Beef Cattle Selection
Could Reduce Iron Deficiency
Already a leading source of iron, beef could be iron-enriched genetically, according to a recent Journal of Animal Science article. Moderately heritable, iron content of the muscle could be a future trait for genetic selection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 14% of infants, 4% of children and 9% of women under 49 are deficient in iron. The symptoms of iron deficiency are serious. People can experience weakness, dizziness and even hair loss. To combat iron deficiency, researchers are looking for new ways to improve iron concentrations in food products.
For a new study published in the Journal of Animal Science, researchers evaluated genes associated with mineral concentration in beef — already a good source of iron. The researchers found that producers can increase iron concentration in beef through genetic selection. Read more.
Will Mayfield
Association Perspective
Our future is the unknown!
The unknown is something that many fear; however, through the art of educated speculation and improved technology, people set aside those fears and stride into the future. It is with agriculture, as in many other facets of life, that improvement is continually needed. This necessity for improvement stems from the educated speculation of the U.S. Census Bureau that the world’s population will expand to more than 9 billion by the year 2050. That is nearly 2 billion more people to feed on this Earth than today!
These ideas lay the basis for continued improvement in efficiency in all aspects of day-to-day life, but let’s narrow the field. Agriculture itself has become a very efficient process as yields continue to improve, technology surges forward, and the farmers and ranchers of present day take hold of these newfound tools. Read more.
Policy Established for DD Genetic Condition
Technology ushers in new approach for handling latest genetic condition.
The American Angus Association announced Aug. 12 that a genetic condition has been identified and documented in Angus cattle through research initiated in Australia with Jonathan Beever at the University of Illinois. This condition, inherited as a simple recessive, has been designated as Developmental Duplication (DD).
The Board of Directors convened by phone Aug. 12 to consider the implications of this genetic condition. At the conclusion of that meeting, President Phil Trowbridge appointed a Task Force and directed it to report to the full board as soon as practical how the Association should respond to this condition considering the best interests of the breed and the membership, the evolving scientific advances in the field of genetics, members’ ability to manage such conditions, and the likelihood that the scientific community will continue to identify genetic conditions in all breeds with increasing frequency in the future. Read more.
USDA Report, Survey Data Peg Record Corn Crop
The highly anticipated August World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report was released Aug. 12 by the USDA. This first report of the year to incorporate farmer survey and field-plot measurements to projected yield and production potential indicates a record crop.
“Up to this point, USDA has been using a statistical model for corn that predicts yield based on planting date, rainfall and temperature during the growing season,” said Todd Davis, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist. “The August report, through the rest of the year, will incorporate farm production information in the supply and demand estimates.”
August’s WASDE report projected the 2013 corn crop at 13.763 billion bushels (bu.), which would be a record crop, if realized, and a 2.98 billion bu. increase from 2012’s drought-stricken crop. The report estimates the 2013 corn yield at 154.4 bu. per acre, a reflection of the late planting season and cool, dry weather in the western Corn Belt, according to Davis.
Read more.
Farmland Values Keep Rising
St. Louis Fed Ag survey shows farmland values continued to rise in second quarter 2013.
Farmland values continued to rise during the second quarter of 2013, according to the latest Agricultural Finance Monitor published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Farm income, as well as capital and household spending, also increased slightly compared with a year ago. The survey for the report was conducted June 11-28, 2013.
The results were based on the responses of 48 agricultural banks located within the boundaries of the Eighth Federal Reserve District. The eighth district comprises all or parts of the following seven Midwest and Mid-South states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Read more.
What’s Inside …
In this August edition of the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, you'll find valuable articles devoted to the management, marketing, and health and nutrition of your beef enterprise. Select from the tabs at the top of the page to access this month's entire offering by category. A few select features include:
- Get it in Writing
- Beef Talk: Pondering grass
- Coccidiosis in Calves
- Many Factors Affect Availability, Price of Hay
- A Stronger Feeder-cattle Market Looming This Fall
- Selling Cattle in a Drought
- The Source:
Aspects of AngusSource® are getting a makeover
News Briefs …
The American Angus Association and its subsidiaries generate a wealth of information to keep members and affiliates informed of what's happening within the industry as well as with the programs and services they offer. Click here for easy access to the newsrooms of the American Angus Association and Certified Angus Beef LLC and the Angus Journal Daily archive recently made available in the Angus Journal Virtual Library.
Taking the Message to the Source
Seminar program educates nutrition and dietetic community.
Health professionals are cited as the No. 1 source of health information, with 40% of adults stating they ask a professional for information about “health problems” and 21% stating they would seek out a professional for advice on personal diet/nutrition (source: 2011 Porter Novelli Styles).
Noting the importance of this audience and their tendencies to recommend or not recommend beef, the beef checkoff collaborates with state beef councils through the Nutrition Seminar Program to provide leading experts to speak on cutting-edge issues at various state academy of nutrition and dietetics meetings, as well as annual meetings of other health professional organizations. Read more.
Nutrition in a Bottle
Sometimes more hype than help.
Supplemental nutrition drinks can be a boon for people who struggle with a loss of appetite, find it difficult to chew, have trouble preparing balanced meals, or are recovering from surgery or illness. But they aren’t magic bullets for nutrition, reports the July 2013 Harvard Health Letter.
One misconception is that nutrition in a can mimics nutrition from food. Not so.
“Even if they are fortified, they still won’t contain all of the nutrients a whole food source would,” says Stacey Nelson, a dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. Read more.
[Click here to go to the top of the page.]