News Update
Aug. 18, 2008

Indiana Angus Field Day Set for Aug. 23

The Indiana Angus Association will conduct its annual field day Saturday, Aug. 23, at Willer Timber Ridge Farm near Greencastle, Ind. The event begins with sign in at 10 a.m.

This year’s field day will include cattle judging, lunch, a presentation on the use of distillers’ grains for feed, and a tour of the nearby ethanol plant.

Both registered and commercial cattle producers are invited to attend. Please confirm your planned attendance by contacting Ted and Kathy Willer at wtrangus@wtrangus.com or by calling them at 765-653-2364. A map to the farm is easily accessible from their web site, www.wtrangus.com.

— release provided by American Angus Association

Virginia Angus Association Field Day Reminder

The Virginia Angus Association will conduct its annual field Aug. 23 in Keysville, Va. Zach Tucker and the team at Four Locust Angus have worked hard to put together an excellent day full of interesting speakers, equipment displays and Angus fellowship. 

The day will begin at 10:30 a.m. with registration and the opportunity to browse through several equipment and cattle displays. With hay still in short supply and producers trying to make the most of limited resources, Tucker has arranged for a hay grinding demonstration. Cattle from some of Virginia’s leading producers will be on display, including select lots that will sell in the upcoming 70th Annual Spotlight Sale in September. Attendees will receive an update from the president of the Virginia Angus Association and get to meet the association’s new executive director, Rebecca Funkhouser, and office manager, Felicia Gutshall. 

Keynote speaker Bryce Schumann, American Angus Association chief executive officer (CEO) will present an “Update and Overview” of the American Angus Association’s programs. Jim Johnson, national director, sales and distribution, for Pfizer Animal Genetics-Bovigen, will discuss “Utilizing DNA Technology, Today and Tomorrow.”

There is no cost for attendance at this one-day event, and the meal is free. Please RSVP to the Virginia Angus Association at 540-337-3001 or email vaangus@vaangus.org so that we have a head count.

Keysville, Va., is located 78 miles southwest of Richmond on Route 360. Four Locust Angus is located at the Route 15 exit for Keysville.

Get out your maps or program your GPS and join us in Keysville! We look forward to seeing you!

— release provided by American Angus Association

MU Beef Tour to Visit Farms in Vernon, Barton Counties Aug. 30

The 2008 Missouri Beef Tour is set for Vernon and Barton counties, Saturday, Aug. 30, according to Rex Ricketts, coordinator of the University of Missouri Extension Commercial Agriculture Program.

Car-tour groups will gather at 12:30 p.m. at the first farm, nine miles east of Nevada, Mo., off Highway K. The tour ends with a barbecue beef dinner served by the Liberal, Mo., FFA chapter. Extension specialists will lead the groups between farm stops. Maps will be available at the first farm, and signs will be posted at turns.

“With the help of Dona Funk, MU Extension specialist at the Cedar County Extension Center, Stockton, the tour committee made arrangements to visit four farms in Vernon and Barton counties,” Ricketts said.

The first beef operation on the tour is the Green Springs Bull Test station, owned and operated by Kent and Cathy Abele and son Cole. Up to 11 breeds are included in any one 112-day session. Bulls in the test are mostly from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. Three stops have been scheduled at the farm, Ricketts said. Two will be at headquarters and one at the Abele family’s new restaurant.

The second beef operation, near Bronaugh, Mo., is at the Bushwhacker Conservation Area, where Wes Spinks will show where 169 steers were backgrounded on native warm-season prairie pastures using patch-burn grazing.

One-third of the leased pasture is burned every year, which allows steers to achieve a higher daily gain by choosing to graze burn areas. The land is owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). MDC biologists Norman Murray and Brent Jamison work with Spinks in carrying out the patch burns and backgrounding process.

This year, Spinks grazed 700 yearlings on pastures — 400 on prairie pasture and 300 on fescue.

At the third stop, Nathan Crabtree has 225 fall-calving cows in the family’s farming operation near Liberal, Mo. Seventy-five head are registered Angus cows that are bred by artificial insemination (AI). He retains 90% of the heifers to increase herd size. Crabtree is exploring selling Missouri Show-Me-Select heifers in the future. Currently, he sells his calves from his commercial herd as feeders. In addition to the cow herd, Crabtree sells a large volume of hay produced on his farm.

At the last farm, Kyle Kirby, brother Scott, father J.D. and one employee make up the work force. Incoming cattle are vaccinated with a four-way shot upon arrival at the Kirby farm and are then put on high-roughage diets and clear water. They are revaccinated in two to three weeks and then turned on pasture.

The receiving ration includes distillers’ grains, ground alfalfa hay, prairie hay and wheat silage. The Kirbys are developing a new facility to start calves in pens using the receiving ration for a few days, followed by turning cattle out on fescue, clover and Bermuda grass pastures.

Final stop of the day is a free beef dinner sponsored by FCS Financial, Missouri Beef Industry Council, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Department of Conservation and the Frederick B. Miller Fund.

For more information about the tour, see http://agebb.missouri.edu/commag/beeftour/.

— release provided by University of Missouri Cooperative Media Group

Increased Costs Make Management Key When Fertilizing Wheat

The increasing costs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) during the last year have made it more important than ever to use fertilizer as efficiently as possible, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist.

Brent Bean, AgriLife Extension agronomist, said a good soil test is essential to determine the most efficient nitrogen use and proper rates of other nutrients.

“It is important to remember that yields are limited by the most limiting nutrient, whether that is nitrogen, phosphorous or other nutrients,” Bean said. “Applications of nitrogen when phosphorous or other nutrients are deficient is wasting money.”

He said where possible, the collection of deep soil samples is best and could potentially save producers a significant amount of money in fertilizer costs. “It is not unusual to find 30 pounds (lb.) or more of nitrogen in the soil at depths below 1 foot (ft.),” Bean said, adding wheat can easily use nitrogen from a soil depth of 3 ft.

Wheat needs 1.5 lb. of nitrogen for every bushel, regardless of the nitrogen source, said Gaylon Morgan, AgriLife Extension small grains specialist. It also needs approximately 0.75 lb. of phosphate for every bushel of yield.

“If phosphorous is needed, it is best to apply it in the fall,” Morgan said.

Phosphorous must be incorporated or injected into the soil because it is not mobile in the soil like nitrogen, he said. The highest efficiency rates are received when phosphorous is applied in band.

“Phosphorous can be applied with wheat seed, but make sure any nitrogen or potassium applied with it does not exceed 18 pounds, or seed germination may be hampered,” Morgan said.

Nitrogen can be applied either all in the fall, as a split application between fall and spring, or all in the spring to maximize nitrogen use efficiency, Todd Baughman, AgriLife Extension agronomist said.

“Unless the nitrogen level is very low in the soil, dryland wheat producers should consider applying all of their nitrogen in the spring when they will have a better estimate of their yield potential,” Baughman said.

Nitrogen should be applied as a top-dress application at least two weeks prior to jointing, Bean said. This will promote tillering and wheat head size. If the wheat will be grazed, he said, then at least one-third of the nitrogen needs should be applied in fall.

“If manure or compost is available, producers should compare cost with inorganic fertilizer needs,” Bean said. “In many cases, manure or compost may be the most economical form of fertilizer.”

But he also suggested producers have the manure or compost tested for nutrients, as only about half of the nitrogen content will be available the first year.

— release provided by Texas AgriLife Extension Service

Canada Confirms 14th BSE Case

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced today it has confirmed Canada’s 14th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a 6-year-old Alberta beef cow. CFIA reports that no part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed supply. The full announcement (http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/disemala/bseesb/ab2008/14notavie.shtml) is available on the CFIA web site. Canada diagnosed its 13th case of BSE on June 23, 2008. CFIA points out in its announcement that this most recent case should not affect the country’s international status as a Controlled Risk country for BSE with the World Organization for Animal Health [http://www.oie.int/eng/en_index.htm (OIE)]. CFIA also noted the animal’s birth farm has been identified, and an investigation is under way.

You may refer questions about BSE to the scientific resources available on the beef checkoff-funded web site, www.bseinfo.org. In addition, for state partners the beef industry messages (http://extranet.beef.org/issuMessages6743.aspx) about animal health and human food safety from BSE in the United States are available on the State Extranet Resource.

— release provided by National Beef Checkoff

— compiled by Tosha Powell, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.