Selling U.S. Beef to the Rest of the World
The Beef Board
You know that the beef produced in the United States is delicious, nutritious and safe to eat. But did you know that consumers in more than 80 countries worldwide know that, too, thanks in part to your beef-checkoff investments?
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Post Election Thoughts on Agriculture: #2 of 5 | Interest Rates
Damian Mason
The cost of borrowed money is poised to rise. The Fed’s been hinting at a rate increase at every meeting for several years. Trump says we need higher interest rates because low rates have created an artificial bubble — even though it might slow down some aspects of the economy.
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Why do cows eat the placenta from their newborn calves?
Dr. Ken McMillan
DTN/The Progressive Farmer
Many benefits have been claimed from the practice. The placenta does contain high levels of hormones, iron, B vitamins and endorphins (the body’s natural pain relievers).
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#NoPinocchioBeef
Greg Henderson
Drovers
Your efforts to improve the quality and palatability of beef are making a difference in how your product is perceived and accepted by consumers. In fact, the dramatic rise in the percentage of carcasses grading Choice and Prime corresponds with increases in beef demand over the past decade.
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Pregnant, cold cows need more
Sue Roesler
Agri View
Cow-calf producers have been busy making sure cows have extra feed and bedding, that water supplies are running, and that there are windbreaks, hills, draws and other areas for cattle to be protected from windy conditions. Cattle in the cold need extra feed — but cows in their last trimester in the cold have even higher requirements.
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Hair shedding scores: A tool to select heat tolerant cattle
Jared E. Decker
Extension.org
Hair shedding scores are an easy and effective way to measure cattle’s ability to cope with heat stress. In this fact sheet, learn the how, when, and why of hair shedding scores. Responsible beef breeding requires matching cattle genetics to production environment. This is necessary for at least three reasons: Profitability, animal well-being and improved environmental impact.
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Gene-editing options
The Cattle Business Weekly
“In the same way that spell-check identifies and corrects single-letter errors in a word or grammar errors in a sentence, gene editing can be used to identify and change the letters that make up the genetic code within an individual.” That is how Alison Van Eenennaam, an animal genomics and biotechnology cooperative extension specialist for the University of California – Davis describes gene-editing in laymen’s terms in an eXtension article.
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Magnets can help prevent hardware disease in cattle herds
Curtis Larson
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Cattle commonly swallow foreign objects, such as nails and wire, found in the field or their feed. These objects do not always cause problems, but they can cause a disease commonly known as hardware disease. Foreign objects ingested by cattle make their way into the animal’s rumen and reticulum. Sometimes, the animal’s body will push the objects into the peritoneal cavity, causing severe inflammation (hardware disease).
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Can genetic selection create cows that graze better?
Heather Smith Thomas
Beef Magazine
For cattle producers who run cattle in rough, hilly country, one of the biggest challenges is to move cows out of the valleys and creek bottoms and up into the hills to graze. Cows just naturally like to stay in the lower country, where the grass is better and the living is easier. This can lead to overgrazing and damage to the riparian habitat.
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Trump giveth and he taketh away
Feedstuffs
After weeks of wandering through the political wilderness looking for an honest agriculture secretary, Donald Trump finally tapped Sonny Perdue, a favored son of Georgia who had once been a Democrat but was converted in 1998. Much joy resounded throughout aggie land. Every major trade organization stampeded to applaud Perdue, a man who they were sure would ride into Washington astride a mighty white stead and ‘kick some ass.’
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Trump Voters Thrilled with Promised Action on Border Wall
Ag Web
President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is taking steps toward building a U.S.-Mexico border wall was welcome news for voters who say they’re glad he is following through on one of his biggest campaign promises.
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Post Election Thoughts on Agriculture: #1 of 5 | REGULATION
Damian Mason
Between the protests, the predictions, the hoopla, and the hype, there hasn’t been enough intelligent dialogue on what a Trump presidency spells for Agriculture. While we’ve certainly heard every out-of-touch media pundit pontificate on what Donald Trump’s election says about “fly over country,” nobody from the media has actually strayed from the East coast to talk to the people of Agriculture. Here are Damian Mason’s thoughts on Regulation and what it looks like for Agriculture.
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2017 Mid-South Stocker Conference, “The New Decade, Capturing Opportunities”
University of Tennessee
Plans are finalizing for the 2017 Mid-South Stocker Conference.
The conference will be at the Manchester | Coffee County Conference Center on March 1, 2017.
For additional information regarding the program, contact Dr. Justin Rhinehart, University of Tennessee Extension Beef Cattle Specialist at 931.486.2129 (Jrhinehart@utk.edu), Dr. Jason Smith, University of Tennessee Extension Beef Cattle Specialist at 865.974.3209 (Jason.Smith@utk.edu), Dr. Jeff Lehmkuhler, UK Extension Beef Specialist at 859.257.2853 (jeff.lehmkuhler@uky.edu) or Dr. Roy Burris, UK Extension Beef Specialist at 270.365.7541 (rburris@uky.edu).
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Training Pen Riders in Low-Stress Cattle Handling
Heather Smith Thomas
Feedlot Magazine
Pen riders are crucial for monitoring and moving cattle. They can also reduce stress levels in pens of cattle. Lynn Locatelli, DVM with attlexpressions in New Mexico, works with feedlots in the Midwest and Canada and says pen rider training is usually focused just on health issues and how individual animals should be assessed.
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Not all Miracles work out
Bill Spiegel
High Plains Journal
The compassion and dedication shown to livestock by ranchers is nothing new to the readers of this publication. To the rest of the world, however, the level of care ranchers give to their stock is difficult to explain. That’s one reason Joe Carpenter and Barb Downey, the husband and wife team who own Downey Angus Ranch near Wabaunsee, Kansas, use social media sites like Facebook to illustrate the ranch life.
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Thousands of dollars worth of cattle stolen in Gainesville
Alexis Dominguez
KXII
A Gainesville man is looking for answers after finding that three of his cows were stolen straight out of a pasture. "They’re kind of like family." Three cows worth six thousand dollars taken in the middle of the day. Longtime rancher, Doug Schmitz, had 12 cows on this 80 acre pasture near Weaver Street in Gainesville.
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Indiana farmer to serve on beef promotion board
Ashley Langreck
Agri News
A cattle farmer from Martinsville has been appointed to the Cattleman’s Beef Promotion and Research Board of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association. Norman Voyles Jr. was among 36 board appointees announced by former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
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Loss-making Chinese semen provider looks to breed success
Mark Godfrey
Global Meat News
The slump in demand and pricing for dairy cattle is prompting one of China’s leading distributors of semen and pure-bred breeding cattle to expand into the beef feedlot and processing sector in order to improve its profit margins.
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Should you pull that calf?
Heather Smith Thomas
Beef Magazine
It pays to know when you can safely pull a calf or when you need to call for a C-section. Sometimes the calf is too large to come through the pelvis and birth canal without injuring the cow and calf, but luckily, there are some clues. If the calf’s feet are showing and the head is there (maybe the nose showing) but the cow or heifer isn’t progressing, check to see if there is room.
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USMEF: Still potential for trade deals
Brownfield Network
The U.S. beef and pork industries had high hopes for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to increase exports to the countries involved, especially Japan. Thad Lively, senior vice president of trade access with the U.S. Meat Export Federation, tells Brownfield now that President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the TPP, they’re looking toward bilateral trade agreements, which Trump favors
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