News Update
August 4, 2011
Mark your calendar for the Orr Beef Research Center Field Day
The Orr Beef Research Center Field Day will be Wednesday, Aug. 31, at 4 p.m. at the John Wood Community College (JWCC) Agricultural Education Center. A tour of the research center facilities will follow at 6:45 p.m.
“Producers can come and hear about hot topics in the beef industry, including management practices and information that will hopefully improve their profitability and bottom line,” said Travis Meteer, commercial agriculture University of Illinois Extension educator.
Producers will discover new winter feeding strategies, the effects of cow nutrition on calf performance, using residual intake as a feed efficiency measure, the effects of differing coproduct blends on calf performance and body composition, as well as the impact of voluntary forage intake in beef cows.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to tour the Orr Beef Center calving barn, feedlot, research facilities and pastures.
There is no registration fee, and preregistration is not required. Following the presentations, attendees will receive a complimentary dinner.
The field day is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois Extension, the Illinois Beef Association and the local Cattlemen’s Association.
For more information, contact Dan Faulkner at 217-333-1781 or Travis Meteer at 217-236-4961.
Beef Board Appoints New Officers
The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) voted unanimously to elect Wesley Grau of New Mexico to finish out the year as chairman of the national board. Formerly vice chairman of the Board, Grau had been serving as acting chairman since the resignation of former chairman Tom Jones about a month ago.
As Grau’s election to chairman created a vacancy in the vice chairman seat, to which Board members voted unanimously to elect Weldon Wynn of Arkansas. Again, since Wynn had been serving as secretary-treasurer this year, his election to vice chairman created a vacancy in the secretary-treasurer seat, to which Board members elected Roger West of Florida.
Grau is a partner in Grau Charolais Farm and Ranch and also raises wheat. He is the past president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, past president of the New Mexico Beef Cattle Performance Association, member of the American International Charolais Association and NCBA, and past president of the New Mexico Wheat Growers Association. He and his wife have three children and five grandchildren.
Grau served as chairman of the Joint Producer Communications Committee in 2010, and also has served on the Joint Advertising Committee, the CBB Administration Subcommittee and the CBB Executive Committee. Get to know the new president a little better at this link.
Wynn owns Wynn Beefmaster Farms and Wynn Rice and Soybean Farm. In addition, he and his wife own and operate Wynn Insurance Agency. He is an active member of his community and industry, including service on the board of directors of the Pine Bluff National Bank of Star City; former emcee and judge of the National Beef Cook-Off; National Beef Ambassador judge; past president and active member of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association; member of the University of Arkansas Animal Science 2000 Advisory Council; past president, treasurer, and fair manager of the Lincoln County Fair, among many others.
On the Beef Board, Wynn has served on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, the CBB Executive Committee, the Joint Advertising Committee, for which he served as vice chair in 2010, and the Joint Beef Industry Budget Committee. Get to know Wynn a little better at this link.
Roger West is a retired meat sciences professor at the University of Florida. He has served in leadership positions for the NCBA, the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, and the Florida Farm Bureau. In addition to his cow-calf business, West is also involved in providing ultrasound of breeding cattle and has a lengthy list of meat science and other industry honors and involvement. For the Beef Board, West most recently served as vice chairman of the Research, Education & Innovation Group. For a new interview with West, visit this link.
For more information about the Beef Checkoff Program, visit www.MyBeefCheckoff.com.
NSF International Vice President Nancy Culotta
Announces Retirement
Nancy Culotta, NSF International’s vice president for food safety, product certification and consumer products, has announced plans to retire this summer, following a noteworthy 25-year career.
During her career, Culotta played a key role in globally expanding NSF’s public health services to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. She spearheaded several new and innovative initiatives, including launching NSF’s Drinking Water Treatment Unit program, the retail food safety program, and NSF’s Home Product Certification program. “We are extremely grateful to Nancy for her leadership and commitment to NSF International’s public health mission for more than 25 years,” said Kevan Lawlor, NSF President and CEO. “Nancy has played a significant role in the evolution of NSF, including the development of new services and NSF’s global expansion, and her many contributions will be felt for a long time to come. We all join in wishing her the best for a happy retirement.”
Culotta joined NSF International in 1985 as a product certification field auditor and went on to become the general manager of NSF’s Drinking Water and Wastewater programs. She left NSF for a year to develop a local community health organization, returning in 2000 to launch NSF’s food safety auditing services. In this role, she was instrumental in the acquisition of Cook & Thurber and Fresh Check supermarket food safety businesses.
In 2004, Culotta was promoted to vice president of retail food safety, and, in 2007, took the assignment as vice president, food safety product certification, with responsibility for NSF’s Foodservice Equipment, Nonfood Compounds and Bottled Water Certification programs. In 2010, Culotta launched the NSF Home Product Certification program, bringing NSF’s considerable public health and safety expertise to the world of household kitchen appliances and other home products.
“It has been my honor to work with so many people who are dedicated to our mission of protecting and improving the public’s health and safety,” Culotta said. “I am proud to say that each day over my 25-year career I had an opportunity to work with others in making a very real impact on public health. I’ve had the good fortune to meet many exceptional professionals, both at NSF and throughout many industry and stakeholder organizations, and will always value the long-standing relationships I’ve developed along the way.”
Southern Carcass Improvement Project Update
A survey designed to estimate the value of the Southern Carcass Improvement Project (SCIP) cattle as 60-day weaned feeder calves was recently completed by feedyard managers, stocker producers, and auction market operators. A total of 95 experienced cattle market participants from a dozen states were asked to gauge the value of each of the two SCIP sire groups using pictures and a brief written description on the sires and dams represented by each group. This allowed a market value assessment at the postweaning stage of production without actually selling any of the project cattle. The survey was conducted during the first half of 2011. Market prices reflected where feeder cattle were trading at that time. Each participant was asked to independently value the two sire groups, according to what they would be willing to pay given market conditions at the time the survey was completed. States represented in the survey include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The results indicated that 100% of survey participants valued the Angus x Southern group higher than the Southern x Southern cattle, with the average price differential exceeding $9 per hundredweight (cwt.) at 700 pounds (lb.). This difference amounted to 7.8% and was highly statistically significant (P<0.01).
One generation of high-growth/high-carcass Angus bulls can therefore add nearly $65 per head in marketable calf value to a cow herd with mixed Southern breeding and little or no apparent Angus influence.
“Our survey respondents come from different vantage points in the industry and are involved in trading literally millions of cattle each year. Their collective perspective represents a wealth of experience concerning how the market values these types of cattle,” says Mark Gardiner of Gardiner Angus Ranch. “Value creation is what the SCIP project is all about, and the survey confirms that using even one generation of high-end Angus bulls will give producers a calf crop worth substantially more as compared to calves with mixed southern breeding.”
Brian Bertelsen, vice president of field operations for U.S. Premium Beef (USPB) explains that cattle feeders and other market participants have become increasingly sensitive to carcass potential, while continuing to emphasize health and feedyard performance in the feeder cattle they buy.
“The marketplace continues to move toward a true value-based system. Carcass merit is gaining importance at the fed-cattle level and working its way back through the supply chain all the way to the cow-calf producer,” Bertelsen says. “That’s why these results are not surprising. For producers wanting to add value to their calves, the roadmap on how to do so is becoming increasingly clear.”
The SCIP is a collaboration among Gardiner Angus Ranch, Kansas State University and Virginia Tech to determine the carcass improvement that can be made in one generation, using high-carcass-value Angus bulls on typical Southern-origin beef cows, representing typical bos indicus-influenced genetics most often found in Southern states. The SCIP addresses the beef industry’s long-standing need for higher quality grades and better overall carcass traits in Southern U.S. packing plants.
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