News Update
May 27, 2011

Office Closing

The offices of the American Angus Association and Angus Productions Inc. will be closed Monday, May 30, in observance of Memorial Day.

PLC, NCBA Strongly Support Legislation to Improve Federal Lands Grazing Permit Process

U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.); Orrin Hatch (R-Utah); John Thune (R-S.D.); Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.); Dean Heller (R-Nev.); and Michael Crapo (R-Idaho) late yesterday, May 26, introduced the Grazing Improvement Act of 2011 (S. 1129) to improve livestock grazing permitting on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands. John Falen, Public Lands Council (PLC) President and Nevada rancher, said the future of grazing permits has caused great uncertainty among grazing permit holders who have relied on language being included in annual federal appropriations bills to ensure their permits will be renewed on time.

“From the constant threat of environmental activists filing lawsuits to end grazing on federal lands to the unprecedented threat of overregulation from the federal government, public lands ranchers are facing very serious threats to our way of life. This bill will provide welcome relief by ending some of the uncertainty and instability of the federal grazing permit process,” Falen said. “This commonsense legislation will provide the flexibility needed to improve efficiencies at both BLM and USFS. It will provide the stability that the grazing industry and rural economies need in the West, and should be passed by Congress and signed into law without delay.”

For more than a decade, members of Congress have included language in federal appropriations bills to allow BLM and USFS to renew grazing permits under existing terms and conditions until the renewal process is complete. Bill Donald, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Montana rancher, said the Grazing Improvement Act codifies that language. He added that extending the life of grazing permits from 10 to 20 years, as the bill would do, will reduce the number of allotments due for environmental analysis each year, which have caused a substantial backlog at the agencies.

“While the agencies are struggling to deal with the backlog of paperwork to review and renew grazing permits, radical environmentalists are waiting in the wings to file a lawsuit every time the agencies miss a deadline,” Donald said. “These frivolous lawsuits consume agency resources, further delaying environmental analyses and perpetuating the cycle of missed deadlines and litigation.”

In the end, Donald and Falen said it’s about jobs and the economy. They said ranching is the backbone of many communities, providing stable jobs and contributing to the economy of rural America.

“President Obama talks about revitalizing rural America. If he is serious about that, he and all elected officials need to realize a thriving ranching industry is critical to economic growth and job creation in rural communities,” Donald said. “This legislation will ensure ranchers are able to continue providing stable jobs and investing in their communities. We urge all senators to support this important legislation.”

— Release by NCBA.

Angus Fellowship and Fundraising in Harrisburg

Tee up for the Angus Foundation July 12; player sign-up ends June 24. Sponsorships are due by June 15.

Angus enthusiasts of all ages will take a break from the National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) and tee up for the 11th Annual Angus Foundation Golf Tournament. The tournament combines fun and Angus friendship to help support the Foundation’s education, youth and research initiatives. The tournament will take place July 12 at the Felicita Golf Course and Resort in Harrisburg, Pa.

Angus Foundation President Milford Jenkins says the organization aims to raise $25,000 from the tournament.

“The golf tournament provides Angus breeders the opportunity to participate in a fun, enjoyable social event while having the satisfaction of making a difference in the lives of youth,” Jenkins says.

Angus enthusiasts can play in the tournament, sponsor the event or both. Sponsorships, which are due June 15, are available in an array of different levels, including event sponsor, club house, hole-in-one, tee box, hole and flag sponsor.

First-year sponsors, Dan and Sharon Vaassen, Ann Arbor, Mich., decided to donate because their children have benefited from the Foundation scholarship program, which the golf tournament helps fund.

The family always wanted to give back to the Foundation, and the golf tournament was the best way, Sharon says.

“There are a lot of kids that couldn’t afford to go to college without the scholarships,” Sharon says. “The kids really benefit from the tournament, and it keeps the Association and junior programs going.”

Player entry forms, due June 24, cost $100 per adult and $75 for junior Angus members. Registrations received after June 24 will cost an additional $10.

“Our members and sponsors are very dedicated,” Jenkins says. “The outpouring of participation by Angus breeders at the golf tournament and our friends from allied industry will make it another successful year.”

Sponsorship and entry forms are available at www.angusfoundation.org.

— Release by the Angus Foundation.

UGA Research Foundation Receives $1.6 Million From Gates Foundation to Develop Disease-resistant Livestock

The University of Georgia (UGA) Research Foundation has received almost $1.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support a team of researchers from UGA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in their efforts to develop a new technology to breed chickens resistant to Newcastle Virus.

“Disease and death in livestock are serious problems, particularly in underdeveloped countries,” said Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Steve Stice, an animal and dairy professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).

In sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, there are more than 17 billion chickens, and 90% of smallholder farmers raise chickens. Poultry is an important source of income and protein for many of these farmers and their families. Newcastle Virus kills about one-quarter of the chickens in sub-Saharan Africa every year, and mortality within a flock can reach 100%.

“In those areas, veterinary care is minimal, and livestock plays a large role not only as a key source of food, but also is a large share of their savings, income, credit, insurance, loans, gifts and investments,” Stice said. “That makes disease and death in livestock critical problems.”

“In the last 30 years, access to animal health services, vaccines and medicines has decreased significantly in Africa,” said Franklin West, a CAES animal and dairy science assistant professor and co-investigator leading the project with Stice. “As a result, at least 25% of the livestock in many African countries die every year compared to less than 5% in developed countries.”

Losing even a few animals on a small family farm, the most common type of farm in developing countries, can have long-lasting repercussions on family stability, health and the ability to provide for children.

The team will investigate applying a process called cellular adaptive resistance, which uses stem cells to create disease resistance in animals. The approach is a direct offshoot of previous work by Stice and West that produced pigs from stem cells using a similar process.

“We want to provide a new way to create disease-resistant animals using new technologies to combat disease problems,” Stice said. “This process will produce animals with natural resistance to specific diseases that will need less veterinary care and will significantly reduce livestock mortalities.”

Stice and West are conducting this research with UGA poultry scientist Robert Beckstead and Claudio Alfonso, a researcher at the USDA Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga.

— Release by UGA.

World Trade Organization Rules Against U.S. mCOOL

Reuters reported late Thursday that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against the U.S. country-of-origin labeling law that applies to, among other things, meat and chicken sold in retail stores. The decision comes in response to a challenge filed in 2009 by Canada and Mexico that claimed that mandatory country-of-origin labeling, known as mCOOL, discriminates against foreign suppliers. The ruling was called “confidential” in the Reuters story which went on to state that a complete ruling would be issued later this year. The ruling may open the door to many more challenges of origin labeling laws around the world.

This ruling in no way means that mCOOL is dead. mCOOL is still the law of the land in the United States, and the WTO ruling does not change that law. It does, however, open the door for the complainants, Canada and Mexico, to eventually put punitive tariffs on U.S. imports much the same way Mexico applied tariffs to a number of products coming from the U.S. when a NAFTA panel found in its favor over U.S. restrictions on Mexican trucks operating inside the United States.

mCOOL was originally passed as part of the 2002 Farm Bill. mCOOL was originally pushed by upper-Midwest cattle and beef groups who were upset about the number of cattle being imported from Canada and the practice of bringing Canadian beef carcasses into U.S. processing plants and getting them graded with USDA quality and yield grades. mCOOL was generally supported by groups representing small farms. R-CALF USA was a leading proponent of mCOOL from the beginning. mCOOL was opposed by the National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), as well as several other mainstream farm groups and virtually all packer and processor groups. Therein lies a bit of irony regarding potential punitive tariffs — U.S. beef and pork are likely targets even though the primary groups representing U.S. beef and pork production vehemently opposed mCOOL.

After several delays and several changes, additions and clarifications in the 2008 Farm Bill, mCOOL was officially implemented on Sept. 30, 2008. Imports of pigs from Canada have fallen from about 700,000 per month at that time to 450,000-500,000 per month now. Cattle imports from Canada have declined from around 150,000 per month in early 2008 to about 70,000 per month this year. The stronger Canadian dollar is also a key factor in these declines. Cattle imports from Mexico vary greatly from month to month but have shown no downtrend since mCOOL’s implementation.

— Adapted from release from the Daily Livestock Report by the CME Group.

— Compiled by Linda Robbins and Shauna Rose Hermel, Angus Productions Inc.