News Update
July 23, 2009

‘Making Money in Hard Times’ Planned for Beef Industry Aug. 13

Fluctuating fuel and feed costs during the past couple of years have made the business of beef production particularly challenging. To help producers maximize their resources and operations, Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension will host a beef conference Thursday, Aug. 13. Titled “Making Money in Hard Times,” the conference will be in Frick Auditorium at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“The conference is especially geared for cow-calf producers and designed to provide take-home knowledge that will enhance their ability to improve profitability,” said Extension veterinarian Larry Hollis.

Troy Marshall, beef producer and a Beef magazine contributing editor, will be the featured speaker. His presentations, “Issues Facing the Beef Industry” and “Opportunities Facing the Cow-Calf Producer,” will open and close the conference. 

The conference will begin with registration at 8 a.m. The program starts at 9 a.m.

Other conference presentation topics and presenters will include:

• Replacements: Raise them or buy them? Sandy Johnson, K-State animal scientist.
  
• Animal welfare: It’s your business! Dan Thomson, K-State Beef Cattle Institute.
  
• Management strategies affecting calf marketability, Karl Harborth, K-State animal scientist; Lee Schulz, K-State ag economist; and Kevin Dhuyvetter, K-State ag economist.
  
• Options to extend the grazing season: cool-season annuals, Stacy Gunter, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
  
• Options to extend the grazing season: crop residues, Rick Funston, University of Nebraska animal scientist.
  
• Mineral needs to complement ethanol byproduct feeding, Justin Waggoner, K-State animal scientist.
  
• Managing price risk in cow-calf operations, Kevin Dhuyvetter, K-State ag economist.

For planning purposes, organizers are asking that the $60 conference registration fee be paid by July 31, but registration will also be available at the door. The fee includes morning and afternoon refreshments, a noon meal, and conference materials. A complimentary parking pass will be mailed to those who register and request them prior to July 31 and will also be available the day of the event.

More information and registration forms are available on the web at www.asi.ksu.edu/beefconference or from Linda Siebold at 785-532-1281 or lsiebold@ksu.edu.

— Release by Mary Lou Peter, K-State Research and Extension.

July Weather Not So Hot

July weather, usually hot as a firecracker, is on the way to setting new cool temperature records, said Pat Guinan, University of Missouri (MU) Extension climatologist. In Columbia, temperatures the first 22 days of July averaged 72.2° F, putting the month so far in a tie with 1924 as the coolest July in 121 years of weather records.

“We’ve had only one day with a 90-degree high temperature,” Guinan said. “But we set two new morning-low records at the 56-degree mark. I have to go back to 1994 to find a previous record-breaking low temperature in July.”

It’s not just Columbia. The whole state has felt below-normal temperatures, with averages running at minus 4 to minus 5 degrees from normal, he said. “While Missouri is cool, states to the north and northeast, the heart of the Corn Belt, have been colder,” said Guinan, who tracks crop weather for the MU Extension Commercial Agriculture Program.

“We may have another 90-degree day, but then go back down for the rest of the month. Even with a few warmer days ahead, we’ll likely record one of the 10 coolest Julys on record,” he said.

“We are under a northwesterly airflow pattern that brings cool temperatures from Canada. That brings both cool and dry air intrusions, with occasional wet periods, over the Midwest.” July’s below-normal temperatures in the region are not an indicator one way or another on trends in average global temperatures, he said.

The coolest monthly average records to beat are 1924 with 72.2; 1950, 72.4; 1891, 72.4; 1905, 73.3; and 1904, 73.8.

Guinan maintains a statewide network of automated recording stations that provide local agricultural weather updates on the Internet. Historical records also are available on the site at agebb.missouri.edu/weather.

— Release provided by the MU Cooperative Media Group.

USDA Awards More Than $4 Million to Assist Disabled Farmers and Ranchers

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA is awarding $4.1 million in grants to 22 states to help farmers with disabilities through the AgrAbility program, which helps thousands of disabled people overcome barriers to continuing their chosen professions in agriculture.

“Given the right resources, farmers with disabilities can run productive and profitable farms,” Vilsack said. “The AgrAbility program can provide the resources and tools producers need to enhance their quality of life and be successful.”

USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) awards the funds to land-grant universities that have joined with nonprofit disability organizations to address the specialized needs of AgrAbility’s customers. Projects include educating professionals on how to assist those with disabilities and directly training disabled agricultural workers. The program has improved customers’ financial stability, access to life activities and the ability of states and regions to deliver timely services to those with disabilities.

For more information, visit www.agrability.org.

— Release provided by the USDA.

Alfalfa and Oil-seed Field Day Slated for July 28 at Pecos

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service office in Reeves County will conduct an alfalfa and oil-seed field day from 8 a.m. until noon July 28 at the Texas AgriLife Research Station at Pecos.

Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered.

The program’s topics will include alfalfa-nutrient management, underground-water management and an overview of alfalfa and forage crops.

For more information call the AgriLife Extension office in Reeves County at 432-447-9041.

— Release by Steve Byrns for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burning Association sets Sonora Field Day

Texas AgriLife Research and the Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burning Association will conduct a field day from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. July 30 at the Texas AgriLife Research Station at Sonora.

“We’ll be addressing a host of topics that anyone contemplating a prescribed burn should be aware of and thoroughly understand,” said Charles “Butch” Taylor, AgriLife Research superintendent at the Sonora station.

Topics covered will include insurance opportunities; the burn association’s future web site; current prescribed burning laws and regulations; prescribed burn research, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) prescribed-burn programs and policies. Various vendors are also expected to attend.

“There will also be an Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burn Association board meeting that’s open to the public,” Taylor said. “This field day with its accompanying board meeting would be a prime time for anybody wishing to get involved in the association to learn more about it.”

Individual registration is $15. The fee includes a barbecue lunch. To register or for more information contact Taylor at 325-387-3168.

— Release by Steve Byrns for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

— Compiled by Shauna Rose Hermel, editor, Angus Productions Inc.