News Update
Oct. 15, 2009

AngusSource® Carcass Contest winners continue to raise standards.

It may be their first entry in the AngusSource® Carcass Contest (ASCC), but cattle that grade 97.7% premium Choice and Prime and meet Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) brand standards have nothing to do with beginner’s luck.

Osborn Farms, Savannah, Mo., topped their northeast region in the third quarter with carcass results that have been in the making for more than a decade. This year marks Osborn Farms’ first one partnering with the CAB Feedlot Licensing Program (FLP), but for owner John Osborn and consultant Pete Mitts, it was just another step toward perfecting their Angus herds.

In Lindsay, Neb., Beller Feedlot repeated its second-quarter win in the north-central region with CAB and Prime acceptance rates at 81%. It again relied on the high-quality aim of Homedale, Idaho, rancher Jimmy Thomas to score big in the carcass contest. Read more.

— Release provided by Certified Angus Beef LLC.

Wyoming Hosts 2009 RBCS Dec. 1-3, Preregistration Deadline is Nov. 20

This year’s Range Beef Cow Symposium XXI (RBCS) will take place Dec. 1-3 at the Casper Events Center, says Steve Paisley, University of Wyoming (UW) Extension beef cattle specialist.

“With more than 30 speakers addressing beef production topics such as nutrition, marketing, health, reproduction, consumer demand and current industry issues, the RBCS is a great opportunity to listen to nationally recognized speakers on a wide variety of topics,” says Paisley, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science in UW’s College of Agriculture.

Started in 1969 at Chadron, Neb., and conducted every other year, the RBCS is organized by the animal science departments of Colorado State University, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, South Dakota State University and UW. The event rotates between Colorado, western Nebraska, western South Dakota and Wyoming.

“The symposium has continued to grow in popularity and is now recognized as one of the premiere production beef cattle symposiums in the country,” Paisley says. Focusing on beef production issues in the Western states, the RBCS regularly attracts 800 to 1,200 attendees and more than 80 agribusiness booth vendors for the three-day event.

Paisley said one of the most popular aspects of the RBCS are the nightly “Bull Pen Sessions,” where the invited speakers are brought back as panelists and are available for informal question-and-answer sessions.

The symposium begins at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 1, and concludes Thursday at noon. Additional information — including a schedule, downloadable registration brochure, lodging and contact information — is available at www.rangebeefcow.com. Register by Nov. 20 to receive the lower rates. For more information, contact Paisley at 307-837-2000 at the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center near Lingle.

Angus Productions Inc. (API) will provide online coverage of the event. During the week of the conference, look for news releases on www.angus.org. Synopses of the speakers, PowerPoint presentations and proceedings will be archived to the meeting site, www.rangebeefcow.com.

Utilize Cornstalks as a Feedstuff for Beef Cattle Grazing

As fall corn harvest and calf weaning arrive, the thoughts of many Minnesota cattle producers turn to determining what sources they will utilize to background calves and feed cows through fall and into winter. One greatly underutilized resource for fall grazing is cornstalk residue.

This fall’s Minnesota corn crop is estimated at somewhere around 1.2 billion bushels harvested from 7.7 million acres. The residue that remains after corn harvest can be effectively utilized as cattle feed, with an average total digestible nutrient (TDN) concentration of 50%-55% and a crude protein (CP) concentration of 4%-6%. Although these values are low, it important to recognize that after weaning, the nutrient requirements for cows are also very low, and can nearly be met with cornstalk grazing alone.

The most palatable parts of cornstalk residue are the husk and the leaf, so naturally these portions will be consumed first with the remaining stem and cob being less desirable to cattle. Therefore, one important consideration is the amount of husk and leaf that are available. The University of Nebraska devised a formula to determine this amount based on corn yield. The formula is: Pounds of leaf and husk per acre = ([bushels per acre corn grain yield X 38.2] + 429) x 0.39.

This year’s Minnesota corn crop is estimated to average 167 bushels per acre. Using the formula, this would result in 2,650 pounds (lb.) of leaf and husk per acre. About 50% of this will be lost due to trampling and other factors, so about 1,325 lb. will be available for grazing. This amount of residue is enough to feed a 550-lb. steer for about 85 days, and is enough to feed a 1,400-lb. cow for about 45 days.

Because the protein content of cornstalk residue is low, supplementation may be necessary. A good rule of thumb for calves grazing cornstalk residue is to supplement approximately 0.5 lb. to 0.9 lb. of protein per day. This can be accomplished with alfalfa hay at 3-5 lb. per head daily, dried distillers’ grains at 2-3.5 lb. per head daily, or soyhulls at 4-7 lb. per head daily. For cows, daily supplementation of about 4 lb. of alfalfa hay, 3 lb. of dried distillers’ grains, or 6 lb. of soyhulls is enough to meet nutrient requirements when grazing cornstalks.

Cornstalk residue grazing can be a low-cost, low-input method of grazing for both calves and cows. Specific attention should be paid to stocking rates and supplementation levels to ensure that this practice is completed in the most cost-effective way possible.

— Release by Grant Crawford, University of Minnesota Extension.

Virginia to Host Mid-Atlantic Grass-Finished Livestock Conference Oct. 23-24

Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Clemson Extension, and West Virginia University Extension Service have partnered to organize the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Grass-Finished Livestock Conference. The two-day conference will take place at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Staunton, Va., Oct. 23 and 24.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Merging the Art and Science of Grass Finishing.”

“This high-caliber conference will provide producers and agricultural professionals with science-based information about producing and marketing a consistently high-quality grass-finished product,” said Chris Teutsch, Extension forage specialist at Virginia Tech’s Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Blackstone, Va. “It will cover forage systems for grass finishing, alternative marketing outlets, small-scale processing facilities, healthy grazing systems, supplementation in pasture finishing, factors affecting meat quality, and genetics for grass finishing. It will also feature a meat cutting and cooking demonstration and a grass-finished success story from Yanceyville, N.C.”

Nationally and internationally recognized experts will deliver science-based information to producers and communicate the art of applying that science in the field.

The early registration fee is $200 per participant and must be postmarked by Sept. 15.

After that date, the registration fee is $300 per participant. Students qualify for a reduced registration rate. Make sure to register early, as space is limited. A special conference rate for hotel rooms is available on a limited basis. To make room reservations, contact the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Staunton, Va., at 1-800-932-9061.

For more information or to register for the conference, contact Margaret Kenny at 434-292-5331 or makenny@vt.edu. For a list of speakers visit http://arecs.vaes.vt.edu/arec.cfm?webname=blackstone&section=links&subsection=12627.

— Release provided by Virginia Cooperative Extension.

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.