News Update
April 29, 2010

April 30 is Deadline to Sign Up for Cattlemen’s Boot Camp

The American Angus Association and Virginia Tech will host a Cattlemen’s Boot Camp May 21-22 at Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg. Open to all cattle producers, Cattlemen’s Boot Camps are funded by the Angus Foundation and are packed with a day and a half of educational material and speakers.

David Kohl, AgriVisions LLC, will discuss business approaches in the beef industry, while John Currin of Virginia Tech will address fundamentals of effective herd health.

Virginia Tech’s Mark McCann will cover forage-based cow herd nutrition, and Scott Greiner will discuss ways to establish and meet genetic goals.

Bill Beal, also of Virginia Tech, will provide tips to maximize reproductive efficiency.

Bill Bowman, American Angus Association chief operating officer (COO), will discuss management factors affecting beef carcass quality, followed by a demonstration for determining carcass value by David O’Diam of Certified Angus Beef LLC.

In addition, hands-on lab sessions will include forage analyses; identification (ID) basics; bull and heifer selection; and cow condition scoring.

A live-cattle evaluation exercise is scheduled, and a meat lab conducted by O’Diam and Mark Wahlberg, Virginia Tech, will take participants through carcass evaluation, grid pricing, carcass cut-out values and sensory analysis.

A producer panel including Tim Sutphin, Dublin, Va.; Mike Henry, Amelia, Va.; and Bill Tucker, Amherst, Va., will provide insight on the value of Angus genetics in commercial crossbreeding programs. Registrations, at $75, are due April 30 and cover meals and materials. To register, visit www.angus.org or request a registration form from the Activities Department. Late or walk-in registrations are not accepted.

The Hilton Garden Inn will serve as hotel headquarters. To reserve a room, call 540-552-5005 by April 30 and ask for the American Angus group rate; or visit www.blacksburg.hgi.com and enter group code ANGUS.

For a full schedule, visit www.angus.org.

Record Commercial Red Meat Production in March

Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 4.28 billion pounds (lb.) in March, up 3% from the 4.14 billion lb. produced in March 2009.

Beef production, at 2.21 billion lb., was 3% above the previous year. Cattle harvest totaled 2.91 million head, up 7% from March 2009. The average live weight was down 32 lb. from the previous year, at 1,273 lb.

Veal production totaled 12.2 million lb., slightly below March a year ago. Calf harvest totaled 79,800 head, up slightly from March 2009. The average live weight was down 4 lb. from last year, at 259 lb.

Pork production totaled 2.04 billion lb., up 4% from the previous year. Hog harvest totaled 10.0 million head, up 4% from March 2009. The average live weight was unchanged from the previous year, at 272 lb.

Lamb and mutton production, at 17.6 million lb., was up 11% from March 2009. Sheep harvest totaled 262,300 head, 18% above last year. The average live weight was 135 lb., down 8 lb. from March a year ago.

January to March 2010 commercial red meat production was 11.9 billion lb., down 2% from 2009. Accumulated beef production was up slightly from last year, veal was down 2%, pork was down 4% from last year, and lamb and mutton production was up 2%.

March 2009 contained 22 weekdays (including no holidays) and four Saturdays. March 2010 contained 23 weekdays (including no holidays) and 4 Saturdays.

— Released by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Require Enhanced Beef Safety Measures

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced today, April 29, 2010, that it will implement additional beef safety measures designed to further protect customers against foodborne illnesses. The new process controls standards and goals are additions to a food safety program that already requires ground beef suppliers to test for E.coli O157:H7 and achieve prevention-based certification against one of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) internationally recognized standards.

“At Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, our commitment to providing our customers with safe, quality foods is unparalleled,” said Vice President for Food Safety Frank Yiannas. “As part of our continuous improvement efforts, we go further than many U.S. retailers in requiring leading-edge food safety standards throughout the entire food production chain.”

“In light of recent beef recalls, we determined it was prudent to require an additional layer of protection for our customers,” he said.

The new program requires Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club beef suppliers to implement controls that would significantly reduce potential contamination levels and validate that the measures they’ve implemented are effective through specialized testing.

Suppliers who do not operate harvest facilities must be in compliance with the new standard by June 2011. For beef harvest facility suppliers, there is a two-step approach with the first step to be completed by June 2011 and the second by June 2012.

Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club will work closely with beef suppliers to ensure that the new requirement is implemented without additional cost to customers.

The protocol has been reviewed with numerous stakeholders, including consumer groups, regulators, academicians, beef suppliers and industry associations.

James Marsden of Kansas State University stated, “Wal-Mart has taken steps to provide its customers with the safest possible beef products. Consumers across the United States will benefit greatly from this timely food safety initiative.”

According to Jim Dickson, Iowa State University professor of animal science, “Wal-Mart is taking a progressive approach to assuring the safety of the foods they sell. This is a win for the consumers, the beef industry in general, and Walmart. The lessons learned from Wal-Mart’s approach will be applicable to ground beef sold everywhere.”

Several consumer groups have also expressed support for the measure.

— Release by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Nominate Your Fellow Cattlemen for the 2011 National Beef Quality Assurance Award

Applications for the third annual National Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Award are now being accepted. The National BQA Award will recognize one outstanding beef and dairy producer that best demonstrate animal care and handling principles as part of the day-to-day activities on their respective operations. A common trait among all contest entrants must be a strong desire to continually improve BQA on their operations while encouraging others to implement the producer education program.

The National BQA Award is funded by Safeway’s Rancher’s Reserve® beef brand and Cargill, and supported by the beef checkoff. The program promotes beef quality assurance in all segments of the industry, including commercial cow-calf, seedstock, stocker operators, feedlots and dairy operations.

“We’re in the business of caring for animals, and cattlemen and women understand that animal care and producing delicious, wholesome food go hand-in-hand,” noted John Maas, veterinarian with the University of California at Davis Cooperative Extension, seedstock producer from Northern California and chairman of the Producer Education Committee. “The BQA program is just one example of the many ways that we, as an industry, stand behind this principle.”

Two National BQA award winners will be selected by a committee of representatives from universities, state beef councils and affiliated groups. Nominations can be submitted by any organization, group or individual on behalf of a U.S. beef producer. Individuals and families may not nominate themselves; however, the nominees are expected to be involved in the preparation of the application. For further information on the award or to download the application, please visit www.bqa.org/.

— Release by The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

House Ag Committee Hits the Road for Farm Bill Hearings

On April 30, 2010, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson begins a series of field hearings to hear from people about U.S. farm policy in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill.

Starting Friday, the House Agriculture Committee will hold hearings in Des Moines, Iowa; Nampa, Idaho; Fresno, Calif.; and Cheyenne, Wyo. The Committee will hold a second series of field hearings May 14-18 in Morrow, Ga.; Troy, Ala.; Lubbock, Texas; and Sioux Falls, S.D.

For dates, times and locations for the Farm Bill field hearings, click here. For those who cannot attend the hearings, the House Agriculture Committee plans to provide live video coverage of each hearing on the Committee’s website: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html.

The Committee will also collect public comments about the Farm Bill on its website: http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/feedbackform.html. All comments received online by June 14, 2010, will be included in the Committee’s Farm Bill field hearing record.

— Release by House Agriculture Committee.

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