Summer pasture looks like it has everything a cow needs, but Montana grass runs short on the trace minerals that drive breed-back.…
Getting irrigation water where it does the most good in June sets up your hay crop and your fall regrowth. Here's how…
Foot rot shows up fast on summer grass, almost always in one foot, and it spreads from the wet, churned-up ground cattle…
Body condition at breeding decides which cows cycle and which ones don't. In mid-June you still have a little time to sort…
June high water wrecks fence at every creek crossing and low draw. Ride the line and rebuild the water gaps now, before…
Cows graze the bottoms bare while good grass sits untouched on the high ground. Where you put salt, mineral, and rubbing spots…
Larkspur is one of the surefire killers on Montana's foothill and mountain ranges, and cattle die from it fastest right when you…
Trichomoniasis doesn't make a cow look sick — it just quietly kills the pregnancy and hands you a wreck of open cows…
You checked the bulls before turnout, but the breeding season is where they get hurt, worn down, or beat off the cows.…
Horn flies cluster on a cow's back and belly by the thousands, and every bite pulls a little weight and milk off…
When rain quits and cereal forage sits stunted in the field, nitrates pile up in the bottom of the stalk. Here's how…
Infectious pinkeye spreads fast on tall grass and dusty pastures once face flies get going. Here's how to slow it down and…
Early-summer grass grows fast and tempts you to sit in one pasture. Push it too hard now and the regrowth stalls, leaving…
Waiting an extra week to cut first-cutting alfalfa or grass hay buys you tonnage and costs you feed value. Here's how to…
Noxious weeds like spotted knapweed and leafy spurge move fast on thin, overgrazed range. Hitting them in June — before they flower…
Alfalfa weevil larvae strip the leaves off new growth right before first cutting, and the frosted-looking field you're waiting on may be…
Prairie rattlesnakes come out of the rocks in June, and a cow or horse grazing head-down is an easy target. Here's what…
Blackleg drops thrifty, fast-growing calves on lush summer pasture, usually with no warning. A clostridial vaccine at spring works is the only…
Ranch horses carry the load through branding, gathering, and the long summer rides to the far country. A little attention to feet,…
Respiratory disease doesn't wait for weaning. Nursing calves two to four months old go down with pneumonia on summer pasture, and on…
Water hemlock is the deadliest plant on most Montana places, and the soft June ground along creeks and ditches is exactly where…
When ponds warm up and drop in the June and July heat, cyanobacteria can bloom into a toxic scum that kills cattle…
Baling first-cutting hay before it's dry enough sets off heating inside the bale that can spoil feed and, in the worst case,…
Turning cattle out to summer range in bear and wolf country means more than dropping the gate. A little riding, some record-keeping,…
In a dry summer the stock water gets more concentrated as it evaporates, and rising sulfates and total dissolved solids pull down…