News Update
March 29, 2010

Match Cow Size to Forage Resources

Commercial cow-calf operators must become more cost-efficient to maintain or improve profit margins, making matching animals to forage resources more important than ever. Land, fertilizer, feed, fuel and labor costs continue to increase relative to the value of carcass beef and weaned calves, reminds David Lalman, Oklahoma State University (OSU) professor of animal science.

“One logical solution is to select and breed cattle that are productive in a given environment while requiring minimal labor and supplemental feed inputs,” he said.

Planned crossbreeding systems have been shown to increase lifetime kilogram of calf weight weaned by 25% compared to purebred cows. Nevertheless, breed association registration records suggest that the use of planned crossbreeding systems in the United States has declined in recent years.

Strategic use of expected progeny differences (EPDs) can also help fit cow size to the environment.

Read more in the April Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA. If you aren’t signed up to receive this electronic newsletter, you can do so at www.angusbeefbulletin.com/extra/about.html. (E-mail shermel@angusjournal.com if you would like to see a sample issue first.)

Use the American Angus Association® Optimal Milk Module to estimate the ideal milk EPD range for your herd sires customized to your feed resources at www.angus.org/Performance/OptimalMilk/OptimalMilkMain.aspx.

— Release by OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

UNL Block and Bridle Posthumously Names Vance Uden as 2010 Honoree

University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) Block and Bridle will posthumously honor Vance Uden as the 76th member of its Hall of Fame.

The Franklin native will be honored April 23 at the Department of Animal Science and Block and Bridle annual honors banquet at 6:30 p.m. at the Nebraska East Union on UNL’s East Campus. Tickets to the banquet are $20 and can be purchased by calling Andi Hallber, club secretary, by April 16 at 402-472-6440. A reception honoring Uden’s family, friends and past honorees will precede the banquet at 5:30 p.m.

Uden’s widow, Connie, and children, Dru and Ty, will represent the family at the event.

The Block and Bridle Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made commendable contributions to Nebraska agriculture through leadership, service, youth projects and community projects.

Uden’s family owns and operates the TC Ranch and are Angus seedstock producers.

Uden was a UNL graduate, member of the UNL livestock judging team and Block and Bridle. He was a member of the board of directors for the American Angus Association, member of Nebraska Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Nebraska Cattlemen and Kearney/Franklin County Cattlemen and a member and past president of the Nebraska Angus Association.

— Release adapted from UNL’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Deere Says New Health Care Reform Law Will Increase 2010 Expense by $150 Million

Deere & Co. announced March 25 that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law last week will adversely affect its expenses for fiscal 2010. As a result of the legislation, the company’s expenses are expected to be about $150 million higher on an after-tax basis, primarily in the second quarter. This effect was not included in the 2010 outlook for net income attributable to Deere & Co. of approximately $1.3 billion disclosed in the company’s first-quarter earnings report on Feb. 17.

— Adapted from release by Deer & Co.

AgriLife Research-Led Group Garners State’s Highest Environmental Honor

The “Air Quality: Reducing Emissions from Cattle Feedlots and Dairies” research team has earned the state’s highest environmental honor, the 2010 Texas Environmental Excellence Award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The commission presents the Texas Environmental Excellence Awards to environmental projects that demonstrate excellence in resource conservation, water reduction and pollution prevention. The federally funded research team receiving this year’s agriculture award is coordinated by John Sweeten, resident director for research at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Amarillo.

“This project has involved five agencies or universities working together to conduct research to develop science-based emission factors and cost-effective abatement technologies, and to extend that research to the feedlot and dairy industry and regulators,” Sweeten said. “A host of graduate students have received hands-on training in the course of this research project as well.”

The field and laboratory research is aimed at accurately determining emissions of dust/particulate matter, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, odor and volatile organic compounds from cattle feedlots, and developing technologies to mitigate such emissions, he said.

With six years of monitoring, sampling and testing behind them, the researchers developed a number of significant findings and accomplishments applicable to the livestock feeding industry in Texas and Kansas, Sweeten said.

In a letter supporting the project, Ross Wilson, president of Texas Cattle Feeders Association, said, “Open-lot cattle feed yards have continued to make environmental management improvements over the past three decades; however, our knowledge and understanding of air emissions, measurement of those emissions and associated mitigation practices has been limited.

“Over the past five years, the federal Air Quality research project has greatly expanded the database and foundation from which additional progress can be made.”

Wilson said examples of the project’s success in the feedyards include:

• Science-based recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) for the development and modification of conservation practice standards focused on air quality management at feedyards.
  

• Project data on ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions have allowed feedyards to comply with new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reporting requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

• Continued federal funding beyond the initial six-year period, which was funded at $4.7 million, has been provided to the project from the USDA-Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (currently the National Institute of Food and Agriculture), Sweeten said.
  

— Release adapted from Texas AgriLife Research and Extension.

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