Jim Shoulders, Winner of 16 Pro Rodeo Championships, Dies at 79

Jim Shoulders, Winner of 16 Pro Rodeo Championships, Dies at 79

By Vince Golle

Bloomberg News Service

Jim Shoulders, winner of a record 16 world championships in professional rodeo from 1949 to 1959, died yesterday of complications from heart disease. He was 79.

Shoulders was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979 after a rodeo career that included seven titles in bull riding, four in bareback, and five all-around championships.

He died at his home in Henryetta, Oklahoma.

Shoulders was the only cowboy to win the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo’s all-around, or multiple events, title four times in Wyoming, and was a seven-time winner at the Calgary Stampede.

“Jim Shoulders was to the rodeo, western-industry world what Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio were to baseball,” Don Gay, who won a record eighth bull-riding championship in 1984, said in an interview from Dallas. “He did what no ordinary human being can do.”

Shoulders was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Edmond, Oklahoma, and is the only rodeo cowboy honored in the Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame in New York, according to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association. The Oklahoma Hall of Fame inducted Shoulders in 1975 and he was selected as a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

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Short term negative energy balance can affect conception rates of replacement heifers

Short term negative energy balance can affect conception rates of replacement heifers

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

Oklahoma State University researchers have studied the impact of short term energy restriction on ovulation rates of cycling replacement heifers.  This trial is reported in the 2001 OSU Animal Science Research Report.  The effects of acutely restricting nutrition on ovulation and metabolic hormones were evaluated in Angus x Hereford heifers. Heifers were housed in individual pens in a barn and fed a diet supplying 120% of their maintenance requirements for protein and energy (1.2 M) for 10 days to allow time to adjust to the environment and diet. 

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Premise ID relieves Hoosiers of paperwork

Premise ID relieves Hoosiers of paperwork          

By MEGGIE I. FOSTER

Farm World

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — While Hoosier livestock exhibitors clean, trim and train show-stoppers for the summer fairs, one thing will be different this year.

They don’t need health papers to show at the Indiana State Fair, and they don’t need papers to show at county fairs, according Denise Derrer, public information officer for the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH).

 “A certificate of veterinary inspection (CVI, commonly known as health papers) will not be required by Indiana exhibitors at Indiana fairs anymore,” confirmed Derrer. “However, if a county fair wants to require it, it’s up to them.”

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A Closer Look at Indiana’s Livestock Industry

A Closer Look at Indiana’s Livestock Industry

Indiana State Department of Agriculture

Introduction

The livestock industry has changed dramatically over the past 25 years, but in many ways it has stayed the same. Modern production systems allow farmers to increase the number of animals they raise at a lower cost while adhering to the highest environmental standards. At the same time, most Hoosiers’ remember the farms of their grandfather’s days and are concerned about changes. Yet the values and principles of family farming that were seen in previous generations have been passed down through the generations and the vast majority of today’s modern farms are run by the children and grandchildren of the same farm families. This document will address both the myths and the facts surrounding livestock farming in our state and provide a sound resource to enable communities to learn more about this important sector of our economy.

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AMI Tells Lawmakers to ‘Peel Away’ the Rhetorical Wrapping Paper on Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling

AMI Tells Lawmakers to ‘Peel Away’ the Rhetorical Wrapping Paper on Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling

In an ad in Roll Call newspaper today, the American Meat Institute (AMI) urged readers to “peel away the rhetorical wrapping paper” on mandatory country-of-origin labeling and see that the costly and burdensome law is actually an effort to block meat and livestock exports from other countries.

In the ad, AMI stressed that the U.S. already has a country of origin labeling program for imported meat and poultry. Finished products like Danish hams or New Zealand lamb bear labels saying “Product of Denmark” or “Product of New Zealand.” AMI questioned the notion that consumers are willing to pay more for products that tell where an animal was born, raised and slaughtered. Roll Call is the newspaper of Capitol Hill.

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Reduce Heat Stress in Cattle to Maintain Profits

Reduce Heat Stress in Cattle to Maintain Profits

by: Stephen B. Blezinger, Ph.D, PAS

Cattle Today

When you work in the livestock industry it’s fairly common to hear at least a few stories each summer about someone who suffered fairly extensive animal or production losses due to excessive heat or heat stress. Last year in California, thousands of dairy cattle died as they endured days of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Several years ago, in July 1995, approximately 3,750 head of feedlot cattle in a yard in Western Iowa died over a 24 hour period due to the heat and humidity. Even this year, when many areas of the southern United States have been cooler for longer periods of time than normal cattle are showing signs of heat stress. We normally think of heat effects as isolated to the southern and lower middle states. Unfortunately that’s not true. We also tend to think that the heat affects only dairy or feedlot cattle. That is not true either. The animal and production losses represent millions of dollars not to mention the time and effort of dealing with the situation. This is true in all phases of the beef industry.

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USDA Program Offers Hay, Pasture Relief

USDA Program Offers Hay, Pasture Relief

Gilesnews.us

With ongoing dry conditions and a rainfall deficit affecting Tennessee, producers enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are reminded that opportunities for managed haying and grazing exist.

With a modification to their conservation plan, certain CRP stands established to permanent grasses (cool-season and native warm season grasses) are eligible to be cut for hay or grazed. Most eligible areas for managed haying and grazing are land that was enrolled in a general sign-up. Beginning July 2, CRP participants who have received written permission can hay or graze CRP stands.

According to Gregg Brann, NRCS grazing lands specialist, “Native grasses will be an excellent source of hay during this drought. Due to deep rooting of natives, they will be more vegetative and higher quality than other forages that have dried up.”

Brann said it is important to harvest native grasses as soon as possible after the July 2 date. The ideal height to harvest natives for hay is 30 inches tall or when the first seedhead appears.

“My calculations show if CRP yields 4 tons per acre and half of the hay is given to the contract harvester for cutting, raking and rolling the hay, the producer would still have four rolls of hay for a cost of only $4 per roll,“ Brann added.

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U.S. Beef Still Scary To Some Japanese Consumers

U.S. Beef Still Scary To Some Japanese Consumers

Cattlenetwork.com

During a public hearing held Wednesday in Tokyo, Japanese consumers said they still fear U.S. beef.

Nearly 170 people representing consumer groups and the beef industry attended a government-sponsored public hearing on Japan’s recent audit of U.S. meatpacking plants, which turned up no violations and prompted Tokyo to relax restrictions on imports of U.S. beef, Reuters reported. (See Japan halts 100 percent checks on U.S. beef on Meatingplace.com, June 13, 2007.)

Despite their government’s findings, some Japanese consumers remain skeptical.

“I think the United States should show more good faith if they want to sell more beef to Japan,” Masae Wada, a member of the Housewives’ Association, told Reuters. “Right now, I don’t see that.”

Wada also questioned Washington’s tactics in urging Tokyo to relax its rules in order to again become Japan’s top foreign supplier again.

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Forage field day July 26

Forage field day July 26

Delta Farm Press

Putting your land to work as well as working the land will be the focuses of the Making Forages Work Field Day sponsored by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station. The free public event will be held July 26 at the Middle Tennessee Research and Education Center at Spring Hill, Tenn.

The gate will open at 7:00 a.m. CDT, with registration and a trade show beginning at 7:30 a.m. Educational tours will begin at 8:30 a.m. and run continuously throughout the morning.

A field demonstration of hay equipment from various manufacturers is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Company representatives will be on hand to answer questions.

The event features speakers from industry and state and federal agencies as well as experts from UT Extension and the UT College of Veterinary Medicine and College Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Researchers, Extension agents and vendors will be on site to answer questions and greet participants.

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U.S. credibility in question after latest Korea beef blunder

U.S. credibility in question after latest Korea beef blunder

By Robert Pore

Grand Island Independent

Another shipment of banned U.S. beef mistakenly sent to South Korea is hurting this country’s trade credibility, said U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

The incident this week happened less than two weeks after South Korea lifted a brief ban on American beef imposed after two similar cases.

“The system doesn’t work right now,” Nelson said.

Last year, South Korea reopened its border to U.S. beef after it lifted a ban imposed in December 2003 when a cow tested positive in Washington state for mad cow disease.

As part of the agreement to reopen beef trade with South Korea, only boneless meat from cattle younger than 30 months is allowed.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, the beef in question sent to South Korea was meant for the U.S. domestic market. The shipment contained beef not allowed under the agreement between the two countries.

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Cattle Health: Ergot In Cereal Crops & Grasses Poses Threat To Livestock

Cattle Health: Ergot In Cereal Crops & Grasses Poses Threat To Livestock

Cattlenetwork.com

Montana’s cool, wet spring conditions have led to a fungus in cereal crops and grasses that can lead to livestock poisonings, says a Montana State University plant pathologist.

The fungus ergot can poison any livestock, but reports are a bit more frequent when horses or young calves are involved, said MSU’s Barry Jacobsen.

“With the conditions we’ve got, we’re going to find it everywhere that it has been wet, and there are only a few places in Montana that have not been wet,” Jacobsen said.

Ergot forms hard purple to black masses that replace individual grains or seeds. While MSU has had some reports of infections already, most ergot infections won’t be reported for a few more weeks when grasses and cereal grains have headed.

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Bob Evans founder dead at 89

Bob Evans founder dead at 89

MARK WILLIAMS

Akron Beacon Journal

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Bob Evans, whose quest for quality sausage to serve the truckers who filled his 12-stool, 24-hour-a-day steakhouse in southeast Ohio led to the creation of a restaurant chain that bears his name, died Thursday, Bob Evans Farms Inc. said. He was 89.

Evans died at the Cleveland Clinic about 12:30 p.m., Evans’ family told the company. The clinic said he died of complications from pneumonia.

Evans complained that he could not get good sausage for the restaurant that he started after World War II in Gallipolis in southeast Ohio.

Starting with $1,000, a couple of hogs, 40 pounds of black pepper, 50 pounds of sage and other secret ingredients, the farmer opted to make his own, relying on the hog’s best parts as opposed to the scraps commonly used in sausage. He began selling it at the restaurant and mom-and-pop stores, and peddled tubs of it out of the back of his pickup truck.

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Lance’s Journal:Cattle Branding, June 21

Lance’s Journal:Cattle Branding, June 21

KOLN-TV

The top three beef cow counties in the United States are all located in Nebraska. And at the top of the list is Cherry County.

It’s the home of 6,000 people and 165,000 cows, which is why its earned the nickname Cattle Country.

In the sandhills of Nebraska, ranchers brand their cattle so everyone knows where the animals belong. It’s a necessary part of the business, but it’s also woven into the social fabric of the sandhills.

Branding cattle together gives the cattle community a chance to reunite after a long winter. It’s neighbors helping neighbors and celebrating the sandhills way of life.

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South Dakota Touts Natural Beef

South Dakota Touts Natural Beef

Press & Dakotan

PIERRE (AP) — Consumers will have another choice soon when buying state-certified beef that’s produced in South Dakota.

State officials have launched a program to promote quality beef from cattle that are raised without the use of drugs or hormones. Products from the South Dakota Dakota Certified Enrolled Cattle Natural Program are also guaranteed to contain no artificial colors or flavors.

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Cattle Preconditioning Forum: Timing Is Key For Bacterial Pneumonia Prevention

Cattle Preconditioning Forum: Timing Is Key For Bacterial Pneumonia Prevention

Cattlenetwork.com

Unless carefully managed, stress can be a real killer for calves and profits. Stress can trigger weight loss and can make calves more susceptible to serious illnesses that can have a long-lasting and costly impact on production, such as bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Fortunately, there are some simple steps producers can take to help prevent this profit-stealing disease.

 “Mannheimia (Pasteurella) haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida are bacteria commonly found in the upper respiratory tracts of healthy cattle,” says Dr. Dan Grooms, associate professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University. “If either bacteria gets into the lungs, it can cause bacterial pneumonia — also known as BRD or shipping fever — which can result in long-term health and productivity problems in cattle or, in severe cases, even death.”

BRD is the leading cause of illness and death of newly received cattle in U.S. feedyards, accounting for approximately 75% of morbidity and more than 50% of mortality.3 Losses from death, decreased performance, lowered weight gain, increased cost of gain, reduced carcass value and treatment costs associated with BRD are continuing financial strains on the cattle industry.

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Cattle industry feels pinch of corn for ethanol

Cattle industry feels pinch of corn for ethanol

By BETSY BLANEY

Fort Worth Star Telegram

LUBBOCK, Texas — 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 needed to make ethanol is soaring and so are the prices, which have more than doubled within the past year.

That’s bad news for beef and dairy producers who also depend on the grain to feed their herds. Many say that cost will eventually be passed on to consumers, and will likely mean higher grocery bills later this year.

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 one-quarter of the 30,000 animals at Lubbock Feeders were bought before corn prices began to soar steadily – an added cost he didn’t factor into the price he paid for them. He knows he’ll lose money when it’s time to sell.

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