Spring Snow Causes Calving Woes in N.D.

Spring Snow Causes Calving Woes in N.D.

By BLAKE NICHOLSON

BISMARCK, N.D. Apr 19, 2006 (AP)— Western North Dakota ranchers in the middle of calving season worked long hours to help their calves survive the heavy snow and strong winds brought by this week’s spring blizzard.

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Cuba to Purchase More Food From Nebraska

Cuba to Purchase More Food From Nebraska

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS / Las Vegas Sun

HAVANA (AP) -

Cuba agreed Wednesday to buy another $30 million in food from Nebraska, strengthening trade relations with a U.S. farm state already selling corn, wheat, soybeans and other products to the communist island.

Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and Agriculture Director Greg Ibach led the trade delegation, which included meat and other agriculture producers on the four-day trip.

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Trade war looms over beef dispute

Trade war looms over beef dispute

Posted 4/19/2006 10:40 PM ET
By Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY

TOKYO — A mistake at a Brooklyn meatpacking company and public hysteria in Japan about mad cow disease are raising tensions between the United States and Japan, reviving memories of the bitter trade disputes of the 1980s.

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Scout Fields Now for Alfalfa Weevil

Scout Fields Now for Alfalfa Weevil

Writer: Candace Pollock
pollock.58@ag.osu.edu
(614) 292-3799

Source: Ron Hammond, OARDC
hammond.5@osu.edu
(330) 263-3727

Ohio State Extension Service

WOOSTER, Ohio — Scouting for field crop insects is not just left to corn and soybean growers. Now is the time for alfalfa producers to begin scouting their fields for alfalfa weevil, an insect that can cause severe defoliation if left unchecked.

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Training Available for Animal ID Number Managers

Training Available for Animal ID Number Managers

Angus e-List

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will hold additional training seminars, via Web conference, for producers and other stakeholders who intend to distribute animal identification (ID) number (AIN) tags as part of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
Participants will learn about the administration of AIN tags and view a demonstration of the AIN Management System, the Web-based system for distributing and administering AINs used in the NAIS. Seminars are scheduled for Thursday, April 13, and Wednesday, April 26.
An announcement of the training seminars was published Friday in the Federal Register. For more information, including how to participate, visit http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-5085.htm. To view the updated NAIS implementation plan, visit http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/downloads/print/NAIS_Implementation_Plan_April_2006.pdf.

Ohio Beef Newsletter available

Ohio Beef Newsletter available

The April 19, issue # 483, of the Ohio BEEF Cattle letter is now postedto the web at: http://fairfield.osu.edu/ag/beef/beefAprl19.htmlHave the hippos gone berserk? Find out by reading this week’s letter!Articles include:* Good News In Short Supply* Spreadsheet helps decide fertilizer rates for grasses* Managing Calving Difficulty* Ohio Bull Test Concludes With Record Sale Prices* Weekly Purcell Agricultural Commodity Market ReportStan———-Stan SmithProgram Assistant, AgricultureOSU Extension, Fairfield County831 College Ave., Suite DLancaster, OH 43130

Cattle Update: Managing Calving Difficulty

Cattle Update: Managing Calving Difficulty

Cattlenetwork.com

For many beef herds, calving difficulty is the largest single factor resulting calf losses over time. In addition to the obvious economic consequences associated with calf mortality as a result of calving difficulty, dystocia (calving difficulty) also results in increased cow mortality, increased calving intervals (as a result of delayed return to estrus), lower conception rates, reduced weaning weights, and increased veterinary and medical costs. Losses attributed to calving difficulty have been estimated to cost the beef industry $750 million annually.

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US, China Not Likely To Finalize Beef Trade Deal This Week

US, China Not Likely To Finalize Beef Trade Deal This Week

Cattlenetwork.com

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–U.S. and Chinese negotiators are not likely to work out the terms of how China will ease its ban on U.S. beef in time for an announcement this week during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S., U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said.

USDA and Commerce Department officials said on April 11 that they expected those terms to be reached “quickly” when they announced China had agreed ease its ban.

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Branding revival puts heat on rustlers

Branding revival puts heat on rustlers

By Todd C. Frankel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/16/2006

JEFFERSON CITY

Worried about a spike in cattle theft, a rancher from southwest Missouri decides to get a little protection: a cattle brand.

The permanent mark, considered a livestock’s only return address, holds up in court as proof of ownership.

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Beef cattle ‘use tools’ to preen

Beef cattle ‘use tools’ to preen

Australian Broadcasting Company

By Judy Skatssoon for Science Online

An Australian researcher says beef cattle use tools to keep their coats healthy, suggesting they are more than all brawn and no brains.

Animal behaviour scientist Bob Kilgour, who works for the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, observed the grooming behaviour of various breeds of beef cattle at pasture on a number of properties over several days.

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Farm Sanctuary Releases Report on the Welfare of Cattle in Beef Production;

Farm Sanctuary Releases Report on the Welfare of Cattle in Beef Production;

US newswire
4/17/2006 1:43:00 PM

Contact: Meghan Beeby, 607-583-2225 ext. 251 or mbeeby@farmsanctuary.org; Tricia Ritterbusch, 607-583-225 ext. 233 or tritterbusch@farmsanctuary.org, both of Farm Sanctuary

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., April 17 /U.S. Newswire/ — A new report from Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, reveals the conditions cattle endure under the care of the beef industry. The Welfare of Cattle in Beef Production assesses published scientific evidence concluding that the U.S. cattle industry has failed to set meaningful standards for the care and handling of beef cattle, or to take a stand in opposition to any of the various practices that result in physical or behavioral problems for the animals. The industry has also failed to implement any type of welfare audit system for cattle operations and no federal laws protect the welfare of beef cattle in the U.S., other than the Humane Method of Slaughter Act that requires the stunning of livestock before slaughter.
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Season of Birth Affects Calf Growth on Great Plains

Season of Birth Affects Calf Growth on Great Plains

By Erin Peabody, Agricultural Research Service
April 18, 2006

To everything, there is a season—even for ranchers raising herds of cattle out on America’s Great Plains.

According to scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), calving season—the time of year when a cow gives birth to a calf—is an important factor in determining how healthy a cow and calf will be, how much weight they’ll gain, and how much high-quality nutrition will be available to them.

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Animal ID: big government’s new pet project

Animal ID: big government’s new pet project

Marc Levin 19.APR.06
Wilsoncoutnynews.com (Texas)

If your cat is planning to have kittens, you might have to take a number. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has hatched the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The NAIS comes in response to fears of mad cow disease and bioterrorism, even though there are at most three instances of mad cow disease in U.S. history and no documented instances of animals being used for bioterrorism.

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Steer suspected of BSE tests negative in Japan

Steer suspected of BSE tests negative in Japan

KNEB.com

TOKYO (AP) _ A 20-month-old steer in northeastern Japan initially suspected of having mad cow disease has tested negative, a health official said Tuesday.

The young Holstein was slaughtered for meat last week in Fukushima prefecture (state) and initially tested positive for the brain-wasting disease.

But further tests at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo showed the steer did not have mad cow, according to prefectural health official Shinichi Nakajima.

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Weathering Parasites

Weathering Parasites

By Walt Barnhart, Beef Magazine

Apr 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Spring is the season of life. Some life you appreciate; some you don’t.

No matter where in the U.S. you live, worms, flukes, flies and other parasites would fall into the second category. The level of concern you may have depends on where you live and the weather you enjoy.

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Direct Sales of Beef

Direct Sales of Beef

Nebraska Cooperative Extension Service

This NebGuide offers producers suggestions for selling beef directly to consumers.

Successful direct selling of beef to consumers requires a different mind-set from our traditional sale of commodity beef to processors, wholesalers and retailers. The much closer relationship of the beef producer to the actual consumer creates many opportunities to provide more income from each individual animal and for the consumer to receive a product which is generally not available in the store.

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