Proceed With Caution
Feeding Quality Forum presenters prep cattlemen for curves ahead.
In a cyclical business, when you’re riding the good times, it probably means you’re not far from the bad ones.
So it is with the cattle business, said Dan Basse, president of Ag Resource Co., as he kicked off the Feeding Quality Forum in La Vista, Neb., and Garden City, Kan., in mid-August.
“It’s not like the mid-1980s, with land values collapsing. It’s more like a slow bleed,” Basse said of the general “downturn” in agricultural commodities. Ag equipment sales have slowed, land prices are going down, and grain trade has softened as the dollar strengthened. Read more.
Alex Tolbert
Association Perspective
Things our fathers built.
They boarded a boat, armed with minimal provisions and more determination than belongings, and set sail with courage to a new land. They set foot on a rich soil and inhabited a land. Through blood, sweat and tears, sacrifice and the will to survive, they built a country. They built a church, where they worshipped God fully, free from the oppression and corruption of their homeland, knowing every provision that nourished them was a gift from Him.
They worked together, with the common good in mind. Failure was no option, so they would grind through differences and compromise, and thus they built a government. They built plantations, they built towns, they built a foundation. More would follow, but what they built, they built to last. Read more.
Get Set for New VFD Regulations
Producers must establish relationships with veterinarians.
There’s no simple, precise formula for how to raise the best cattle and ultimately the best beef. Producers keep looking for better ways and technology to gain quality and efficiency, but those are continually tweaked by internal and external forces.
Consumer interest in how food animals are raised and antibiotic use along the way has spurred regulatory change at the federal level, according to Zoetis veterinarian Marilyn Corbin. She provided an overview of pending changes in the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) regulations at the recent Feeding Quality Forums in Omaha, Neb., and Garden City, Kan. Read more.
Justin Sexten
On Target
Managed weaning.
Weaning is one of the most stressful times for calves due to health challenges and dietary changes. By managing to minimize stress at this stage, you’ll also minimize shrink and give calves the best opportunity to meet their genetic potential for growth and carcass merit later.
Tailor a health program to your ranch goals by first visiting with your local veterinarian. Build that relationship as you review health plans and you’ll be ready when the veterinary feed directive goes into effect in January 2017. You will need to prove the veterinary-client-patient relationship then to obtain certain antibiotics. Read more.
Last Call: Cattlemen’s Boot Camp in Oklahoma
Register by Sept. 30 to secure a place at the educational event.
Cattle producers are invited to gather for a Cattlemen’s Boot Camp Oct. 15-16 at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, Okla. The event is hosted by the American Angus Association in partnership with OSU, and provides purebred and commercial producers timely information presented by academic and industry professionals.
Registration is available online until Sept. 30. Read more.
What’s Inside …
In this September 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:
- Spring Stable Fly Control Starts in Winter
- Beef Talk: The cost of beef production is up 200%.
- Preventing Foothill Abortion
- Acute Bovine Pulmonary Edema and Emphysema
- Establishing Corn Silage Value
- In the Cattle Markets: Retaining ownership
- World Economic Woes Hit Home
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 available in the API Virtual Library.
Beef Checkoff Sets FY 2016 Plan of Work
$42 million to be invested in beef promotion, research, consumer information, marketing and communications.
The Cattlemen’s Beef Board will invest about $42 million into programs of beef promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications in fiscal year 2016, if the recommendation of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee is approved by USDA, following review by the full Beef Board.
In action concluding its Sept. 15-16 meeting in Denver, the Operating Committee — including 10 members of the Beef Board and 10 members of the Federation of State Beef Councils — approved checkoff funding for a total of 11 “Authorization Requests,” or proposals for checkoff funding, in the fiscal year (FY) beginning Oct. 1, 2015. The committee also recommended full Beef Board approval of a budget amendment to reflect the split of funding between budget categories affected by their decisions. Read more.
Bin Safety
Review grain bin rules before harvest.
The difference between a grain bin rescue and a recovery is seconds. Increased public awareness and new tools help save lives, says University of Missouri Extension health and safety specialist Karen Funkenbusch.
Farm Safety & Health Week, Sept. 20-26, is a good time for farmers to discuss grain-bin safety with family members and farmworkers, Funkenbusch says.
Due to increased training and more public awareness, deaths from grain bin entrapments steadily declined until 2014. That year saw 38 documented entrapments nationally, resulting in 17 deaths. This surge may be attributed to a record corn harvest and more on-farm storage, Funkenbusch says. Read more.