News Update
August 6, 2010

Tune in Monday for ‘The Vita Ferm Angus Hour’

The popular live television show returns to RFD-TV, with a focus on preweaning and weaning management.
Weaning your calves can be a difficult strategy to master. Their health and performance — and your wallet — are on the line.

Tune in to The Vita Ferm Angus Hour, 7 p.m. (CST), Monday, Aug. 9, on RFD-TV to hear industry experts discuss complete preweaning and weaning strategies to help unlock your profit potential.

The hour-long program also will feature live audience questions for the panel, which includes Howard Jensen, nutritionist for Biozyme Inc.; and Larry Corah and Mark McCully, Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB).

The educational program is geared toward all ranchers, regardless of herd size or region, and is sponsored by the American Angus Association and Biozyme Inc. — makers of Vita Ferm® and other industry-leading animal nutrition products.

RFD-TV is available on Dish Network channel 231, DirecTV channel 345 and through more than 625 small, independent cable providers.

Additional episodes are scheduled to re-air Tuesday, Aug. 10, at 9 a.m. (CST) and Sunday, Aug. 15, at 2 a.m. (CST) on RFD-TV. Segments from the show will also be posted online.

For more information, visit www.angus.org or check your local listings. Visit www.biozymeinc.com for more information about Biozyme; and www.cabpartners.com for more information about Certified Angus Beef.

To submit questions for the show’s panel prior to the show, send inquiries to calbers@angus.org.

USDA Holds Public Meeting

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Food Safety and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine are sponsoring a public meeting to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the 19th Session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF), scheduled in Burlington, Vt., from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, 2010.

The public meeting will be Monday, Aug. 16, 2010, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., in Room 107-A, USDA, Jamie L. Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, D.C. To participate through teleconference for the meeting, dial 1-866-692-3158, and enter the passcode 5986642. Documents and agenda items related to the 19th Session of the CCRVDF will be accessible at the Codex website at www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.

Codex was established in 1963 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Through adoption of food standards, codes of practice and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by promoting their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex seeks to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade.

For further information about the 19th Session of the CCRVDF, contact U.S. Delegate for the 19th Session of the CCRVDF Kevin Greenlees, senior advisor for science & policy, FDA Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation, by e-mail at Kevin.Greenlees@fda.hhs.gov; by mail at HFV-100 USFDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, 7520 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855; by phone at 240-276-8214; or by fax at 240-276-9538. Written comments on the public meeting about the 19th Session of the CCRVDF should be submitted to Greenlees, and those comments should state that they relate to activities of the 19th Session of the CCRVDF.

For further information about the public meeting, contact Ken Lowery by e-mail at Kenneth.Lowery@fsis.usda.gov, by mail at U.S. Codex Office, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 4861, Washington, DC 20250, by phone at 202-690-4042 or by fax at 202-720-3157.

— Release by USDA.

NCBA Applauds Senate Approval Of Mandatory Price Reporting

Well into the evening yesterday, Aug. 5, 2010, the U.S. Senate reauthorized by unanimous consent the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act (LMPR), which was set to expire Sept. 30 of this year. Colin Woodall, vice president of government affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), said the reauthorization will continue to encourage transparency in the marketplace. He said producers have come to rely on the information provided by the LMPR to aid in their negotiation of sales prices for cattle and meat products.

“This mandatory reporting provides U.S. producers with readily understandable and timely information regarding pricing, contracting for purchase, and supply and demand conditions for all segments of the beef industry,” said Woodall, adding that NCBA was part of an industry coalition urging Congress to reauthorize LMPR. “Along with transparency, LMPR encourages competition, without violating producers’ privacy, in the marketplace by substantially increasing the volume of industry sales transactions reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

LMPR was signed into law by President Clinton as part of the 2000 Agricultural Appropriations Bill. Prior to 2001, information was collected by observing public auction markets and via voluntary submission by market participants. However, by 1999 many producers had come to notice fundamental changes in the market structure. About 35% of fed cattle sales in 1999 occurred via contract agreements that were not covered by USDA reports. Bruce Hafenfeld, California cattle producer and NCBA’s policy division chair, said these unreported transactions hampered producers' ability to accurately assess livestock prices, negotiate with packers or obtain a fair price when selling their livestock. He said LMPR augments producers’ knowledge base when making marketing decisions by providing them with pricing and sales information from transactions around the country.

“As a producer of food and fiber for a growing global population, I appreciate the Senate’s efforts to help continue the availability of timely and accurate information for U.S. cattle producers. By reauthorizing mandatory price reporting, cattle producers will continue to have access to daily price and volume information on purchases of cattle and boxed beef sales as well as export and import data,” Hafenfeld said. “This effort to enhance transparency in the marketplace is a definite win for every aspect of the industry.”

Woodall said LMPR now needs approval from the U.S. House of Representatives. He said NCBA will continue to urge the House to reauthorize LMPR before it expires next month.

— Release by NCBA.

Air Quality Workshops Designed For Livestock Producers

Three air-quality workshops targeting livestock producers in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas are scheduled for later this month. Texas A&M AgriLife, Kansas State University, West Texas A&M University and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will present results of several years of research from cattle feedyards and dairies across the region. Industry partners for the studies included the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Kansas Livestock Association (KLA), the Texas Association of Dairymen and Dairy Farmers of America.

Texas A&M Research Engineer Brent Auvermann said the workshops are designed for producer-level cattle feeding and dairy industry personnel due to the heavy focus on practical solutions within the context of feedyard and dairy management. He and other presenters will discuss how much livestock facilities currently are emitting, how these emissions can be reduced and what is next in the area of research.

Dates and locations for the workshops are: Aug. 24 at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service office in Hereford, Texas; Aug. 25 at the Sherman County Exhibit Barn in Stratford, Texas; and Aug. 26 at the Clarion Inn of Garden City, Kan. The programs will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

KLA members planning to attend the meeting in Garden City are asked to RSVP with name, company name and phone number to jenni@kla.org by Aug. 23.

— Release by KLA.

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