AMI, FMI Make Waves With COOL Preparations

AMI, FMI Make Waves With COOL Preparations

Troy Marshall

Beef Magazine

The run-up to the scheduled implementation of country-of-origin labeling (COOL) has drawn a bit more heated rhetoric recently. Two weeks ago, the American Meat Institute and the Food Marketing Institute sent letters detailing the verifiable auditable paper trails, indemnification of liability and the like that they will be demanding from suppliers. While this is nothing new, it sparked some reaction because people are beginning to realize that the implementation date is just around the corner — September 2008.

Quite a few of the calves born this spring will be marketed past the COOL implementation date, so producers need to be putting together their documentation and paper trails right now. While there was a similar chorus of complaints about how this doesn’t have to be complicated, there is also a growing understanding that the problem was that COOL is a very bad piece of legislation. Expect the impetus to correct the law to make it more workable to grow exponentially as the implementation date draws nearer.

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Remember That Food Safety Equals Trust

 Remember That Food Safety Equals Trust 

Beef Cow/calf Weekly

The industry’s record from a scientific viewpoint regarding food safety has been amazing. Probably nothing illustrates that more clearly than the recent meat recalls for E. coli. It was almost surprising to hear about a problem, yet it wasn’t that many years ago when we were suffering through what was called “the summer of E. coli.”

BSE is another example where the industry has done an amazing job of preventing a major problem. However, the best way to gauge consumer perceptions of food safety is to have them evaluate their impression of the integrity of the industry, and its direct suppliers.

Still, we find ourselves yet again having an improper and illegal shipment of beef being sent to South Korea. In Japan one of its own companies, Meat Hope, has created a huge controversy by putting pork into a key beef product, because beef supplies had gotten tight.

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An honest look at the beef industry

An honest look at the beef industry

By ANDREA JOHNSON, Assistant Editor

Farm and Ranch Guide

Take a moment to think about beef.

For many people, a high quality steak – broiled to perfection and tender enough to cut with a table knife – is one of the pleasures of life.

That thick and juicy hamburger enjoyed in the company of friends; your mom’s slow-cooked pot roast; or a quick beef stir fry after work are delights for the senses and the stomarch.

We all want a good eating experience every time we eat beef.

It’s the beef industry’s job to do everything it can to assure that a good beef entrée experience happens.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) takes that challenge seriously.

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A stop at Nolan Ryan Ranches and the Sundial Bridge

A stop at Nolan Ryan Ranches and the Sundial Bridge

By Jean Barton

Daily News (CA)

Our final stop was at Nolan Ryan Ranches in Gonzales, Texas, and there was a modest entrance to the ranch. N-R on the top of a white pipe entrance.

Nolan Ryan personally shook hands with each member of the tour as they stepped off the buses. His wife greeted us at the house, and we enjoyed lunch in the shade of the trees at their home: some Nolan Ryan rib-eye steaks, creamy new potatoes, string beans with slivered almonds, green salad, rolls, ice tea and ice cream on peach cobbler.

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Japan, U.S. to Hold Meetings Over Beef

Japan, U.S. to Hold Meetings Over Beef

By CHISAKI WATANABE

The Washington Post

TOKYO — Japan and the U.S. will hold a two-day technical meeting on U.S. beef imports, officials said Monday, amid expectations the talks may pave the way for easing Japan’s strict import restrictions.

Officials from the two countries will meet Wednesday and Thursday in Tokyo, according to a press release by the Japanese Health and Agriculture Ministries.

Japan only allows imports of U.S. beef from cattle 20 months old or younger, because the mad cow disease has not been detected in meat from young cattle _ although the U.S. has called for that restriction to be eased.

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Farm Bill — Let The Fun Begin

Farm Bill — Let The Fun Begin 

Beef Cow Calf Weekly

The House released its mockups of the new farm bill last week. These are intended as a starting point for the upcoming debate. Not surprising, there was very little revolutionary in the new bill, much to the consternation of both the proponents and opponents of American ag.

The real change this time around is the number of non-ag groups involved in the farm bill. From animal welfare to environmental groups to consumer advocate groups, they’re all trying to enact parts of their agenda through the upcoming farm bill. There also is pressure from fiscal conservatives, free-market advocates and from the social liberals who want more government dollars directed toward other activities. Of course, there’s the renewable energy issue, as well.

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Heat Stress can Reduce Pregnancy Rates

Heat Stress can Reduce Pregnancy Rates

Dr. Glenn Selk, Extension Cattle Specialist, Oklahoma State University

The effects of heat stress on reproductive performance of beef cows has been discussed by many animal scientists in a variety of ways.  After reviewing the scientific literature available  up to 1979, one scientist wrote that the most serious seasonal variation in reproductive performance was associated with high ambient temperatures and humidity.  He further pointed out that pregnancy rates and subsequent calving rates were reduced from 10% to 25% in cows bred in July through September.

Typical Oklahoma summer weather can fit the description of potential heat stress, where many days in a row can exceed 95 degrees and night time lows are often close to 80 degrees.  Many hours of the day can be quite hot and cause the slightest rise in body temperature of cattle.  Research conducted several years ago at OSU illustrated the possible impact of heat stress of beef cows on their reproductive capability. 

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Drought could push up prices

Drought could push up prices

Justin Schneider

Hearld Bulleting (IN)

It’s basic economics.

When supply falls and demand remains constant, prices are bound to rise.

As dry conditions take their toll on crops in Central Indiana, experts are predicting higher than normal prices and that could bring serious consequences for farmers.

 “We will definitely have some negative impact on those who feed with hay,” said Susan Allen, county executive director for Madison County Farm Services Agency. “Obviously the price of hay is going up and many livestock farmers will have to purchase hay to supplement their feeding, which may result in some higher feeding expenses.”

Vaughn Bracken of Bracken Farms said he usually raises enough hay to feed his 50 head of beef cows and still have some left over for sale. But with the yield of the first cutting down, he will have to find cattle feed elsewhere and even thin his herd.

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First-of-kind tour showcases smart growth, economic importance of area’s farms

First-of-kind tour showcases smart growth, economic importance of area’s farms

Kentucky.com

Doug Miglew came to Lexington from Sacramento, Calif., for a business trip, but took a few hours to tour Fayette County farms and see first hand some of the area’s storied horse country on Saturday.

‘If you want to save farmland, you have to people see what you’re talking about,’ Miglew said. ‘You have to give people a reason to go to city council and say, ‘Hey, don’t let development go out there. We’ve got to save that land.”

Sacramento faces similar issues as developers buy up fruit and vegetable farms to grow houses instead of crops, he said.

Miglew was among 200 people who gathered in the Cox Street parking lot behind Rupp Arena, and boarded buses for the Buildings & Bluegrass Tour, a first-time event organized by Fayette Alliance, an organization devoted to rural land preservation.

The goal was to show the two sides of smart growth, said Knox van Nagell, executive director of the Alliance.

Buses drove by four innovative infill projects downtown including Artek on Georgetown Street and the soon-to-be completed 500′s on Main.

Nine thoroughbred and general agricultural farms in Fayette County were open. Visitors had a choice of visiting three farms in the west, north or eastern quadrants of the county.

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Source & Age Verification: Is There A Train? Can I Catch It?

Source & Age Verification: Is There A Train?  Can I Catch It?

Cattlenetwork.com

With the developing demands of export markets and evolution of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) oversight of marketing claims, several new programs have become available to producers in a relatively short time period. These programs have resulted in terms such as Beef Export Verification (BEV), Source and Age Verification (S&A) Quality System Assessment (QSA), and Process Verified Program (PVP) to become widely used in the media. It is frequently suggested that participation in these programs will bring additional revenue to cow-calf producers without much guidance on how to catch the train.

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Feed costs rise with demand for corn

Feed costs rise with demand for corn

By Betsy Blaney

Lubbock Pantograph

Motorists might save a few cents a gallon filling their tanks with ethanol, but they could soon be paying more for a burger and a milkshake as a result.

Demand for corn to make ethanol is soaring and so are the prices, which have more than doubled in the past year. That’s bad news for beef and dairy producers who depend on grain to feed their herds. Many say the cost will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher grocery bills this year.

“There’s a lot of concern among cattle feeders,’’ said Jim Gill, market director for Amarillo-based Texas Cattle Feeders Association. “It’s not a moneymaking proposition right now.’’

Cattle feedyards like the one Kyle Williams manages in Texas, the nation’s leading cattle-producing state, is one of the first stops on the road to higher beef prices.

About a quarter of the 30,000 animals at Lubbock Feeders were bought before corn prices began to soar steadily and the added cost was not factored into the price. Williams knows he’ll lose money when it’s time to sell.

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Small ranchers say grass-fed meat is better

Small ranchers say grass-fed meat is better

Daily Sentinel (CO)

Henry Jupille has a favorite joke. “How do you make a million dollars ranching?” Jupille asks, but doesn’t wait to throw out the punch line. “You start with two.”

Jupille, a rancher from Montrose, admits there is money to be made selling grass-fed beef in Colorado, but he’s found it impossible for small ranches to make a living from it. However, money isn’t motivating Jupille and other western Colorado ranchers such as Collbran’s Tom Jordan to spend hours raising cattle from infancy to adulthood.

A desire to produce, in their opinion, the highest quality beef is what drives them.

“I wouldn’t want to do it any other way,” Jupille said.

Earlier this month, United Food Group expanded its beef recall to include about 5.7 million pounds of fresh and frozen meat distributed to 11 western states, including Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

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Turning corn into fuel could push price to $4.50 a gallon

Turning corn into fuel could push price to $4.50 a gallon

The Detroit Free Press

    Get ready to pay $4.50 a gallon this summer — for milk.

    Gasoline prices over $3 a gallon have grabbed consumers’ attention, but dairy products and other corn-dependent foods are expected to rise at an even faster rate.

    This is happening because of an explosion in the production of ethanol, a gasoline additive touted by the president, automakers and farmers as a way to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

    Up to 20% of the nation’s corn crop — 18% in Michigan — is now being channeled to ethanol production. That increased demand means the price of corn used to feed cattle and pigs and to make cereals and sweeteners is going up — 61% between September and May.

    Together with the rising costs of wheat and other commodities, corn demand is pushing overall food prices up 4% this year, compared with 2% a year ago, and driving up the costs of breakfast foods — eggs, bacon, cereal, milk and potatoes — as much as 10%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Hay Day set at UA in Fayetteville

Hay Day set at UA in Fayetteville

TRISH HOLLENBECK

Northwest Arkansas Times

In the midst of hay season, farmers will have a chance on July 12 to learn from some of the top hay producers in the nation at the 2007 Arkansas Hay Day at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

 “ We haven’t had one in four or five years, ” Johnny Gunsaulis, Washington County agent for the UA Cooperative Extension Service, said.

He said there is a “ good committee of people” working on Hay Day this year.

 “ We’re excited about having another one, ” he said.

Hay producers will get the change to learn production tips from top producers during a morning panel session, Gunsaulis said. They will also be able to see demonstrations of new models of haying equipment and sideby-side herbicide comparisons.

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Time to crack the whip

Time to crack the whip

High Plains Journal

I have just completed the first day of what is fast becoming the summer cattlemen’s meeting of the country. No, this is not a national meeting but instead the annual Florida Cattlemen’s/Cattlewomen’s convention in Marco Island, Fla. I am not a beach person myself but this is truly an enjoyable experience. For those of you who don’t know, the history of the Florida cattle industry is quite interesting.

In 1521, Ponce de Leon brought horses and Andalusian cattle to Florida. Andalusian cattle were the ancestors to Longhorns. Consequently, Florida became the first cattle ranching state in the nation. If fact, it was the Florida cattle industry that supplied the majority of the food and clothing for the Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Today, Florida ranks as the 12th largest cow-calf state and 3rd largest east of the Mississippi River. Today, Florida Cracker’s still hunt cows in the swamps on horseback with a dog and a whip.

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Increase ethanol production?

Increase ethanol production?

Kernel of a bad idea

Lynn Edward Weaver

Orlando Sentinel

Due to a political bandwagon for ethanol, Americans are hurtling down a road they should have serious doubts about following. Ethanol was originally intended to be used as a fuel additive to meet air-quality standards, but it already consumes so much corn that it is inflating the price of fuel and food.

And the financial impact will multiply if Congress approves a Bush administration plan to mandate a fivefold increase in renewable-fuels production. It is a fiscally irresponsible scheme requiring large government subsidies that has implications that could touch pocketbooks and change the daily lives of Americans.

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