News Update
Dec. 10, 2008

Symposium Features Management Tips to Improve Reproductive Efficiency

Why can beef herd pregnancy rates vary so much? What causes the variation? The answer lies in management, says George Perry, assistant professor in beef reproductive management at South Dakota State University. Perry spoke to attendees of the Robert E. Taylor Memorial Symposium: Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle Dec. 2 in Fort Collins.

Management can affect the outcome of artificial insemination (AI) or natural-service breeding, Perry commented. Little mistakes can add up to a big effect on fertility.

Specifically, Perry said the reproduction equation includes the following key areas:

• Animals detected in heat and inseminated.
  
• Inseminator efficiency.
• Fertility level of the herd.
• Semen fertility level.
  

Perry said if producers were perfect in each of those four areas (achieving 100% in each area) they could have 100% fertility. However, if they only achieve 70% success in each of those areas, herd fertility can be significantly reduced to a 24% pregnancy rate.

Click here to read the complete summary, or visit the newsroom at www.appliedreprostrategies.com listen to the presentation and view Perry’s PowerPoint presentation.

The Angus Productions Inc. (API) site, www.appliedreprostrategies.com, contains summaries, audio and PowerPoints (where available) of presentations from last week’s Robert E. Taylor Memorial Symposium in Fort Collins. Proceedings are available in printed form ($25) or on CD ($10) by contacting Nancy Weiss at 970-491-7604.

Modified Lignin Has Potential Benefits for Ethanol, Paper and Feed

Cellulose is a key component of plant cell walls that can be converted into ethanol and other products. New findings from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) could help make that conversion process easier.

Plant walls contain cellulose, the main component of paper and a source of sugars for ethanol production. Cellulose could be described as the “brick” of the cell wall, while pectin, hemicellulose and lignin function like mortar, cementing everything together.

Lignin is vital for plant survival, but its structure impedes cellulose conversion. But what if lignin were altered so that it would break down easier, thus facilitating the production of paper, ethanol and other industrial products?

That’s the goal of ARS scientists at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wis. There, research agronomist John Grabber — working with ARS plant physiologist Ronald Hatfield, Fachuang Lu of the University of Wisconsin and John Ralph, formerly with ARS and now at the University of Wisconsin — has designed lignin that breaks down more easily.

Grabber and his colleagues first tested the effects of changing the cell walls in a laboratory — before applying those changes to live plants — by incorporating a chemical compound called coniferyl ferulate into lignin formed within cell walls. First, they synthesized the compound in the lab and added it to cell walls isolated from corn. Then they subjected the cell walls to alkaline treatments, which are commonly used to degrade lignin.

This work has potential benefits not just for paper and ethanol production, but also for livestock production. Modified lignin could make fibrous crops more digestible, allowing producers to feed more forage crops and less grain to their livestock.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

— Adapted from an ARS release.

Johnson Steps Down as Acting USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety

Elizabeth Johnson, designated by President Bush as acting undersecretary of agriculture for food safety when Richard Raymond retired Oct. 1, has left USDA to become executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association.

Johnson’s departure, effective Dec. 5, leaves the post vacant until President-elect Barack Obama’s administration names a new food safety chief.

FSIS spokeswoman Amanda Eamich told Meatingplace.com the agency will be steered in the interim by existing USDA officials, including Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Scott Hurd and FSIS Administrator Alfred Almanza.

Obama has yet to name his agriculture secretary.

— Release provided by Meatingplace.com.

New eTattoo™ Eartag Offers Advanced Technology for Beef and Dairy Producers

Eriginate™ Corp. today announced the availability of eTattoo™, an ultra-high-frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) cattle management eartag that brings first-of-its-kind technology to beef and dairy producers. The new technology allows the capture of data from multiple animals simultaneously with the added benefits of gaining greater read ranges at much faster speeds than conventional technology.

The dangle design also enables both visual and electronic identification, so producers can include management and parentage information on the tag for easier sorting and grouping. This alleviates the need to have visual and RFID tags by incorporating both features into one product.

A specified handheld or fixed-position reader and antenna enable data collection from the tags. Recommended units, along with the tags, are available from Eriginate.

Starter kits and tags are currently available from Eriginate (www.eriginate.com) for those producers ready to implement the technology. For more information on eTattoo and to order a kit or tags, call Eriginate customer service at 785-694-3468 or visit www.etattootag.com.

— Adapted from an Eriginate Corp. release.

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