News Update
Jan. 29, 2009

2009 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show Kicks Off in Phoenix

The 2009 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show kicked off with its opening general session Wednesday, Jan. 28. The following are summaries from the online coverage site, www.4cattlemen.com, provided by Angus Productions Inc. (API) and Biozyme.

Personal Responsibility, Values Emphasized During Opening Session

Keynote speaker John Kasich emphasized American values and commended America’s cattlemen for their important role in society.

“If we lose the American farmer, it’s a loss of a value system,” Kasich said. “You have a God-given purpose.”

Kasich served in the Ohio State Senate before serving 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is also author of the book Stand for Something.

During his address, Kasich focused on the values that are important in today’s society — personal responsibility, teamwork, humility and honesty. He said he’s always been taught that there is no substitute for honesty. “If you’ve been honest in the process, you’ll be remembered for honesty and integrity.”

Kasich shared how corruption in sports, politics, pop culture and business have eroded our role models in those industries. And he talked about how religion gives society a conscience, saying, “There’s nothing more important to the foundation of our country.”

Kasich noted that the current economic downturn may be a blessing in disguise. He said, “Maybe this downturn is the time when you can talk to your sons and daughters about staying right there on the farm. Maybe we can recruit a generation to remain on the farm and preserve those values.”

“We should all put our shoulders to the wheel,” he concluded. “If we all pitch in we can win the battle for America’s soul.”

— by Kindra Gordan

Rediscovering the Stocker Segment

According to cattle market analyst Troy Applehans, a role in which stocker operators collectively serve is that of the cattle industry’s inventory shock absorber. That’s certainly been the case in recent months, as finishing yards backed away from purchases of calves due to high feedgrain prices and the associated rise in cost of feedlot gain. Consequently, more calves were sold to stocker operators planning to winter the cattle on less-costly forage-based rations and add 250 pounds (lb.) to each animal’s weight.

The re-emergence of the stocker operator’s role was the topic of discussion at a Cattlemen’s College session Wednesday during the 2009 Cattle Industry Convention. Applehans and fellow Cattle-Fax analyst Mike Murphy said this industry segment has become more important to managing the flow of cattle into finishing operations.

Applehans said Cattle-Fax data shows “typical” winter stocker operators growing calves from November to February (95 days) and achieving an average daily gain (ADG) of 1.5 lb. were profitable for 24 of the last 29 years. On average, summer grazing programs were profitable in 19 of 28 years. Of course, like finishing yards, stocker-growers are margin operators and must focus on opportunities to buy and sell cattle to their best advantage.

“And as the old saying goes, bought right is half sold,” said Applehans, noting that purchase cost represents more than 80% of the stocker operator’s total costs. Just a 10% difference in calf cost can alter the breakeven price by as much as $8 per hundredweight. In other words, buying calves at 10% lower cost is worth about $65 per head on the other end.

Mike Murphy said purchase price is important but so is sale price. He urged stocker operators to remember the key drivers of feeder-cattle value. One driver is the correlation between prices, corn futures and live (fed) cattle futures. In recent years they have been more closely correlated.

Murphy said another significant factor influencing feeder-cattle value is the basis relationship between fed-cattle cash price and fed-cattle futures price. When the futures price is above that of cash, cattle feeders are willing to pay more for feeder cattle. Take that premium out of the market, said Murphy, and the value of feeder cattle goes lower.

Murphy reminded the audience of how feeder cattle prices declined when corn dropped from $8 per bushel to about $3. Normally, he said, you would expect feeder cattle prices to go through the roof.

“They didn’t because the premium was gone from the live cattle futures market,” he explained. “It’s a different environment. The real driver of feeder cattle price is the back-end of the fed cattle market.”

– by Troy Smith

For other presentation summaries, audios and symposium papers, where available, visit www.4cattlemen.com.

IGENITY® Introduces New DNA Management Software

Merial introduced IGENITY® software today designed to aid cattle producers in managing and applying information from the comprehensive IGENITY profile. This customizable information management software provides producers an additional tool to better utilize data gained on cattle — helping them easily make more confident decisions.

Currently, two software applications are available to customers of IGENITY; custom sort and benchmark. The custom sort software is designed to help producers sort and rank their animals based on the traits that are most important to them. First, producers can apply a filter for traits, such as coat color or bovine viral diarrhea persistent infection (BVD-PI) status. Then, weights, or percentages of importance, can be applied to the traits the producer deems the most important. The custom sort software ranks the cattle based on all of the criteria entered. The result is a customized, overall index score on the familiar 1-10 scale from IGENITY that can be saved for future use, or exported to a spreadsheet or other on-farm management programs.

The second application currently available in the suite of IGENITY software is benchmark software. This software is designed to help producers determine where their herd’s genetics compare with others within their respective breed or the nearly half million cattle in the IGENITY database.

For more information, contact your IGENITY sales representative, call 1-877-IGENITY or visit www.igenity.com/beef.

— Release provided by Merial.

The First 24 Hours of Birth Affects the Long-term Health and Performance of Calves

You have heard the warning: “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas!” Perhaps you have not heard: “What happens in the first 24 hours, impacts the rest of a calf’s life!”

Veterinary scientists, while with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) experiment station at Clay Center, Neb., monitored health events and growth performance in a population of range beef calves in order to identify associations of production factors with baby calf passive immune status.

Blood samples were collected at 24 hours after calving from 263 crossbred calves to determine the amount of passive maternal immunity that had been obtained from colostrum. The baby calves were classified with “inadequate” or “adequate” passive immune status based on that blood sample at 24 hours of age. Growth performance and health events in the study population were monitored from birth to weaning, and after weaning throughout the feedlot phase.

The lowest levels of passive immunity were observed among calves that were sick or died prior to weaning. Calves with “inadequate” passive immunity had a 5.4 times greater risk of death prior to weaning, 6.4 times greater risk of being sick during the first 28 days of life, and 3.2 times greater risk of being sick any time prior to weaning when compared to calves with “adequate” passive transfer. Based on 24-hour proteins (most of which are antibodies or immunoglobulins) in the blood, the risk of being sick in the feedlot was also three times greater for “inadequate” compared to “adequate” calves. Passive immune status was also indirectly associated with growth rates through its effects on calf health. Sickness during the first 28 days of life was associated with a 35-pound (lb.) lower expected weaning weight. Respiratory disease in the feedlot resulted in a .09-lb. lower expected average daily gain (ADG).

Thus, passive immunity obtained from colostrum was an important factor determining the health of calves both pre- and postweaning, and indirectly influenced calf growth rate during the same periods. Therefore, the cow-calf producers can help themselves and the future owners of their calves by properly growing replacement heifers, providing a good health program for cows and heifers, and providing natural or commercial colostrum replacers to calves that do not receive it in adequate quantities on their own. Remember that most of the transfer of antibodies from colostrum to the calf happens in the first 6 hours. The first day sets the stage for the rest of his life. (Source: Wittum and Perino. 1995. Amer. Jour. Of Vet. Research. 56:1149.)

— by Dr. Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University (OSU) professor, animal reproduction specialist, as posted on University of Nebraska’s site, http://beef.unl.edu/stories/200901250.shtml

NCF Accepting Applications for 2009 W.D. Farr  Scholarship

The National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF) announced today it will begin accepting applications for the 2009 scholarship honoring the late W.D. Farr of Greeley, Colo. Two annual $12,000 graduate scholarships, bearing his name will be awarded to outstanding graduate students who demonstrate a commitment to a career in the beef industry through classes, internships or life experience.

W.D. Farr Scholarship applications will be available at this week’s Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show at the NCF booth or on the NCF web site. The deadline for submitting applications is April 15.
W.D. Farr was president of the National Cattlemen’s Association in 1970, and was the first chairman of the board of trustees for NCF. His career in agriculture spanned 75 years and included innovations in cattle feeding, uniform beef grading, water conservation and banking. Farr died at the age of 97 in August 2007.

Last year, the response to the W.D. Farr Graduate Scholarship Program was outstanding, with 48 applications from 28 universities across the country, and three international applicants. Contributions to the scholarship fund total over $200,000, with fundraising efforts pursuing additional dollars to support more young scholars in the beef industry.

“We have been able to honor the late W.D. Farr and his life’s work in agriculture, by recognizing the industry’s future leaders who share in his drive and vision,” said Bob Josserand, chairman of the NCF Board of Trustees.

— Release provided by NCF.

Scholarship Program Targets Vet, Animal Science students

For a second year, the NCF and Fort Dodge Animal Health are accepting applications for the Fort Dodge Animal Health Legacy Scholarship. Through producer participation, Fort Dodge Animal Health sponsors five scholarships of $5,000 each. Three scholarships will be directed to veterinary school students who have designated an emphasis in beef production. Two scholarships will be directed to undergraduate students enrolled in an animal science program.

The NCF is now accepting applications until April 15. Applications are available at the Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show, at the NCF booth, Fort Dodge Animal Health booth or by visiting the National Cattlemen’s Foundation website. Winners will be announced at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver, Colo., July 14-18, 2009. For more information, please visit www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org.

— Adapted from a release provided by NCF.

‘Cattlemen to Cattlemen’ Show Expands to One Hour March 3

NCBA’s “Cattlemen to Cattlemen,” the award winning RFD-TV cable show that brings cattle industry news, information and education to producers across the country each week, will expand to one hour on March 3. The program, which now runs one-half hour, premieres Tuesdays at 8:30 EST, and is repeated Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m. The show is now in its third year.

The hour-long program will come with a new host. Kevin Ochsner, a cattleman who took the helm of “Cattlemen to Cattlemen” in January 2009.

— Information provided by NCBA.

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