News Update
Jan. 22, 2009

Advanced Rainwater Harvesting Program Set for Jan. 29 in Brownwood

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service office in Brown County will conduct a free Advanced Rainwater Harvesting Program at 6 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Brown County Fairgrounds Home Economics Building on U.S. Hwy. 377 South in Brownwood.

Topics will include designing rainwater-harvesting systems for wildlife, landscapes, livestock and home use. Specific highlights will include discussions of storage-tank capacities, pipe-sizing requirements and water dispersal. Billy Kniffen, AgriLife Extension water resources management specialist at Menard, will be the featured speaker.

Participants will assemble a wildlife water guzzler during the program.

For more information call the AgriLife Extension office in Brown County at 325-646-0386.

— Release provided by Texas AgriLife Extension.

Renovating Pastures? Try Frost-seeding

Frost-seeding is viewed as a low-cost method for livestock producers looking to renovate pastures while increasing yields and improving quality with little commercial nitrogen.

Frost-seeding involves broadcasting a grass or legume seed over a pasture and letting the natural freeze/thaw cycles of late winter and early spring move the seed into good contact with the soil. The best time to frost-seed is usually from mid-February to the end of March.

“A basic requirement for frost seeding success is to make sure that the sod cover has been opened up, and that there is not much growth present to prevent the seed from coming into contact with bare soil,” said Rory Lewandowski, an Ohio State University (OSU) Extension educator for Athens County. “Generally, a pasture is prepared for frost-seeding by grazing it down hard, although some light tillage or a close mowing could also be used.”

Another frost-seeding method involves combining frost-seeding with hoof action, Lewandowski said.

“Under this seeding scenario, let your animals graze the paddock in early March to scuff up the soil and open up bare areas in the sod. At this point, broadcast the forage seed across the paddock. Keep the animals in the paddock another couple of days and let them continue to graze and trample or hoof in the seed,” Lewandowski said. “This method seems to work best with sheep because they don’t trample the seed into the soil too deep.”

In general, legumes tend to work better for frost-seeding compared to grasses, Lewandowski said.

“This might be because legume seeds are typically heavier than grass seeds and can reach the soil level more easily,” he said. “Another advantage to frost-seeding a legume is that legumes ‘fix’ nitrogen typically in excess of their own needs. The existing plants use the excess nitrogen, which improves their quality as a feedstuff. Once legumes become established in a stand of pasture and compose 25%-30% of the stand, there is really no need to apply supplemental nitrogen.”

For more information on improving pastures with frost seeding, refer to the fact sheet on OSU Extension’s Ohioline at http://ohioline.osu.edu/anr-fact/0014.html.

— Adapted from a release written by Candace Pollock, Communications and Technology unit of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

NCBA Asks Congress to Oppose Dairy Buyout in Stimulus Package

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) sent a letter to members of the U.S. Senate today opposing an effort to include a dairy buyout in the stimulus package.

The proposal would use taxpayer dollars to raise dairy prices by buying older dairy cows from farmers, taking approximately 6.5 billion gallons of milk off the market. This would result in nearly 320,000 additional head of cattle entering the beef market, which could drastically reduce the price of beef cattle.

“The cattle industry is not subsidized by the government, nor do we wish to be,” said NCBA President and Arizona rancher Andy Groseta. “However, we are subject to the unintended consequences of policy directed toward other sectors of agriculture, such as the dairy industry. Flooding the market with beef and driving down the price for our products will be devastating for America’s cattle producers.”

Cattle producers continue to experience record-high feed and forage costs, which resulted in more than $1.5 billion in losses to the feeding sector last year. Additionally, higher fuel prices, land values, and input costs decreased revenue for producers.

“All of agriculture is experiencing the impact of the current economic downturn, and the cattle industry is no different,” Groseta explained. 

Proponents of the buyout suggest lessening the consequences for the cattle industry by using U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Section 32 funds to purchase ground beef. A similar plan was implemented in 1986, which did not prevent the cattle market from crashing. The 1986 buyout resulted in a 25% decrease in the price paid to producers for beef cattle and sent the cattle markets to the lowest point we have seen in the last 30 years. In total, the beef industry saw a $1 billion loss from the 1986 buyout.

“NCBA does not support utilizing taxpayer dollars to both fund this proposed buyout and to try and mitigate its ill effects on the cattle business,” Groseta stated. “This is a flawed proposal and we urge Congress not to include it in the stimulus package.”

— Release provided by NCBA.

Legal Defense Fund Asks Administration to Permanently Stop USDA Animal ID Rule

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund called on the new administration to permanently halt a USDA proposed rule that would effectively mandate the implementation of the first two stages of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

The proposed rule, entitled the “Official Animal Identification Numbering Systems,” was published by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in the Federal Register Jan. 13. On Tuesday, the Obama administration ordered federal agencies to halt all pending regulations until they can be reviewed.

The Fund filed suit last year against the USDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) to stop the mandatory implementation of NAIS. The MDA has implemented the first two stages of NAIS — property registration and animal identification — as part of a state-wide bovine tuberculosis (TB) disease control program required by a grant from the USDA. 

The proposed APHIS rule seeks to amend current domestic livestock regulations to allow only numbers beginning with an 840 prefix to be used to tag animals for use in official programs such as existing disease control efforts. Numbers beginning with 840 are specific to the NAIS program, and, in order to obtain an 840-numbered tag, animal owners will need to first register their premises with NAIS.

The suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court – District of Columbia Sept. 8, 2008, asks the court to issue an injunction to stop the implementation of NAIS at both the state and federal levels by any state or federal agency. If successful, the suit would halt the program nationwide.

A copy of the suit filed against the USDA and MDA, together with the amended complaint is available at www.ftcldf.org.

— Adapted from a release provided by The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

— compiled by Shauna Hermel, editor, Angus Productions Inc.