News Update
October 12, 2011
Select Sires Endorses Cooperation Between the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding and USDA
A new relationship between the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is being discussed. The Select Sires Inc. federation, owned by more than 44,000 dairy and beef producers from across the U.S., endorses the cooperative efforts of the members of the CDCB to grow, improve and maintain the national dairy database for the benefit of U.S. dairy producers. Select Sires encourages the ratification of the Cooperative Agreement between the Council and the USDA for the betterment of dairy producers nationwide.
Dairy producers have benefited from the United States being the gold standard in global genetic evaluations and management data for more than half a century due to the great research efforts of the USDA, coupled with the large database that has been provided by the cooperation of farmer-driven organizations that make up the CDCB. Members of CDCB include the National Dairy Herd Information Association, National Association of Animal Breeders and Purebred Dairy Cattle Association.
Johnny Daniel, the chairman of the Select Sires Inc. board of directors and dairy farmer from Tennessee, stated, “It was cooperation and good stewardship that allowed the U.S. to develop one of the largest dairy databases in the world, which allowed the current industry-leading genomics tools and management data we receive to become a reality. Select Sires commends the forward-thinking volunteers of the organizations from all segments of the dairy cattle breeding industry. They have been working for the past 16 months to ensure the continued data flow and cooperation for the maximization of the U.S. dairy industry genetics and management tools for years to come for dairy producers like me. This effort will ensure that the U.S. will continue to be the gold standard for the world.
“In this time of extreme technology change,” he continued, “the industry must be forward-thinking and must protect ourselves from the greed and individualism that would harm cooperative effort. This greed could cause a valuable tool like genomic evaluations to divide us and halt cooperation, resulting in the loss of the leading genetic data and management tools that keep the U.S. competitive.”
Select Sires supports the continued efforts of the Council that will ensure success for the current tools and develop better management and genomic data for all dairy producers. Select Sires encourages CDCB organizations that are primarily farmer-owned and -controlled to cooperate for the best interest of their stake holding dairy producers to maximize the quality of tools and data to allow U.S. dairy producers to be globally competitive for years to come.
EAJA Reform Legislation Reviewed in Congressional Hearing
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law Tuesday, Oct. 11, hosted a hearing on H.R. 1966, the Government Savings Litigation Act. The Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the American Sheep Industry Association, the Association of National Grasslands and 35 organizations representing livestock producers said the legislation will bring transparency and accountability to the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).
EAJA allows plaintiffs to recover attorney fees and other expenses from the federal government when they prevail in a case against the government. According to Dustin Van Liew, PLC executive director and NCBA director of federal lands, environmental extremist groups have made a hobby of suing the federal government on minor process-related decisions. He said the government often settles cases and pays the plaintiffs through EAJA instead of devoting time, staff and resources to a trial. Pointing to Wyoming attorney Karen Budd Falen’s estimates, Van Liew said during the past decade, 12 environmental groups alone have filed more than 3,300 lawsuits, recovering more than $37 million in EAJA funds.
“EAJA has become a means for wealthy radical environmental groups to obtain federal funding to target ranchers by challenging federal land management agencies in court (primarily on minor process decisions), all to curtail natural resource uses such as livestock grazing,” the groups penned in a letter to Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble (R-N.C.) and Ranking Member Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). “As a result, our members are forced to pay multiple times over to defend themselves: on the one hand, they pay attorney fees as interveners in defense of the federal government; on the other hand, as hard-working citizens, their tax dollars go toward agency operations budgets and toward lining the pockets of these vastly wealthy environmental groups with EAJA funds.”
Specifically, H.R. 1966, which was introduced by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), will prohibit nonprofit organizations with a net worth exceeding $7 million from filing for EAJA funds; require that EAJA filers show a “direct and personal monetary interest” in the action to be eligible for payment; and cap the attorney fees environmental activists claim to be owed. Despite accusations otherwise, Van Liew said the legislation does not affect the ability of individual citizens and small businesses to utilize EAJA when defending themselves against the federal government.
“Livestock producers have an obligation to responsibly use and manage the land and its resources,” Van Liew said. “EAJA payments do not encourage the responsible use and care for natural resources. EAJA payments encourage destructive behavior on the part of radical environmentalists. This legislation will reform EAJA to ensure individual citizens and small businesses can still access EAJA while ending abuse of the program by environmental extremists. We commend Rep. Lummis for introducing H.R. 1966 and the subcommittee for holding a hearing. It’s time to end this abuse of EAJA and the American taxpayers’ hard-earned money once and for all.”
Livestock Report
As we await the latest USDA projections of grain and livestock supplies into 2012, it is important to keep your eye on that ‘other’ cattle feed supply — hay. It is a particularly sensitive topic for cow-calf operators as they prepare for the winter months. Producers in Texas, Oklahoma and surrounding states have suffered one of the worst drought years on record, a year that caused significant liquidation of the beef cow herd in these states and offset some of the gains in cow numbers in other areas. When looking at potential profit calculations, this should have been a herd rebuilding year for U.S. cow-calf producers. All that went out the window when key production areas received less than 2 inches of water all summer.
The latest data from the USDA crop progress report shows that 96% of pastures and ranges in Texas are currently in poor or very poor state, and 93% of pastures in Oklahoma are also rated in a similar condition. Coming into the fall, cow-calf operators rely on grass, hay and winter wheat grazing to help carry their cattle over the winter months. The dismal state of pastures has forced producers to increasingly rely on hay to fill their needs, but that turned into a very expensive proposition as hay values spiked in August and September. Alfalfa prices in September were quoted at $196 per ton, 67% higher than the same month a year ago, while prices for all other hay were quoted at $128 per ton, 34% more than last year’s levels.
Many producers in the Southern Plains saw the writing on the wall and accelerated their cow marketings as soon as it was viable to do so, without waiting for the normal start of the fall cow run. Cow slaughter rose sharply in September and cow slaughter plants ran full Saturday schedules. Cow slaughter has tempered somewhat in recent days but the spike in hay prices and limited winter wheat grazing will further limit feed availability going into the winter.
Hay stocks on Dec. 1, 2010, were reported at 102.1 million tons, some 5% less than the previous year. We currently estimate that hay stocks on Dec. 1, 2011, could decline another 9% from the previous year to a mere 93 million tons. The situation may be even worse if winter wheat plantings continue to struggle. Winter wheat plantings in Texas through Oct. 2 were pegged at 25%, compared to 49% for the five-year average. Oklahoma is at 30% on their winter wheat plantings compared to 49% for the five-year average. Limited hay supplies and grazing opportunities will maintain the pressure on cow-calf producers in the Southern Plains and we could see further forced liquidation of the beef cow herd. All eyes are now on corn supplies and grain feed availability. That may not matter much, however, if you have no cattle to feed it to. U.S. cattle supplies are tight and will get even tighter in the next two years.
2012 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show
Housing and registration are now open for the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show, which will be Feb. 1-4, 2012, at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. Be among the first to register.
- Visit NCBA’s website to register online.
- Be sure to make your housing reservations early while there is still room.
- For more information visit www.beefusa.org.
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