Video Feature: University Of Tennessee Research to Boost Cattle Pregnancy Rates.

Video Feature: University Of Tennessee Research to Boost Cattle Pregnancy Rates.

Beef cattle farming is Tennessee’s number one agricultural commodity – and herd reproductive health is critical for producers to stay in business. UT’s Institute of Agriculture is working on research to boost cattle pregnancy rates.

Trent Loos: Number 1 eat less beef.

Trent Loos: Number 1 eat less beef.

I realize you have plenty of things to do but please take a few minutes and respond to this one.

On May 13, Charles Gibson on ABC World News suggested two things you can do the reduce “Global Warming”.

Number 1 eat less beef. I want to point something out that we need to follow up on. During the TV news cast they reported that by cutting your consumption of beef by 20% it would reduce the amount of Greenhouse Gas Production equal to all Americans driving hybrid cars. They can’t prove that, that is sensationalism at its best and they know it. How do I know they know it? It was edited out of the webcast version available on the website. No record of the mispoken truth.

We seem to be standing by allowing everyone to perpetuate the myth that reducing beef consumption is good for the planet health. PLEASE take the time this weekend to submit your opinion.

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Farmers frustrated by farm bill’s earmarks

Farmers frustrated by farm bill’s earmarks

High Plains Journal

A good farm bill wouldn’t be complete without a little pork.

Individual lawmakers, mostly senators, slipped several dozen “earmarks,” or pet causes, into the $290 billion bill that have at best tentative connections to the tilling of the land. There’s tax breaks for horse owners, water for Nevada desert lakes, aid for the Pacific Coast salmon fishery industry and a crackdown on puppy trafficking.

Rep. Jeff Flake, R-AZ, a leading opponent of earmarks, complained that some had been “airdropped in” at the last minute. “If you dig into them, you might find something untoward. You might not, but the fact is we don’t have time to do that.”

Republicans went after Democratic-backed provisions, such as one backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, that allows the federal government to sell portions of the Green Mountain National Forest to a ski resort in the state. Leahy’s office countered that the provision, backed by the state and the Forest Service, would save the Forest Service management costs by selling land that has long been used for skiing

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Ethanol production is not the culprit behind increases at the grocery store

Ethanol production is not the culprit behind increases at the grocery store

Newton Kansan

This is a response to the recent letter from Ted Roth. Several issues need to be clarified.

Ethanol production has had a very minimal effect on food prices. Studies have proven that almost all of the increase in grocery store prices have come from the increase in oil prices, for example, the huge increases in transportation costs to get the food to the store, and the increased costs of packaging, which is often made from oil (think plastic containers).

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NASCAR’S Benson and Brangus Team Up For Mansfield and Texas

NASCAR’S Benson and Brangus Team Up For Mansfield and Texas

Paddocktalk.com

Johnny Benson, driver of the No. 23 Toyota Toyota Tundra for Bill Davis Racing has teamed up with the International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) for this weekend’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Ohio 250 at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park and the Sam’s Town 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in two weeks.

“We are excited about IBBA joining Johnny’s team this weekend,” said Team Owner Bill Davis. “The IBBA is the best breeding association in the country, and we couldn’t be more pleased that they are teaming up with us to promote their new OptimaxX Program.”

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USDA to Ban ‘Downer’ Beef

USDA to Ban ‘Downer’ Beef

Agency Seeks to Allay Nation’s Fears About Food Supply

Christopher Lee

Washington Post

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said yesterday that his department wants to ban all “downer” cattle from the slaughterhouse to boost public confidence in the safety of the nation’s food supply.

The proposal, which could take effect within a few months, follows the largest beef recall in U.S. history earlier this year, which was the result of secretly recorded videotape that showed California meat plant workers using forklifts and electric prods on animals unable to stand in an effort to get them to the slaughterhouse.
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The changing corn environment

The changing corn environment

Harlan Hughes

Beef Magazine

Part 1: Uncharted waters

Managing a beef cowherd in today’s corn environment is like sailing uncharted waters. Ranchers’ past experiences may not be of much value.

Previous run-ups in corn price were supply driven (Figure 1). In years of short corn supplies, ranchers just had to cope with high prices for a year or less until the next good crop brought prices back down. Most ranchers didn’t change marketing practices; they just tightened their belts temporarily.

What’s different today is the run-up in corn price is demand driven — driven by mandates for corn-based ethanol production. Thus, even with a record crop in 2007, corn prices went up even more in early 2008.
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Potential Mold Related Problems In Ethanol Co-Products

Potential Mold Related Problems In Ethanol Co-Products

cattlenetwork.com

Fungi are a fact of life on the farm, although their presence is often undetected or ignored. Unfortunately, fungal colonization of livestock feeds can be detrimental to animal health, mostly through the production of mycotoxins by some fungi. As the use of ethanol co-products increases in livestock feeding operations, it will be important to understand the nature and extent of any risks related to molds and mycotoxins.

There are essentially two ways that fungi can impact the safety of ethanol co-products as feed. Mycotoxins can be produced by some fungi that can infect corn grain. In Iowa, these are usually species of Fusarium that can produce fumonisins or deoxynivalenol (or other mycotoxins), or Aspergillus flavus, which produces aflatoxins. When grain is processed into ethanol, these mycotoxins are not destroyed, but become concentrated in the co-products. When co-products are delivered to the farm, they can become colonized by fungi in the environment. This may cause problems with nutritive value or palatability, but some of these fungi also may be mycotoxin producers. There has not been much information available about the types of fungi that prefer to colonize in these materials, so the likelihood of mycotoxin contamination by this route is unclear. As one would expect, wet or modified distillers’ grains are more likely to be quickly colonized by fungi than are dried distillers’ grains.

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New tests make antibiotic monitoring easier

New tests make antibiotic monitoring easier

High Plains Journal

Detecting antibiotics in the environment could become easier to do, thanks to portable field kits developed and validated by a team of scientists from the Agricultural Research Service, Abraxis, LLC and the Czech Republic.

The team conducted studies showing that the kits, called enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, accurately detected trace amounts of sulfonamides, also known as “sulfa drugs,” in wastewater samples. When these drugs are excreted in urine, for example, they can persist in the environment unchanged or as metabolites.

ARS chemist Weilin Shelver and ARS physiologist Nancy Shappell–both with the agency’s Biosciences Research Laboratory in Fargo, N.D.–conducted the validation studies in collaboration with kit developers Milan Franek, with the Veterinary Research Institute in Brno, Czech Republic; and Fernando Rubio, with Abraxis, LLC in Warminster, Pa.

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NMSU researchers study consumers’ beef preferences

NMSU researchers study consumers’ beef preferences

Sun-News

When dinner guests sit down to enjoy a juicy steak, it’s clear they’ve made a choice to treat themselves to a nice meal. But does it matter to them where the beef came from, or how the cattle that provided the beef were raised?

With the New Mexico beef industry generating some $905 million annually, a total U.S. beef consumption of 28 billion pounds per year and the increased cost of producing beef due to competition for corn with the biofuels industry, beef marketing decisions and feedback from consumers can be critical.

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Cattle Producers Program on Crossbreeding Systems

Cattle Producers Program on Crossbreeding Systems

Lincoln Tribune

NEWTON – Local beef cattle producers are invited to attend an educational session on crossbreeding of beef cattle at 6:30 PM on Thursday, May 22 at the Agricultural Resources Center in Newton. The program will consist of a presentation by Dr. Larry Cundiff, retired researcher from the US Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska.

Dr. Cundiff was responsible for much of the research on genetic improvement of beef cattle during his time in Nebraska. He helped develop the across breed EPD chart that allows commercial cattlemen to compare animals of different breeds on a genetic merit scale. He has worked with many breed associations to develop new EPD’s that help to predict performance differences between sires. Many of the improvements in beef cattle genetics in the past 20 years can be traced to his work in the industry.

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New BSE cases blamed on ineffective feed ban

New BSE cases blamed on ineffective feed ban

The Edmonton Journal

But the Canadian herd will continue to have a few cases a year for some time, says Bill Leiss, expert in risk management at the University of Ottawa.

The weak enforcement of the 1997 feed ban remains a major source of today’s problems. CFIA erred in 1997 by not recalling bags of contaminated feed that remained on farms and in feed mills, says Leiss. The government’s attitude seemed to be: “‘It might be bad feed, but we’ll leave it out there,’ ” says Leiss.

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Oklahoma Hereford Leader Paul Tucker Passes

Oklahoma Hereford Leader Paul Tucker Passes

OIL CENTER – Services for Paul Dallas Tucker, 81, Oil Center, are 1:00 p.m. Thursday at the First Baptist Church in Ada, Revs. Glen Eaves, Farron Oliver and, James Feltner will officiate. Burial will follow at McGee Cemetery in Stratford.

Mr. Tucker died Sunday, May 18, 2008 at his home. He was born April 15, 1927 at Vanoss, Oklahoma to Lee and Ollie Woods Tucker. He attended Parish Chapel and Summer Chapel schools and graduated from Vanoss High School in 1945.

He married Alene Booth on July 21, 1946. Mr. Tucker was a rancher, co-owner of Center Oil Company and owner/manger of Booth Well Service until his retirement. He attended the Oil Center Pentecostal Holiness Church, was past president of the Oklahoma Polled Hereford Association, was a board member of the Pontotoc County Cattleman’s Association and a member the Pontotoc County Fair Board for many years. He was a member of the board that started the Southeast Oklahoma District Heifer Show, the Pontotoc County Spring Livestock Show BBQ and in 2002 the Pontotoc County Fair was dedicated to him. He served on numerous boards of the Polled Hereford Association throughout the United States as well as the oil industry. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Survivors include his wife, Alene Tucker, of the home; two daughters, Paula Tucker, Kingston and Tonya and Paul Willloughby, Ada; a brother M.R. and Ruth Tucker, Ada; brother-in-law and sister-in-law B.J. and Colene Robertson, Ada; three grandchildren, Rindy and Ernie Bacon, Ada, Chad and April Tucker, Kingston, and Nakia and Gary Rhodes, Ada; 7 great grandchildren, Jessica and Brian Anderson, Eddy, TX, Candi Rayburn, Soper, ShiAnn Tucker, Kingston, Brad L. Tucker, Kingston, Colten Tucker, Kingston, Piper Tucker, Kingston and Kya Rhodes, Ada; and four great great grandchildren, Corbin Urbanovsky, Eddy, TX, Kinley Urbanovsky, Eddy, TX, Bailey Anderson, Eddy, TX, Canyon Anderson, Eddy, TX, and Tripp Lee Rayburn, Soper; four nieces, Doretha Hood, Moore, Cathy Prater, Moore, Londa Parker, Ada, Tammy Robertson, Ada; one nephew, Stacy Robertson, Ada; extended family, Jeff, Jennifer, Blakelee and Clayton Hayes, Ada; and numerous great nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lee and Ollie Tucker; and a grandson, Bradley Paul.

The family says those who wish may make memorials to the Paul Tucker Scholarship Fund for agriculture students at Vanoss High School, c/o Vision Bank, P.O. Box 669, Ada, OK 74821.

Strengthening Beef Safety

Strengthening Beef Safety

Foodconsumer.org

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final regulation barring certain cattle materials from all animal feed, including pet food. FDA regulates animal feed and drugs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates meat. Together the agencies enforce regulations that ensure that specific risk materials are kept out of the human food supply.

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