News Update
Nov. 6, 2009

Proven Marketing Opportunity For Commercial Angus Females

The Kansas Angus Association (KAA) will sponsor the 18th annual Commercial Angus Replacement Female Sale at Pratt Livestock, Pratt, Kan., Saturday, Dec. 5, at 1 p.m., and is currently seeking consignments of young age cows, bred heifers and open heifers. This sale has had tremendous success in the past seventeen years; sellers have earned top prices and buyers have bought top quality replacement females from reputable sellers.

Females must be consigned in minimum five-head lots, with all females being seven years of age or younger. To qualify for this special sale, the females must meet Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) live specifications:

• be predominantly black hided (black/white faces and/or “baldies” will be accepted);
  
• have typical beef-type conformation (no visible dairy influence); and
• be without long floppy ear and hump (no visible Brahman influence).
  

The sale welcomes bred cows and heifers to calve in the spring of 2010; fall pairs, cows or heifers to calve in the fall 2010; and open heifers.

Those interested in consigning cattle to the sale may download an entry form at http://www.kansasangus.org/ or send an e-mail to kansasangus@wbsnet.org. To discuss the offering or consignment possibilities contact sale chairman Gordon Stucky at 620-532-3220 or e-mail gordon@stuckyranch.com. Entries will be accepted up to Nov. 20. A significant regional and national advertising program is planned to inform potential buyers of the sale and individual consignments. The sale will also offer online bidding at www.cattleusa.com/ for buyers unable to attend the sale.

Angus seedstock producers are encouraged to help inform their commercial bull customers of this sale as an option for producers to market source-verified Angus genetics. The AngusSource® tagging and marketing program sponsored by the American Angus Association will also be promoted at this sale. Consignors do not have to be members of the KAA.

The sale is sponsored by the KAA. Another KAA commercial female sale will take place in the spring at JC Livestock in Junction City, Kan. For more information on the Kansas Angus Association and its projects visit www.kansasangus.org/ or contact Anne Lampe, Secretary/Manager at 620-872-3915 or kansasangus@wbsnet.org.

“Environmentally Friendly” Food Myths Debunked

As consumers increasingly aim to make environmentally responsible food purchases, they need to base their decision on sound science. However, according to a presenter at the 71st Cornell Nutrition Conference in Syracuse, N.Y., the ‘intuitively correct’ food choice is often the least environmentally friendly option.

Jude Capper, assistant professor of dairy sciences at Washington State University, told the audience of animal nutrition specialists that, “as a food industry, we must use a whole-system approach and assess environmental impact per gallon of milk, pound of beef or dozen eggs, not per farm or per acre.” This important distinction is the basis of a ‘life-cycle assessment’ (LCA) approach, which evaluates all inputs and outputs within the food-production system, and allows us to correctly compare different production systems. The paper was co-authored by Roger Cady, senior technical consultant at Elanco, and Dale Bauman, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor at Cornell University.

“Consumer demand for milk, meat and eggs is going to increase as the population continues to grow,” Capper says. “Therefore, the vital role of improved productivity and efficiency in reducing environmental impact must be conveyed to government, food retailers and consumers.”

Intuitively, today’s modern production practices often seem to have a higher environmental impact than the “idyllic” management practices of the 1940s. Nonetheless, when assessed on a whole-system basis, greenhouse gas emissions per gallon of milk produced are 63% lower. In 2007, the U.S. dairy industry produced 8.3 billion more gallons (gal.) of milk than in 1944, but due to improved productivity, the carbon footprint of the entire dairy farm industry was reduced by 41% during the same time period.

Pasture- or grass-fed meat also is growing in popularity, with the perception that it is more eco-friendly than conventionally produced beef. However, the time needed to grow an animal to slaughter weight on grass is nearly double that of animals fed corn. This means that energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per pound of beef are increased threefold in grass-fed beef cattle. In total, finishing the current U.S. population of 9.8 million fed cattle on pasture would require an extra 60 million acres of land. Again, the intuitively environmentally friendly option has a far higher resource and environmental cost.

Another emerging trend among American consumers is the desire to purchase food grown locally. “Often ‘locally grown’ food is thought to have a lower environmental impact than food transported over long distances due to carbon emissions from fuel,” explains Capper. The phrase “Food Miles” has become a popular buzzword, defined simply as the distance that food travels from its place of origin to its place of final consumption.

“Although well-intentioned, it is incorrect to assume that the distance that food travels from point of origin to point of consumption is an accurate reflection of environmental impact,” Capper says. “This simplistic approach fails to consider the productivity of the transportation system, which has tremendous impact on the energy expended per unit of food.”

“The high-capacity vehicles used in modern transportation systems improve productivity, allowing food moved over long distances to be highly fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly compared to locally grown food,” Capper explains.

The desire to protect the environment and to do so, in part, by altering personal behaviors, is admirable, says Capper. However, she emphasizes that those personal decisions must be based on logic rather than intuition.

“Consumers might think they are making the responsible, virtuous food choices, when, in truth, they are supporting production practices that consume more natural resources, cause greater pollution and create a larger carbon footprint than more efficient, technology-driven, conventional methods,” she concludes.

The annual Cornell Nutrition Conference takes place in Syracuse, N.Y., each fall and is the premier nutrition conference in the United States. To receive a copy of Capper’s paper from the 2009 Cornell Nutrition Conference, please contact capper@wsu.edu.

Gates Foundation makes $1 million contribution to Texas A&M Borlaug scholars fund

An endowment contribution from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to honor Dr. Norman Borlaug, “the father of the Green Revolution,” will help the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences train future international agricultural leaders.

The foundation’s $1 million endowment contribution to the memorial Borlaug International Scholars Fund will be used to build productive partnerships between students, scientists and farmers in developing countries and U.S. land-grant universities. This gift was the first major donation to the memorial fund, which was established through the nonprofit Texas A&M Foundation.

“The grant to the Borlaug International Scholars Fund will allow students with demonstrated commitment to fighting global hunger further their educations,” said Don Doering, a program officer in the Agricultural Development initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Training future generations of scientists is crucial to helping millions of small farmers and their families lift themselves out of hunger and poverty with new knowledge and tools.”

Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who launched the Green Revolution in the 1960s, was a distinguished professor at Texas A&M from 1984 until his death Sept. 12 at age 95. He also was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work, and has been credited with saving more lives than anyone in history.

“Developing nations need the help of agricultural scientists, researchers, administrators and others in finding ways to feed ever-growing populations,” Borlaug stated earlier this year when calling for a second Green Revolution. “... Land-grant universities help achieve a more lasting worldwide food security by providing technical assistance, educational outreach, improved technology and agricultural practices, scientific training and research, and hands-on instruction.”

Prior to his death, Borlaug and his family worked with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Texas A&M Foundation to create the fund as a means to help fulfill his vision of ending world hunger.

Distributions from the fund’s endowment will be used to provide awards to international students, giving themopportunities to study agriculture, rural development and related fields at Texas A&M and other U.S. land-grant universities.

To donate to the Borlaug International Scholars Fund, contact the Texas A&M Foundation at 1-800-392-3310 or visit http://giving.tamu.edu. Click the “Give Now” button and then select “College of Agriculture & Life Sciences” and “Borlaug International Scholars” from the drop-down menus.

— Release by Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

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