Baxter Black: A CALVIN’ LESSON

Baxter Black:  A CALVIN’ LESSON

Winters can be cold along the Hi Line of Montana. It’s a place where neighbors help neighbors. Survival often depends on it.

Full Story

Ag commissioner says don’t strangle food supply

Ag commissioner says don’t strangle food supply

TODD STAPLES TEXAS AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER

El Campo News Leader

Regulating livestock methane emissions is like regulating humans for exhaling. Seems crazy, right? Well it could happen if some groups have their way.

Everyone agrees we need a clean environment. Unfortunately, some believe taxing our nation’s farmers and ranchers without a scientific basis will help achieve this goal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is exploring the idea of making revisions to the Clean Air Act, which would include imposing regulation on agricultural producers that would strangle our nation’s food supply. We’re working right now to become independent from foreign oil; let us not pass regulation that will make us dependent on foreign food.

Full Story

Video Feature: Where can I learn to better show and fit cattle?

Video Feature: Where can I learn to better show and fit cattle?

Purina Mills

Passive Immune Status within 24 Hours of Birth and Long-term Health and Performance of Calves

Passive Immune Status within 24 Hours of Birth and Long-term Health and Performance of Calves

Glenn Selk, OSU Extension Cattle Reproduction Specialist

You have heard the warning: “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas!!!” Perhaps you have not heard: “What happens in the first 24 hours, impacts the rest of a calf’s life”! Veterinary scientists, while with the USDA experiment station at Clay Center, Nebraska monitored health events and growth performance in a population of range beef calves in order to identify associations of production factors with baby calf passive immune status.

Full Story

Dean Akridge has Challenges for 09

Dean Akridge has Challenges for 09

Andy Eubank

Hoosier AG Today

The number one building priority for Purdue University is also on the list of key challenges this year for Dean of Agriculture Jay Akridge. The new animal sciences building is the top capital project for the university so they are hard at work building support for the project with a $60 million price tag.

Full Story

Texas cattle producers facing ‘perfect storm’ of challenges

Texas cattle producers facing ‘perfect storm’ of challenges

Blair Fannin

Extreme drought and ever-increasing costs are presenting Texas cattle producers challenges they haven’t experienced in decades, said industry experts.

“The Texas cattle industry is simultaneously having to deal with drought, increasing operational costs and a declining cattle market,” said Dr. David Anderson, Texas AgriLife Extension Service livestock marketing economist in College Station.

A combination of factors is producing a perfect storm for many of the state’s cattle producers, Anderson said.

Full Story

Genetically engineered animals and the FDA

Genetically engineered animals and the FDA

LosAngles Times

Are genetically engineered fish and meat coming soon? We examine the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations.

Jill U. Adams

Fast-growing salmon. Pork containing heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. These are two examples of products you might see in your local supermarket soon — animals developed not through conventional breeding but through genetic engineering.

Full Story

EPA Enacts New Livestock Reporting Rule

EPA Enacts New Livestock Reporting Rule

Iowa Public Television

Hello, I’m Mark Pearson. On an extraordinary day in the life of America, more than one million people gathered in Washington this week to witness history in the making.

At the stroke of noon, Barack Obama officially became the nation’s first black president, calling on the people to unite in hope against the “gathering clouds and raging storms” of war and economic hardship.

Full Story

Niman Ranch Completes Merger

Niman Ranch Completes Merger

Earth Times

Niman Ranch and its network of U.S. family farms and ranches producing naturally raised meats today announced it will merge with an affiliate of its largest shareholder, Natural Food Holdings LLC.

Full Story

Falling cattle prices emphasize importance of wise feeding

Falling cattle prices emphasize importance of wise feeding

David Burton

News Leader

Even though cattle prices have plummeted, producers need to continue best feeding management practices to assure acceptable performance of their investment.

Eldon Cole, a livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension, says 550-pound steer calves were selling for about $115 per hundredweight in the early fall and are now selling around $90 per hundredweight.

Full Story

New Cattle-Feeding Margin Feature At beefmagazine.com

New Cattle-Feeding Margin Feature At beefmagazine.com

Joe Roybal

Since August, BEEF has been providing a Friday afternoon roundup of each week’s cattle-market activity at beefmagazine.com. Produced by Steve Kay, editor and publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly (CBW), the number-one marketing and business newsletter for the North American meat and livestock industry, you can find it in the center column of the opening page under: “Cattle Market Update.”

Full Story

Stress physiology team receives Vice Chancellor’s Award

Stress physiology team receives Vice Chancellor’s Award

Blair Fannin

A team of beef cattle researchers recently received a Vice Chancellor’s Award at the Texas A&M AgriLife Conference held at Texas A&M University.

The stress physiology team was honored for increasing knowledge and understanding of physiological and behavioral aspects of stress and relationships to production and performance of beef cattle.

Full Story

Students benefit from helping with Denver show

Students benefit from helping with Denver show

Candace Krebs

Ag Journal

Much has changed since cattlemen originally jumped a railroad car and rode with their livestock to participate in what was initially called the Western Livestock Show. Much else hasn’t. From the very first show in 1906 — which consisted of 336 entries representing four breeds — the Denver Stockyards has been at the center of the action.

Full Story

Beef industry looks to strengthen its export resurgence

Beef industry looks to strengthen its export resurgence

Inter view with Forrest Roberts, new chief executive of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, based in Centennial

Q: What’s your favorite cut of beef, and how do you like it cooked?

A: Since I’m a meat-and-potatoes type of guy, I prefer a bone-in ribeye steak, prepared to a medium level of doneness. It’s a very flavorful, tender cut and a great beef-eating experience.

Full Story

Lancaster Cattle Feeder’s Day Announced

Lancaster Cattle Feeder’s Day Announced

PA Farm News

Penn State Cooperative Extension invites you to attend the annual Lancaster Cattle Feeder’s Day on Tuesday, February 3, 2009, at the Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster, PA, 17601 – an opportunity to obtain current information regarding economics, feed management, country of origin labeling, risk management, marketing, mortality composting, and reports from the PA Beef Council and PA Center for Beef Excellence. The event also features a presentation by JBS Packerland, who recently purchased the Smithfield Beef Group and operates the Mopac beef processing plant at Souderton. There will be time to visit with agribusiness friends and fellow cattle feeders.

Full Story