News Update
Feb. 24, 2010

Angus EPD/Pedigree Search Features New Option

Angus producers accessing the EPD/Pedigree Search at www.angus.org now have more options to display animal data.

The American Angus Association has introduced a graph of expected progeny difference (EPD) percentile breakdowns in addition to pedigrees and available EPDs through the EPD/Pedigree Search. Using data from the latest National Cattle Evaluation (NCE), the EPD graph visually displays where animals rank within the breed according to their sex and category, with the 50th percentile representing the breed average. To access the graph, click on the EPD Percentiles link located between the animal’s pedigree and EPDs.

“The new feature simply gives producers a snapshot of an animal’s ranking for EPDs and selection indexes,” says Lou Ann Adams, director of information systems. “It’s now one of the many online tools Angus breeders can use to present data to their commercial customers.” Read more.

Kansas Angus Association to Sponsor Angus-Influenced Female Sale

The Kansas Angus Association (KAA) will sponsor its annual spring Angus-influenced replacement female sale at JC Livestock Sales, Junction City, Kan., Monday, March 29, 2010, at 6:30 p.m., and is currently seeking consignments of Angus-influenced young cows, pairs, bred heifers, and open heifers.

Females must be consigned in minimum five-head lots, with all females being 8 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, fall pairs, and open heifers.

Those interested in consigning cattle to the sale may contact Debbie Lyons-Blythe, sale chairman, at 785-349-2652 or e-mail debbie@blytheangus.com. Entries will be taken up to sale day; however, only those entries submitted prior to March 19 will be advertised. Breeding, health, vaccination and preg-check information are needed with consignment entry.

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 replacement females. Consignors do not have to be members of KAA.

The sale is sponsored by KAA. Another KAA commercial female sale will take place Dec. 4, 2010, in Pratt, 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, kansasangus@wbsnet.org.

— Release by KAA.

USDA and DOJ Workshops to Explore Competition and Regulation Issues in Agriculture

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Feb. 23 the agenda and panelists for the first joint public workshop, scheduled for March 12 in Ankeny, Iowa, to explore competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry. The workshop will take place at the Des Moines Area Community College’s FFA Enrichment Center.

The workshops, which were first announced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Eric Holder Aug. 5, 2009, are the first joint USDA/DOJ workshops ever scheduled to discuss competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry. The goals of the workshops are to promote dialogue among interested parties and foster learning with respect to the appropriate legal and economic analyses of these issues, as well as to listen to and learn from parties with experience in the agriculture sector. Attendance at the workshops is free and open to the public. The general public and media interested in attending the initial workshop should register at https://go.dmacc.edu/ffa/agworkshop.

Vilsack and the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Christine Varney will participate in the workshop and will be joined by Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. They will participate in a roundtable discussion with presentations on current issues affecting farmers. Two panels focusing on the competitive dynamics in the seed industry and trends in contracting, transparency and buyer power will follow. The first day of the workshops will end with an enforcer roundtable and public testimony. Read more for full schedule.

— Release by USDA.

If Early Fall Snows Stalled Corn Harvest, Try Grazing

Some Nebraska corn growers are still waiting to get out in the field and finish harvesting their crop.

However, a University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) forage specialist says it might be a better idea to allow cattle to graze that corn.

“If early fall snows prevented you from harvesting all your corn, instead of waiting for snow to melt and the ground to either freeze or dry out, try grazing,” Anderson said. “Grazing standing corn is one way to finish harvest early so preparation for next year’s crop can begin. After all, cattle can get in to graze much earlier than large harvest equipment.”

Cattle also will be able to take advantage of corn ears that fell to the ground.

When considering grazing corn, cattle producers first may want to feed cattle corn to help the animals adapt to a higher grain diet, Anderson said.

In addition, producers should limit the size of the area animals have access to so they don’t run wild, knocking down, trampling in and wasting the valuable feed.

Limiting the area can involve daily strip grazing, Anderson said.

“Use electric fences that you reposition every day to allocate only one day’s worth of feed at a time,” he said.

To determine how much area to provide on a daily basis, Anderson recommends first estimating corn grain yield.

“Each bushel of grain you provide should support about three cows for one day, considering that they also can eat much of the corn forage but will have some waste,” he said.

Producers can give cattle an estimated area to start, then give a little more or a little less each day depending on how well cattle used the previous day’s allocation.

— Release by UNL.

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