News Update
Sept. 17, 2010

Missouri Angus Advantage Plus Sale

The Missouri Angus Association is now accepting consignments for the 6th Annual Missouri Angus Advantage Plus commercial female sale, which will be held Friday, December 3, 2010, at the Marshall Livestock Center, in Marshall, Missouri at 6 p.m.

The sale is designed to provide high-quality replacement females to the beef industry with as much information as possible while not creating unnecessary obstacles for the consignors. There are sale divisions for open heifers, bred heifers and cows not exceeding 7 years of age.

All of the sale entries must meet visual specifications for Certified Angus Beef® (be predominantly black or black baldies) or be AngusSource® tagged. The females must be bred to a registered Angus bull and heifers must be bred to a bull with a calving ease direct (CED) of +7 or higher.

There is no limit to the number of females that can be consigned, however no lots smaller than 3 will be offered. Many of the females selling are artificially inseminated (AI’ed) sired and AI bred, but it is not a requirement for the sale.

The entry deadline is October 1st, for additional information you can visit the Missouri Angus Association website at www.missouriangus.org or for questions or to consign entries contact Josh Worthington at 417-844-2601 or worthington@missouriangus.org.

— Release by Missouri Angus Association.

Oklahoma Beef Council Announces Endowment of Temple Grandin Professorship at OSU

The Oklahoma Beef Council announced a $250,000 gift to Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) newly created endowed professorship in honor of animal scientist and autistic expert Temple Grandin whose life story, put to film, recently won seven Emmy’s.

Heather Buckmaster, Oklahoma Beef Council executive director, made the announcement during a Sept. 15 special seminar featuring Grandin, which was held in OSU’s historic Gallagher-Iba Arena. More than 3,000 people attended the seminar.  

“Funding the Temple Grandin Endowed Professorship in Animal Behavior and Well-Being is important to the cattle industry because the resulting research and education will help further our understanding of animal behavior and animal care. There is a direct link between improved animal care, performance, beef quality and ultimately beef demand.” Buckmaster said. “It’s a win for the producer and the consumer.”

The Temple Grandin Endowed Professorship in Animal Behavior and Well-Being will be housed in OSU’s department of animal science. The department is part of the university’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, comprised of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and two state agencies: the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

The purpose of creating this endowed professorship is to enhance the research and teaching in the discipline of animal behavior and well-being, which is important to the general public, Kensinger said.

The research and teaching completed by the scientist in this position will complement existing programs in OSU’s department of animal science on animal health, animal management, immunology and how animals interact with humankind. This will ensure that OSU can educate the next generation of scientists to proliferate the work that Grandin initiated.

— Release by Oklahoma Beef Council.

NCBA Supports Transparency in the Marketplace

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said the approval of The Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010 (S. 3656) Sept. 15, 2010, by the U.S. House of Representatives will continue to encourage transparency in the marketplace. The move comes after the U.S. Senate’s vote last month to reauthorize mandatory price reporting, which was set to expire Sept. 30 of this year. Woodall said mandatory price reporting allows for transparency in the marketplace without unnecessary government intrusion and privacy invasion.

“Along with transparency, mandatory price reporting encourages competition in the marketplace without violating producers’ privacy by substantially increasing the volume of industry sales transactions reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),” said Woodall. “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”

The Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010 will reauthorize mandatory price reporting programs run by USDA for five years. The Act requires livestock sales information to be reported and published in a timely fashion, allowing buyers and sellers to make more informed decisions.

“Producers have come to rely on the information provided by mandatory price reporting to aid in their negotiation of sales prices for cattle and meat products,” said Woodall.

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 percent 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 requiring price reporting augments producers’ knowledge base when making marketing decisions by providing them with pricing and sales information from transactions around the country.

“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.”

— Release by NCBA.

Farm Science Review to Begin on Schedule Sept. 21, Despite Minor Damage From Storms

Some of the severe weather that blew through central Ohio late Thursday afternoon swept across the grounds of the Molly Caren Agricultural Center, putting a slight kink in Farm Science Review set-up operations, but not enough to halt the show.

“We are fine,” said Farm Science Review assistant manager Matt Sullivan. “We want to assure exhibitors and visitors that the show will start on time on Tuesday.”

Farm Science Review, Ohio’s premiere agricultural show, will be held Sept. 21-23 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio. Gates open Tuesday at 8 a.m. Organizers have been working all week to get the 83-acre exhibitor grounds ready for the crowds.

Heavy rain and high winds, though short of tornadic conditions, blew over tents, scattered debris and caused some minor damage. But show organizers are working to make sure that the Molly Caren Agricultural Center is in tip-top shape come next week.

This is the second time in two years that Farm Science Review organizers have faced storms days before the big, three-day event. In 2008, remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through the grounds the Sunday before the show with sustained winds of 60 miles per hour. The storm shredded tents, bent tent frames, scattered debris and flattened other structures. Despite the widespread damage, the gates opened on time the day of the show, with no evidence that anything significant had happened.

“We are grateful that damage was minimal at the Molly Caren, but are keeping our colleagues in Wooster in our thoughts as they work through the damage on their campus,” said Farm Science Review manager Chuck Gamble. The university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster sustained major damage from the storm.

Farm Science Review pre-show tickets are $5 at all Ohio State University (OSU) Extension county offices. Tickets are also available at local agribusinesses. Tickets are $8 at the gate. Children 5 and younger are admitted free. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 21-22 and 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sept. 23.

For more information, log on to http://fsr.osu.edu. For the latest news and updates, follow Farm Science Review on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/OhioStateFSR), Facebook (www.facebook.com/FarmScienceReview), and Ning (http://fsrosu.ning.com).

— Release by OSU Extension.

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