News Update
December 27, 2011
It’s Not to Late to Contribute to
the Angus Foundation’s Vision of Value
You can help the Angus Foundation get closer to its Vision of Value: Campaign for Angus $11 million goal by making a contribution to the Annual Fund before Dec. 31. Donors to the campaign will have their names included on a campaign appreciation plaque that will be displayed at the American Angus Association headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo.
The Angus Foundation’s Annual Fund, themed “Champions of the Vision,” provides an easy way to contribute to the Vision of Value campaign before it concludes Dec. 31, 2011. You can donate by returning your pledge card to the Angus Foundation, 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506 or donating online at www.angusfoundation.org. Contributions benefit education, youth and research for the Angus breed and agricultural industry.
Call Angus Foundation President Milford Jenkins at 816-383-5100 to discuss the wide array of charitable giving strategies available to donors interested in making a major gift commitment to the campaign.
Angus Night on the Mountain
The Angus Foundation, 2012 National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) host states and Spruce Mountain Ranch of Larkspur, Colo., invite you to attend an “Angus Night on the Mountain,” Jan. 11, 2012. Tom and Lois Ames will host the event at their beautiful Spruce Mountain Ranch during the National Western Stock Show (NWSS).
The event is free and open to anyone, with transportation provided by Spruce Mountain Ranch. Buses will pick up attendees at the Denver Marriott City Center Hotel and NWSS starting at 5:30 p.m. and following the NWSS Angus Bull Sale. The ranch will be open beginning at 3 p.m. for those who would like to drive out early and see the facility and cattle before dinner begins at 7 p.m.
Following dinner, the Angus Foundation will offer at auction a limited number of items, including a scenic getaway trip for two to Arkansas; a west Tennessee outdoor experience; a weeklong stay in beautiful Anthem, Ariz.; an antelope hunt in New Mexico; and an advanced reproductive technology package (click here for descriptions of the packages).
In addition to the packages offered at auction to benefit the Angus Foundation’s education, youth and research programs, the 2012 National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) committee will be offering at auction a heifer pregnancy from Gardiner Angus Ranch, Ashland, Kan., to help raise funds for the show.
Spruce Mountain Ranch will also auction 12 elite females.
The event will conclude with socializing and entertainment provided by Spruce Mountain Ranch. Those who wish to attend the event can look for signs at the NWSS that will detail bus information.
Visit http://bit.ly/ta7h9j for more information.
American Angus Association to Introduce PathfinderPlus
The American Angus Association will soon introduce a voluntary, inventory-based reporting system designed to capture additional reproductive trait data and to ultimately expand reproductive and lifetime productivity tools, such as longevity measures.
The new program, known as PathfinderPlus, will debut in early 2012 and provide Angus breeders and their customers with additional information to make effective selection decisions.
“The PathfinderPlus program is a unique system that will allow us to more effectively capture reproductive trait data while providing participants with additional information at weaning processing time, such as calving ease, birth weight and weaning weight EPDs (expected progeny differences) for calves out of inventoried cows,” says Bill Bowman, Association COO and director of performance programs.
Breeders interested in participating in PathfinderPlus can enroll in the program through AAA Login, available at www.angus.org, beginning early 2012.
To begin, breeders provide an online inventory of breeding heifers and cows in their herd.
The primary requirement of the program is submission of heifer breeding records from the production herd. “Heifer breeding records are pivotal pieces to the PathfinderPlus program,” explains Sally Northcutt, Association director of genetic research. “These records will then be used in the existing heifer pregnancy evaluation and will also allow us to develop more lifetime trait measures such as longevity components.”
In addition to heifer breeding records, each inventoried female will be required to have either a calf record (weight, preweaning disposal reason), a disposal code for the cow or a reason code for why the cow didn’t produce.
“Disposal codes will help pinpoint why an animal left the herd and will greatly aid in the development of a longevity selection tool,” Northcutt says. “The PathfinderPlus program provides us the opportunity to identify superior genetics for traits that greatly influence profit but are traditionally difficult to measure — reproduction and longevity.”
Breeders will be able to enroll in PathfinderPlus at any time during the year. Females 20 months of age and older are assessed an annual $3-per-cow inventory fee based upon the enrollment date. The fee includes performance reporting for the cow’s calf (CED, BW and WW EPDs).
An additional fee is charged to reinstate or reactivate a cow.
Bowman says the current Angus Herd Improvement Records (AHIR®) reporting system will remain in place for non-participants, along with the traditional Pathfinder® recognition program.
“PathfinderPlus is the most comprehensive route to generate reproductive selection tools on your herd,” Bowman says. “The program is streamlined to capture the necessary data for genetic predictions to assist you and your customers.”
Contact the Association at 816-383-5100 or visit www.angus.org for more information.
Farmer Resources for Impending
Conservation Stewardship Program Deadline
The cutoff date for farmers and ranchers to apply to participate in the 2012 sign-up for the Conservation Stewardship Program (SCP) is Jan. 13, 2012. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which runs the program, has given indications the deadline may be extended, but at this point in time the extension cannot be assured so farmers interested in participating are advised to get their short, two-page application form turned-in by Jan. 13.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which helped develop the program and has followed its progress closely, has issued a five-page Information Alert on the 2012 sign-up. The document is available free online at www.sustainableagriculture.net. In addition to basic sign-up information and pointers, the alert also describes changes made to the program for this sign-up, including new conservation practices and enhancements being offered.
The CSP is a working lands conservation program available on a nationwide basis. CSP offers technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers for adopting and maintaining high standards of resource conservation and environmental stewardship. Assistance is geared to both the active management of existing conservation systems and for implementing new conservation activities on land in agricultural production.
In the program’s first three enrollment years (2009, 2010 and 2011), NRCS has enrolled 30,197 farmers and ranchers operating nearly 38 million acres of farm and ranch land that is now under five-year, renewable CSP conservation contracts. For those first three enrollment classes, annual CSP payments are currently over $510 million a year on a nationwide basis.
The enrollment process is competitive, based on environmental benefits, and will be even more competitive than usual in 2012 as the total acres to be enrolled will be as much as a third less than the 12.8 million acre-per-year level provided by the 2008 Farm Bill. The 2012 iteration of CSP will have an enrollment cap between 9 and 10 million acres due to a budget cut to the program made by Congress in the FY 2012 Agricultural Appropriations Act.
Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, prairie land, improved pastureland, rangeland, non-industrial private forestlands and agricultural land under tribal jurisdiction. Applicants must demonstrate they have effective control over these lands to be eligible, either through ownership or reasonably secure leases.
Producers wanting more detailed information may want to review NSAC's Farmers’ Guide to the Conservation Stewardship Program available for free download at http://sustainableagriculture.net/publications/. The Guide provides clear information on conservation activities eligible for CSP payments to improve conservation performance and environmental benefits. It also includes step-by-step enrollment guidance, key definitions and helpful hints. A new five-page section of the guide provides data on the program’s first two sign-up periods in 2009 and 2010. This data section includes analysis of program participation by geographic region, land use type, commodity type and the top conservation practices and enhancements chosen by farmers and ranchers who have enrolled in the program.
Ohio Beef Schools Examine
‘New Normal’ Cattle Marketing, Economy
Experts in beef cattle production and marketing will address what one industry expert called “excellent profit opportunities” for cow-calf producers and cattle feeders during the 2012 Ohio Beef Cattle Schools.
The schools kick off Jan. 26, 2012, and continue on the Thursdays of Feb. 9 and 16, and March 1.
Ohio State University (OSU) Extension program assistant Stan Smith said each session will be broadcast by many Extension offices via an Internet link, and will focus on optimizing efficient beef production in a rapidly changing business and consumer environment.
Specifically, topics and speakers include several industry-respected experts from across the Midwest:
- Jan. 26: “Economic Considerations in Beef Cattle Production” by Kevin Dhuyvetter, Extension Farm Management Specialist, Kansas State University.
- Feb. 9: “Targeted Markets and Marketing Alternatives” by Dan Frobose, OSU Extension (retired), and Sam Roberts, United Producers.
- Feb. 16: “Genetics, Reproduction Efficiencies and Calving Season Alternatives” by Les Anderson, University of Kentucky Beef Extension Specialist and John Grimes, OSU Beef Programs coordinator.
- Mar. 1: “Meat Industry Perspective: An Outlook on the Choice/Select Spreads” by Nevil Speer, Western Kentucky University.
Smith said a combination of market forces, both in terms of beef demand and input costs, have led producers to consider a number of marketing options outside the traditional beef marketing chain.
More than 18 county offices of OSU Extension have registered to provide access to the Beef Schools via the Internet link. More information on the Beef Schools is available online at http://go.osu.edu/BeefSchool.
Salazar Announces Recovery of
Gray Wolves in Western Great Lakes
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that gray wolf populations in the Great Lakes region have recovered and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is publishing a final rule in the Federal Register removing wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and in portions of adjoining states, from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants.
The rule removing ESA protection for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes becomes effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Wolves total more than 4,000 animals in the three core recovery states in the western Great Lakes area and have exceeded recovery goals. Minnesota’s population is estimated at 2,921 wolves, while an estimated 687 wolves live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and another 782 in Wisconsin. Each state has developed a plan to manage wolves after federal protection is removed.
Wolf populations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan will be monitored for at least five years to ensure the species continues to thrive. If it appears, at any time, that the gray wolf cannot sustain itself without the protections of the ESA, the Service can initiate the listing process, including emergency listing.
In the Service’s May 5, 2011, proposal to delist western Great Lakes wolves, the agency also proposed accepting recent taxonomic information that the gray wolf subspecies Canis lupus lycaon should be elevated to the full species Canis lycaon, and that the population of wolves in the Western Great Lakes is a mix of the two full species, Canis lupus and Canis lycaon. Based on substantial information received from scientists and others during the public comment period, the Service has re-evaluated that proposal, and the final rule considers all wolves in the Western Great Lakes DPS to be Canis lupus.
The Service also previously proposed delisting gray wolves in all or parts of 29 states in the eastern half of the United States. The Service continues to evaluate that portion of the May 5, 2011, proposal and will make a final separate determination at a later date.
More information on the recovery of gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes can be found at www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/.
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