RISING NITROGEN PRICES CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR PRODUCERS

RISING NITROGEN PRICES CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR PRODUCERS

by: John Andrae
cattletoday.com

High oil prices don’t just impact your bank account at the fuel pump. Commercial nitrogen fertilizer production is heavily dependent upon fossil fuels. In the four years I have worked as a forage specialist, nitrogen fertilizer have more than doubled from $0.24 per unit to well over $0.50 per unit. Even with high cattle markets, it is imperative to control fertilizer input costs. Included in this article are several tips to decrease your farm’s dependence on external nitrogen sources.

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Quality System Assessment for Missouri

Quality System Assessment for Missouri

Story by Micky Wilson
Angus Beef Bulletin

A landmark program in bovine sourcing has emerged through a cooperative effort by multiple organizations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA), IMI Global Inc., MFA Health Track, Joplin Regional Stockyards, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Veterinary Medical Association, Missouri Livestock Marketing Association, the University of Missouri (MU) and MU Extension.

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Fly War

Fly War

by Boyd Kidwell
Angusjournal.com

Fly control is a good news, bad news proposition for cattle breeders. The good news is that there are effective ways to fight flies. The bad news is that no magic bullet totally eliminates the little pests. In many situations, you’ll actually need a combination of weapons to win the season-long battle, and spring is the perfect time to begin fighting your fly war.

“Proper management in early spring sets up your fly control program for the rest of the year,” says Texas A&M University (TAMU) Extension Entomologist Jeff Tomberlin.

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Tokyo wants answers on U.S. beef

Tokyo wants answers on U.S. beef

Usatoday.com

TOKYO (AP) — Japan wants to see the results of a survey of U.S. meatpacking plants before starting talks on reopening its market to American beef, Japan’s agriculture minister said Tuesday.

Japan banned U.S. meat in January over worries about mad cow disease, and U.S. officials are in Tokyo this week to restart talks on lifting the ban.

Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said the negotiations could start as soon as Wednesday — if Tokyo gets the answers to questions it had about 37 meatpacking plants.

“We only received an overview but there are things we want to confirm,” Nakagawa told reporters. “We want to hold talks once we receive answers.”

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Relaxed Management of Cattle Has Benefits

Relaxed Management of Cattle Has Benefits

http://www.ars.usda.gov
By Sharon Durham
May 16, 2006

Style matters, even when managing livestock, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists who have found that proper management of cattle helps to develop a calm herd–and leads to other benefits as well.

Recently retired animal scientist John Stuedemann and other researchers before him at ARS’ J. Phil Campbell, Sr., Natural Resource Conservation Center in Watkinsville, Ga., have conducted forage research with their resident herd of Angus cattle that was first established in the 1950s.

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Negotiators See Progress on U.S.-China Beef Trade Protocol

Negotiators See Progress on U.S.-China Beef Trade Protocol

Agriculture, trade officials finish first talks on food-safety guidelines

By Susan Krause
Washington File Staff Writer
Usinfo.state.gov

Washington — The United States and China have made progress in negotiating an agreement that would allow for resumption of U.S. beef exports to China, according to a May 15 announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Delegations from the two countries met in Beijing May 13 and May 14 to discuss the terms of a science-based trade protocol, consistent with food-safety guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The talks followed up on China’s commitment — made a month earlier at the 17th meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington — to reopen its market to U.S. beef by June, following development of such a protocol.

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Hong Kong bans Harris beef

Hong Kong bans Harris beef

Bone found in beef at Hong Kong’s airport violated precautions against mad cow disease.

The Associated Press
Ocregister.com

HONG KONG Hong Kong suspended beef imports Tuesday from a California processing plant run by Harris Ranch Beef Co. after its beef violated precautions against mad-cow disease by including bone.

Hong Kong currently allows only the import of U.S. boneless beef from cattle less than 30 months old, with high-risk body parts such as the brain and spinal cord removed.

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Bison farming is on the rise in N.C.

Bison farming is on the rise in N.C.

05/17/2006

By LISA HOPPENJANS / Associated Press
WCNC-TV, Winston-Salem, NC

On Jeff and Linda Peloquin’s buffalo farm, it’s the people who roam.

Driving around the 25-acre pen, the Peloquins search through the trees for the dark, shaggy coats of their 11 bison. They finally spot the herd grazing in a far corner.

“Some people golf. Some people go fishing,” said Jeff Peloquin, who runs a construction company. “For me, it’s raising buffalo.”

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