News Update

March 28, 2012

Boost Cattle Sales with Education

Why Angus? It is simple for producers and families to know why they raise Angus cattle — efficient production of high-quality beef. What producers may not know is how the American Angus Association can help educate their prospective buyers on the benefits of choosing Angus.

A free, sale-day kit being offered by the Association communications department outlines the Angus advantage through guide books, brochures and many other resources.

"The sale day kit offers producers the information they need to easily communicate with their customers why an Angus purchase will be a solid investment," says Jena Thompson, assistant director of public relations. "The books and brochures discuss various concepts, but the main message is Angus cattle work for you."

The kit comes in two types, tailored to female sales or bull/female sales. Each kit includes various literature and posters in various quantities. Buyer guides, beef improvement information and full-color posters are a few of the items available for the sale.

A list of sale day kit items are:

10 regular and junior membership applications;
10 junior member Guide to Success books;
20 Beef Improvement Record books;
10 Bull Buying Strategies books;
20 Angus Advantage books;
10 AngusSource® brochures;
25 Tag Store postcards;
10 Member Login brochures;
15 Pocket Bull Buying Guides;
10 each of the 11 x 14 bull, cow-calf and calf pictures;
10 Notebook Beef Charts;
1 steer poster, 1 bull poster, 2 large Angus posters;
6 over-the-wire hangers;
3 "The Power of One Bull" posters;
3 "The Power of One Brand" posters (Certified Angus Beef®); and
3 AngusSource posters.

Producers whose sales have passed or state associations in need of promotional materials may also order a field day kit.

For more information or to order educational and promotional items visit, www.angus.org and click on "Marketing Tools," or contact the communications department at 816-383-5100.

— Release by American Angus Association.

2012 Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery Inductee Named

Officials of the Kentucky State Fair Board announced that Gary Minish is the 2012 Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery inductee. The gallery serves as the livestock industry's hall of fame. For those involved in animal agriculture, this selection is one of the highest honors one can receive. It is bestowed by the Saddle and Sirloin Award Committee based on service to and impact on the industry.

Minish began his teaching career in 1962 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), where he was ultimately named head of the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences in 1994. During his 40 years of service he has been a teacher, intercollegiate livestock judging team coach, student mentor and extension specialist. He served as dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Southern Illinois University from 2004 until his retirement in 2010. He is the recipient of numerous agriculture education and industry awards and widely recognized for his improvements to academic programs for animal science and agriculture. Today, he and wife Roberta live in Plano, Texas.

During his career, Minish contributed significantly to the livestock industry in the U.S. and abroad, as well as to higher education at every level. Early in his career he recognized the need for leaner, more heavily muscled and faster-growing cattle. He set out to educate the industry on the benefits of changing from the smaller, fatter cattle of the 1950s and 1960s. He wrote and spoke extensively on the subject, including co-authoring a textbook about beef production and management that supports the type change.

Because of his expertise and passion, he became one of the most sought-after beef cattle show judges in the 1970s and 1980s. He officiated at national shows for 10 breeds of cattle in more than 30 states and in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Scotland and Uruguay. He judged at nearly every leading American show, including the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago, the National Western Stock Show in Denver and the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) in Louisville.

In order to be considered for the Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery, a leader must be nominated by his or her peers. Minish's nomination was supported by more than 108 endorsements. These include letters from prominent Saddle & Sirloin Portrait awardees, a United States senator, university presidents and chancellors, college deans, breed association executives, and other livestock industry leaders from throughout the United States and from six foreign countries. The portrait presentation will take place in November at the 2012 NAILE, hosted annually at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

The Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery is curated by the Kentucky State Fair Board and is displayed throughout the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. The collection includes nearly 350 oil paintings and dates back to the early 1900s.

— Release by Kentucky State Fair Board.

Search Function Added to Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA

Time sure passes quickly. It's hard to believe we published the 41st edition of the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA March 20. We've included a host of articles on management, health and nutrition, marketing, and beef industry issues since the eZine was unveiled in November 2008.

To make it easier for you to access an article you want to revisit from a past issue, we put a search function at the top of the Archive page. Try it out at http://bit.ly/HdyHMa.
If you're not a subscriber to the EXTRA, take this opportunity to browse through past editions. We're sure you will find the articles relevant and useful — providing excellent supplemental reading to the Angus Beef Bulletin or the Angus Journal. Use the signup box in the upper-right corner of the Archive page to send us your email address and subscribe. You can also subscribe by emailing bulletinextra@angusbeefbulletin.com with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

The EXTRA is emailed on or about the 20th of the month, so we do need your email address. Users may unsubscribe at any time. API will never sell, rent or loan the subscriber list to third parties for e-mail marketing. Questions or comments regarding the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA may be sent to bulletinextra@angusbeefbulletin.com.

Other notes ….

WWBT reports that the State Fair of Virginia Inc. is no more, closing shop after its bid for Chapter 11 bankruptcy was rejected. See the report at http://www.nbc12.com/story/17102705/state-fair.

A team of geneticists from France, Germany, and the UK say all modern domesticated cattle are descendants of a single herd of wild oxen that lived 10,500 years ago. See the report at http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/cattle-ox-origins/.

JBS USA, a subsidiary of the world's largest animal protein producer, JBS S.A., was recently announced as a winner of the McDonald's 2012 "Best of Sustainable Supply" award. McDonald's, the world's leading global foodservice retailer, recognized JBS for two sustainability projects that resulted in improvements in water conservation and waste reduction. For more, including additional winners, see the news release at http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97876&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1672178&highlight=

The AgChat Foundation will host its third Agvocacy 2.0 event Aug. 23-24 in Kansas City, Mo. Farmers and ranchers from across the nation are invited to attend this dynamic social media training opportunity to learn how to better support agriculture and engage with non-farm consumers. For more, see the release at http://www.api-virtuallibrary.com/
meetings_other_calendar.html.

Agronomist: Farmers Should Still Keep Tillage Passes to a Minimum

Unseasonably warm weather might have farmers tilling their fields earlier than normal, but a Purdue Extension agronomist cautioned them against tilling more than necessary.

While there's nothing wrong with early tillage, Tony Vyn said producers need to think ahead and not increase the total number of passes they're making across their fields.

"From the soil, fuel and time conservation points of view, early tillage operations need to be considered as candidates for the final tillage operations farmers complete," he said. "It's important not to till now and then do it again later before planting. That means that when farmers are ready to plant, they should consider using a stale seedbed approach."

Vyn also said that with long time gaps between tillage and planting, it is important to avoid the risks of excessive seedbed moisture loss if dry conditions prevail.

"Cloddy seedbed preparation several weeks before planting should not even be considered acceptable, and certainly not on high clay soils," he said.

After a winter with very few freeze and thaw cycles, Vyn said soils are not as well-structured as they normally might be, but soil drainage has been reasonably good.

The warm weather also means the moisture contrast between the near-surface and the sub-surface soils is less — which could mean fewer planting delays for producers considering no-till. Good drainage and warm weather combine to more quickly dry soil under surface residue, such as cornstalks.

"This spring weather is not only speeding up tillage, but it's making it more likely that no-till operations can occur in a more timely manner," Vyn said. "There will be less delay associated with planting into higher residue. However, chemical weed control needs to be timely in a spring with such early weed pressure to maintain the no-till option."

Other tillage systems farmers can consider, beyond conventional and no-till, include vertical and strip tillage.

Vertical tillage is a method of shallow soil penetration and some disturbance of the crop residue. It helps soils dry faster, so farmers can plant earlier. Strip tillage, on the other hand, disturbs only the residue in the berms where seeds will be planted. The remainder of the crop residue is left alone.

Both vertical and strip tillage help maintain soil structure.

In addition to early tillage operations, Vyn also said that the warm, dry weather has given farmers an opportunity to apply anhydrous ammonia earlier.

"By applying anhydrous ammonia now, there is a clear time separation between application and planting," Vyn said. "That means less likelihood of zones of high ammonium concentrations potentially interfering with early seedling corn growth.

"However, it's a trade-off, because with early applications, mineral nitrogen has to stay in the soil longer for it to be available to plants."

He recommended using nitrification inhibitors with early nitrogen fertilizer applications with such warm soil temperatures because they slow down the rate at which the ammonium converts to nitrate-nitrogen. This prevents nitrate leaching and reduces nitrous oxide emissions. It also helps to make sure more nitrogen is available when the crop needs it.

— Release by Purdue University Extension and Ohio State University Extension.

— Compiled by Katie Gazda, intern, and Shauna Hermel, editor, Angus Productions Inc.

Editor’s Note: The articles used within this site represent a mixture of copyrights. If you would like to reprint or repost an article, you must first request permission of Angus Productions Inc. (API) by contacting the editor at 816-383-5200; 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. API claims copyright to this web site as presented. We welcome educational venues and cattlemen to link to this site as a service to their audience.