America’s Agricultural Angst
Joel Kotkin
Forbes
Farming is big business, but some green activists are seeking to destroy it.
In this high-tech information age few look to the most basic industries as sources of national economic power. Yet no sector in America is better positioned for the future than agriculture–if we allow it to reach its potential.
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Start Now to Avoid Calf Scours Next Spring
Dr. Glenn Selk, Professor-Animal Reproduction Specialist, Animal Science – Oklahoma State University
Calf Scours, or neonatal calf diarrhea, is a problem experienced by most every cowman sooner or later. It is quite possibly the biggest health related financial loss to the cow calf industry. It is easy to recognize the impact that dead calves and increased cost of medical treatment has on the bottom line, but poor performance is an even greater though less noticeable loss.
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Economy Will Shadow 2010 Outlook for Livestock Industry
Cheryl Anderson
DTN
Livestock producers will be most affected in 2010 by the U.S. economy and how it recovers from the recession, according to industry experts.
Last year’s general decline in the beef herd population is expected to continue into 2010. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer file photo by Jim Patrico)
While the economy is recovering, many livestock producers still feel the effects of when input prices skyrocketed, prices plummeted and hardship ensued.
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Keep heifer development cost affordable
Rick Rasby
Angus Journal
Heifer development programs can be a major expense for the cow-calf enterprise. Heifer development costs will depend on when the potential replacements are weaned and the feeding strategy used to develop them.
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Beef Industry Responses Published in New York Times
KLA.org
The New York Times published two letters to the editor from beef industry sources in its Sunday (1/17) edition. NCBA Executive Director of Research Mandy Carr Johnson and National Meat Association Director of Communications Jeremy Russell authored letters expressing disappointment in recent Times stories questioning beef safety.
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Researchers develop more effective way to predict the spread of foot-and-mouth disease
The Medical News
Combining technology and animal health, a group of Kansas State University researchers is developing a more effective way to predict the spread of foot-and-mouth disease and the impact of preventative measures.
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Global warming, a red, hot lie?
Amanda Nolz
Tri State Livestock News
Present a title to a presentation as ostentatious as, “Global Warming, A Red, Hot Lie?” and folks are going to pay attention. It was a packed house at the afternoon session of the 91st Annual American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) Meeting in Seattle, WA on Jan. 10, 2010 as Christopher C. Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute openly disclosed his thoughts on the scandals behind the premise of global warming and the agenda’s implications.
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2010 Beef Feedlot Roundtables
thebeefsite.com
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and Iowa State University Extension meeting will be offered 9 February at the Nielsen Community Centre in West Point and downlinked that day live to the Sioux County Extension office in Orange City, Iowa. On 10 February it will be offered at the Holiday Inn Express in Lexington and 11 February at the Prairie Winds Community Centre in Bridgeport.
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Kentucky Proud launches local beef line
Kara Keeton
Chevychaser.com
LEXINGTON, KY – The Kentucky Proud initiative has been in place for over nine years working to help Kentucky producers and value-added processors market Kentucky products. As the awareness of the Kentucky Proud brand has grown, so have the challenges that come in meeting market demand for products.
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National beef group considers ‘thinning the herd’
Pat Kopecki
Wilson County News
When cattlemen and other members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) meet in San Antonio for their 2010 annual convention, a possible reorganization of the NCBA will be a hot topic. Directors of the NCBA, organized in 1898, are considering a major change to reduce the present board, comprised of 274 members, to 29.
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After another massive recall, will the beef industry grope for techno fixes?
GRIST
The Obama administration still hasn’t chosen a director of the USDA’s FSIS—the office charged with overseeing the safety of the nation’s meat supply.
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Friend or feast?
Phyllis Zhu
Orlando Weekly
Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.
Thanks to journalists such as Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), buried somewhere deep in Americans’ meat-loving unconscious is the vague knowledge that the ground beef they grab from the supermarket has undergone a strenuous process of plumping, pounding, chopping and compressing – often not in that exact order – before arriving at its final package as a neat, plastic-wrapped glob of fleshy pink strings.
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Beef cooperative encourages farmers to market meat locally
Preston Knight
Northern Virginia Daily
The Shenandoah Valley is where the beef is.
Area farmers can now better market their beef to local consumers through the creation of the Shenandoah Valley Beef Cooperative, which is to begin offering meat this month, according to a news release. The animals offered for sale are grain finished on the valley farm they were born and raised on, with no antibiotics, it states
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Range Beef Cow Symposium XXI
Troy Smith, Kindra Gordon & Shauna Rose Hermel
Angus Journal
Seven hundred cattlemen were on hand Dec. 1-3, 2009, at the Casper Events Center in Casper, Wyo., for Range Beef Cow Symposium XXI. Hosted by the Cooperative Extension Service and animal science departments at four universities — the University of Wyoming, University of Nebraska, South Dakota State University and Colorado State University, the biennial symposium offered real-world, workable solutions on subjects of nutrition, marketing, health, reproduction, consumer demand and industry issues.
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Tampa ropes in NCBA 2013 event
Tampa Bay Business Journal
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 2013 Annual Convention and Trade Show will be held in Tampa.
The event is scheduled for Feb. 6-9 and will include exhibitions at the Tampa Convention Center.
About 3,000 delegates are expected to attend the event, which will produce about 9,400 hotel room nights and create $2.7 million in delegate spending, said a release from Tampa Bay & Company.
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