News Update
July 25, 2008

Court Releases CRP Acres

A district court ruled Thursday to lift a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing haying and grazing on 24 million acres of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

The ruling was issued in response to legal action taken by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to contest the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decision to allow haying and grazing on 24 million acres of CRP ground. 

According to NCBA, Judge John C. Coughenour of the United States District Court, Western District of Washington in Seattle, ruled that there will be no cap on eligible acres for haying and grazing, and producers whose contracts had already been modified and approved for critical feed use can immediately proceed with haying and grazing and continue through Nov. 10, 2008, as originally announced by USDA.

All applications to hay or graze CRP acres that were filed but not approved before the July 8, 2008, restraining order will now be processed, and producers will be subject to shorter usage periods. The haying period will end on Sept. 30 while the grazing period will end on Oct. 15. Additionally, producers who can document a reliance on the critical feed usage program as well as an investment of more than $4,500 to prepare for haying and grazing of CRP acres are eligible to submit new applications. 

NCBA was among a coalition farmers and ranchers that filed an amici curiae brief in support of USDA’s decision to allow for haying and grazing.

The National Farmer’s Union (NFU) released a statement also voicing its approval. NFU President Tom Buis called it a fair resolution to a difficult situation.

FDA Clarifies New Feed Rules

Responding to questions it has received about the new feed rule scheduled to go into effect next April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a document about the agency’s amendments to regulations that prohibit the use of certain cattle origin materials in the food or feed of animals, according to Meatingplace.com.

Under the new rule, which goes into effect April 27, 2009, banned materials include the following:

• The entire carcass of bovine spongiform encephalopathy-positive (BSE-positive) cattle
• The brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older
• The entire carcass of cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption that are 30 months of age or older from which brains and spinal cords were not removed
• Tallow that is derived from BSE-positive cattle
• Tallow that is derived from other materials prohibited by this rule that contains more than 0.15% insoluble impurities
• Mechanically separated beef that is derived from the materials prohibited by this rule.
• To view the new FDA question-and-answer document, visit www.fda.gov/cvm/bse_QA.htm.

— Article provided by Meatingplace.com.

AVMA Passes Animal Welfare Policies

The American Veterinary Medical Association House of Delegates (AVMA-HOD) voted July 21 to pass a groundbreaking policy on veal calf housing that promotes both animal health and welfare. The resolution passed by a landslide 88.7% vote.

This new policy states “the AVMA supports a change in veal husbandry practices that severely restrict movement, to housing systems that allow for greater freedom of movement without compromising health or welfare.”

“This is encouraging on two levels,” explains Ron DeHaven, AVMA chief executive officer (CEO). “First, we are proactively seeking to improve the welfare of veal calves, and second, the resolution still affords the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee the opportunity to do a comprehensive analysis of the science and to consider all relevant perspectives of veal calf production.”

The AVMA-HOD referred a second veal housing resolution to the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee, which is currently studying all aspects of the welfare of veal calves, not just housing. The AVMA-HOD anticipates future resolutions that will even further enhance the health and welfare of all animals.

“By approving this policy, the AVMA is encouraging innovation in design and implementation of animal care systems. Equally important, the new policy acknowledges that a multitude of factors, including, but not limited to, housing contribute to veal calf welfare and need to be considered conjointly,” says Gail Golab, director of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division. “To ensure we are meeting the physiological and psychological needs of calves, we need to look at systems that may not be as confining, but still maintain the benefits of the systems we currently employ.”

Another key policy passed by the AVMA-HOD urges that a coordinated network of microchip databases with the ability to communicate be created to help identify lost pets.

“This resolution just makes good sense when it comes to improving the chances of reuniting pets with their owners,” DeHaven says.

Currently, information on animals with implanted microchip identifications are maintained in separate databases, creating gaps that can frustrate efforts to reunited pets and their owners.

“The AVMA is very pleased to help encourage all microchip companies to cooperate to develop a means by which microchipped animals can be easily reunited with their owners,” explains Rosemary LoGiudice, AVMA representative to the Coalition for Reuniting Pets and Families.

National Beef Ambassadors Sponsor Summer Photo Contest

It’s summer and for most children, that means sleeping in and spending countless hours at the pool. But the checkoff-funded National Beef Ambassadors have a different summer challenge, and it doesn’t involve a couch or pool.

They mean branding and of course, county fairs. The Ambassadors are searching for those kids spending long hours grooming, training, exercising and managing show steers in honor of the showing season and the lessons of good stewardship and animal welfare that children across the country learn in their beef production projects. Thus, the Beef Ambassadors are sponsoring a photo contest.

The National Beef Ambassador Program encourages youth to get and stay involved in their industry by sending them to the front line to promote beef and educate consumers about the beef industry. In carrying out that mission, the Ambassadors have taken their environmental stewardship message to the web and cameras across the country. The photo contest focuses on the theme that participation in showing cattle encourages good stewardship of our animals. The assignment: to capture those little moments, such as washing the animals, leading them around, or any other picture-worthy scene that exemplifies how well the animals are being taken care of. In short, let the photo “show” how involvement with beef cattle production encourages good animal welfare.

Here’s how to enter: 1. Send in your photo submission via e-mail to raisingthesteaks@gmail.com. 2. Feel free to include a caption about the picture and BE SURE to include an e-mail address where you can be contacted.

Photos will be judged according to how well they meet the objective and portray the mission; winners will be notified via e-mail. The first-place winner will receive a digital camera; second-place, a beef shirt; and third-place, a beef checkoff hat. The deadline for entries is Oct. 1, so there’s plenty of time for a picture-perfect moment. For more information about the National Beef Ambassadors, visit www.nationalbeefambassador.org or www.raisingthesteaks.com. For more information about checkoff-funded programs, visit www.MyBeefCheckoff.com.

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

Schafer Announces $390M Available for Natural Disaster Recovery

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced $390 million is available through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program for landowners and communities to cope with the aftermath of recent floods, fires, drought, tornadoes and other natural disasters.

The $390 million is included in a $162 billion supplemental spending bill that helps the Midwest states with areas ravaged by recent flooding. However, it also provides funding to cover about $140 million in EWP projects from earlier natural disasters, such as tornadoes and wildfires.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers the EWP program, which provides technical and financial assistance to address public safety and restoration efforts on private, public and tribal lands. Through sponsorships, NRCS can pay landowners and communities up to 75% of the cost of removing debris from stream channels, road culverts and bridges; protecting eroded stream banks; correcting damaged drain ways; and reseeding damaged areas. NRCS also can purchase floodplain easements on land that qualifies for EWP program assistance.

Public and private landowners are eligible for assistance through the EWP program, but a project sponsor must represent them. Local sponsors include any legal subdivision of state or local government, including local officials of city, county or state governments, Indian tribes, soil conservation districts, U.S. Forest Service and watershed authorities. Sponsors must secure 25% of the costs in cash or approved in-kind contributions. However, in some cases, the EWP program can cover up to 90% of the construction costs for projects in limited resource areas.

NRCS employees assess site damages for potential EWP program assistance and help local governments remove the imminent hazards to life and property caused by flooding and erosion. In addition to the $390 million obtained through this fiscal year’s supplemental appropriations for recovery assistance, NRCS has obligated $78 million in fiscal year (FY) 2008 to help states cope with various natural disasters. EWP program funding is normally obtained through supplemental appropriations during the fiscal year.

Producers also can use the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for financial and technical assistance to restore conservation practices damaged or destroyed during the recent flooding if they were installed using this program. USDA will provide an additional $8.7 million of EQIP funds this fiscal year to six Midwest states ravaged by the recent flooding-Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin. Additional information about EWP is available at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/ewp. Additional information about EQIP is available at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip.

— Release provided by USDA.

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