News Update
Jan. 11, 2011

Ken Troutt Scholarship Application Deadline Nears

Applications are now being taken for the 16th Annual Ken Troutt Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship fund has been established in memory of Ken Troutt, renowned auctioneer for many bull sales in the Northwest. Scholarships of $500 will be announced at the March 23rd Washington Cattlemen’s Association (WCA) Bull Test Sale in Eltopia, Wash.

To be eligible, youths

• must be an incoming freshman in the fall of 2011, enrolled in a college or technical school, and
• be an individual or son/daughter of an individual that has consigned or purchased bulls in the 2008 or 2009 Cowman’s Classic Bull Sale or the 2009 or 2010 WCA Bull Test Sale.

Applications are due prior to March 15, 2011, and can be requested by contacting Kendall Cattle Sales, 1040 Kendall Road, Potlatch, ID 83855, 208-858-2163 or kendall@potlatch.com. 

SURE Sign-up Period Open for the 2009 Crop Year

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reminds eligible producers that the sign-up period for the 2009 crop year Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) program has opened. SURE is one of five disaster programs included in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill) that provides assistance to farmers and ranchers who have suffered losses due to natural disasters.

“SURE is part of the safety net that assists farmers and ranchers who provide food and fiber to America and the world,” Vilsack said. “Any eligible producer who suffered losses during the 2009 crop year is encouraged to visit a local FSA office to learn more about the SURE program and how to apply.”

To be eligible for SURE a farm or ranch must have:

• At least a 10% production loss on a crop of economic significance;
• A policy or plan of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) for all economically significant crops;
• Been physically located in a county that was declared a primary disaster county or contiguous county by the Agriculture Secretary under a Secretarial Disaster Designation. Without a Secretarial Disaster Designation, individual producers may be eligible if the actual production on the farm is less than 50% of the normal production on the farm due to a natural disaster.

Producers considered socially disadvantaged, a beginning farmer or rancher, or a limited resource farmer may be eligible for SURE without a policy or plan of insurance or NAP coverage.

Farmers and ranchers interested in signing up must do so before July 29, 2011. For more information on the 2009 SURE program, visit any FSA county office or www.fsa.usda.gov/sure.

— Release by USDA.

European Union Livestock Test Positive for FMD

Meatingplace.com reported this afternoon that blood samples from one cow, eight pigs, 14 sheep and 12 goats have tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), according to the World Organization for Animal Health.

The affected livestock is located in the Burgas region in Bulgaria. Susceptible animals are being culled Tuesday and Wednesday. Not all blood samples collected have been tested thus far.

The European Union (EU) implemented urgent protection measures in Bulgaria last weekend after a wild boar, shot by hunters near the Turkish border at the end of 2010 in Bulgaria, tested positive for FMD. The Commission’s decision reinforced control measures for FMD already taken by the Bulgarian authorities.

The Commission’s decision defines the high-risk area (the province of Burgas) and low-risk areas (the surrounding provinces of Yambol, Sliven, Shumen and Varna). A ban on livestock movement and restrictions on the trade in meat in and from these areas are now in force.

Bulgaria is in the EU and has borders with Romania and Greece. None of these regions are major players in livestock or meat trade, but if the EU cannot convince its overseas customers that the infection has been confined to a region there is the risk that the EU’s meat export trade could be affected by import bans.

— By John Strak for Meatingplace.com.

— Compiled by Linda Robbins, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.