HBO Films: Temple Grandin Trailer

Bovine Veterinarian

On Feb. 6 at 8 p.m., HBO will premiere an original film based on the inspirational, true story of Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes. Temple Grandin paints a picture of a young woman’s perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism.

Grandin became a successful doctor in animal science through her unique connection to animals and is now a world-renowned consultant in the field. She is widely recognized within the animal welfare and livestock-handling industries as a pioneer in the ethical treatment of animals. Grandin is the best-selling author of “Thinking in Pictures,” “Animals in Translation” and “Humane Livestock Handling.”

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Speakers Announced for NCBA Annual Convention

Speakers Announced for NCBA Annual Convention

Cattle Today

Washington, Jan. 6, 2010 – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is pleased to announce the line-up of speakers for the 2010 Cattle Industry Convention. Christopher Gardner, author and inspiration for the 2006 film, The Pursuit of Happyness, will officially kick off the convention with keynote remarks at the opening general session, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim.

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Defects and heterosis – plan for these genetics webinars

Defects and heterosis – plan for these genetics webinars

Drovers

The eXtension Beef Cattle Clearinghouse Community of Practice will conduct 2 webinars in February 2010. The dates for the webinars are February 11 and Feb 25; starting at noon Central time for 1 hour each. Speakers will be Dr. Bob Weaber, University of Missouri and Dr. Matt Spangler, University of Nebraska.

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Stop Eating Meat and Save the Planet?

Stop Eating Meat and Save the Planet?

JAMES KANTER

New York Times

“Cutting out meat one day a week might seem a simple solution, but there is little evidence to show any benefit,” Rod Slater, the chief executive of Beef and Lamb New Zealand, told the country’s press association.

“Suggesting meat’s not green is an emotive slur on an industry which continues investment in ongoing research, striving for further improvements,” added Mr. Slater, who said people living in New Zealand obtained daily nutritional necessities, and most of their protein, zinc and vitamin B12, from beef and lamb.

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Organic, grass-fed beef is good for you.

Organic, grass-fed beef is good for you.

Colorado Springs Examiner

Lauren Grossberg

Beef is good for you. Really, it is. Just keep one very important thing in mind: Healthy cows make healthy beef, so the quality of meat you consume directly impacts it’s “healthiness”.

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The Need for Custom Slaughter

The Need for Custom Slaughter

Barry Estabrook

The Atlantic

I stood behind Monte Winship on a frigid morning last December as he raised his .25-caliber Winchester rifle and aimed at Léo, a two-and-a-half-year-old Holstein steer.

In an era when Food and Water Watch, an environmental group, reports that four giant corporations—Tyson, Cargill, Swift, and National Beef Packing—process 84 percent of this country’s cattle, the scene in that snow-covered field in Vermont is increasingly rare: an animal was about to be humanely slaughtered on the very farm where it had been raised.

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Simi veterinarian says grass-fed cows are more flavorful

Simi veterinarian says grass-fed cows are more flavorful

Jim McLain

Ventura County Star

People who think one well-prepared, thick, juicy steak tastes pretty much like another could learn a lot in a chat with Lowell Novy.

The Simi Valley veterinarian has spent most of his 73 years raising cattle, and he knows a thing or two about how ranching practices affect the flavor of meat.

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Canadian Beef Processor Deploys RFID for Food Safety

Canadian Beef Processor Deploys RFID for Food Safety

Elizabeth Wasserman

RFID Journal

Levinoff-Colbex instituted a monitoring system to quickly identify and track any animal products from potentially contaminated or diseased animals.

For decades, the Dubé family owned Colbex, a slaughterhouse based in Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover, in Québec, Canada. In 1988, the Colas family, owner of Levinoff Meat Product Ltée, headquartered in Montreal>, joined with the Dubés, forming the largest meat processor in the eastern part of the country. In 2003, the discovery in faraway Alberta of a sick cow diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, changed the course of history for both firms—and for the Canadian cattle industry.

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Bartee inducted into hall of fame

Bartee inducted into hall of fame

The Leaf-Chronicle

Montgomery County Agricultural Extension County Director John Bartee, Sr., of Clarksville was recently inducted into the American Gelbvieh Association Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame presentation was held on Jan. 9 at the 2010 American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) annual convention.

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Quality beef affected by nutrition, environment, genetics and more

Quality beef affected by nutrition, environment, genetics and more

High Plains Journal

What, how, when, where.

Ron Scott, director of research for Land O’ Lakes Purina Feed, said those variables throughout a calf’s life factor into final beef quality.

"There are many things besides just genetics and time on feed that affect marbling and we now know, we can say with confidence, that it is a lifetime event," said Scott, who addressed attendees at last fall’s Feeding Quality Forums in South Sioux City, Neb., and Garden City, Kan.

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National Western grand champ steer brings $60,000

National Western grand champ steer brings $60,000

Joey Bunch

The Denver Post

Bailey Core turned a tidy profit Friday night at the National Western Stock Show’s Auction of Junior Livestock Champions.

The 16-year-old from Pleasantville, Iowa, paid her best friend $4,000 for Lidy the heifer last year.

Lidy, the first heifer ever to reach the top two at the 104-year-old National Western, was auctioned for $37,000 to Transwest trucks.

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ARS gene collections vital to animal research efforts

ARS gene collections vital to animal research efforts

High Plains Journal

When the National Animal Germplasm Program opened its doors a decade ago, it started out with genetic material from 40 lines of chickens. Today, the center operated by the Agricultural Research Service in Fort Collins, Colo., has grown into one of the largest repositories of its kind in the world, housing more than half a million genetic samples from 12,000 animals.

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Grass-Fed Beef Won’t Save the Planet

Grass-Fed Beef Won’t Save the Planet

George Wuerthner

New West

While there are some livestock operators who are promoting grass-fed beef, many of the advocates are well meaning people who are vulnerable to anything that have the word “natural” in it.

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Beware the Myth of Grass-Fed BeefCows raised at pasture are not immune to deadly E. coli bacteria.

Beware the Myth of Grass-Fed BeefCows raised at pasture are not immune to deadly E. coli bacteria.

James E. McWilliams

Slate

On Monday, Huntington Meat Packing Inc. recalled a whopping 864,000 pounds of beef thought to contain a particularly nasty strain of E. coli bacteria called O157:H7. Coming shortly after the recall of 248,000 pounds of beef by National Steak and Poultry on Christmas Eve—and dozens of other scares over contaminated beef and pork—this latest news reminds consumers yet again that the mass production of meat can be very dangerous indeed.

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Dairy & beef farmers’ stories in new anthology

Dairy & beef farmers’ stories in new anthology

The Westerner

"True Cow Tales: Literary Sketches and Stories by Farmers, Ranchers, and Dairy Princesses", published by Dog Ear Publishing and edited by C.R. Lindemer, has been released. "True Cow Tales" has received many favorable reviews. Ken Rahjes, Farm Broadcaster for KRVN Radio in Lexington, Nebraska has remarked, "True Cow Tales is a true joy to read.

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Stock-show judges look for best beef-producing cattle

Stock-show judges look for best beef-producing cattle

Ann Schrader

The Denver Post

Snotty-nosed heifers judged this week at the National Western’s Livestock Center will determine the quality of T-bones at Fourth of July barbecues in 2012.

These bovines with muck stuck in their tails bear little resemblance to the ones being fluffed and buffed on the other side of the stock-show tracks. But the decisions made by judges in these pens are the ones that will guide commercial meat production.

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