News Update 
Jan. 11, 2010 

Angus Activities at the National Western Are This Week In Denver  

Check-in for the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) Angus shows begins tomorrow in Denver, Colo. Bulls show in the Roll-of-Victory (ROV) Angus Show Wednesday. The sale bull show and sale, junior heifer show, and the Angus Reception are Thursday. ROV females show Friday, and carloads and pens show Saturday. For online coverage of the event, click here. A link is available from the American Angus Association home page, www.angus.org.

The Angus Foundation Heifer Package will kick off the bull sale Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. Jeff Ward and Duncan Smith, Sinclair Cattle Co., Warfordsburg, Pa., donated Sinclair K Bty 8R102 E118 to headline the package. The January 2008 daughter of RR Rito 707 descends from the N-Bar herd on her maternal side. The buyer will also receive 30 days of free insurance from American Live Stock Insurance Co., Geneva, Ill.; free transportation to the buyer’s ranch provided by Lathrop Livestock Transportation, Dundee, Ill.; and an Advanced Reproductive Technology Package that includes a genetic preservation and one session of in vitro fertilization with sex-sorted semen from a bull of the buyer’s choice from Trans Ova Genetics, Sioux Center, Iowa. For more information about the heifer package or ways you can contribute to the Angus Foundation, log onto www.angusfoundation.org, contact Milford Jenkins, president of the Angus Foundation at 816-383-5100, or visit with any regional manager.

The NWSS in its entirety is Jan. 9-24. For a full schedule of events, visit www.nationalwestern.com/nwss/coorsartshow/coors.php.

More Likely to Die in Car Crash  

The Australian this morning reported that Australia’s Health Department had given “a thumbs-up” to eating beef from countries with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Putting the risk into perspective, the Health Department said Australians are 40 million times more likely to die in a car crash than from brain-wasting disease. For the complete article, click here.

Groups Urge Secretary Vilsack to Take New Direction to Prevent Animal Disease Spread 

In a hand-delivered letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, 16 groups called the agency’s practice of using inadequate international standards and the OTM Rule to leverage global export markets into conformity with weaker disease standards “deplorable.” The OTM Rule was implemented in 2007 and authorizes the importation into the U.S. of older Canadian cattle that have a higher risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). 

The groups state they disagree with the “uncritical deference” that Vilsack has accorded the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), which recently designated both the U.S. and Canada as ‘controlled risk’ countries for BSE. According to a letter R-CALF USA received from Vilsack, the agency believes the OIE’s designation provides assurance that measures are in place in both countries to manage ‘any possible risk of BSE in the cattle population,’ and that cattle and beef can be ‘safely traded by both nations.’ 

But the groups state that USDA is wrong to rely on the weaker OIE standards and that Vilsack’s stated position is inconsistent with Congress’ mandate “to protect animal health and the health and welfare of the people of the United States by preventing the introduction into or spread within the United States of BSE.” The groups urged Vilsack to carry out his congressional mandate by rescinding the OTM Rule.  

The groups state also that Vilsack’s position is directly contradicted by his agency’s own risk assessment model that predicts that under the OTM Rule, the U.S. “will introduce 19 BSE-infected cattle from Canada over the course of 20 years,” and two U.S. cattle would become infected. In addition, the groups state that USDA “estimates the cost to U.S. cattle producers, for the privilege of being exposed to a heightened risk for BSE from Canadian cattle and beef, would be over $66 million per year (or approx. $1.3 million each week), for which no compensation can be obtained from anyone.” 

Along with R-CALF USA, the following 15 organizations jointly signed the letter urging Vilsack to immediately rescind the OTM Rule: Buckeye Quality Beef Association (OH), Cattle Producers of Washington, Colorado Independent CattleGrowers Association, Independent Beef Association of North Dakota, Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska, Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming, Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, Kansas Farmers Union, Missouri Farmers Union, National Farmers Organization, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nevada Live Stock Association, Oregon Livestock Producers Association, Ozarks Property Rights Congress (MO), and the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. 

For additional information, including links to the letter referenced, visit www.r-calfusa.com.

— Release provided by R-CALF.

American Agri-Women Concerned About Estate Tax Legislation 

American Agri-Women (AAW) is concerned about the future of estate tax legislation because of its effect on the ability of family farms to be passed to the next generation. Last month, by a vote of 225-200, the House of Representatives passed HR 4154, which makes permanent the 2009 estate tax rates and exemption threshold. The Senate will consider estate tax legislation this year.

The bill sets a 45% maximum tax rate on estates valued over $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for married couples. The estate tax is currently set to be repealed for one year in 2010, returning in 2011 with a tax rate of 55% and an exemption lowered to $1 million. 

AAW President Chris Wilson said, “This bill would permanently extend the excessively high tax rate of 45% with an un-indexed exemption amount of $3.5 million currently in effect for 2009. At the 45% rate, nearly half of the value of farms, ranches and small businesses would be taxed by the federal government.” 

The estate tax punishes individuals at their death and, in effect, is a double tax on assets that were already taxed when earned. It disproportionately affects the assets of family-owned small businesses and agriculture producers that are transferred at the time of death. 

This bill does not set a reasonable rate, does not provide an appropriate exemption amount, and is not indexed for inflation. More and more agriculture producers are going to face this tax in the future. In lieu of total elimination, AAW supports an individual exemption of $5 million to $10 million, indexed for inflation. 

— Release provided by AAW.

Salatin to Address Youth During Small Farms Conference 

Daniel Salatin believes that youth are the future of agriculture. Organizers of the Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference agree. That’s why they have asked Salatin to address young people during a special track at the conference focusing on youth ages 9 to 17. 

The conference, now in its 11th year, will be Jan. 29-30 at Grayling High School in Grayling, Mich. Though the conference has catered to adult farmers since its inception, this is now the second year that programming has been designed to specifically address youth with agricultural ambitions.  

“There is a real demand to help young people get into, and stay into, farming,” says Wendy Wieland, a Michigan State University (MSU) Extension educator and one of the conference planners. “The youth sessions are designed to help pique their interest and help them find their niche. Daniel Salatin will definitely help us reach that goal.” 

Salatin, who also addressed the conference in 2009, grew up working on his family’s Polyface Farm in Virginia. There, they raise pastured beef, swine and poultry, along with forage-based rabbits. Salatin has often said that the farm is “in the redemption business.” 

“We are about healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy and healing the culture,” he says. 

Wieland expects Salatin to give advice that will knock down barriers for young people wishing to enter agriculture. 

“Farming is often associated with huge overhead and startup costs,” she says. “It takes a lot of money to acquire land, facilities and equipment. He’s going to encourage youth to do simple things like adding on to their family or neighbor’s existing farm business, creating a new avenue to make income and carve a niche for one’s self in farming.” 

The Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference will be Jan. 29-30, 2010, at Grayling High School. For more information on the conference and registration information, please visit www.smallfarmconference.com.

— Release provided by MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications.

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