CALF_News_April_May_2020

19 CALF News • April | May 2020 • www.calfnews.net Rawhide Processor by John McDonald 3 Sizes Available! The First Hydraulic Corral and still the Largest! • Pull on highway at speed limit. • Fits through any gate your pickup will. • Stable on uneven terrain. • Wheels on each panel and electric over hydraulic jack eliminates lifting—saves time. • Permanent sheeted adjustable alley. • Frame gates for sorting. • Transport wheels are permanent, no sliding off the axles and rolling out of the way. Rawhide Original Standard Size Rawhide Portable Corral 900 NORTHWASHINGTON ST., ABILENE, KS 67410 785.263.3436 www.rawhideportablecorral.com community assistance efforts like Project Elf, a holiday initiative in which we dis- tributed more than 550 pounds of meat to participating families.We also worked with the Texas Pork Producers as part of their community development efforts for theWe Care initiative to secure a dona- tion of 1,600 pounds of pre-cooked pork from Quick Fire Meats by Prairie Fresh, a division of Seaboard Foods. Local ranch- ers in our community also donated steers for processing to balance our offering of beef and pork. Wednesday is my Center of the Plate day. I am at the church for 2-3 hours, helping pass out meat to families for their upcoming meals. We generally feed six to 10 families each week. Help- ing others by providing meat protein has opened my eyes to the importance of ensuring a steady food supply for a growing world population. I believe each of us in agriculture has a role to play in helping consumers understand important success factors that come up consistently are: 1) the right parental match, and 2) calf health and development. They all also agree that the dairy crossbred calves need time to develop on a high-forage ration in the grow yard before pushing them on a high-energy ration. The report concludes that there are mul- tiple challenges remaining in implement- ing a beef-on-dairy program, most critical being calf health and cattle management. All calves must get a full dose of colostrum within the first few hours, and the first three months at the calf ranch are critical. Calves need to stay on a milk-based diet and slowly adapt to a roughage-based diet. “Careful management and experience are driving success,” Close concludes. “Performance is starting to explode as the industry improves its understanding of the best genetic matches and how to manage and feed beef-on-dairy calves. Rate of gain, conversion, carcass yields, and grading percentages are all improving at an expo- nential rate.”  BEEF ON DAIRY Continued from page 16 A GIRL WITH A MISSION Continued from page 18 the benefits of meat in a healthy diet. I hope the success of Center of the Plate sparks others to find a way to impact hunger in their community.  Center of the Plate co-founder, Faith Baxter, filling up a freezer with donated product.