Missouri Forage Specialist: Make Hay, Save Legumes

Missouri Forage Specialist: Make Hay, Save Legumes

Thebeefsite.com

Farmers with more pasture than their livestock can graze this spring should prepare to make hay, said a University of Missouri Extension forage specialist.

“Get the grass canopy off and that will stimulate clover growth,” Craig Roberts told regional agronomists in a teleconference. Cool, wet weather created excess forage on pastures, especially those fertilized with nitrogen.

Roberts recalled previous springs of heavy rainfall when tall fescue grew up, fell over and smothered the clover growing in pastures.

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USDA Predicts Beef Market Could Loose $13.2 Billion Without NAIS

USDA Predicts Beef Market Could Loose $13.2 Billion Without NAIS

Western Livestock Journal

Kansas State University researchers have concluded that the U.S. beef market stands to lose $13.2 billion from lost export markets alone if the industry does not improve its tracking system. The U.S. is far behind its global competition on the implementation of a mandatory National Animal Identification System, something that foreign buyers may require as a prerequisite to doing business in the future.

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Central Coast Agricultural Co-op: Meat processing goes mobile

Central Coast Agricultural Co-op: Meat processing goes mobile

San Luis Obispo Tribune

David Sneed

The Central Coast Agricultural Cooperative has unveiled a gleaming 28-foot-long trailer that it hopes will reshape livestock production and marketing in San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Barbara counties.

It is the first fully licensed mobile meat harvesting unit in California.

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NCBA President: Let’s Look Beyond the Ballot Box

NCBA President: Let’s Look Beyond the Ballot Box

Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade

Lancaster Farming

While Michigan might not seem like a hub in the beef cattle world, it has one unique distinction this year — it is home to National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Gary Voogt.

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BeefTalk: I’m Getting Too Old for the Chicken Dance

BeefTalk: I’m Getting Too Old for the Chicken Dance

Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, NDSU Extension Service

Dancing with Mother Nature – When should I calve? Dancing with Mother Nature – When should I calve?

Producers surveyed this spring anticipate delaying bull turnout this summer by nine days.

North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association members have a recorded an average daily gain of 2.52 pounds for calves on summer pasture. This means the 70,000 calves measured through the NDBCIA’s CHAPS program cumulatively gain on a daily basis 176,400 pounds, 1,764 hundredweight or roughly 88 tons.

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Proper Injection Sites to Remember at Calf-working Time

Proper Injection Sites to Remember at Calf-working Time

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

1. Also the new information (see last week’s newsletter) suggests that in some situations, calves may be vaccinated for the respiratory diseases, i.e. IBR and BVD.

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A Non-farmers Guide to Agriculture

A Non-farmers Guide to Agriculture

Gary Truitt

Hoosier AG Today

While recently being interviewed by WLPR, a public radio station in Lowell, IN, I was asked a question that set me back a bit. I was on their afternoon talk show to discuss the delay in planting and how that was impacting farmers. At the end of the interview, the host asked me, “Why should those of us not involved in agriculture listen to your farm programs and what should we listen for?”

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US Gives Conservation Land to Struggling Livestock

US Gives Conservation Land to Struggling Livestock

Thebeefsite.com

The Secretary agreed to the extension for the emergency use of the acreage due to the continued flooding-from 30 April 2009, to 15 May 2009-at the request of the North Dakota Congressional Delegation and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. USDA also agreed to support North Dakota livestock producers by granting the state US$750,000 to help provide for livestock feed and is instituting other measures to help ranchers in the Red River Basin.

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Study shows NAIS will cost more than $175 million annually

Study shows NAIS will cost more than $175 million annually

DVM NEWSMAGAZINE

The cost of implementing a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the cattle sector is $175.9 million annually, which represents 91.5 percent of the total cost of the program, according to a study released by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

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Livestock emitting toxic gas?

Livestock emitting toxic gas?

Amy Joi O’Donoghue

Deseret News

Over the years Scott Wayment has made a number of financial investments to his dairy farm to make it more eco-friendly.

Two lagoons have been installed in addition to pumping stations to make sure his operation complies with state and federal clean water regulations.

Each year, he has an energy audit conducted to determine the farm’s energy consumption and ways to make it more efficient.

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Tough steak blamed on cows with human genes

Tough steak blamed on cows with human genes

Australian Associated Press

TOUGH steak can be blamed on mad cows with human genes, say Australian scientists.

Scientists will investigate ways to switch off a human gene that is thought to cause temperamental behaviour in both cows and humans in a new $1.35 million primary industries research project.

Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin, who announced the project ahead of the Australia’s National Beef Expo 2009 in Rockhampton, says the new ground-breaking discovery could change the quality of beef.

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Keep them doggies floatin’

Keep them doggies floatin’

Family still has the drive to ferry beef cattle across Fox River to their grassy island pasture

Annysa Johnson

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Lake Puckaway – As family reunions go, it’s hard to beat the gatherings Dave and Cindy Rowe host each spring along this narrow stretch of the Fox River in Green Lake County.

They provide plenty of good food, raucous reminiscing and grandkids running around in life jackets.

But this is no picnic.

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It’s simply a matter of time –– or timing.

It’s simply a matter of time –– or timing.

J. Neil Orth, Executive Vice President, American International Charolais Association

Since the downturn in our economy, just about every economist with access to a computer has provided thought provoking information. Some encourage us to save. Others encourage us to spend. Others encourage us to look for opportunities while some say examine your management structure. No doubt, our industry depends heavily on the ongoing information stream from our economists. However, it seems that most frequently we are encouraged to remember our industry is one dependent upon timing.

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US gov. sues SoCal slaughterhouse over beef recall

US gov. sues SoCal slaughterhouse over beef recall

DAISY NGUYEN

San Jose Mercury News

The federal government said Friday it is suing a Southern California slaughterhouse whose workers were caught on videotape abusing cattle, leading to the nation’s biggest beef recall last year.

The Department of Justice is intervening in the Humane Society of the United States’ lawsuit against Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. The federal lawsuit seeks $150 million in taxpayer money awarded to the company during a five-year period.

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Producer-handlers aren’t the problem

Producer-handlers aren’t the problem

Capital Press

The USDA will conduct a hearing May 4 on a petition submitted by the National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association seeking an end to the “producer-handlers” exemption in federal milk marketing orders.

The complicated regulations, which had their genesis in the Depression, set minimum prices for the producer for the sale of fluid milk to processors. Processors pay different prices depending on how the milk is used. Within the various marketing regions, processors pool these payments into a common fund, which is distributed to individual producers based on the amount of milk the farmer delivered to the processor.

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