News Update
December 5, 2012
Tips to Prepare for Calving Season
With fall calving season nearing completion and spring calving season just around the corner, now is the time to evaluate your cow herd to help make the calving season smoother and set your herd up for success in the next breeding season.
Jody Wade, professional services veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI), shares these management tips to help cow-calf producers have a more productive calving season.
- Body condition: It is important for cows to maintain a body condition score (BCS) between 4.5 and 5.5 during the final trimester. A higher body condition score allows for improved calving ease, along with higher-quality colostrum. First-calf heifers should have a BCS of 5.5 to 6 before calving. “Heifers are still trying to grow, while also providing milk and preparing to rebreed. After calving, they won’t add body condition, so it is key that they are in really good condition before calving,” says Wade.
- Vaccinations: Entering the third trimester, producers should consider vaccinating with a killed-virus vaccine to boost immunity. Wade explains that the immune response developed from the vaccination forms antibodies that pass from cow to calf through the colostrum.
- First aid kit: Don’t wait until you have problems to develop a plan. Before calving season, make sure you have a clean calving area, calf jack, obstetric chains, latex gloves and good functioning lights for nighttime calving problems.
After the calf arrives safely, make sure the calf consumes at least one quart of colostrum within six hours of birth. This is also a good time to make sure the calf is getting up and around without any motor function problems. To get off to a really good start health-wise, the calf should consume three quarts of colostrum within the first 24 hours of life.
“A little planning now goes a long way toward a trouble-free calving season and prevents problems before they start,” concludes Wade.
AFBF Urges Senate to Pass Russia PNTR
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) urged the Senate to pass legislation granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Russia. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Russia PNTR possibly as early as today.
Russia formally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in August. But, PNTR for Russia must be enacted by Congress in order to guarantee U.S. access to the market-opening and legal aspects that are part of the Russia-WTO agreement.
“Russia PNTR is a critical step toward ensuring the U.S. benefits from Russia’s accession to the WTO and remains competitive in that market,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “U.S. farmers will have more certain and predictable market access as a result of Russia’s commitment not to raise tariffs on any products above the negotiated rates and to apply international food safety standards in a uniform and transparent manner.”
Russia has a strong capacity for growth in food imports from the United States. U.S. agricultural exports to Russia are forecast at $1.4 billion for 2012. Russia has potential for significant increases in poultry, pork and beef consumption, which are the top U.S. agricultural exports to Russia.
“With this potential for expanding meat exports, obtaining PNTR with Russia is even more important,” said Stallman. “Russia’s membership in the WTO will provide significant commercial opportunities for U.S. agriculture.”
Hay Quality Affects Heifer Calving Success for Next Two Years
The quality of hay fed to a beef heifer the next 60 days of winter will determine the vigor of her calf to be born next spring — and whether she can rebreed to calve the next year.
The amount of fat on a heifer’s back determines the care she needs, says Justin Sexten, University of Missouri Extension beef nutritionist. His concern includes condition of cows in a herd, but heifers pregnant with first calves need extra nutrition.
Sexten is concerned about the coming calf crop — for the next two years — because of drought last summer. Too many beef females are going into winter without protective layers of fat that help carry them through until spring grass.
For some, hay supplies are limited and quality low. A ration rich in nutrients allows cows to maintain body condition, keep the fat layer and develop a calf. Normally, hay does that.
“Unfortunately, much forage harvested last season does not meet base requirements,” Sexten says. Grain supplement will be needed if hay is not of adequate quality.
Herd owners judge the amount and what kind of feed that will be needed from body condition scores (BCS) of cows.
By rule of thumb, a heifer should calve at 85% of her mature body weight. Most herds target 1,300-lb. mature cows. That mature weight is based on a 5- to 8-year-old cow at BCS 5 on a scale of 1 to 9. That means a goal of 1,200 lb. at calving for heifers—1,100 lb. of body mass plus 100 lb. of condition.
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Residue Avoidance Posters Available for Markets
Recently, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) reassessed the beef carcass inspection testing level requirements for residue risks. After their evaluation, FSIS recommended an increase in the number of beef carcasses tested. In response to this recommendation, the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) advisory board, state coordinators and staff decided to create a communications effort to build awareness of the checkoff-funded BQA program and its residue avoidance guidelines.
To help get the word out to cattlemen, dairymen and veal growers, the BQA program called upon the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) and its members for their help in getting this important information out to the nation’s beef producers.
LMA helped BQA create and design a poster to help share the BQA educational message with your area farmers and ranchers. The poster, “Control residues. Every animal, every time.” focuses on three simple residue avoidance guidelines:
- Record — pertinent information when you treat an animal;
- Check — ship date against required withdrawal times; and
- Go — determine if the animal is healthy for shipping.
We urge you display this poster in your market. Together, we can make a difference for the beef industry and help supply a safe, wholesome and delicious product to consumers. If you would like to display the poster and have not yet received yours, please contact Kristen Parman at the LMA office in Kansas City, Mo., at 816-891-0502.
NFU Will Continue to Work with USDA
and USTR to Ensure WTO COOL Compliance
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has given the United States until May 23, 2013, to bring its country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rules into compliance with a WTO ruling.
“NFU will continue to work with United States Department of Agriculture and the Office of the United States Trade Representative to ensure that new rules for COOL fit with the WTO’s ruling and with consumer demand for more information about the origins of their food,” said National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson.
The labeling law was passed as a part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and amended in 2008, requiring retailers to notify their customers of the source of certain foods. After COOL was implemented, Canada and Mexico filed a complaint against the United States’ law. A WTO ruling in June agreed in part with the complaint, stating that the way by which the law was implemented discriminated against imported meat products, but did not find fault with the law itself.
“NFU has a proud record of supporting COOL. We were instrumental in getting the COOL laws passed in 2002 and again in 2008 and will continue to support its implementation in a way that meets the requirements of the WTO.”
According to the USDA Economic Research Service, food imports have consistently increased since 1990.
“Consumers want and have the right to know where their meat comes from. We will continue to vigorously defend the COOL law, which was upheld in June. Only the rules that were issued to implement COOL law are in question and can be adjusted.”
UNL Scientist Cites Managing Risks
in New Keystone XL Pipeline Route
Potential groundwater contamination risks posed by the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska are minimal and manageable under a “risk-managed” route proposed by a University of Nebraska–Lincoln water scientist.
Roy Spalding, hydrochemist and water quality expert, and Aaron Hirsh, graduate student, outlined the findings in a journal article about risk-managed approaches to routing petroleum pipelines. The article is in the Dec. 4 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, a long-standing and highly regarded journal published by the American Chemical Society, based in Washington, D.C.
The risk-managed route the authors propose for the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska “avoids the sensitive, highly vulnerable, agriculturally undeveloped land that elicited strong condemnation of the since-rejected original Keystone XL route,” Spalding said. Their proposed southeasterly route through Holt, Antelope and Pierce counties, to the existing north-south Keystone 1 pipeline, avoids the Ogallala aquifer beneath the fragile and pristine Sandhills, sub-irrigated meadows and areas with very shallow water tables.
The risk-managed route through these three counties is through overlying row-cropped land underlain by already-contaminated Ogallala groundwater to the Keystone 1 corridor. The north-south segment paralleling the Keystone corridor to Steele City avoids the Ogallala aquifer.
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