News Update
April 18, 2013
Angus Foundation Seeks Donations
for Annual Silent Auction at 2013 National Junior Angus Show
The Angus Foundation’s annual silent auction, an exciting event hosted each year during the National Junior Angus Show (NJAS), always features a variety of items available for Angus enthusiasts to bid on and purchase. The 2013 Angus Foundation Silent Auction will take place July 8-11 at the American Royal Complex in Kansas City, Mo. Proceeds from the silent auction benefit the Angus Foundation’s youth, education and research programs.
The Angus Foundation is currently seeking donated items for the silent auction. Items that have been donated in the past include, but are not limited to, jewelry, clothing, prints and paintings, gift baskets, books, cattle supplies, bull semen and other Angus memorabilia. State junior and adult Angus associations, and individual Angus friends, farms and corporations, donate the items sold at the silent auction. The state association that donates the highest selling item to the silent auction will receive $100 for its state junior Angus association.
At the 2012 NJAS in Louisville, Ky., the silent auction raised $13,800 in gross proceeds for Angus youth, education and research.
“When viewing the wide array of wonderful gift-in-kind items donated to us each year for our silent auction fundraiser at the NJAS, one can only be impressed with the generosity of our Angus family,” says Milford Jenkins, Angus Foundation president. “This is a fun activity, and we invite everyone who will be with us at the upcoming NJAS to come by the silent auction and help your Angus Foundation raise funds by charitably bidding on the items offered.”
Jenkins says unrestricted proceeds from the silent auction play a crucial role each year in the Foundation’s ongoing efforts to fund scholarships for Angus youth, Leaders Engaged in Angus Development (LEAD) Conference, Cattlemen’s Boot Camps, Beef Leaders Institute and research projects for the benefit of the Angus breed.
For more information and the full release, click here.
Livestock Disaster Protection Act
Introduced in the House of Representatives
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) supports the efforts of Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) in introducing legislation that would provide a safety net for livestock owners across the nation. Under the Livestock Disaster Protection Act, the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) would be extended for five years and would apply retroactively to cover losses in fiscal years 2012 and 2013.
“While cattlemen and women need the certainty that would be provided through a permanent disaster program in a full five-year farm bill, and we continue to work toward that goal, we appreciate the efforts of all members of Congress in keeping disaster assistance part of the national dialogue,” said Scott George, NCBA president and a dairy and beef producer from Cody, Wyo. “The continued drought which has now covered more than 70% of cattle country has impacted all of our ranches. Cattle producers need the tools necessary to manage the risks associated with Mother Nature.”
The nation’s livestock producers have been hard hit, with the current drought across the country only adding to the effects caused by multi-year droughts in some of the largest cattle production areas. The drought has been a major factor in lower yields and subsequent high costs for hay and feed grains, forcing many ranchers to sell their cattle.
“The risk our farmers, ranchers and all livestock owners take is undeniable,” said Noem. “The extreme weather we see across America — from drought to flood to freezes to the extreme heat — demonstrates the importance of providing a strong safety net. My bill gives some long-term certainty to our livestock owners so they’ll keep on taking the risk to contribute to our state and nation’s robust agriculture industry.”
Noem had previously introduced this legislation Apr. 26, 2012. The House of Representatives voted to approve livestock disaster assistance on Aug. 2, 2012, by a vote of 223-197.
Hay Production Experiences Regional Changes
Old Man Winter is lingering around much of the United States this year, helping to exaggerate the effects of limited forage supplies for beef producers.
“Drought in 2011 and 2012 reduced U.S. hay production while increasing hay demand, leaving the nation with extremely limited forage supplies,” said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension livestock marketing specialist.
On December 1, stocks of all hay were down nearly 28% from a 2001-2010 average prior to the drought. States with the biggest decrease in hay stocks are, in descending order: Texas, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nebraska, Michigan and Minnesota.
“These 11 states all experienced reductions in hay stocks of 1 million tons or more, accounting for 72% of the total decrease in December 1 hay stocks compared to the 2001-2010 average,” Peel said. “Decreased hay stocks for Texas, South Dakota, Missouri and Kansas all exceeded 2 million tons.”
In addition, drought played a major role in reducing hay production in many other states in either 2011 or 2012, or both. The 2011-2012 average all-hay production for the United States decreased 16% from the 2001-2010 average.
A comparable list of the top 11 states with decreased 2011-2012 average all-hay production is the same as previously cited for hay stocks with two exceptions: South Dakota and Minnesota are replaced on the list by California and Ohio.
“South Dakota did have sharply reduced hay production in 2012 but it followed high production in 2011, so the two-year average was only 9% below the 2001-2010 average,” Peel said.
Compared to the 2001-2010 average, the 11 states with the biggest decrease in 2011-2012 production accounted for 77% of the total U.S. decrease in production. For more information and the full release, click here.
AgriLife Extension Sets Livestock and
Rangeland Revitalization Program
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will present a Livestock and Rangeland Revitalization Program from 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. May 28 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo, 7887 U.S. Highway 87 North.
“We’re a long way from optimal range conditions. In fact, most of West Texas is not even close and de-stocking continues, but it’s not too early to optimistically plan for the future,” said James Jackson, AgriLife Extension agent in Coke County.
Jackson will be joined by AgriLife Extension agents in Runnels, Sterling, Concho and Tom Green counties, in conducting the multi-county effort.
“This program is designed to assist participants with decisions on how to evaluate their rangeland resources now and to offer some possible livestock restocking options for our region once it does start raining,” Jackson said. For more information and the full release, click here.
Traceability for Food Safety Purposes:
What Do I Really Need to Know?
Understanding the requirements for tracking produce from the farm field to its final destination can be incredibly confusing. Large retailers are requiring the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) be adopted for large growers. For many small and midsized growers, the retail markets they supply may not require PTI. Michigan State University Extension advises growers to keep track of the following information from harvest to the time it is sold.
Whether a grower uses PTI or not, the date produce is harvested should be recorded.
Growers may wish to use the Julian date to encode this information as part of an overall tracking code. Julian dates are the numeric equivalent of the day of the year. For instance, the Julian date for February 27th is 058. This means that February 27th is the 58th day of the year. By using Julian dates, the grower can easily encode the harvest date into an overall tracking number. For more information and the full release, click here.
Farmland Values: Boom or Bubble?
Low interest rates and record income per acre have driven farmland values much higher during the last decade. The increase has led to concerns of a repeat of the farm crisis of the 1980s.
“Back in the 1970s we got way above trend growth, and it looks like that is what is happening again,” said University of Missouri Extension agricultural economist Ron Plain. “Last year we were more than $500 per acre above trend for the average acre of Missouri farmland.”
The 1970s run-up of land values ended in the early 1980s with a collapse of farmland prices. While Plain says there is a possibility of a land price bubble in the future, a drop in farmland value today would not have the same catastrophic impact it had 30 years ago.
“In 1981, Missouri farmland prices were 150% above trend, with the trend going up 6% per year,” he said. “Without a price drop, it would have taken a long time to close that gap.”
Today, Missouri farmland values are 22%-25% above a 6% growth trend. It would take only four years of steady land prices for the trend to catch up with actual prices. “So we are not nearly as vulnerable,” Plain said. “The downside risk isn’t anywhere near what it was in the early 1980s.”
A factor in the 1980s bubble popping was a huge increase in interest rates. Plain says many farmers took on a lot of debt and became heavily leveraged.
For more information and the full release, click here.
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