News Update

News Update
April 4, 2007

Cattlemen Conclude Successful Legislative Conference

More than 200 cattle producers from across the nation concluded a conference in the nation’s capital last week at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) annual Spring Legislative Conference.

The meeting was highlighted by an address from President George W. Bush on Wednesday, in which the President focused on the importance of international trade and sound economic policy.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) also spoke to the conference delegation Wednesday, addressing questions about the 2007 Farm Bill and other legislative issues currently facing cattlemen on Capitol Hill.

Renewable fuels were also on the agenda Thursday, when cattlemen got a firsthand account of the country’s energy security challenges from National Economic Council Director Allan Hubbard. Hubbard focused his remarks on the importance of diversifying the nation’s energy sources, and reducing its dependence on imported oil.

Also Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns updated cattlemen on the status of the beef trade impasse with South Korea and the potential effect of that issue on free-trade agreement negotiations between the United States and Korea.

“We need to move toward a recognition that common sense needs to be a part of what we’re doing,” Johanns said. “A clear commitment by South Korea to abide by OIE classifications (for beef trade) would go a long way toward winning support for this free-trade agreement in the Senate.”

Johanns said a free-trade agreement would be good for both countries, especially since South Korea is already America’s seventh-largest trading partner. But he emphasized that the agreement must be grounded on rational and predictable approaches to trade.

Johanns also touched upon USDA’s Farm Bill priorities, including policy directives that may help ease the tight supply of corn and other feedgrains.

James Link, administrator of USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) also addressed NCBA members. Link outlined highlights from a recently completed report on alternative marketing arrangements for cattle and other livestock. Congress authorized this study as part of the 2002 Farm Bill. It showed that alternative marketing arrangements offered opportunity for higher returns for cattlemen, while having very little negative effect on the cash market.

— Adapted from an NCBA release.

School Attracts Novices and Experienced Ranchers Alike

Libby Stephens said that she told her husband that when their kids were grown and out on their own, she wanted to live her dream. That dream, she admits unabashedly, was to be “a cowgirl in training.”

Stephens was one of 47 students attending this year’s Grazing School for Novices at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Overton. Stephens, who retired as a substitute school teacher and stay-at-home mom just a couple of years ago, bought 100 acres near Mabank. She grew up in Dallas, but always wanted to be in the ranching business, she said.

“The first thing I learned was I need a plan,” Stephens said, laughing. The grazing school differs from other beef and forage educational courses in that it is aimed not at the seasoned, experienced producers but at beginners. Taught by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers and Texas Cooperative Extension specialists, the course is designed for people who have little or no experience with raising beef or growing forages, said Jason Cleere, Extension beef specialist. Like Stephens, most of the students know little about the beef business except they want to be in it, and they’re “a joy to teach,” Cleere said. “They are often professionals at the top of their careers, but they realize they don’t know anything about the beef industry, and they’re willing to learn,” he said.

The grazing school classes, each two-and-a-half days long, begin with an economic overview of the basics of putting together a business plan, said Monte Rouquette, Experiment Station researcher and one of the course instructors.

The business plan instruction is quickly followed by lessons on growing better forage, pastures and hay — for that’s the basis of beef production in Texas, Cleere said. Forage talks are followed by presentations on all aspects of beef production, Rouquette said.

Also covered is calibrating sprayers, inoculating legume seed vaccinating and dehorning calves, keeping proper records, evaluating alternative agricultural enterprises, setting the correct stocking rates, choosing the appropriate cattle breeds, picking the optimum animal breeding and calving seasons, and marketing cattle. “I’ve been to some (beef) workshops but none as valuable as this one,” Stephens said.

Most of the other workshops were too specialized, designed for people who already knew a lot of the basics. “They were a little too vague for me,” she said. “The most valuable thing I’ve learned so far is that I was starting supplemental feeding too soon.”

Stephens said the money she’ll save by that suggestion alone should easily pay for the cost of the course.

Detailed information on the grazing school and the Overton center can be found at http://overton.tamu.edu/grazingschool.htm.

— Release provided by Texas A&M University.