Ohio Cattleman Wins Beef Industry Vision Award

Ohio Cattleman Wins Beef Industry Vision Award

NCBA

The 2007 Beef Industry Vision Award, presented by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF), was announced Saturday at the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Nashville. Fred H. Johnson of Summitcrest Farms of Summitville, Ohio, is the winner of this prestigious award.

The Vision Award, sponsored by Micro Beef Technologies, recognizes individuals, businesses and organizations in the cattle industry that have incorporated innovation into their operation in an effort to enhance not only their business, but also the industry as a whole. Nominees were evaluated on the basis of effective use of technology, impact on production costs, ingenuity of implementation, innovative marketing, impact on the industry and optimum resource management.

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Indiana Considers New Limits On Large Livestock Farms

Indiana Considers New Limits On Large Livestock Farms

CattleNetwork.com

Indiana Considers New Limits On Large Livestock Farms

Indiana legislators are considering two bills that would place new restrictions on large livestock farms.

One bill aims to address concerns about odors, dust and manure runoff from the farms by prohibiting their construction within two miles of a school, city or town. It would allow manure application only by “incorporation or injection” below a field’s surface and require certification of farm workers who apply livestock waste to farmland as fertilizer.

A second bill would prevent state officials from authorizing a new confined feeding operation without the endorsement of local health and zoning officials. It would also create procedures for local approval of the farms, including a system to appeal a farm’s approval or rejection.

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Bunk Scoring Really Works

Bunk Scoring Really Works

Clifton L. Willms, Ph.D., PAS

Land O’ Lakes Farmland Beef team has worked with a number of producers to implement good bunk management practices. We have referenced much of the work by Dr. Robbi Pritchard to help producers be more profitable. While many producers know from first hand experience that bunk management is important to bottom line profitability, rarely do we see research trials demonstrating the value.

A trial conducted by Colorado State University and reported in ARPAS 16:182-187 (September 2000) demonstrates the value of good bunk management. Two of the treatment groups in the trial contrasted feeding rations with 7.5% corn silage (DM basis) either ad lib or at restricted (slick bunk management) intake. Whole-shelled corn was the grain source.

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Realistic expectations from estrous synchronization and AI programs

Realistic expectations from estrous synchronization and AI programs

Dr Glen Selk, Oklahoma State University

Producers that are wanting to improve the genetic makeup of their beef herds very often turn to artificial insemination as a tool to accomplish that goal. Many times, these producers have very high expectations as they begin the first season of artificial breeding. Perhaps they have heard other producers tell of situations where “near-perfect” pregnancy rates resulted from THEIR artificial insemination program. Everyone wants to get every cow or heifer bred as they start the labor and expense of an AI program. However, the rules of biology do not allow for 100% pregnancy rates in most situations.

First of all it is important to understand several terms.

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Gene Leman Joins Cactus Feeders Board

Gene Leman Joins Cactus Feeders Board

Cattle Today

Retired Tyson executive, Gene Leman, joined the Board of Directors for Cactus Feeders, Inc. on February 1, 2007. “We’ve worked with Gene for many years in his roles with IBP and Tyson, and we’re pleased with his acceptance of a Board appointment. Gene brings a level of expertise and experience that Cactus can readily and productively utilize in Board deliberations,” said Cactus Chairman, Paul Engler. “We’ve seen first hand Gene’s strength in anticipating the marketplace and knowing how to make things happen,” Engler adds.

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E. coli Prevention: The Ranchers

E. coli Prevention: The Ranchers

“It is the cattle? is it something else? We don’t know.”

By: Kimberly Romo

KSBY-TV (CA)

The cattle industry accounts for almost $90 million a year in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.

At today’s monthly meeting of the San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association, two topics were discussed: conservation issues and E. coli outbreaks. Today’s guest speaker is part of a massive study that’s underway to look at the sources of E. coli outside of the fields.

“It is the cattle? is it something else? We don’t know,” says area Watershed Natural Resources Advisor Royce Larsen. “Can you be too careful? Probably not. And E. coli isn’t the only issue. There’s sediment and nutrients and other things.”

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Cow from S.D. found to have tuberculosis

Cow from S.D. found to have tuberculosis

Case is first in more than 35 years

By Ben Shouse

Sioux Falls Argus Leader (SD)

Tuberculosis has been found in a South Dakota cow for the first time in more than 35 years.

State Veterinarian Sam Holland said testing is under way to determine if the bovine disease has spread, and the economic threat is still unclear. If more than two herds are found to be infected, the state could lose its tuberculosis-free status.

That could cost producers several dollars a head for additional testing, slow down the cattle trade and hurt the state’s reputation. But, Holland said, “we’re far from that at this point.”

The cow that tested positive was sold by a feedlot in southeast South Dakota to a slaughter plant in Wisconsin.

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Official: Cattle paper trail leads to Canada

Official: Cattle paper trail leads to Canada

By Kevin Woster,

Rapid City Journal

The South Dakota state veterinarian said Wednesday that eight Canadian cattle condemned at a packing plant in Nebraska for being improperly sold to a Wessington Springs farmer apparently were shipped directly from Canada to the plant.

Dr. Sam Holland of Pierre said an ongoing investigation into the incident by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has convinced him that a mix-up at the Swift and Co. plant in Grand Island led officials there to mistakenly believe the cattle had come in with a load that belonged to Jan Vandyke of Wessington Springs.

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Researchers Exploit Cattle Pathogen’s Genomic Secrets

Researchers Exploit Cattle Pathogen’s Genomic Secrets

By Jan Suszkiw

USDA ARS

With genomic “maps” in hand, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are plotting new ways to protect cattle from cellular attack by Anaplasmosis marginale.

A. marginale is a primarily tick-borne bacterium that invades and destroys the red blood cells of cattle and other ruminant hosts. Severe infections cause anemia, weight loss and death. Between 50,000 and 100,000 U.S. cattle succumb to it annually. Those surviving the disease—known as anaplasmosis—become lifelong carriers that can endanger other herd members and impede U.S. cattle trade.

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U.S. cattle groups want answers after lastest Canu…

U.S. cattle groups want answers after lastest Canuck BSE case

by Peter Shinn

Brownfield Network

Major U.S. cattle groups are looking for answers after Canada’s most recent case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). But they’ll likely have to wait before getting the information they really want.

Canada found its latest case of BSE in a bull from Alberta Wednesday. A Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) press release described the animal as “mature,” but didn’t indicate the animal’s age. A CFIA spokesperson told Brownfield no further information about the animal would be released until the Agency’s investigation is complete, which she said could take as long as two weeks.

The last Canadian case of BSE, found in July of 2006, turned up in an animal born in 2002, well after Canada implemented a ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban in 1997. A ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban is supposed to prevent BSE transmission. That’s why the key issue in the latest case is the age of the infected bull.

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Where’s the beef (leader)? Waynesville

Where’s the beef (leader)? Waynesville

by John Boyle

Waynesville Citizen-Times

WAYNESVILLE – Local cattleman John Queen has been elected president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for 2007.

Queen’s peers elected him at the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Nashville, which ended Saturday. Queen owns John Queen Farms, a third-generation cattle farm founded in 1917 near Waynesville. His is a cow/calf producer, has worked as an auction barn owner and operator and currently owns Southeast Livestock Exchange, a video-telemarketing company.

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Campbell speaks on cloning’s potential, ethics

Campbell speaks on cloning’s potential, ethics

By Jenn Kimbal

OGB.Online (Wake Forest University)

Keith Campbell, a prominent figure in the study of mammalian cloning visited the university Feb. 1 to speak on the technological advances of cloning and the ethical issues that surround cloning.

His talk entitled “What We Can Do and Should We Do It?” is part of the Pro Humanitate Lecture Series. Campbell, who held the main role in the first cloning of a mammal, a Finn Dorset lamb named “Dolly,” has achieved great notoriety in the past decade for his research in this field.

The Old Gold and Black spoke to Campbell about choosing a career and facing both acclaim and controversy.

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Stockyards: Eyesore or ‘golden egg’

Stockyards: Eyesore or ‘golden egg’

By Greg Kocher

Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)

VERSAILLES – Depending on which argument you believe, the proposed relocation of Blue Grass Stockyards from Lexington to Midway is either a “golden egg” that will keep jobs and millions of dollars in Central Kentucky or a foul-smelling eyesore with the potential to pollute ground water.

Both positions were expressed last night during a public hearing before the Versailles-Midway-Woodford County Planning and Zoning Commission that drew more than 200 people. No vote was taken but one is expected on March 8.

At issue was an amendment to the county zoning ordinance that would allow the stockyards to relocate to a Midway industrial park near Interstate 64.

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Cattle Farmers Explore Cheaper Feed Options

Cattle Farmers Explore Cheaper Feed Options

Ethanol Demand Makes Corn Prices Soar

KCCI-TV

DES MOINES, Iowa — At the same time that winter temperatures have plummeted, the price farmers get for their corn has skyrocketed.

Farmers said the main reason for the increase in corn prices is because the demand for ethanol, which is made from corn, is high.

But NewsChannel 8 found out the ripple effect is really costly for cattle farmers.

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Cattle Handling

Cattle Handling

KXMCTV Minot

How are your kids and a rancher’s cattle alike?

They’ll all be more cooperative if you let them think they’re doing what they want to do even if it was your idea.

That’s the basis for something called ‘Low Stress Livestock Handling,’ which was being taught today in New Town.

Veterinarian Dr. Tom Noffsinger of Nebraska is an expert in the system, which he says results in healthier, more productive cattle.

The NDSU Extension agent who arranged the session says the system is a matter of convincing cattle that they need not fear their owners as predators.

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