News Update

News Update
April 3, 2008

Edwards County to Host Rangeland Leasing Conference

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service office in Edwards County will conduct a rangeland leasing conference to begin at 8 a.m. April 16 at the county’s 4-H barns. The conference ends at noon and will be followed by a complimentary lunch courtesy of Lockhart Real Estate in Rocksprings.

Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered.

Sam Silvers, AgriLife Extension agent in Edwards County, said the conference is for landowners struggling with how to best lease their lands for hunting or grazing. The program’s keynote speaker will be Judon Fambrough, senior lecturer and attorney with the Texas Real Estate Research Center at College Station. Fambrough will discuss issues related to wind energy and negotiating wind leases.

The day’s other two speakers, both from the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde, are Bob Lyons, AgriLife Extension range specialist, and Rick Machen, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist. Lyons will discuss types of leases and the importance of monitoring natural resources on them. Machen will address livestock and grazing management considerations relating to leases.

For more information, call the AgriLife Extension office in Edwards County at 830-683-4310.

Business Plan Guides National Animal Identifiction System

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today released a draft Business Plan to further the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). AMS encourages participants in voluntary marketing programs such as the USDA Process Verified, the Quality Systems Assessment and the Non-Hormone Treated Cattle programs to meet the inherent animal identification requirements by using NAIS.

“The AMS Business Plan will allow for integration of the National Animal Identification System with AMS audit-based marketing programs,” said Bruce Knight, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs. “NAIS is a voluntary partnership among producers and government. This immediately provides the producer a twofold reward for a single investment. It ensures traceback of their animals for herd health reasons and provides benefits for marketing value-added animals domestically and internationally.”

Currently, all AMS partners that have approved marketing programs are actively encouraging the use of premises registration and NAIS compliant animal identification numbers for these marketing program participants. Using NAIS, producers would at the same time meet the requirements for animal identification and traceability for these AMS marketing programs. Further, use of NAIS along with enrollment in these voluntary AMS marketing programs ensures that cattle are eligible for the AMS Export Verification Program for Japan with an opportunity for significant premiums for cattle producers.

NAIS would single out product derived from these cattle so that it can be labeled properly when presented for sale at U.S. grocery stores, for American consumers. This helps meet the objectives of the country-of-origin labeling (often referred to as COL or COOL) program by identifying the origin of cattle upon arrival at harvest facilities.

Contingent upon the publication of a final rule implementing country-of-origin labeling for meat and poultry products, AMS and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will coordinate efforts to develop a country-of-origin labeling “safe harbor” for NAIS participants: packers that rely upon NAIS to determine the origin of their livestock and poultry will subsequently be recognized by the Department as demonstrating compliance with the country-of-origin labeling program’s recordkeeping requirements.

Additional information about NAIS is available at www.usda.gov/nais and AMS voluntary marketing programs at www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/arc/audit.htm. Please note, due to a scheduled migration of the AMS web site, this URL will change to www.ams.usda.gov/ARCAudits after 9 p.m. April 4.

— Release provided by the USDA.

USDA announces more than $16 million in funding to erradicate bovine TB

The USDA today announced the availability of $16.8 million in emergency funding to continue efforts to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in California, Michigan and Minnesota.

“Working cooperatively with state animal health agencies and U.S. livestock producers, we have made great strides towards eradicating tuberculosis from the nation’s livestock population,” said Bruce Knight, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs. “We are another step closer towards eradicating bovine tuberculosis from our Nation, and this should serve as a reminder why the National Animal Identification System is so critical. By participating in NAIS, we protect our livestock and the future of American agriculture.”

The emergency funding will be used to depopulate known tuberculosis-affected cattle herds, which is crucial to prevent the spread of the disease and to indemnify producers. The funding also will be used for enhanced surveillance not only to identify affected herds but also to determine the source of infection. This enhanced surveillance will include free-ranging white-tailed deer in Minnesota and Michigan, a possible source of the disease.

While USDA and the States have robust surveillance and control measures in place for tuberculosis, outbreaks of the disease are costly to both producers and the government. Outbreaks also affect domestic animal movement and international trade. Programs such as USDA’s voluntary NAIS — a modern animal disease response system that will enhance the country’s animal disease tracing capabilities — provide an added opportunity to stop the spread of tuberculosis and minimize the impact of disease outbreaks on producers.

Bovine tuberculosis is a contagious and infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. It affects cattle, bison, deer, elk, goats and other warm-blooded species and can be fatal. The disease can be transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected animals or consumption of raw milk. It is not transmitted through consumption of pasteurized milk.

— Release provided by the USDA.

Nebraska town’s mayor threatens shutdown of JBS-Swift plant

The mayor of Grand Island, Neb., told JBS-Swift officials that the company’s plant there could be shut down if ongoing wastewater problems were not resolved, the Grand Island Independent reported.

“It’s the last thing I want to do, but it’s a possibility,” Mayor Margaret Hornady told the newspaper.

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued notices to the city and JBS-Swift four times in the last nine months for violating their discharge permits. JBS-Swift is the largest single client of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, the mayor said.

JBS-Swift Utilities Manager John Ditter told DEQ that in January, the facility started a coagulant and microorganism nutrient management plan as well as a chemical program to help regulate the pH level in the plant’s discharge. He also said the company is aiming to add a 25-million-gallon anaerobic lagoon and a digester to treat its discharges, according to the Independent.

— Release provided by the meatingplace.com.

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