News Update
Oct. 26, 2010

Angus Internship, Scholarship Applications Being Accepted

The American Angus Association, Angus Foundation and Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) are offering several opportunities this fall for college students hoping to further their education and gain valuable real-world experience with the world’s leading beef cattle association and branded beef program.

Available internships offer goal-oriented students an opportunity to build upon writing, editing, photography and organizational abilities while developing knowledge of agriculture and the beef industry. For deadlines, requirements and application details for the paid internships — as well as information about scholarship opportunities also being offered through Angus Foundation and CAB — click here.

Beef Finishing Workshop Helps Farmers Tap Into Demand for Local Beef

Consumers increasingly are interested in finding locally produced products and, in some cases, grass-finished beef. As a result, some beef producers might be considering a return to a pre-mid-century model of finishing their own cattle and marketing it locally, rather than shipping their stock to Midwest-based feedlots. The University of Kentucky (UK) two-part Pasture-Based Beef

“The farmers will be able to make a decision about whether they want to go to a completely pasture-based system or if they want to do a grain-on-grass supplemental system,” said Lee Meyer, Extension professor in the UK Department of Agricultural Economics. “There are pros and cons to both, and there are risks, different costs and different product quality.”

Funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Education Program, two workshops have already been conducted in Central and Eastern Kentucky. A third two-day workshop will be in Western Kentucky at the Muhlenberg County Extension office Jan. 5-6. This workshop will be geared toward farmers with experience in cattle and grazing, who are interested in exploring the locally produced beef alternative.

“There are lots of examples of financially successful locally marketed beef, but there are examples on the flipside, as well,” Meyer said.

Greg Halich, UK assistant Extension professor in agricultural economics and one of the workshop organizers, said there are significant producer challenges in such a system.

“Bringing animals to a finishing weight in a reasonable time frame is no easy task and requires not only a fundamental understanding of how beef cattle mature, but also an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of various forages. Butchering can be a challenge, with issues such as federal inspection, aging and scheduling being potential problems. And marketing may be the biggest obstacle to selling grass-finished animals,” he said.

Meyer said the workshop is a response to help both sides of the supply chain.

“We’re trying to help satisfy that consumer demand (for a locally produced product) and really help producers find a way to profitably provide consumers with what they’re looking for,” he said.

The first day’s session will include discussions about pasture management, production costs, production systems, cattle breeds, marketing systems, market outlets, and butchering and processing. The second session will go into more depth. Participants will have a chance to analyze specific production and marketing scenarios.

“If you’re running 100 head of stocker cattle right now, you’re not going to finish all those head and have a market for it all right away. You’re going to have to grow your business,” Halich said.

For that reason, he said, all aspects of a successful locally produced beef operation would be explored — everything from different types of forage and finishing methods through options for processing.

Meyer and Halich will teach the workshop along with other members of the UK College of Agriculture and Cooperative Extension staff and faculty, including Extension Meat Specialist Gregg Rentfrow, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Jeff Lehmkuhler and Sarah Lovett, Extension associate in agricultural economics.

To register for the workshop sessions, contact Lovett at 859-257-7272, ext. 281 or sarah.lovett@uky.edu or the local county Extension office. Cost per session is $10. Lunch is included.

— Release by UK College of Agriculture and Cooperative Extension.

Arkansas Cattle Producers Hoping More Rain Before Fescue Window Closes

More rain is needed for cattle producers who have nervously watched pastures shrivel into the dust during the last six weeks.

“It will take significantly more rain along with good weather for any stockpiled fescue growth to occur,” John Jennings, professor-forage for the University of Arkansas (U of A) Division of Agriculture, said Monday. “We have, theoretically, about 30 more days for fescue growth if good rainfall occurs soon.

“The temperatures are too cool for any more stockpiled warm-season grasses like Bermuda or Bahia grass,” he said.

However, the scattered rain is making it more feasible to plant winter annuals such as ryegrass or wheat, “but most producers are still holding off due to doubts about any continuing rain to maintain seedlings after germination,” Jennings said.

The dried-up pastureland is doing more than endangering stockpiled winter food for cattle, it’s driving some cattle to eat whatever they can find falling into the pasture.

“I’ve had more calls than usual about acorn poisoning this fall, as well as a carry over of toxic plant conditions, which suggests that cattle are scarfing these down due to inadequate forage volume on some farms,” said Robert Seay, Benton County Extension staff chair for the U of A Division of Agriculture. “Producers were still scraping up hay for their own use, as long as curing weather allowed, since the prospects of a long feeding season are still imminent.”

What rain northwest Arkansas received “gave a slight boost to growing conditions,” Seay said. “However, I can’t see that producers seriously believe it will impact the potential of growing any significant volume of fall forage.”

The rain in southern Arkansas made a small difference, with Chicot, Bradley and Union counties lifting burn bans on Monday. The National Weather Service on Monday had a 20% to 30% chance of rain in the forecast for Monday night through Tuesday.

For more information on crop production, visit www.uaex.edu or contact your county Extension office.

— Release by U of A Division of Agriculture.

Alltech Provides Platform for Young Scientists to Succeed

Entering into its sixth year, the Alltech Young Scientist Program is offering the opportunity for students with an interest in the field of science to blossom. This innovative contest gives college students the chance to be recognized and win prizes for their writing on topics dealing with animal feed technologies.

“Education begins with children, but it shouldn’t stop there,” said Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. “The Alltech Young Scientist Program ensures that students pursuing degrees in science are recognized. This program has continued to have an increase in entries every year, with our goal being 50,000 entries in the next few years.”

Michael Steele, from the University of Guelph in Canada, was the 2010 graduate winner and won with a groundbreaking research paper that examined the molecular mechanisms underlying rumen epithelial adaptation to high-grain diets in dairy cattle.

2010 undergraduate winner Lee Ann Huber, also from the University of Guelph, carried out important new research examining amino acid use in swine diets, specifically the previously ignored area of optimal ratio of isoleucine to lysine in pig starter diets.

To participate, students must write a scientific paper based on a topic about animal feed technologies. Undergraduate student papers must be 3,000 words in length and graduate student papers must be 5,000 words in length. Papers must be submitted through the template software available on www.alltechyoungscientist.com.

The first phase of the 2011 program will include a competition within each competing country. The winners of each local competition will move on to a regional phase and the regional winners will compete in the global phase. Papers in all languages are accepted. The deadline for submission is Dec. 31, 2010.

All regional winners will receive roundtrip airfare, accommodations and registration to Alltech’s International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium in Lexington, Ky., in May 2011. At Alltech’s Symposium each student will prepare a presentation on their paper. There will be two winners selected at Alltech’s Symposium, one graduate student and one undergraduate student. The global undergraduate winner will be awarded $5,000, and the global graduate winner will receive $10,000.

— Release by Alltech.

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