News Update
Dec. 17, 2008

WSU, UI to Host Beef 300 Short Course

Washington State University (WSU) and University of Idaho (UI) Extension programs and Departments of Animal Sciences in cooperation with the Washington Cattlemen’s Association, Washington Cattle Feeders Association and Washington State Beef Commission are excited to announce the second WSU/UI BEEF 300 short course. The short course will be Jan. 7-10, 2009, at the WSU Department of Animal Sciences on the Pullman campus and the UI Livestock Pavilion on the Moscow campus.

WSU/UI BEEF 300 is a three-day, hands-on workshop designed for progressive individuals involved with the beef cattle industry. The course will focus on teaching producers, feeders and marketers (regardless of the size or type of operation) how to produce and market quality cattle and beef products. Participants will learn how environmental, nutritional, genetic and managerial factors contribute to meat quality.

Participants will also learn how meat quality factors influence the price producers receive for cattle and beef products marketed through various outlets. This program will increase one’s understanding of beef quality and marketing, enabling participants to make informed decisions to improve profitability, competitiveness and wholesomeness of the food products they are producing. The course will feature nationally recognized speakers in the area of cattle production, feeding, processing and marketing.

The registration fee for WSU/UI BEEF 300 is $150 per participant, which covers meals, materials, and parking arrangements. Hotel accommodations will be the responsibility of the participants. The course is limited to 32 participants and will be available on a first-pay, first-serve basis.

For additional information on WSU/UI BEEF 300, contact Jan Busboom, WSU meat specialist, 509-335-2880 or busboom@wsu.edu; or Sarah Smith, area animal science educator, 509-754-2011, ext. 413, or smithsm@wsu.edu. More information and registration forms are available on the WSU Central Animal Agriculture web page at http://animalag.wsu.edu under “Upcoming Events.”

Persons with a disability requiring special accommodations while participating in this event can call 509-754-2011, ext. 413. If accommodations are not requested by Dec. 22, 2008, accommodations cannot be guaranteed.

— Release provided by WSU.

OSU Tool Helps Track Finances

You’ve always resolved to keep better track of your finances, but you’ve never been able to keep it up for more than a few weeks.

Ohio State University Extension is offering its 38-page workbook, Home Account Book, to help you track a year’s worth of income and expenses.

“With the downturn in the economy, this might be a good year for Santa to bring financial tools, and this would be a good one,” said Nancy Hudson, family finance specialist with OSU Extension and co-leader of Extension’s Healthy Finances Team.

The workbook, Bulletin 723, is available for $2.25 plus shipping from the OSU Extension at http://estore.osu-extension.org, or through Ohio’s county Extension offices. It’s also available as a free downloadable PDF file at http://ohioline.osu.edu/pdf/b723.pdf, “although the printout wouldn’t wrap as nicely as the booklet would,” Hudson said.

The workbook includes charts to help you:

• List monthly income from various sources.
• Keep track of contributions to and withdrawals from savings and investment accounts.
• List payments made on an installment basis, such as car insurance paid semi-annually or tax payments due quarterly.
• List monthly income and expenses. The workbook includes 12 page spreads to allow you to list information for each month, including health expenses, charitable contributions, child care, credit purchases and payments, groceries and other food items, recreation, education, housing, transportation, clothing, furnishings and other household items, personal items, and gifts to others.

The workbook also includes a page to help you calculate your net worth. With this beginning data, you can assess changes at the end of the year and set goals for the future.

Plus, it offers a page spread for a month-by-month expense summary to let you view expenses from throughout the year at a glance. By filling in the first six months of data midyear, you can assess your financial situation and make any adjustments you deem necessary.

OSU Extension also offers other family finance information, Hudson said. Browse through the options available to purchase at http://estore.osu-extension.org/, or http://ohioline.osu.edu/lines/home.html and click on “Financial Management.”

— Release provided by OSU Extension.

NAIS Legal Action Continues

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Michigan Department of Agriculture have filed a motion seeking to dismiss a Sept. 8 Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund suit designed to halt National Animal Identification System (NAIS) implementation. USDA and the Michigan ag department argue NAIS is a voluntary program; however, the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund maintains it is not voluntary in actuality.

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund announced Monday it plans to fight the USDA/Michigan motion in January.

According to the Legal Defense Fund, its original suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court–District of Columbia, asks the court to issue an injunction to stop the implementation of NAIS at both the state and the federal levels by any state or federal agency.

Agriculture Conference on the Environment 2009 Set for Jan. 28

Janice Swanson wants people to start talking. Swanson, professor and director of animal welfare at Michigan State University (MSU), believes that opening up lines of communication between various issue groups would cause people to gain insight into how their actions may create challenges for others.

“Citizens who are passionately engaged in a cause are frequently unaware of the impact of single-focus decision making and the unintended consequences,” Swanson said. “We must be prepared to promote studied deliberation of both the issue and all the potential consequences and outcomes. The first step is to actually start talking about it as a collective rather than in separate groups.”

As a speaker for Agriculture’s Conference on the Environment (ACE) on Jan. 28 in Lansing, Swanson will lead a discussion about the problems that this lack of communication creates and how to move past them in her keynote, “Creating Balanced Approaches in a Single-Issue World: Lessons from Animal Welfare.”

Swanson will also lead an ACE 2009 breakout session titled “Modeling Change of On-Farm Production Standards.”

ACE 2009 will be Jan. 28, 2009, at the Lansing Center. Registration is $50 until Jan. 19 and $75 thereafter. Students may register for $20. For more information, visit www.maeap.org/ACE or phone Jim Van Arkel at 517-241-2232.

ACE 2009 is supported by the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP). The MAEAP was developed by a coalition of farmers, commodity groups, state and federal agencies, and conservation and environmental groups to provide a venue for farmers to become better educated about management options to help protect and enhance the quality of the state’s natural resources. More than 500 Michigan farms have participated in the voluntary verification process in its 10-year history.

The MAEAP is a collaborative effort of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, MSU Extension, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Michigan Farm Bureau, commodity organizations, conservation groups, and other state and federal agencies.

For more information, visit the MAEAP web site at www.maeap.org.

— Release provided by MSU.

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