Tall larkspur is one of the deadliest plants on Montana's mountain and foothill summer range, and it's most dangerous in early summer…
A breeding soundness exam gets a bull to the pasture gate, but it doesn't tell you what he does once he's out…
Horn flies cost weight and worry cattle all summer, but they run in predictable numbers you can count and control. Here's how…
First cutting quality is set the day you drop the swather, not the day you feed it. Here's the tradeoff between tonnage…
Cool-season grass piles on growth in June faster than a cow can eat it, then slams shut when the heat comes. What…
Pinkeye moves fast through a summer herd, riding on face flies and rough seedheads. Here's how to slow it down before half…
First-calf heifers carry a heavier load than any cow in the herd during summer breeding, and the ones you don't manage separately…
Clostridial disease kills fast-growing calves on lush June pasture with almost no warning. A cheap vaccine given on time is the only…
Mid-June is the window to hit spotted knapweed, leafy spurge, and Canada thistle before they seed. Here's how to time it, what…
Pneumonia isn't just a spring calving-shed problem. Two- to four-month-old calves out on summer grass get it too, and by the time…
Hay put up above 18 to 20 percent moisture keeps working after it leaves the field. Sometimes it just molds and loses…
Internal parasites don't kill outright, but they quietly skim pounds off yearlings and young cows all summer. Here's how to time deworming…
A horse pulled off winter pasture is fat, soft, and out of shape. Bring him back slow before the long gathers start,…
As summer heat pulls down pond levels, dissolved salts and sulfates climb in what's left. High-sulfate stock water can stagger cattle, blind…
Stagnant summer stock ponds can grow a toxic cyanobacteria bloom in a matter of days, and cattle that drink from the downwind…
Cheatgrass cures early and grass fires move fast on a Montana afternoon. A little work in June — clearing fuel, prepping equipment,…
Predator losses climb once cattle scatter onto big country and forest allotments. Finding the kill is half the job; documenting it before…
A rundown on prepping your haying string before first cutting hits full swing in Montana — sickle sections, knotters, bearings, and the…
Summer processing puts vaccine through heat, sunlight, and dirty needles before it ever reaches the calf. Handle it wrong and you paid…
June and July thunderstorms drop cattle in bunches, often under the one shade tree in the pasture or along a wire fence.…
The first real hot spell of summer hits cattle before they've slicked off, and a black-hided cow packing extra flesh feels it…
A blood parasite spread by ticks and biting flies hits your older cows hardest, and by the time one lags behind the…
Rangeland grasshoppers build quietly through June, and by the time you notice bare ground they've already eaten forage you can't get back.…
A bull looks fine walking the pasture after a heat wave, but a stretch of hot, still days can drop his semen…
Frothy bloat on lush clover and alfalfa regrowth can kill a healthy cow in an hour. Here's how it happens and what…