The Right Time for New Food Safety Legislation?

The Right Time for New Food Safety Legislation?

Thebeefsite.com

Food safety advocate and attorney Bill Marler spoke today from his office in Seattle on the importance of passing HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.

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Campaign for Angus has Raised More than $5.5 Million

Campaign for Angus has Raised More than $5.5 Million

Cattle Today

The Vision of Value: Campaign for Angus, the first capital campaign launched by the Angus Foundation and American Angus Association® to support Angus education, youth and research projects, has now raised more than $5.5 million – toward its $11 million goal set to be raised by Dec. 31, 2011.

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Farming for a healthy life

Farming for a healthy life

Brianne Sanchez

Des Moines Register

The farmers: Ethan, 29, and Becca, 29, Book

The farm: Stoneyfield Farm, Knoxville

What they raise: Dexter cattle, heritage pigs

Visit virtually: thebeginningfarmer.blogspot.com; thebeginning farmerswife.blogspot.com

When some men find out they have high cholesterol, they start eating more oatmeal. Ethan Book, 29, bought a farm. Well, not a farm so much as 40 acres of native prairie grasses with a woods, but no house.

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Latest farming technology, equipment shared at Forage Field Day

Latest farming technology, equipment shared at Forage Field Day

LEEANN MOORE

Zanesville Times Recorder

When new farming technology information is available, Larry McDaniel is interested.

He relies on hay to feed the cows and calves that roam his 350-acre farm, and any time there’s an opportunity for him to learn about new farming techniques or new equipment, he’s likely to be there.

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This farm is dedicated to happy cows, not happy meals

This farm is dedicated to happy cows, not happy meals

Ry Rivard

Charleston Daily Mail

On farms across West Virginia, 204,000 beef cattle now await slaughter.

But at the International Society for Cow Protection’s 168-acre hillside farm in Marshall County, cattle are treated far differently from those that are headed to slaughterhouses and onto plates.

William Dove and his family keep 22 cows and oxen comfortable for their entire lives and plan to chant the holy names of God to each animal as it dies a natural death at their farm outside of Moundsville.

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Q&A: Is it possible to put too much nitrogen on a pasture and then have cattle grazing it?

Q&A:   Is it possible to put too much nitrogen on a pasture and then have cattle grazing it?

Dr. Jerry Volesky, Associate Professor of Agronomy, West Central Research & Extension Center – North Platte, North Platte, NE

A:   With irrigated grasses, nitrogen fertilizer moves relatively quickly into the soil and is used by the grass. Nitrate levels in the forage will increase in the short-term and then decline as the grass rapidly grows.

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NCA Beef-Cattle Conference slated

NCA Beef-Cattle Conference slated

Baxter Bulletin

The North Central Arkansas Beef-Cattle Conference, one of the top beef-cattle meetings in the area, is scheduled Monday at North Arkansas Livestock Auction in Green Forest. A registration fee of $20 will be collected at the door. Conference registration and dinner begin at 5:30 p.m.

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Hannah McCabe Selected as NJAA Outstanding Leader for 2009

Hannah McCabe Selected as NJAA Outstanding Leader for 2009

Thebeefsite.com

US – The National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) has seen a cycle of tremendous leaders go through the Association. Every year, many of them bid farewell to their days as junior members and continue on to other things.

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Regulatory Czar Pick Dangerous For Ag

Regulatory Czar Pick Dangerous For Ag

Chelsea Schilling

Southern Livestock Standard

President Obama’s friend and nominee for "regulatory czar" is a "raving animal rights nut" who has a secret agenda, according to one consumer group.

David Martosko, director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, told Fox News’ Glenn Beck that Cass Sunstein, the Harvard Law professor nominated by the president to become the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is a "raving animal rights nut" and devout disciple of Peter Singer.

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Central Texas Cow/Calf Clinic to be held in Lampasas

Central Texas Cow/Calf Clinic to be held in Lampasas

San Saba Star And News

Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Lampasas County is pleased to announce the annual Central Texas Cow/Calf Clinic, which will be held this year on Aug. 18, 2009 at the Lampasas County Farm Bureau Building (1793 N HWY 281).

Registration will begin at 8:45 am, with the program starting promptly at 9:00. Topics this year include Insect Management in Beef Cattle (Fly Control), Forages and Beef Cattle (Weed Control), Bull Selection Basics, and a current look at this year’s Beef Cattle Market.

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Video Feature: Livestock Zone of Influence, 1 of 2

A short video using low-stress stockmanship showing how to use the zone of influence when working livestock, part 1 of 2. Thanks to the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan and Intervet Schering-Plough.

more about "Video Feature: Livestock Zone of Inf…", posted with vodpod

“Preg” Check and Cull Replacement Heifers Early

"Preg" Check and Cull Replacement Heifers Early

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

Many Oklahoma ranchers choose to breed the replacement heifers about a month ahead of the mature cows in the herd.  In addition, they like to use a shortened 45 to 60-day breeding season for the replacement heifers.  The next logical step is to determine which of these heifers failed to conceive in their first breeding season.

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Ranchers diversify to stay put

Ranchers diversify to stay put

Capital AG Press

Zack Wirth realized more than 15 years ago that the economics of ranching would not let him make a living on his ancestral home, a scenic slice of western Montana tucked in the Rocky Mountains.

Wirth maintained a breeding herd of cattle and weaned calves on the Rocking Z Ranch, but he needed to supplement the livestock income. He tried selling automobile parts from Montana to New Mexico, but later turned to self-employed construction work. When the physical toll caught up with him in his late 40s, he later considered but quickly dismissed becoming a preparer of tax returns.

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Changes Requested for Interim Final COOL Rule

Changes Requested for Interim Final COOL Rule

Indiana Prairie Farmer

R-CALF USA believes Canada had too much influence over the Interim Final COOL Rule promulgated by USDA last year. According to R-CALF in a January exchange of letters between Canada’s Ambassador to the WTO and the U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Peter Allgeier, the U.S. proposed to accommodate Canada’s requested changes in the agency’s Final COOL Rule in return for Canada’s agreement not to pursue a WTO dispute for a period of eight months. Also, Canada requested concessions from USDA to allow the use of a mixed-origin label on products exclusively of U.S. origin and on meat derived from livestock imported into the U.S. for immediate slaughter.

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Prudence is job one

Prudence is job one

Capital Ag Press

Not too long ago, most of the worry about the potential for disease at fairs, livestock shows and other events centered on protecting humans.

These days, the focus also goes the other way. Protecting animals, particularly hogs, from disease is top-of-mind for many fair organizers.

Still another concern is the fact that some diseases can jump from one species of animal to another.

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Fly Control in Cattle Saves Money

Fly Control in Cattle Saves Money

Rebecca Gants, University of Missouri Extension

Beef Today

Flies cost the cattle industry more than $500 million each year, causing slowed weight gain, reduced milk production and diseases such as pinkeye and anaplasmosis. But on your farm, when do a few flies become more than a pesky nuisance?

The recommended economic threshold for a pesticide program is 200 flies per animal, says David Hoffman, a University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist.

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How common is anthrax?

How common is anthrax?

Extension.org

What is anthrax? Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic lower vertebrates (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, antelopes, and other herbivores), but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals.

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University president opposes moving federal laboratory out of Wyoming

University president opposes moving federal laboratory out of Wyoming

The Cattle Business Weekly

University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan said he opposes a Senate Appropriations Committee recommendation to relocate a U.S. Department of Agriculture animal disease research laboratory from UW to Manhattan, Kan.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently recommended $1.5 million to relocate the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Laboratory (ABADRL), which conducts research on diseases spread by insects, including bluetongue, vesicular stomatitis and Rift Valley fever.

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Livestock Antibiotic Ban Poses Risk To Food Safety

Livestock Antibiotic Ban Poses Risk To Food Safety

Beef Magazine

Antibiotics ban would increase production costs, decrease numbers and increase costs at retail

Legislation that would block the use of antibiotics for veterinary and farm use would be detrimental to the health of US livestock as well as pose risks for national food safety, according to the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

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Export Trade is a Viable Niche for Producers

Export Trade is a Viable Niche for Producers

Clifford Mitchell

Cattle Today

Developing a marketing program for any business sometimes takes many man hours to make sure all the details have been covered. Delivering the product that is promised in the advertising campaign has claimed more than one firm in this almost never ending process.

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