Livestock Feed Nitrate Issues As we are still in a drought are you testing your feed?

Nitrate Testing

Test kits cost less than $5 per test is it worth it to lose even one animal? The little red cow eats what you put in front of her, and during a drought that means she can eat bad forage. Forage Nitrate Test Kits where at the FSA, not any more. As we were unable to find kits locally, we now sell them on line. FSA or AG services contact us for quantity discounts. Email us for information on our kits email for info. Small kit 4 tests for $35.00 Medium kit $50.00 for 8 tests. Affordable way to protect your livestock. Plus Tax & UPS.

NOW SO WHAT IS A RED POLL? Red Poll is a breed of cattle. Red Poll were popular in the 1890s. In England today they are a rare breed. Her majesty The Queen of England created a Society to save them from becoming extinct. They are trying to help promote the breed for its economic important traits. We may not need an oxen to pull a plow or a wagon, but there is a need for calm easy to handle cattle. We may not need dual purpose cattle, nor is there many who want to milk a cow, that makes enough milk to raise a calf at the same time. Dual purpose was important to the frontier at a time when homesteading was a way to get land. This breed and all dual purpose breeds were bred to work and to milk and to raise meat. As times changed the settlers buy bulls and bred for bigger beef cattle better able to winter and protect themselves in a hostile enviorment. Wolves did not have it easy taking a calf away from horned cattle. Hereford and longhorns dominated for much of the earily rangeland history. Cattlemen have been rearranging the cow to meet their needs, and will continue to do that to meet the market demands. The genetics of the Red Poll breed for a time in the 1940 was focused on dairy. Rail cars rolled from fair to fair promoting the breed as a specialty dairy animal, as the rich milk was more like goat milk. As some people cannot tolerate milk, and this was a time when milkmen delivered milk to the homes of people in the cities. Red Poll dairy farms found a place along with Jersy and Gurnsey and Airshire dairys. Red Poll milk did not make most babies with milk allergies sick, so they had a niche market will into the fifties. The last Red Polled dairy was in Ponocka Canada and in the late sixties, they started selecting sires for beef traits. The small breed did not make enough milk, and soon all the dairy farms had Holsteins. Even today most dairy farms have only Hoilsteins. Some Red Polled breeders continued to believe the tenderness of the meat and the quality of milk and grass fattened beef would become popular again as they realized the efficiency and flavor. They continued to raise purebred cattle for meat and selected for beef traits. With all the showing and judging as a dairy animal the breed has excellent udder and passes on this important trait. The breed was used by the Australians, in developing their breed called the Low-lines. Red Poll are being used in cross breeding programs. Some of the Red Angus and composites have Red Poll genetics. A smaller animal, but not a miniature breed, the Red Roll is practical size for small landowners. She is considered a good choice for introducing younger children to animal care. Whether just a 4-Her learning responsibility or experiencing the fun of showing for the first time. The calm animals can be handled by smaller persons or older persons with less risk of injury. Breed traits of importance were developed as breeders focused on characteristics to help their cattle gain acceptance. The relationship between good temperaments and performance and handling helps the animal gain well which improves grade or the finish, and the tenderness gene is highly valued. The ability to forage, marbling, produce steaks of the preferred size, and feed efficiency is helping the breed find a place in many new breeding programs, the right size, weight, choice grade, brings a premium price. The docile temperament, and a cow that can fatten her calf quickly on rich milk, keep her calf on her until it is 8 or 9 months old without loss of fertility or her own body condition is important. This extended nursing, effects the fertility and breeding back of most cattle, but she is an easy fleshing animal, and rebreds easily. Red Poll having exceptionally tender meat, and Breeders testing for this inherited a tenderness gene has created the three star system. Red Poll have no horns which is economically important as no stress or cost or loss of gain. As quiet and calm animals do not have as many health problems as high strung or flighty animals, it is believed that this will help the breed gain in the organic market, where no antibotics and health is critical. Genetic traits of value: Milk Quality, Milk Type, Udder features, Fertility, Foraging ability, Efficency, Friendly-Calm, sound structure,polled (without horns) and Tenderness Gene. Add in a reputation for "doing well" during droughts and in places where droughts are common this efficient forager, is finding a place in sustainable and organic farming and small farms when people want to raise their own beef, and into 4H and FFA projects.

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Davenport, Washington 99122-0335
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