News Update
August 11, 2011
Still Time to Register
The American Angus Association and the Georgia Angus Association, hosts of the 2011 National Angus Conference & Tour (NAC&T), themed “All Roads Lead to Georgia,” Sept. 6-8 in Athens, Ga., remind you that there is still time to register for the event, sponsored by Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC.
Symposium attendees will be in for a real treat as featured speaker Bruce Vincent, co-owner of Environomics, shares his message, “Where There is Vision There is Hope.” The third-generation logger from Libby, Mont., will share what he learned as the timber industry dealt with environmental activists and apply those lessons to how the livestock industry might better deal with animal rights activists.
Registration is available online at www.angus.org. Registration is $175 per person. Attendees should make their own hotel reservations. The Hilton Garden Inn (390 E. Washington St., Athens) will serve as hotel headquarters. Call 706-353-6800 to make reservations, and ask for the Angus block.
GeorgiaSkies provides limited air service directly to Athens-Ben Epps Airport, and taxi service and rental cars are available. For more flight options, consider the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, serviced by most major airlines, only 80 miles from Athens. Rental cars are available, or contact Groome Transportation (www.groometransportation.com) at 706-410-2363 for airport transportation.
For more information about the NAC&T, visit www.nationalangusconference.com or contact the Activities Department at 816-383-5100 or Shelia Stannard.
Click here for a tentative schedule.
Five-state Beef Conferences Scheduled Aug. 30-Sept. 1 in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado
Many changes have occurred in beef cattle herds this past summer due to the drought and high commodity prices, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist.
Beef producers from five states can find out what this means to them at one of the three sessions scheduled as a part of the “5-State Beef Conference,” said Ted McCollum, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist in Amarillo.
The program is a joint effort among AgriLife Extension, Colorado State University, Oklahoma State University, New Mexico State University and Kansas State University.
The meetings will each begin with registration at 2:30 p.m., followed by the conference from 3-7 p.m. Dinner will be served at each meeting, which are scheduled for the following dates and locations:
- Aug. 30, Cimarron County Fair Building, 1300 N. Cimarron St., Boise City, Okla.
- Aug. 31, Wiley Community Center, 203 Pheasant Run, Wiley, Colo. There will be a preconference open house from 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Southeast Colorado Research Center, 2830 U.S. Highway 50 in Lamar, Colo.
- Sept. 1, Hemphill County Exhibition Center, 10,865 Exhibition Center Road, Canadian, Texas.
The topics and speakers on the schedule are:
- Structure of the Beef Industry with High Grain Prices, Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University.
- Genomics for Commercial Cattlemen, Bob Weaber, Kansas State University.
- Integrated Fly Control for Cow-Calf Operators, Justin Talley, Oklahoma State University.
- Managing Fertility and Productivity, Manny Encinias, New Mexico State University.
- Managing During a Drought, Chris Richards, Oklahoma State University; John Wagner, Colorado State University; and McCollum.
Registration will be $35 per person or $50 per couple prior to Aug. 21; on-site or late registration will be $50 per person or $65 per couple. Checks should be made payable to OSU Animal Science and mailed to Animal Science Extension, 201 Animal Science, Stillwater, Okla. 74078.
The registration form can be found at http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/fivestatesbeef/index.html. For more information about registration, call 405-744-6060 or the local Extension office in each state.
New Campaign Aims to Save U.S. Farms and Food
A consortium of community advocates, political leaders and farmers have launched SAFE: “Save America’s Food and Economy” — www.saveamericasfood.org — to protect farms and agriculture from the impact of H.R. 2164, otherwise known as the “Legal Workforce Act.”
Advocates say the H.R. 2164 immigration bill will hurt the U.S. economy, farms and food supply.
SAFE is a new and historic public awareness campaign complete with website, social media tools and an extensive grassroots operation. It represents the combined efforts of the agricultural industry encouraging support for a long-term, stable and legal farm workforce for America’s 2.2 million farms. Saving farms also saves countless local communities, small businesses and families that rely on the agricultural industry as an economic lifeline. The agriculture sector accounts for nearly 2% of national Gross Domestic Product and supports 15% of the economy as a whole.
Introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), H.R. 2164 mandates all U.S. businesses, including farms, use the electronic E-Verify database managed by the Department of Homeland Security. SAFE, fighting to secure the future of America’s farms and food supply, argues that the bill must be modified to accommodate experienced migrant farm workers. The campaign supports the need for farms to hire experienced guest workers — who comprise more than 80% of America’s agricultural workforce. These skilled, seasonal farm workers are the backbone of U.S. agriculture, and their labor sustains hundreds of thousands of farm-dependent U.S. jobs belonging to workers who would also be displaced if H.R. 2164 were enacted.
“We understand our representatives in Washington are struggling to find a solution to our immigration problem, but exporting our nation’s food supply and the jobs that go with it is not the solution,” said Western Growers Chairman Tom Deardorff of Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, Calif. “We need a sensible solution that protects our economy, our domestic food supply and the skilled men and women who make our food system the most efficient, safe and healthy food supply in the world. Without a workable solution, local economies will crumble, our food security will be lost, the environment will suffer and the family farms that are the fabric of our society will be lost.”
In Georgia, where state lawmakers recently instituted a new law mandating farm compliance with state and federal eligibility requirements such as E-Verify, the state’s agricultural industry lost nearly three quarters of its workforce and over $300 million in revenue.
“The failed program in Georgia gives us a glimpse of what will happen here in Michigan and, on a much larger scale, to America’s food, farms, and economy if a similar initiative is approved on the national level,” said Julia Rothwell, chair of the U.S. Apple Association. “We have to act now and fast before this bill moves any further.”
To learn more, please visit http://saveamericasfood.org.
Drought Management Focus of October Ranch Management University Workshop
Strategies for drought management on rangeland will be the focus of the Ranch Management University program scheduled Oct. 10-14 at Texas A&M University in College Station.
“The historic drought that Texas landowners are currently enduring creates some critical management concerns with regards to protecting forage and future forage growth,” said Larry Redmon, Texas AgriLife Extension Service state forage specialist and workshop coordinator. “For example, current and future stocking rates play an important role. Overall, this workshop is designed to help new landowners improve their understanding regarding management of various resources they find on their ranch properties.”
The fall workshop topics will include soils and soil fertility, forage species selection, hay production, weed and brush management, and winter pasture establishment and utilization.
Other topics include beef cattle breed selection, nutrient requirements and feeding strategies for livestock, grazing management strategies, chuteside talk on live-animal handling and demonstrations of vaccinating, dehorning and cattle castration.
There will be sessions on sheep and goat production and management and a session for horse owners.
“An agricultural economist will also be part of the agenda, discussing a number of topics including how to plan for profit, how to develop a marketing plan and a look at alternative enterprises,” Redmon said.
Several wildlife management topics are also on the agenda, ranging from white-tailed deer and turkey management to fisheries management in ranch ponds and feral hog control.
“Field demonstrations will include learning how to assess body condition scores for cattle, how to obtain proper soil and hay samples and how to assess fish populations in ponds,” Redmon said.
“There will also be a session in the field regarding pond weeds and a demonstration on hog-trap design.”
Breakfast items, lunch and supper will be provided, and all break refreshments are included in the registration cost, as is a resource CD containing more than 100 publications covering ranch resource management. A customized Ranch Management University ball cap is also provided.
Attendance is limited to 50 people and the slots are beginning to fill, Redmon said. Cost is $500.
For additional information and registration information contact Redmon at 979-845-4826 or l-redmon@tamu.edu.
To register online and for additional information, go to https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu and type “ranch management” in the search window.
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