News Update
June 13, 2008

Cattle Handling Techniques, Demonstrations Planned for Beef Cattle Short Course

Cattle-handling, safety and chute-side work will be featured at the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Beef Cattle Short Course Aug. 4-6 in College Station.

The short course educational sessions will have a mix of information, addressing current beef industry issues and providing fundamental information on basic cattle management.

The three-day program, which will be on the TAMU campus, is sponsored by Texas AgriLife Extension. 

Participants can select from 20 different cattlemen’s college sessions. There will be more than 70 hours of beef cattle instructional training through seminars, workshops and demonstrations presented by 50 different speakers.

The Wednesday (Aug. 6) morning sessions will provide hands-on demonstrations for participants, featuring cattle handling, chute-side manners, cattle selection, carcass quality, record keeping sessions and an opportunity to receive a private pesticide applicator’s license.

A new feature this year will be a tour of the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory.

Short course registration is $140 per participant (if registered by July 28), and includes admission to the conference, a copy of the short-course proceedings (a 300-page publication), trade show admittance, tickets to the special Aggie prime rib dinner, and additional meals and refreshment breaks. 

Attendees can earn seven pesticide continuing education credits, 15 veterinary credits and numerous Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) credits.

For more information or to register, go online at http://beef.tamu.edu, or contact Jason Cleere’s office at 979-845-6931.

McNeese State Heifer Enhancement and Development Program

McNeese State University has developed the first Louisiana program designed to help producers with the management of replacement females. The university has teamed up with Fuller Farms — an 800-acre cattle operation located in Kinder, La. — to develop consignment heifers through the winter for local producers who would like to improve their cattle operation. Heifers are provided a complete ration along with free-choice corn silage to maximize growth potential. Growth performance, body composition data and reproductive score will be collected to assist the cattle producer in selecting the highest quality replacement females for their herd. The up-coming 2008 program will start the third year for the program. The program will accept heifers Oct. 14. Spring born heifer calves weighing between 400 pounds (lb.) and 600 lb. are eligible for the four-month program. Acceptance into the program will be first-come-first-serve, based on availability of silage and feedlot space. Contact Bill Storer at 225-266-1821 for more information or reservations.

Albertson’s Pilots Hispanic Toolkit, Increases Sales

This spring, an intercept study was conducted to test the performance of the newly developed beef checkoff-funded Hispanic Toolkit at Albertson’s/Lucky stores. Store intercepts were carried out among Hispanic consumers at both test and control Albertson’s/Lucky stores in four markets: Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and El Centro. A Hispanic thin cuts beef section was created in the stores, and a variety of materials were used to promote the section, including a Dictionary of Beef Cuts, wall charts, railstrips and recipes. All materials were bilingual.

Customers selected the Dictionary of Beef Cuts over the other brochures offered, with 99% of them finding it “useful/informative.”

In El Centro and Las Vegas, 100% of customers who picked up the brochure said they were definitely going to keep it. Bilingual recipe labels were rated “excellent” by more than half of the respondents in all test stores. Eighteen percent of customers who noticed the recipe label said they purchased the beef cut because of it.

Significantly more respondents in test stores vs. control stores noticed the new signs at the beef section (30% vs. 13%). The majority of customers who noticed the new beef signs thought they were excellent (61%).

Customers were then asked to think back to six months ago and evaluate the meat department. Remembering how the department felt to them before the program was implemented, 34% of customers rated the meat department as “very good,” while 40% rated it as “excellent”. After program implementation, the test stores’ meat department customer satisfaction rankings increased significantly. Approximately 51% of respondents in the test stores rated the meat department as “excellent,” with 38% ranking the department as “very good.” This was an 11% gain in “excellent” ranking.

The Hispanic Toolkit also appears to have a positive impact on customer loyalty. Of the 107 respondents in the test stores who noticed changes, 83% said they were very likely to or had already recommended the store to a friend, an excellent gauge of customer loyalty. A little more than twice as many Hispanic shoppers in the test stores noted the program elements and moved up to a higher level of customer loyalty (“very likely to recommend”).

— Release provided by Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc.

Kansas Now Requires Testing of Montana Breeding

A second herd infected with brucellosis recently was found in Montana, meaning the state is expected to lose the class-free status it has held since 1985. The status change has prompted Kansas Animal Health Commissioner George Teagarden to require a negative brucellosis test on certain cattle imported from Montana.

Test-eligible cattle, according to the Kansas Animal Health Department regulation, are females 18 months of age and older, females that have calved, heavy springers and bulls 12 months and older. Testing is not required for steers and spayed females.

Brucellosis is an infection characterized by weight loss, decreased milk production, abortion, infertility and lameness. Kansas was declared brucellosis free in 1999.

—   Release provided by Kansas Livestock Association

54 Smithfield Foods Facilities Receive AMI Awards For Their Environmental Stewardship Achievements

Fifty-four Smithfield Foods Inc. facilities in 23 states have been honored by the American Meat Institute (AMI) for their significant environmental stewardship efforts in their local communities during the past year.

The 54 Smithfield Foods facilities earned AMI’s Environmental Recognition Award, which singles out companies that assess their own environmental challenges and develop unique solutions that encourage continuous improvement.

The AMI awards ceremony was held in Kansas City, Mo., last week.

“Once again our employees all across the Smithfield Foods family of companies have demonstrated their commitment and dedication to preserving our natural resources,” said C. Larry Pope, Smithfield Foods’ president and chief executive officer (CEO).

“At each and every one of our facilities, our employees understand that environmental stewardship is a critical part of our daily jobs,” Pope said. “That’s why Smithfield Foods continues to be a food industry leader in protecting the environment. The credit goes to our employees.”

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