Big and natural

Big and natural
Grand Forks Herald
By Mikkel Pates
April 30, 2006

Dallas Schott didn’t envision building an 11,000-head custom feedlot. It just naturally grew and grew.

And grew.

The facility, about eight miles south of the North Dakota border, is among the five largest in the state and certainly the farthest north. Built on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, the feedlot is about 90 miles south of Bismarck, N.D. It was an early adapter to using distiller’s grains, and it is has been working with the ‘natural’ cattle market for about eight years.

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No comforts of home on the range

No comforts of home on the range

Texas Ranch House proves to be a hard life for participants in new PBS reality show

By MIKE MCDANIEL
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Texas Ranch House is a tip of the 10-gallon hat to our hardier forebears, those farmhands and cowboys who tolerated torrid temperatures, stubborn cattle, and 16-hour workdays to keep food on the table, all without benefit of air conditioning, pizza delivery and three-ply toilet tissue.

Like other PBS “house” shows before this one (Frontier House, Colonial House), Texas Ranch House makes time-travelers out of its everyday cast. In this case, 15 people, including a mother and her three daughters, were sent 40 miles south of Alpine in West Texas, where they attempted to run a ranch and tend cattle living under 1867 conditions.

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Mow seeded fescue now to reduce toxins in pasture

Mow seeded fescue now to reduce toxins in pasture

Apr. 28, 2006
Ag Professional

Cattle producers have an unusual opportunity this season to turn otherwise bad field conditions into strong pastures.

Farmers in mid- and southern Missouri are reporting that an early onset of warm spring weather has caused tall fescue fields to rear seed heads a month ahead of schedule.

That’s bad.

The seeds carry high levels of toxins that sicken livestock. But it doesn’t have to be bad news, said Craig Roberts, University of Missouri Extension state forage specialist.

“If they were to clip the fescue now, farmers still have two months of spring left for growth. They’ll end up with pretty good forage,” Roberts said. “I would expect, with proper management, excellent cattle production this spring.”

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Seeded pastures sustain cattle

Seeded pastures sustain cattle

The Prairie Star
Friday, April 28, 2006 10:10 AM MDT

MILES CITY, Mont. – Reducing grazing pressure on native rangelands and keeping herds of cattle adequately nourished can be compatible goals, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists.

It just takes the right grazing strategy.

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Beef ban hits home

Beef ban hits home

Greeley Tribune

Bill Jackson, (Bio) bjackson@greeleytribune.com
April 29, 2006

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Kenny Rogers has projected a 20 percent drop in income from last year.

Ken Ulrich said he is losing $360,000 annually.

Sam Rovit said his company has had operating losses of nearly $300 million.

And Brad Anderson said he has noticed a 10 percent drop in visits to his business.

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He pushes ag ahead

He pushes ag ahead

Bill Couser carries several titles.
The farmer began growing corn and raising cattle on his Nevada farm in 1977.
The president of Lincolnway Energy opens an ethanol plant next month and is planning another for Des Moines.
The innovator is working with DNR to treat manure runoff and improve water quality.

JERRY PERKINS
DES MOINES REGISTER FARM EDITOR

April 30, 2006

Nevada, Ia. — Bill Couser wears a lot of hats — president of the Lincolnway Energy ethanol plant here, cattle producer, crop farmer and environmental innovator.

Rather than see the contradictions in his different roles, Couser, 51, sees a convergence of interests as he looks at the future of Iowa agriculture.

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Our Views: USDA gets this one right – Group/lot I.D. for some species

Our Views: USDA gets this one right – Group/lot I.D. for some species

Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:19 PM CDT
Minnesota Farm Guide

We want to give USDA and Ag Secretary Mike Johanns credit for listening to the livestock industry.

USDA released a National Animal Identification System implementation plan on April 6, and the document contained some important wording.

The document indicates that group/lot identification will provide the same capability as a unique animal I.D. number for species that typically move through the production chain as a group of animals.

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Green giants

Green giants

Mega-producers tip scales as organics go mainstream

Carol Ness, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 30, 2006

Thirteen and a half million servings of organic romaine, radicchio and baby greens. That’s how much Earthbound Farm, the biggest organic produce company in the country, sends out across America from its gigantic San Juan Bautista processing plant every single week.

That’s one big bowl of salad — way bigger than when Myra and Drew Goodman started Earthbound Farm in their Carmel Valley living room in 1984. They now farm 26,000 organic acres.

This is the yin of the organic food movement as it plunges headlong into the American mainstream.

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USDA RELEASES BSE PREVALENCE ESTIMATE FOR U.S.

USDA RELEASES BSE PREVALENCE ESTIMATE FOR U.S.

USDA News Release

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2006-Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced USDA’s estimate of the prevalence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States.

“Our enhanced BSE surveillance program has been an enormous undertaking, but well worth the effort,” said Johanns. “We can now say, based on science, that the prevalence of BSE in the United States is extraordinarily low. The testing and analysis reinforce our confidence in the health of the U.S. cattle herd, while our interlocking safeguards, including the removal of specified risk materials and the feed ban, protect animal and human health.”

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Predicting The Future Of Animal Production

Predicting The Future Of Animal Production

Cow/calf Weekly

“To create the feed industry of the future, we have to use the latest technologies and do so quickly,” according to T. Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Alltech, Inc., Nicholasville, KY. To do this, costs must be lowered through use of alternative materials such as fiber and existing raw materials, Lyons said as he welcomed more than 1,580 attendees to a two-day research symposium.

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