News Update

News Update
April 1, 2008

USDA Expects Corn Acres to Drop in 2008, Soybeans to Rise

On the heels of last year’s record-high corn production, U.S. farmers intend to plant 8% fewer corn acres in 2008, according to the Prospective Plantings report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Producers plan to plant 86 million acres of corn this year. While 7.6 million acres less than 2007, this would still be the second-largest area since 1949.

The outlook for corn prices remains strong, thanks to increasing ethanol production and other factors. Still, favorable prices for other crops, along with crop rotation considerations and high corn input costs, are motivating some farmers to switch from corn. Iowa is expected to see the largest decrease in corn acreage, down 1 million acres from last year’s record, to 13.2 million acres. Both Indiana and Minnesota are expected to drop 800,000 acres from their record highs of last year.

Nationwide, soybean acreage is expected to jump 18%, to 74.8 million acres. This is an increase of 11.2 million acres from 2007 and is just 1% below 2006’s record high. Acreage increases are expected in nearly every state, with the largest growth in Iowa, up 1.25 million acres, and Nebraska, up 1.2 million. Increases of at least 800,000 acres are anticipated in Indiana, Minnesota and South Dakota, while Kansas, New York and Pennsylvania are expected to plant their largest soybean crops in history.

Wheat acreage is also expected to rise in 2008, up 6% to 63.8 million acres. Winter wheat planted area, at 46.8 million acres, is up 4% from last year. Expected acreage of durum wheat is up 22%, to 2.63 million acres.

NASS estimates 2008 cotton plantings at 9.39 million acres, 13% below last year. Upland cotton acreage is expected to total 9.19 million, the lowest level since 1983 and down 13% from last year. The largest acreage declines are expected in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

The Prospective Plantings report provides the first official estimate of U.S. farmers’ planting intentions for 2008. NASS’s acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of approximately 86,000 farm operators across the United States.

Prospective Plantings and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.

— Release provided by USDA.

Auction Market BQA Training Video Released

The beef industry, through the checkoff-funded BQA (Beef Quality Assurance) program and the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), recently released an auction market BQA training DVD titled “Focal Point, an Auction Market BQA Guide.” Given recent events at the Westlake/Hallmark packing plant in California and the resulting increased regulatory and media attention given to animal handling throughout the livestock industry, it is more important than ever that livestock markets do all that they can to reinforce proper animal handling techniques and practices at their facilities.

As a result, LMA sent out approximately 2,000 DVDs to auction markets across the country, covering 99% of the auction markets in the United States. LMA is also encouraging auction markets to reach out to their state BQA coordinator to further certify their market and look at possible producer training opportunities. Copies of the video were also sent to each State Department of Agriculture and state veterinarians.

“We hope this cooperative effort between BQA and LMA will create opportunities to reach auction markets that have not previously had BQA top of mind,” says Ryan Ruppert, director, Quality Assurance Programs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). “We also want to encourage those markets that have been non-joiners/non-meeting goers to get involved with important industry educational efforts.”

The animal handling techniques that are outlined in the DVD are important for all auction market owners, managers and staff to follow.

“The goal was to create a tool that would help market owners and managers have a conversation about BQA and correct animal handling with their market staff and to take a look at their own practices,” says Kristen Hendricks, vice president of membership services for LMA. “We feel that livestock auction markets have a good story to tell about their BQA and animal handling practices but there is always room for more education and a renewed focus on this very important issue.”

Copies of the beef version 2007 National Market Cow & Bull Beef Quality Audit Executive Summary are also available for ordering. Please send requests to Grace Webb at gwebb@beef.org or call 303-850-3338.

— Release provided by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB).

Scholarships Available

The Kansas Angus Auxiliary will award scholarships to qualified current high school senior applicants in their annual scholarship competition. The application deadline is April 18. The top-placing male and top-placing female applicants from Kansas will be eligible to compete for additional scholarships on the national level. An application can be downloaded at www.angusauxiliary.com.

Applications must be mailed to Carolyn Perrier, 1021 River Rd., Eureka, KS 67045 and be postmarked on or before April 18.

Also, the first Kansas Angus Association Scholarship will be awarded at the 2008 National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) in Des Moines, Iowa. High school seniors and those enrolled as a freshman, sophomore or junior in college are eligible to apply. Applicants must apply to the Angus Foundation using the Angus Foundation scholarship form. Those already receiving the maximum amount of general Angus Foundation scholarships are eligible to apply for the Kansas Angus Association Scholarship. The Angus Foundation scholarship application and guidelines are available at www.angusfoundation.org. The application deadline is May 1. The 2008 scholarship will be $500 and is made possible by generous gifts contributed by Kansas Angus breeders and friends to the Kansas Angus Association Endowment Fund started in 2007.

New Express® Reproductive Vaccines Added to Popular Product Line

Beginning in the first quarter of 2008, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.’s Breed-Back® FP reproductive vaccines family will be renamed Express® FP — same vaccine, new name.

Express® FP 5, Express® FP 10, Express® FP 10-HS and Express® FP 3-VL5 will offer cattle producers the same protection against bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) persistently-infected (PI) calves they’ve come to expect from the Breed-Back brand name, while bringing consistency to the Express product line, says Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Senior Associate Director of Cattle Marketing Judy Myers-Kuhnhoff.

According to Boehringer, the Express FP product family is the first vaccine on the market with a label claim for “prevention of PI calves due to BVD Types 1 and 2.” Additionally, the Express vaccine line has just received USDA-APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) approval for use in whole-herd vaccination programs.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.