News Update

News Update
Jan. 4, 2008

Animal Handling Conference Early Bird Registration Extended

Early Bird registration for the 2008 Animal Care and Handling Conference, Feb. 14-15, at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo., has been extended to Jan. 7, allowing attendees another opportunity to save up to $100.

The American Meat Institute (AMI) Foundation Animal Care and Handling Conference for the food industry is the leading animal welfare education opportunity for meat companies, their customers and those involved in the production and management of livestock and meat products.

A special preconference workshop on livestock transportation will be Feb. 13. Attendees of this workshop will benefit from a packed educational agenda with sessions hosted by industry leaders. Discussion topics will include international perspectives, developing a national emergency program, driver fatigue management, ventilation, loading density, managing losses and more.

For complete conference agendas or to register, go to http://www.animalhandling.org. For more information visit http://www.meatami.com/.

FSIS Launches Risk-based Testing for E. coli in Raw Ground Beef

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has commenced an enhanced risk-based sampling and testing program for E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef, one of the many programs it promised to initiate following the Topps Meat Co. recall last fall.

Under the new protocol, effective Jan. 1, FSIS will take into account establishment volume and whether the establishment has had any FSIS or Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) positive results within the past 120 days.

FSIS says inspectors will likely collect a minimum of four samples and up to 24 samples annually. The new program is independent of follow-up testing, which results from an establishment being implicated in an E. coli O157:H7-positive production lot.

Topps’ recall of nearly 22 million pounds of frozen ground beef products in early October, one of the largest beef recalls in U.S. history, followed a rash of recalls in the summer and forced FSIS to review its oversight procedures. The agency vowed it would make improvements, announcing some of its plans shortly thereafter.

— From a Meatingplace.com report.

“Fighting for the U.S. Cattle Producer's Prosperity – Together” is Theme

The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) Board of Directors will conduct its 9th annual convention Feb. 20-23 in Omaha, Neb. The theme for this year’s event is “Fighting for the U.S. Cattle Producer’s Prosperity — Together.” The location is the newly remodeled Holiday Inn Omaha Convention Center, located at 3321 S. 72nd St., just off Interstate 80 at Exit 449.

Four speakers are back by popular demand. Charlie McVean, with McVean Trading and Investments, will give an outlook report on the cattle markets; Roger McEowen, the director of the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation; Creighton University’s Jason Bartz, an expert scientist on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE); and, nationally renowned disease risk-assessment expert Tony Cox.

For the second year in a row, the R-CALF USA Private Property Rights Committee will hold a seminar on Wednesday, Feb. 20, one day before the convention officially gets under way. Panel discussions throughout the convention cover several topics important to the live cattle industry, including animal health issues such as BSE and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), animal identification (ID), market competition, international trade and the Farm Bill. Also planned are updates on the National Beef Checkoff Program and country-of-origin labeling (often referred to as COL or COOL).

The keynote speaker for the luncheon on Thursday, Feb. 21, is prominent radio talk show host Derry Brownfield. The keynote speaker for the Friday luncheon is G.B. Oliver III, executive vice president of the Paragon Foundation, which was created in 1996 to support the advancement of the fundamental principals articulated by the United States’ founding fathers in both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

On the evening of Feb. 21, the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) will host “CPA Night at the R-CALF USA Convention.” CPA plans to bring in several speakers to discuss how current U.S. trade policies are detrimental to the United States. Nelson represents R-CALF USA on the CPA board of directors.

New this year to get Saturday’s business session started on a positive note is a prayer breakfast during which David Andrews will speak about the importance of bringing wholesome food to consumers and supporting a food system made up of family farmers and ranchers.

For more information about the convention or trade show, call R-CALF USA headquarters at 406-252-2516. To make room reservations, call the hotel before Jan. 20 at 1-800-315-2621 and ask for the R-CALF USA group rate of $96 plus tax per night. Media interested in attending should contact R-CALF USA Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson at 406-252-2516.

Argentina Extends Cap on Beef Exports

Argentina has extended to March 31 its limits on beef exports, which were imposed in March 2006 in an effort to safeguard domestic beef supplies at low prices and curb inflation.

Buenos Aires will continue to limit exports to 40,000 metric tons of beef on the bone per month, according to a report by Dow Jones.

Kirchner’s initiative has irked his country’s cattle ranchers, who have lamented over their resultant inability to cash in on strong demand in the export market.

Meanwhile, the local market has become saturated, driving down beef prices as grain prices soar. Many cattle ranchers subsequently have sold their herds and begun dealing in more profitable crops such as soybeans. Some 7.4 million acres have been switched from cattle grazing to grain growing since 2005, a 10% reduction in ranchland, said Pablo Adreani, an Argentine economic analyst, in a report by the Associated Press (AP).

— From a Meatingplace.com report.

1,500 Minnesota Cattle Herds Test Negative for Bovine TB

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health announced that 1,500 Minnesota cattle herds have tested negative for bovine tuberculosis (TB), as part of the statewide bovine TB surveillance program, but TB-free status is still at best nearly two years away.

Minnesota lost its TB-free status after the disease was discovered in a herd in July 2005. A total of eight cases have been discovered in a cluster in northwestern Minnesota, the most recent in October 2007.

In addition to the 1,500 statewide surveillance herds, 326 herds have been tested as part of the state's disease investigation and area testing efforts. Testing continues in northwestern Minnesota where the disease has been found.

— From a Meatingplace.com report.

— compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.