News Update
Oct. 11, 2010

A Texas Rancher/Businessman Purchases CattleStore.com From Vance Publishing

A Texas rancher and businessman purchases CattleStore.com and plans to serve the national ranching and farming industry communities. This Internet-based livestock animal health and equipment store was purchased from Vance Publishing who acquired this business with the purchase of CattleNetwork.com.

“CattleStore.com is an excellent tool to help serve rural America,” reports the new owner, Clay Allison, a cattle, sheep and goat rancher located in San Angelo, Texas. “Ranchers and livestock producers don’t always have time to drive into town to purchase the ranching supplies they need — and nowadays many of the items we need on a daily basis can now be purchased on CattleStore,” comments Allison. “CattleStore will now be a place where every rancher can get everything they might need from a bottle of fly spray to a part to a fence charger. It is a place where one can go in the middle of the night and order their ranching needs, and then it will show up at the gate in a day or two.”

This is the first animal health business that Allison has purchased, although he operates ranches in more than three different counties in West Texas. He is a graduate from Texas A&M University, and is from a fifth generation ranching family.

“Ranchers need to diversify to make ends meet,” he states, when asked his reasoning for purchase. “I purchased some product from this site and really like the model. If you could only get a few more items needed on a normal cow outfit, it would keep me from making those redundant trips to town. My wife or I can take a minute or two in the evenings to get what we need without ever firing up a pick-up,” reports Allison.  “Folks are so busy these days on all sizes of animal operations, chasing kids, many have town jobs ... There just needs to be something better like this,” underscores Allison.

“CattleStore.com has an impressive range of products,” noted Rob Cook, Vance Publishing. “It’s truly a one-stop resource for farm and ranch supplies. The convenience this offers to the farm and ranch community is significant. Many customers are working far from brick-and-mortar stores. With CattleStore, they can shop, order, and receive their supplies at their homes.’ The site offers products as diverse as livestock vaccines, fencing supplies and waterers. “It’s a totally web-based entity with distribution networks across the continental United States,” Cook said.

— Release by CattleNetwork.com.

Workshops Help Farmers Plan for Next Generation

If statistics are any indication, farming is not a field that is attracting the young. According to the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) 2005-2007 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), the average age for farmers in the five-state Appalachian Region, which includes Kentucky, is 57 years old. It is expected that during the next decade half of them will retire. And who will replace them?

“On average, 30% of family farms successfully pass to the second generation, and only 10% pass to a third generation,” said Lee Meyer, agricultural economist with the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture.

The Farm Transitions Workshop, sponsored by the UK Cooperative Extension Service, is designed to help farm families make those generational transfers more successful.

“Very frequently, people go into this totally unprepared,” he said. “They don’t know the real profitability of their business. They have not taken the appropriate legal and accounting steps. And often there’s no real family communication, so the older generation is still making all the decisions and hasn’t transferred decision-making power to the next generation.”

The one-day workshop will be at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Nov. 11 and at the Fine Arts Center at Henderson Community College in Henderson Nov. 12. Both sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST.

Speakers will include David Kohl, professor emeritus in agricultural finance and small business management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Steve Isaacs, UK Extension professor in agricultural economics; David Marrison, Ohio State University Extension educator and assistant professor in transitions and business planning; and a local attorney with expertise in farm estate planning.

Meyer said the purpose behind the workshop was to build awareness. Participants will not take away a complete farm transfer plan but rather the tools to begin to formulate such a plan.

Workshop cost is $50 per farm, which includes up to three people. The fee for each additional person is $10. To register for the Nov. 11 Bowling Green workshop, contact Joanna Coles, Warren County agricultural and natural resources Extension agent, at 270-842-1681 or joanna.coles@uky.edu. Those who are interested in the Henderson County location should contact Henderson County agricultural and natural resources Extension agent Mike Smith at 270-826-8387 or mcsmith@uky.edu. For additional information about the workshop in general, call or e-mail Sarah Lovett, UK agricultural economics Extension associate, at 859-257-7272, ext. 281 or sarah.lovett@uky.edu.

— Release by UK Cooperative Extension Service.

Workshops Planned to Help Communities Prepare for Agriculture-Affected Disasters

Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension, the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Extension Disaster Education Network will host “Strengthening Community Agrosecurity Planning (S-CAP)” workshops in Alma, Oct. 27-28 and Scott City, Nov. 18-19.

“There’s truth to the saying that all disasters are local. As communities, our ability to recover from a disaster hinges on how well prepared our residents are,” said Josh Svaty, secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. “These workshops are a great way to bring together key players to plan how the community will respond to disasters involving agriculture, food production and other local resources.”

The workshops are geared for community stakeholders who can help enhance the local agricultural emergency operations plan. Individuals such as local emergency planners, Extension educators, public health personnel, first responders, elected officials, veterinarians, agricultural producers and volunteer organization representatives in Wabaunsee, Scott and nearby counties are encouraged to participate.

The Oct. 27-28 S-CAP Workshop in Alma will be at 902 Grand Street. The Scott City workshop will be at the Wm. Carpenter 4-H Building at 600 E. Fairgrounds Rd. in Scott City. The workshops are free and include lunch, morning and afternoon refreshments and all training materials.

Workshop participants will work together in teams to develop the portion of their county emergency plan that pertains to agriculture, natural resources, pets, and related issues. They will also work on standard operating guidelines and resource lists required for response to an agricultural emergency.

“We’d particularly like to see teams made up of individuals from Wabaunsee, Riley, Pottawatomie, Morris, Chase, Lyon and Geary counties and other nearby counties at the Alma workshop, and from Scott, Logan, Gove, Lane, Ness, Rush, Finney, Kearny and Wichita and other nearby counties at the Scott City workshop,” said Sandy Johnson, homeland security specialist with the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

Registration is available online at http://ks.train.org/. Those who have not attended previous state-sponsored training should click on “create account” and follow the steps outlined. More information is available by contacting Kara Mayer in the K-State Research and Extension Wabaunsee County office at 785-765-3821 or kamayer@ksu.edu (for the Oct. 27-28 training in Alma) or John Beckman in the Scott County office at 620-872-2930 or jbeckman@ksu.edu (for the Nov. 18-19 training in Scott City). Workshop planners request that participants register for the S-CAP workshop in Alma by Oct. 22 and in Scott City by Nov. 12 for planning purposes.

— Release by K-State Research and Extension.

Collect Ground Beef Supplier Data Before Positive Result

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a notice for its Inspection Program Personnel (IPP), requiring them to collect supplier information at the time that a ground beef or bench trim sample is taken to be tested for E. coli O157:H7.

Previously, inspectors could wait for a positive test results before asking for supplier information on a ground beef or bench trim sample.

“These instructions will better serve FSIS’s goal to respond to FSIS presumptive positive results by identifying all affected product and all potential suppliers as quickly as possible to protect public health,” the notice says. “IPP are to have knowledge of the establishment’s production practices which includes knowledge of the establishment’s raw beef supplier base.”

To read the notice in its entirety, click here.

Supplier tracking has been a controversial element of ground beef production. Food safety activists, in general, have been pushing for more complete records on the origins of the raw materials in ground beef products, the better to track down sources of contamination when it occurs. Many producers, on the other hand, have said that the way the raw materials from all suppliers end up commingled makes it difficult to keep those records.

— Release by Meatingplace.com.

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