon. Skovlin reported a 4-year average made of the range forage resource. of changes in protein content of four grass species from July to Traditionally, beef cattle management systems in the western October. As the summer season progressed, protein content and United States have been similar regardless of geographic or hence forage quality declined. ecological area. Generally, forage quality is the greatest in the By September, forage quality-had declined so that continued spring in northern regions and following the season of greatest growth of young livestock (unweaned calves or yearlings) could precipitation in the southern regions. Little attention has been have been critically affected. Previous work by Skovlin (1962) paid to coordinating specific management practices with showed that cow and calf gains decreased as the grazing season changes in forage quality. If this were done, efficiency of progressed (Fig. 1). Weights of cows and their calves taken at production in terms of pounds of beef produced per unit of 2-week intervals from Aug. 17 to Oct. 24 revealed that the cows rangeland could be maximized. lost weight most of the study period. Calf gains per 2-week period decreased greatly between the third and fourth periods. The Forage Resource and Livestock Production The gains observed at the last weight day were a result of fall

Agriculture's contribution to the solid waste problem

The pound of beef in the supermarket meat counter is the result of 25 lbs of manure being left in the field and feedlot. Similar patterns of tremendous quantities of field and processing plant wastes per unit of consumable food exist for all other agricultural commodities. The waste management principles for agricultural wastes are the same as for any other of society's unwanteds, but the fortuitous (not-by-design) ability to dispose of or utilize many agricultural wastes back to the land is explored. The limitations, in economics, technology, and assimilative capacity are considered.

The effect of nitrogen fertilization and annual burning of bluestem pastures on cows, calves, and vegetation

Six native Bluestem pastures and spring-calving cows were used to evaluate effects of burning and fertilizing pastures. Two pastures were controls, two were burned, and two were burned and fertilized with 40 pounds of urea nitrogen an acre applied aerially. Average daily gain of the calves did not differ significantly among pastures. Pounds of beef produced per acre was significantly higher from the burned, fertilized pastures, which supported heavier stocking rates with increased herbage production.

Comparison of Heavily Fertilized Pangola and Star Grass Pastures in Terms of Beef Production and Carrying Capacity in the Humid Mountain Region of Puerto Rico

Intensively managed Star and Pangola grass pastures fertilized with one ton of 14-4-10 per acre yearly were compared in terms of beef production and carrying capacity during a 2-year period in the humid mountain region of Puerto Rico. Star grass produced an average of 1,350 pounds of beef per acre yearly with average daily gains of 1.33 pounds per head, compared to 947 pounds of beef per acre and average daily gains of 1.09 per head for Pangola. Star grass pastures had a carrying capacity equivalent to three 600-pound steers per acre compared to 2.5 for Pangola. Star grass had higher protein and dry matter contents than Pangola throughout the year. Protein content of the forage ranged from 11.3 to 19.6 percent, with highest values occurring during the slow growth of winter months. Both grasses produced lowest yields during the winter months in spite of rainfall in excess of 5 inches monthly during this period. Shorter days and cooler temperatures seem to be primary factors responsible for lower beef production during this season, although these variations are small in this tropical area. Excessive rainfall tended to depress weight gains.

Washington Cattleman of the Year Program Promotes Good Range Management

,AT TE WANT people to know that VV cattlemen are making strenuous efforts to handle their own and the public's land and water resources as efficiently as they put pounds of beef on their cattle. We also want to inspire other cattlemen in the state to increase their efforts along these lines. These are the words that Bob Rutter used when he recommended that the Washington Cattlemen's Association sponsor a of the program. Bob, who started this whole thing, was president of the Association at the time, but ill health forced him to resign last fall. I appreciate your interest in our association's Cattleman of the Year program, and the opportunity to tell you of the good it has done, especially in promoting range management and the objectives of the Range Society. I feel that the objectives of our program and those of this Society are nearly the same. The words are different, and so are the methods of pursuit. But I'm sure we're heading for the same goal. Our 1950 program was a very successful affair from many standpoints. Editors of newspapers and farm magazines, leaders of agricultural agencies, and nearly everyone of our 2800 members have said that it is one of the finest things our association has ever undertaken. Our 1950 experience showed us where we could improve the program. There's no question that the 1951 Cattleman of the Year program was more successful than it was the year before. More people took part in it. Also, we put more emphasis on educational values.

Extension Practices for Range Management at Abilene Christian College, Abilene, Texas

RANGE Management as a science is coming into its own. The unqualified success of the American Society of Range Management and the publishing of the Journal of Range Management are proof. Many other publications and research studies have been inaugurated, not as agronomy, forestry, or animal husbandry, but in the name of range management itself. This recognition of range management as a science makes it imperative that an educational program between research and the rancher be carried out. The interpretation of the results of experiments and studies by ,these range technicians, that is, their translation into terms understood by the average rancher, requires a range man thoroughly schooled in technical knowledge, and also one who has had a wealth of practical experience. It is true, to a certain degree, that we are short of range men who are adequately trained to fully understand and to correlate the problems of the range that confront the rancher. In the past few years, however, a few of our Western agricultural schools have turned out men who are technically trained. Unless these men come from ranch homes, they usually need some field experience to succeed in an extension program in range management. This practical experience can be readily gained by working in the field with the Soil Conservation Service and other governmental agencies engaged in range management and studies. A range man with this background will then be in a position to carry a successful educational program to farmers and ranchers. The Agriculture Departmenit of Abilenie Christian College found that the ranchers in Central West Texas were eager to produce more pounds of beef, muttoi, and wool while at the same time improving their grasslands. Livestock producers were stimulated to investigate more fully some of these concepts by reading popular articles in newspapers and livestock magazines about progressive ranchers already putting into practice some of the newer developments of grassland research. This Agriculture Department received numerous inquiries asking for information on range work. With this basis and incentive a Division of Range Management was established in the fall of 1948. This program was devoted to the development of an educational program for ranchers in Central West Texas. A curriculum in range management was also initiated for students wanting a major in this field. Over 90 percent of these students are returniing to their farms and ranches schooled inl the theories and trained in the practices used for the best management of our grasslands. These students are in a position to aid and encourage neighboring ranchers with their range problems.

Chemical Composition, Grazing Value and Vegetative Changes of Herbage in a Typical Plains Pasture

Beginning in May, 1939, samples of buffalo grass, blue grama and Russian thistles were taken bi-monthly from fenced square-meter plots in a 32-acreterraced pasture for chemical composition study. Density readings were taken spring and fall from unfenced plots. Yearling Herefords gracing the pasture were weighed every fifteen days during the grazing season. Sheep were used to utilize weeds and surplus grass in 1940 and 1942 respectively. Moisture, crude protein, carotene and phosphorus were high in the three herbages during the early stages of growth but decreased rapidly as the plants approached maturity, usually during July. Buffalo grass proved to be superior to blue grama for winter pasture, and its chemical composition was affected less by clipping. Yearling Herefords grazing the pasture for an average of 129 days for 4 seasons made an average daily gain of 1.01 pounds and produced a yearly average of 29.3 pounds of beef per acre. The average daily gain for June was 1.47 pounds compared to .53 pound for August. Gains were high when the protein and carotene content of the herbage was high in June and correspondingly low in August. Sheep were used early in the seasons of 1940 and 1942 to utilize more completely weeds and surplus grass. The use of sheep added materially to the gracing capacity of the pasture. There was a great increase in the density of buffalo grass above the terrace ridges. In the dry season of 1940 there was a considerable decrease in density of grass on unflooded areas below the terraces. Although Russian thistles were prominent in dry seasons, the grasses tended to crowd them out during the wet seasons of 1941 and 1942.

Tait on Force

IN Prof. Tait's lecture on “force,” which its writer seems to have intended as a model of perspicuity and accuracy, we are told that “we must measure a force by the rate at which it produces change of momentum.” Nothing could be clearer or more satisfactory than this statement. Then Prof. Tait proceeds to tell us what force “is,” and we read—“Force is the rate of change of momentum”—giving to this word “is” the meaning which the so-called metaphysicians give to it; and it seems to me that we might jangle over it for ever, without ever knowing whether this latter statement be true or not; for although we may all agree as to the proper measure of a force, it seems to be more difficult to tell what force “is.” Possibly we might roughly measure the hunger of a man under different circumstances, by determining the number of pounds of beef he would consume, but it would be hardly warranted to say that hunger “is” a certain number of pounds of beef.