84/100
So far, 2010 has been a pretty awesome year for music. Having so much good music, both locally and nationally, could make it hard for me to really devote the proper time to a dense, instrumental album like Latin by Holy Fuck. I am glad to say that the album is good enough to make it so that I have no choice but to sit up and notice how amazing the album is.
Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, the album is a sonic journey that after quiet album opener “1MD,” dives right into the hip hop beats and churning melodies of “Red Lights” and never really lets up. The music is funky and twitching, but doesn’t come across as a simple DJ mix (it is in fact not as they are an actual band with instruments). The album ebbs and flows, at some moments forgoing the block rocking beats for more atmospheric and forboding soundsscapes, and is a strong piece of work from front to back. The album is consistantly great throughout, but the undeniable highlight for me is the massively epic album closer “P.I.G.S.” Starting off with some tin-y drums and scrachty bass lines, the six-plus minute song is tense and tightly wound track that proves how much emotional weight can be convenyed even without lyrics. The song could equally serve as a dance party starter or a brain melter if you decided to play it through your headphones. The group does an excellent job of making Latin engaging and varied as to not lose the listener if they became too one dimensional.
Latin is an album that really solidifys for me just how amazing Holy Fuck are. Their last album was great, but I was waiting to see if they would be able to find some new tricks up their sleeves with the follow up, no easy feat in a genre that can find bands circling back to their familiar reference points. While this record may get overshadowed by the bigger named bands releasing music in this month (BSS, The Hold Steady, LCD Soundsytem, The National), that shouldn’t be taken as an inditment of Latin, which is a rock solid album. While instrumental music may always be a niche in indie music, albums like Latin can only serve to show people how powerful and amazing the genre can be.
-Josh Keller
Myspace
Byline: NDSU Ag Communications
Although winter feed costs represent 60 to 70 percent of the expense of maintaining a beef cow, less than 20 percent of U.S. beef producers perform a pregnancy check in their herds.
“Producers can realize significant savings by identifying and culling nonpregnant females prior to winter feeding,” says Carl Dahlen, North Dakota State University Extension Service beef cattle specialist.
Historical cull-cow markets reach a low point in November, which coincides with the time most producers would wean calves and pregnancy check cows. Based on the average cull-cow market price for 2005 to 2010, the price difference between selling in August or November is roughly $8 per hundredweight, which equates to a difference of $108 when selling a 1,350-pound cow. go to site countdown to pregnancy
“Producers who are able to perform pregnancy exams and subsequently cull open cows during the next several months may realize substantial financial benefits, compared with marketing cull cows in November,” Dahlen says.
However, not all producers have breeding seasons, facilities and the labor force to do pregnancy exams during the late summer. Herds with defined breeding seasons are best suited to take advantage of early pregnancy exams, according to Dahlen.
If bulls are run continuously with a cow herd or are being pulled from the pasture the same day as the pregnancy exam, producers have no way to determine the cows’ true pregnancy status. Cows that become pregnant early in the breeding season will be identified easily in these instances, whereas cows that appear to be “open” actually may have been bred recently. These recently bred cows may be carrying an early pregnancy that is too young to feel via rectal palpation or visualize with ultrasound.
When to pregnancy check
To accurately and efficiently conduct pregnancy exams on large groups of cows, the exams should be performed from 26 to 30 days after the last possible breeding if using ultrasound for pregnancy diagnosis. If using rectal palpation, pregnancy exams should be conducted 35 to 40 days after the cows are bred. go to site countdown to pregnancy
For example, herds calving in mid to late January would have a bull turnout or artificial insemination date around April 15. If the producer is using a 45-day breeding season, this herd would be ready to pregnancy check with ultrasound around June 29 and with palpation per rectum on July 9. However, a herd that calves toward the end of April (July turnout) and has an 85-day breeding season will not be ready to pregnancy check until the first or second week in November.
Thus, producers with herds that calve in January through March or even late April and have a short breeding season can take advantage of early pregnancy checking to market cull cows prior to the historic market downturn of November.
“Following these guidelines, with proficient expertise, pregnancy detection should be very close to 100 percent accurate,” Dahlen says. “All cows that are nonpregnant should be identified at the time of the exam.”
However, a small portion of cows determined to be pregnant during an early pregnancy exam will have fetal loss naturally prior to calving (the majority of this loss occurs by 60 days post-breeding). This fetal loss occurs whether or not producers choose to perform early pregnancy checking.
Dahlen also has this advice:
In herds with thin cows, limited pasture or limited forage, removing open cows early may allow the remaining pregnant cows more access to feed resources.
Sufficient labor to gather and work cattle and good handling facilities make pregnancy determination less stressful on both the cattle and the people working them.
As with all activity involving cattle during summer months, be mindful of weather conditions and avoid working cattle in extreme heat.
“Some producers can take advantage of market conditions to capitalize on the benefits of early pregnancy detection,” he says. “Others, however, will have to decide whether to pregnancy check in November or wait until spring to market open cows.”
i always listen to instrumental music whenever i want to relax.’`;
when i am relaxing, i would love to just hear some instrumental music instead of regualr music ~’;