News Update

News Update
Nov. 10, 2005

Government Report Criticizes FDA Feed Ban

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report yesterday criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) small feed testing program begun in August 2003.

The report, which was conducted in follow-up to a February 2005 report, assessed the testing program and examined its role in assuring industry compliance of the feed ban rule.

According to the document, GAO found several weaknesses in the design and implementation of the feed testing program, including FDA’s failure to require documentation of follow-up reviews on samples that laboratories identified as potentially contaminated.

FDA response time was also scrutinized. The GAO found that for almost half of the 989 samples evaluated, FDA took more than 30 days to complete its analysis, and more than 100 days for 21 samples. This extended time period, the GAO noted, hinders the testing program’s effectiveness since the feed may have been already consumed by the time FDA conducted its follow-up.

FDA managers also have room for improvement, according to GAO. FDA managers were cited for not adequately overseeing the feed testing program or establishing program goals as a means to measure program effectiveness. A lack of periodic reports or other oversight controls was faulted.

For more information or to view the report, visit www.gao.gov.

New Prairie Grasses to Fatten Beef Cattle

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) announced Nov. 8 two new varieties of big bluestem prairie grass that could increase beef cattle weight by as much as 50 pounds (lb.) per head.

ARS and collaborating university researchers conducted grazing trials in eastern Nebraska that compared the new “Bonanza” and “Goldmine” grasses to the popular Pawnee and Kaw varieties.

Goldmine and Bonanza combine adaptability and improved forage quality, an ARS article notes. In pasture trials from 2000 to 2002, cattle that grazed the new big bluestems gained 18 to 50 lb. more per acre than those that grazed Pawnee and Kaw. Researchers estimate these gains could provide $15 to more than $35 more per acre a year for beef producers. According to the article, on marginal cropland, yearling steers that grazed pastures of Goldmine and Bonanza generated net profits of up to $119 per acre.

Certified seed of Goldmine and Bonanza will become available in 2006, ARS reports.

Read more about the research in the November 2005 issue of Agricultural Research magazine, or visit www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov05/cattle1105.htm.

Entries Being Accepted for Carcass Data Project

The Kansas Angus Association (KAA) has announced it is accepting entries for the 2005-2006 Carcass Data Project (CDP).

Mark Lampe will serve as chairman for the CDP, which will take place at Royal Beef, Scott County, Kan. — a 30,000-head capacity Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB)-licensed feedyard that hosts in-house ultrasound scanning capabilities.

According to KAA, the CDP allows producers to feed a whole pen of steers or just a few, collect interim scan and performance data, and get final carcass data on individual cattle. Entries must be postmarked by Nov. 21, and a minimum of five head of Angus-sired steers must be entered (three head for juniors).

Steers must meet Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) live specifications, be sired by an Angus bull, and have a known sire or sire group. Steers must be from an approved vaccination and implant program, and individual identification (ID) tags are required. Animals must have been born in spring 2005 and must be weaned at least 45 days prior to delivery, which is scheduled for early December.

A $5 per entry fee must be included with your entry postmarked by Nov. 21. Cattle will be sold on a grid, and individual carcass data will be returned to the producer at the end of the project.

For further information contact Lampe at (620) 874-0258 (cell); (620) 872-5371 (Royal Beef); or (620) 872-3915 (evenings). A complete entry packet will be sent upon entry.

—by Crystal Albers, Angus Productions Inc.