News Update
Aug. 6, 2008

NJAS DVDs for Sale

For the first time ever Angus Production Inc. (API) Creative Media will be selling highlight DVDs from this year’s 2008 National Junior Angus Show (NJAS), in Des Moines, Iowa. DVDs will feature clips from the bred-and-owned and owned heifer shows, preliminary showmanship finals, Cook-Off Contest, opening ceremonies and other candid clips from around the barns and showring. Copies can be purchased for $20, plus $3 for shipping and handling. Please contact Kathy Frost at 816-383-5252 or kfrost@angusjournal.com to order your copy today.

AngusSource® Points out Top Cattle

Good data, good people and good cattle. In combination, they add up to top honors in the 2008 spring quarter AngusSource Carcass Challenge (ASCC).

Beller Feedlot, Lindsay, Neb., fed 62 calves that took home first place in the second quarter of the calendar-year contest. The Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB)-licensed feedlot will vie for the overall $500 cash award when the competition ends in December.

The genetic-, source- and age-verified calves came from three different ranches and were 80.7% CAB and CAB Prime. That’s 12.5 points above the next closest entry in the April to June time frame.

Terry Beller, feedyard owner-manager, has purchased cattle from Montana ranchers Mike Green, Dennis Green, and Scott and Traci Glasscock for more than five years.

“We have a very good relationship going. They plan on me to come up there, and I plan on them for numbers,” he says. At Beller’s suggestion, his suppliers began tagging their calves for AngusSource, a USDA Process Verified Program (PVP) since 2005.

“The AngusSource tag is accepted in every plant that we go to as far as source- and age-verification, and knowing that they’re Angus-sired is just another perk for our operation,” says Beller, who relies on the tags as an indicator of premium potential.

When an Angus producer is interested in doing business with Beller, he asks them to enroll calves in AngusSource. He estimates about 80% of them do.

“It sure has been real easy to work with,” Mike Green, Cohagen, Mont., says. “We keep track on the lineage so we know if what we are doing is working. With all the carcass data, we still have to have a cow that will survive in eastern Montana. We are trying to find the best of both worlds.”

Beller also looks for an ideal situation: calves that gain and grade.

“That’s why I go back to those producers every year. After so many years of data, you can just about pin the costs on them, what it’s going to cost to gain, what their conversions are going to be,” he says. “That’s why CAB has been a big help, because we get that data and we can get it back to them so they can make changes if they need to.”

Traci Glasscock, of Rock Springs, Mont., says it has given them another tool in selecting breeding stock.

“We’ve been in the process of building our cow herd, so we’ve been trying to keep as many replacements as we can and then cull from the older bunch,” she says. “The data is super helpful.”

Selling calves to a consistent location makes it easier, too.

 “It helps us with planning and you know where your calves are going and what’s going to happen to them,” she says. “The carcass data is a real appealing reason to go with a specific feeder. We know exactly what we’re getting back and we know what kind of a job he is doing.”

Mark McCully, CAB director of supply development, says the company’s feedlot program was set up to facilitate these relationships.

“This is another great success story to come from our network of CAB-licensed feedyards,” he says. “Working together, the producers and feedyard achieved incredible CAB acceptance rates. It only proves what known Angus genetics can do.”

The steers were the second harvest group from a pen that was sorted using the Centralized Ultrasound Processing (CUP) Lab, Ames, Iowa.

“We scanned for high marbling and took the top 62. These were kind of the heart of them, but even the other cattle did extremely well,” Beller says. “It speaks for the quality that we feed here. It’s just nice to work with those producers that are in the same mind-set we are: focused toward quality.”

Sara Moyer-Snider, AngusSource director, encourages other quality-focused producers and feeders to enter the contest.

 “We are really excited to learn about cattlemen using our program to gain information and premiums,” she says. “The entry form is very simple to fill out and there is no fee, so there’s nothing to lose.”

Calves enrolled in AngusSource at the ranch of origin and fed at a CAB-licensed feedyard are eligible for the contest. Groups must be at least 38-head, but can be mixed-sex and come from multiple operations, provided they are harvested in one lot. Third quarter entries are being accepted for July to September harvest groups. For more information on the ASCC, call 816-383-5100 or visit www.angussource.com. 

— Release provided by the American Angus Association.

Nebraska Grazing Conference Nears

The 2008 Nebraska Grazing Conference Aug. 12-13 at the Kearney Holiday Inn will offer an in-depth look at grazing, from animal behavior to grassland monitoring.

Two dozen speakers from four states and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty will give farmers, ranchers, wildlife managers and advisers the opportunity to learn more about obtaining economic success through grazing, enhancing wildlife habitat and conservation.

Sessions begin Aug. 12 at 10 a.m. following 9 a.m. registration and will conclude mid-afternoon the following day. Tom Hansen, North Platte rancher and state senator, will provide opening remarks.

Key speakers and topics during the two-day event include Allen Williams, chief executive officer (CEO) of Tallgrass Beef Co. headquartered in Sedan, Kan., marketing grass-fed beef; Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), legumes in grass pastures; Ray Bannister, Wibaux, Mont., modifying animal behavior; Charley Orchard, Land EKG Inc., Bozeman, Mont., land monitoring for management decisions; Rick Rasby, UNL, utilizing coproducts in a beef livestock operation; John Ravenscroft, Three Bar Cattle Co., Nenzel, transitioning to organic production; and Jerry Volesky, UNL, North Platte, winter grazing strategies.

Topics covered in concurrent sessions the first day are grazing basics and grazing and wildlife, and on the second day, use of coproducts in beef production systems and grassland monitoring.

On Aug. 12, following a 6 p.m. banquet, participants will have the option of attending informal discussions with some of the day’s speakers. A session targeting students that evening will cover grazing-related career opportunities.

Ample time will be provided throughout the conference for participants to browse through exhibits from various companies and organizations within the grazing industry.

The conference will conclude with a panel of experienced graziers who will discuss their management strategies for adapting to high feed and fuel costs.

Conference participants who have been interested in seeing the treasures at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum but have been unable to travel to its home in Oklahoma City will get the next best thing. Executive Director Chuck Schroeder will offer a history lesson to the audience through his entertaining slide show on the museum pieces and the stories behind them.

Registration is $90. Fees include two lunches, break refreshments, an evening banquet and materials. One-day registration is $50 and does not include the evening banquet. Walk-ins are welcome. Reduced registration fees are offered for full-time high school or college students.

Hotel information:

• Holiday Inn, 110 2nd Ave. (Exit 272 on I-80), Kearney, Neb.; phone: 1-800-248-4460 (in Nebraska), or 308-237-5971.

Make room reservations directly with the Holiday Inn (specify the Nebraska Grazing Conference). Rooms at Conference rate of $71.955 + tax per room per night are held until July 15, 2008.

Download and print a registration form from the Grassland Center web site, www.grassland.unl.edu. Mail the form and payment to:

Nebraska Grazing Conference
PO Box 830953
University of Nebraska
Lincoln NE 68583-0953

Visit the UNL Center for Grassland Studies web site for more information.

— Release provided by the University of Nebraska.

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