News Update
Sept. 24, 2010

Become a Brand Ambassador

The term “Angus” is everywhere in the foodservice business — but the Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) brand is the only one that belongs to the 30,000 rancher-members of the American Angus Association.

That’s a fact that thousands of licensees take pride in; now those cattlemen have the resources to gain confidence in explaining the brand that pays.

The new CAB Brand Ambassador Training program was created to help Angus cattlemen take greater ownership of their brand.

“To their neighbors and friends, producers are experts on what all these Angus brands mean,” says Christy Johnson, special projects manager for CAB. “Now they have an easy place to get information that will help them to be better prepared for those conversations.”

The short, online course takes less than 15 minutes to complete and provides a user-friendly overview of CAB specifications, business model, sales objectives and success stories.

“For purebred breeders, this really shows what the brand can mean to them, what we’re doing to increase consumer demand and ultimately demand for their genetics,” Johnson says.

After viewing the module, participants answer a few questions about the training and then submit their responses. The first 100 ranchers to do so win a CAB jacket. For more information or to get started, visit www.CABPartners.com and click on the link for training.   

Show-Me Producers Have a Field Day with Premiums

Consumers say they want high-quality beef, and the industry is responding.

That’s good news, according to Larry Corah, Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) vice president.

Presenting at the University of Missouri (MU) Thompson Farm Field Day on Sept. 21, he said, “As cattlemen, you can never lose sight of why people love beef. Marbling governs flavor, so as it increases, the chance of having a bad eating experience decreases.”

After nearly a 30-year decline in the Choice grading percentage, the trend turned around a couple of years ago and weekly averages are above 60% Choice now. That’s given the retail industry a chance to promote beef at a higher level, Corah said.

“Kroger and SuperValu both carry premium Choice brands and Wal-Mart has carried Choice for a little while now,” he said. “That shows you what they’re willing and able to sell, but it’s contingent on there being a constant supply of this high-quality product.”

The increase in grading also benefits the CAB brand, which is projecting a record 770 million pounds in sales for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. An estimated 10% of that is of Missouri origin, Corah said. Read more.

Senators Question EPA Administration On New Regulations

Members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee were critical of proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations during a hearing Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who chairs the committee, reminded EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson there are at least 10 new regulatory requirements that will drive up costs for farmers and ranchers and make it more difficult to compete in the global marketplace. As an example, Lincoln said she “flat out disagrees” with EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases.

“As I have said time and again, it should be Congress, not unelected bureaucrats, who should be writing the laws to regulate greenhouse gases,” Lincoln told Jackson, who testified before the committee.

The committee’s ranking minority member, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, said EPA regulations could keep American agriculture from meeting the food needs of a growing world population. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the world will need to produce 70% more food to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050. Chambliss said he seriously questions whether anyone has made the connection between the central role American farmers and ranchers will play in this challenge and the burdensome regulations EPA is proposing for agriculture.

— Release by Kansas Livestock Association.

Forage Testing Project Open to Iowa Producers

This year’s weather has been one for the recordbooks, and that’s not good news for the state’s cattle producers. Dan Loy, interim director of the Iowa Beef Center (IBC) at Iowa State University (ISU) said continued rain has made hay baling extremely difficult, resulting in over-mature hays, rain-damaged hays and lack of hay supplies in some areas.

“Our beef team has developed a forage testing and cattle feeding project to help producers manage their poor forage conditions and prevent calving problems,” Loy said. “This forage testing project is a multi-pronged approach by ISU Extension beef program specialists to determine the nutrient value of this year’s forages, assist in balancing feed rations for cattle performance and educate people about forage nutrient values and rations.”

IBC, the Grass Based Livestock Working Group from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa Forage and Grassland Council and the Southern Iowa Forage and Livestock Committee are sponsoring the first phase of this project this fall: collecting and testing forages. Additional sponsors are being sought for the education portion of the project and a second year of testing. This project currently includes a 50% cost share on sample testing for producers, thanks in part to a collaboration with Dairyland Laboratories in Wisconsin.

In addition to receiving information on the quality of their forages, producers might use test results to prove losses under the Farm Service Agency’s Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program.

Denise Schwab, ISU Extension beef specialist who is helping lead the project, said county Extension offices are vital links in the project.

“The Extension beef specialists will work directly with county offices to provide all necessary sample bags, information forms and mailing envelopes, and do necessary monitoring of samples and sample locations,” she said. “We consider county offices our partners in this project, from publicizing its availability to helping direct producers to the appropriate people and resources to participate in the project. Producers will bring their samples to the county office, so the county office staff are vital to the success of this project.”

While most of the samples will be weather-impacted hay samples, Loy said the project also will include some silage samples.

“We want to be sure we have adequate sample numbers to be able to offer ration balance assistance yet this fall for winter feeding,” he said. “So, if you’re interested in taking part, or you have questions about the project, contact your county ISU Extension office or your beef specialist soon.”

A listing of Extension beef specialists and their contact information is available at www.extension.iastate.edu/ag/fs.html. Those who would like to learn more about forage sampling can download, print and use this newly updated publication from IBC, “Forage Sampling and Sampling Equipment” at www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1098B.pdf.

For more information about IBC, visit www.iowabeefcenter.org or check out the IBC blog at http://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/iowabeef/.

— Release by ISU Extension.

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