Mexico One Step Closer To Full Resumption Of Beef Trade

Mexico One Step Closer To Full Resumption Of Beef Trade

WFRV-TV (WI)

Mexico closed its market following the first U.S. case of BSE in December of 2003, and has slowly been reopening its market to beef products since that time.

Mexico first opened its market to boneless beef from animals under 30 months of age in March of 2004. Then in February of this year, the country opened its market to bone-in beef from animals under 30 months of age. U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns says he’s committed to restoring the once-vibrant live cattle commerce between the United States and Mexico.

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Police investigate modern day case of cattle rustling

Police investigate modern day case of cattle rustling

KARE-TV (MN)

Police in South St. Paul are investigating a high-tech case of cattle rustling involving hundreds of cattle from the Central Livestock Association.

Authorities believe a former veteran employee at the association used some modern tricks to carry out an old-fashioned crime. The man, who has not been charged, was fired last year and had been under investigation ever since.

Authorities believe he stole $2.5 million worth of cattle by using false invoices to perform more than 2,200 transactions with phantom customers he created over several years.

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Cattle Washing System Effective

Cattle Washing System Effective

Meatnews.com

A cattle-washing system developed by the U.S. Agricultural Research Service has been effective in reducing the likelihood that pathogens will be consumed by humans.

U.S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Clay Center, Neb., have developed a practical, effective cattle-washing system that reduces levels of pathogens, such as E. coli O157:H7, on cattle hides, lessening the likelihood they will get onto the meat and be consumed by humans.

In the hide-washing process, the hide-on carcass is cleaned in a high-pressure water washing cabinet to remove excess organic matter, then sprayed with an antibacterial compound. In field trials, the process significantly reduced the number of samples that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7.

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New Nebraska Beef Council exec knows the territory

New Nebraska Beef Council exec knows the territory

by Peter Shinn

Brownfield Network

Ann Marie Bosshamer has been on the job as executive director for the Nebraska Beef Council for little more than a week, but she’s no rookie. She’s worked for the Council as marketing director, promoter and spokesperson for the last decade.

“I think one of the advantages that I have is that I have been here at the Beef Council for 10 years, and so I have a lot of the background information,” Bosshamer said. “And so this new executive director position is just moving me into some different territories, but exciting ones that I am looking forward to getting involved in.”

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Colombian Trade Agreement Called Threat To U.S. Cattle

Colombian Trade Agreement Called Threat To U.S. Cattle

High Plains Journal

OMAHA (DTN) — U.S. cattle interests would not be well served by the free trade agreement being considered with Colombia, said a spokesman for the cattlemen’s group R-CALF USA.

According to a news release from the group, a U.S.-Colombian FTA would do little to open Colombia’s markets to U.S. beef exports and could “subject domestic cattle producers to substantial risks of increased beef imports,” the group’s International Trade Committee Chair told the International Trade Commission.

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Critics have beef with grass-fed label

Critics have beef with grass-fed label

CNN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Meat-eaters usually assume a grass-fed steak came from cattle contentedly grazing for most of their lives on lush pastures, not crowded into feedlots.

If the government has its way, the grass-fed label could be used to sell beef that didn’t roam the range and ate more than just grass.

The Agriculture Department has proposed a standard for grass-fed meat that doesn’t say animals need pasture and that broadly defines grass to include things like leftovers from harvested crops.

Critics say the proposal is so loose that it would let more conventional ranchers slap a grass-fed label on their beef, too.

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Veterinarians fleeing farms

Veterinarians fleeing farms

Legislators, vet officials search for solutions

By Jaclyn Houghton

The Daily Times (OK)

STILLWATER, Okla. — The broncs and the bulls are what Adam Byrd knows and loves.

The Gladewater, Texas, native tried his hand at law school, but the career pieces did not fit and farm life was calling.

Working “those long hours, I’d much rather be spending them outside than in an office,” Byrd, 25, said.

He works at Oklahoma State University’s Veterinary Medicine Ranch in Stillwater, Okla., and hopes for acceptance into the school’s veterinary program. His goal is to practice medicine serving large animals in his hometown.

But Byrd is one of a dwindling number of students willing to take a high-priced veterinary education out to the grazing pastures of the nation’s rural lands.

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