News Update
Sept. 2, 2009

American Angus Association® Announces Voting Delegates for Annual Meeting

American Angus Association members representing 44 states, the District of Columbia and Canada have been approved to serve as voting delegates at the 126th Annual Meeting of the world’s largest beef breed organization. A total of 386 delegates and a total of 366 alternates will serve their respective districts at the Annual Meeting scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

Association President Jay King, Rock Falls, Ill., will preside over Association business as delegates elect officers and five new directors to the Association Board. The meeting occurs at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center (KFEC), Louisville, Ky., in conjunction with the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE).

In accordance with Association bylaws, each active Association member may nominate one person to appear on the voting ballot of their respective district. Association voting districts include those in the U.S., the District of Columbia and Canada. From the list of nominees, active members elect delegates to represent their district at the Annual Meeting. Nominees must also be active members of the Association. Nominees could be any member whose farm or ranch is located in the same state as the nominator.

Completed ballots were submitted to the Association headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo. Association members Landi McFarland, Ellston, Iowa, and Jerry Theis, Leavenworth, Kan., oversaw the tallying process. McFarland and Theis are this year’s Board-appointed election observers. In this role, they will also provide an election report to the delegation at the Annual Meeting.

To obtain a list of delegates and alternates, click here.

— Release provided by the American Angus Association.

Deadline for Livestock Indemnity Program is Sept. 13

Livestock producers who suffered excessive weather-related animal deaths from Jan. 1, 2008, through July 12, 2009, have until Sept. 13 to apply for payments under the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), according to North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension.

“Producers need to file a notice of loss and complete the application for payment at the local county office of the Farm Service Agency (FSA),” says Dwight Aakre, NDSU Extension Service farm management specialist. “A notice of loss can be reported by the producer to the local FSA office by phone, fax, e-mail or in person.”

LIP compensates producers for livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality rates because of adverse weather that occurred on or after Jan. 1, 2008, and before Oct. 1, 2011. A disaster designation is not needed to trigger payment eligibility for LIP. Payments will be based on a producer’s eligible losses due to adverse weather conditions.

“Payment rates are per head, type of livestock and weight range,” Aakre says. “Payments are based on 75% of fair market value as determined by the FSA. Only weather-related losses in excess of normal mortality rates for North Dakota are covered. Normal mortality for beef calves less than 400 pounds (lb.) is 4.6%, adult beef cows 1.6%, lambs 10% and ewes 4%. Mortality rates have been identified for other weight categories and kinds of livestock, as well.”

Proof of livestock death must be provided and may include verifiable records, producer records or third-party certification.

“Producers should talk to their county FSA staff to clarify the evidence of loss that will be needed to substantiate their claim,” Aakre says. “Most important is that if producers think they may have a loss but are uncertain, the producer needs to call the county FSA office before Sept. 13.”

Help Increase Retained Ownership Odds with DNA Technology

Producers make tough decisions every day that directly affect the profitability of their herd. Fall brings decisions about feeder calves and questions about retaining ownership. Kevin Good, senior analyst, Cattle-Fax, says cow-calf producers should strongly consider holding onto feeder calves this fall.

“In 2008, calf prices dropped in the second half of the year so a lot of producers retained ownership of their calves, and it paid for those producers to do that,” he says. “When we consider that feeder-calf prices are likely to be depressed this fall; corn prices have come down from their 2008 record highs; and, historically, it pays to hold calves into the feeding phase — we are recommending that cow-calf producers take a hard look at retaining ownership of their 2009 calf crop.”
Good adds that though all cow-calf producers stand to profit from retaining ownership, those who know more about their herd’s health and genetics are a step ahead.

“Producers who know about the genetics and health of their cattle are in better shape to be profitable when retaining ownership,” he says. “It definitely is a benefit to have information about the cattle’s potential to gain and perform for both yield and grade.”

Kevin DeHaan, technical services director for Igenity,® says cow-calf producers can gain inside information about quality, yield grade and more this fall in time to make some important retained ownership decisions.

“The comprehensive Igenity profile includes DNA analyses for 15 economically important traits, several of which directly affect feeder-calf profitability,” he says. “Producers can use this information to make more confident decisions about feeder calves to help ensure they are pointed in the most profitable direction based on their individual genetic merit.”

Igenity offers analyses for average daily gain (ADG) and residual feed intake (RFI) as well as the most comprehensive list of carcass traits, including tenderness, marbling, quality grade, yield grade, fat thickness and ribeye area. DeHaan says when producers combine this powerful information with the user-friendly software from Igenity, they can sort and manage feeder calves with more confidence.

“With the Igenity custom sort software, producers can choose the traits that are most important and sort calves based on their scores for those traits,” he says. “In the case of feeder calves, producers may choose to focus on ADG, RFI, quality and yield grade. Then they can make decisions about calves based on where they fall within the group for these traits.”

For example, producers may choose to retain ownership of the group of calves that genetically are the most likely to gain efficiently and succeed when they are marketed on a grid/formula basis. The producer may choose to market the next group of calves on a live basis because they are more likely to gain quickly but they don’t have the genetic potential to grade Choice or better.

“With this powerful information in hand, producers can point calves in the direction that best suits each animal’s genetic potential,” DeHaan says. “There can be a significant amount of variation even within a group of calves from the same operation.”

Research has shown there can be as much as $370 per head difference in a group of cattle from the same genetic population.¹

“Using DNA technology to help sort feeder calves can help producers reduce some of this variability within a population, resulting in more profitable calves because they were marketed based on their individual genetic potential,” DeHaan says.

Few decisions have the economic impact for cow-calf producers as those involved with marketing and selling feeder cattle. Cattle-Fax says that market conditions are favorable this year for retaining ownership, but producers can’t afford to make decisions about feeder calves without all of the information available.

“It is easy to understand how the comprehensive Igenity profile can help producers select and market breeding stock with more confidence,” Dr. DeHaan says. “But the power of DNA also can be used to help take some of the guesswork out of decisions about feeder calves — helping ensure calves are pointed in a direction where they are genetically more likely to succeed and be profitable.”
1Mitchell C. Tools for selection. Gulf Coast Cattlemen. July 2009:12-14.

— Release provided by Merial.

Agriculture Futures, Livestock Prices Mixed

Agriculture futures traded mixed midday Wednesday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Wheat for December delivery edged up 0.75¢ to $4.88 per bushel (bu.), while December corn slipped 1¢ to $3.1825 per bu. November soybeans added 1.5¢ to $9.57 per bu., and oats for December delivery were unchanged at $2.155 per bu.

Meanwhile, beef and pork futures were also mixed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

October live cattle slipped 0.13¢ to 85.97¢ per pound (lb.); October feeder cattle was unchanged 96.80¢ per lb.; October lean hogs dropped 1.05¢ to 48.45¢ per pound; and February pork bellies advanced 0.55¢ to 78.80¢ a pound.

— The Associated Press (AP).

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