National ID Is Dead

National ID Is Dead

Beef Stocker Trends

USDA effectively and quietly knocked the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the head last Wednesday. It did so with the unheralded publication of the “NAIS User Guide,” which replaces all former NAIS draft documents. This document, for the first time, emphasizes NAIS as a voluntary program rather than as a steppingstone to a mandatory one.

In fact, at the very beginning, the guide explains, “USDA is not requiring participation in the program. NAIS can help producers protect the health and marketability of their animals — but the choice to participate is theirs.”

Late last month at a community outreach event in Kansas City, Chuck Conner, USDA Deputy Secretary, and Bruce Knight, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, paved the way for the agency’s back-pedaling.

FULL STORY

EPDs Can be Useful in Hitting Production Targets

EPDs Can be Useful in Hitting Production Targets

by: Dr. Joe Paschal

Texas Cooperative Extension, Livestock Specialist

Cattle Today

Ever walked into a pen of purebred bulls or replacement heifers that look pretty much the same in terms of quality and wonder how in the world you are going to accurately pick the best genetics?

You might have a copy of their weights, adjusted weights, ratios and maybe some other records that tell you exactly what the animals weighed on a certain day, what they would have weighed if they were adjusted to a common age, sex of calf, age of dam or which were the highest in their trait.

Now suppose you go to a second breeder and a third and they all have the same records and pretty much the same high quality cattle. How do you decide what head to buy?

In the early 1970s a group of progressive cattle breeders and their breed associations pushed for the development of a new method of evaluating the performance of their purebred cattle. They wanted this method to take into account differences due to ranches and environments to improve and increase the ease of genetic selection.

FULL STORY

Dormant Planting Grasses & Legumes

Dormant Planting Grasses & Legumes

Cattlenetwork.com

Dormant season or winter planting of grasses and legumes can be nearly as successful as planting during the more conventional time of early spring. Dormant plantings succeed as long as your soil is relatively dry and soil temperature is too cold for seeds to germinate. That’s the key — too cold to germinate. When these conditions exist, seed just lies in the soil until favorable conditions for germination occur next spring. Then seeds begin to grow as if they had just been planted. Warm-season grasses, like those used in CRP and range plantings, are especially well-suited to dormant planting. They won’t germinate until soil temperature exceeds 45 degrees. Since soils generally remain colder than this for most of the winter, dormant plantings of these grasses can be made anytime between late November and March. In addition, the alternate warming and cooling of the soil in spring stimulates a natural process in these seeds to improve their germination.

FULL STORY

BeefTalk: Calf Growth Makes the Beef Business

BeefTalk: Calf Growth Makes the Beef Business

By Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist

NDSU Extension Service

Growth is a common point of discussion for most beef producers because calves need to grow to make money. The paycheck is the accumulated weight of a group of calves. Accumulated weight, however, does not guarantee a profit. There are several reasons for that.

Calves that simply put on weight in the form of fat generally are valued less than those that put on red meat. Even excessive production of red meat can produce tough carcasses, which are less valued.

Understanding growth has been a topic of study by many. The summation of all the work would imply that calf growth rates are manageable and amenable to different production settings.

FULL STORY

Genetically profiled feeder sales

Genetically profiled feeder sales

Beef Magazine

Nichols Genetic Source, Bridgewater, IA, will host two more trademark feeder-calf sales – Nov. 29 and Jan. 10, in Creston, IA. Nichols has sold 3,000 calves/year since 1995 through these special sales featuring about 1,000 calves (400 heifers, 600 steers) each. With 50-75 animals on average from 15-20 consignors, the sales allow smaller consignor-producers to commingle cattle, without losing the animals’ individual identity.

FULL STORY

Canadian Cattle Producers Hope U.S. Border Fully Re-open by Mid-2007

Canadian Cattle Producers Hope U.S. Border Fully Re-open by Mid-2007

Written by Neil Billinger

Saskatoonhomepage.ca

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has sent a new BSE risk assessment proposal on older cattle to the White House. It’s the first step in resuming trade of breeding stock and cattle over 30 months of age.

The Vice-President of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Brad Wildeman says the next step will be to determine how long the comment period will be.

FULL STORY

Ag secretary criticizes S. Korea for rejecting U.S. beef shipment

Ag secretary criticizes S. Korea for rejecting U.S. beef shipment

LIBBY QUAID

AP Food and Farm Writer

Thekansan.com

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns criticized South Korea for halting beef shipments from a U.S. meatpacker, saying authorities there had “invented” a standard for imports.

“They have applied a standard we did not agree to. It was a standard that they invented along the way,” Johanns told reporters Tuesday in Washington.

Cut off by mad cow disease in 2003, American beef shipments had resumed only recently after lengthy negotiations with South Korea.

FULL STORY

Sen. Harkin’s ag committee

Sen. Harkin’s ag committee

By Forrest Laws

Delta Farm Press

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin will become chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry when Democrats assume control of the House and Senate in January.

Incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he anticipates naming Harkin Agriculture Committee chairman when he meets with the new Republican minority leader to discuss the make-up of each committee.

Harkin is no stranger to the post, having served there during the debate over the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act or 2002 farm bill in 2001 and 2002. (Democrats controlled the Senate when Vermont’s Jim Jeffords declared himself an independent in 2001.)

FULL STORY

Producers Should Expect Regulatory Compliance to Add Value

Producers Should Expect Regulatory Compliance to Add Value

Red Angus Association of America

The Red Angus Feeder Calf Certification Program (FCCP) was the Beef industry’s first USDA Process Verified Program (PVP), and has a dozen years experience in providing Source Verification to the ranch of origin and USDA audited traceability to Angus bloodlines. Earlier this year the program’s process verified claims were expanded to include Age verification.

Over the past decade the Red Angus FCCP has involved over 2,000 producers who have collectively enrolled over a million head of cattle. March 2006 saw FCCP enrollments surpass 22,500 head, marking the fifth month to exceed 20,000 head.

Enrolled cattle are identified by the FCCP’s official “yellow” ear tags, which include unique, sequential ID numbers. A “Combo” tag is also available, and provides a “matched set” RFID component for producers who need electronic identification capability. The RFID option utilizes USDA NAIS approved Digital Angel technology. Either tag meets the process verified claims of genetics, source and age. A “Certificate of Compliance” is available for enrolled cattle at no extra charge to producers, and provides documentation for buyers who require process verified age and source to supply export demand.

While the last 12 months have seen the emergence of several USDA process verified age and source programs, the Red Angus FCCP remains the only one that offers Age and Source regulatory compliance while utilizing genotypic verification to supply Angus product lines.

Red Angus Marketing Programs exist to help commercial cow/calf producers capture a greater return on their investment in superior Red Angus Genetics. In addition to providing access to value based grids, Angus product lines, and regulatory compliance for export markets, marketing services for feeder cattle and replacement female are available at no cost to Red Angus bull customers.

For more information about marketing feeder or fed cattle, or how to enroll calves in the Red Angus FCCP, contact Red Angus Marketing Programs at 940.387.3502 or visit us on the web at www.redangus.org.

"Stolen Kansas Cattle Found In Dickson Co."

“Stolen Kansas Cattle Found In Dickson Co.”

WKRN.com, Nashville (TN)

A crime that has been around for hundreds of years proved it is still thriving Tuesday as cattle , stolen from as far away as Kansas, were found in Middle Tennessee.

Tuesday was a typical one at the Dickson County Cattle Auction. Cattle farmers from around Middle Tennessee bring their stock in for the highest bidder. Monday night, however, one man brought some cattle in that seemed out of place.

Agricultural Crime Officer Max Thomas said, “They have received information about some cattle stolen out of Kansas. We got the information from Kansas and checked the animals and these are the ones.”

The officers didn’t have to look very hard to see the animals were the ones they were looking for. Their size made them stand out officers also noticed something on the cattle that is not common in Tennessee, they were branded

FULL STORY

Seminar states benefits of grassland management

Seminar states benefits of grassland management

Tyler Duensing

Daily Nebraskan

Ranchers, as well as anyone interested in controlling conditions of the Great Plains, have much more power than they know, especially when the science element is added to the ecological equation.

This much was said during a taped seminar Monday afternoon in the Nebraska East Union that was entitled “Ecology, Restoration and Management of Semi-Arid Prairies in the Northern Great Plains,” by Pat Reece of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and the Panhandle Research and Extension Center.

Throughout the seminar, Reece wanted to stress many different scenarios in which crop yield can be directly affected by certain variables.

Although many people benefit from the knowledge of how to use the results of many studies across Nebraska and South Dakota, Reece said ranchers benefit the most from the knowledge.

“(It’s) a great index ranchers can use,” he said. “These are things that ranchers need to know to optimize their yield.”

FULL STORY