News Update

September 17, 2013

Large Crowd Attends Ohio Angus Field Day

More than 200 Angus enthusiasts from five states attended the Ohio Angus Association (OAA) Field Day on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Aug. 18, at Home Acres Farm near Lebanon, Ohio. Terry and Cindy Schuh, owners of Home Acres, presented an attractive setting that included valet parking for their guests.

The Miami Valley Angus Association also participated in the sponsorship and had cattle displayed by members — Home Acres, Kiata Farms, DC Angus and Miller Farms.

The Ohio State University (OSU) meats team, led by Loraine English, prepared the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand prime-rib on location, with Chris Anway Catering completing the balance of the meal. Homemade ice cream with a sundae bar topped off the menu.

Terry Schuh and Kelvin Egner, OAA president, welcomed the crowd to the field day. Speakers included Francis Fluharty from the OSU, Mark McCully of Certified Angus Beef LLC, and Bryce Schumann, American Angus Association CEO.

Dan Wells, secretary of the OAA, updated the group on upcoming Ohio Angus events. Jim Rentz was the event emcee. Also in attendance was Chuck Grove, regional manager for the American Angus Association.

— Adapted from a release by the Ohio Angus Association.

NMSU Rancher’s Roundtable at Corona
Addresses Cattle Nutrition

The key to a healthy cattle herd is good nutrition. Pasture assessment, supplementation, minerals and water are factors that will be discussed during the Wednesday, Sept. 25, Rancher’s Roundtable at the New Mexico State University (NMSU) Southwest Center for Rangeland Sustainability in Corona.

“The panel has the expertise to answer questions regarding animal nutritional aspects of the entire ranching enterprise, including prenatal, adolescent, weaning, backgrounding, preconditioning and in the feedyard,” said Shad Cox, superintendent of NMSU’s Corona Range and Livestock Research Center. “They will be able to discuss the entire nutritional package from grazing lands to supplementation periods, minerals and water.”

Cox foresees the ranchers’ questions will deal with how much grass they have, nutritional quality of the grass, what supplementation is necessary to compensate for the lack of nutrition in the grass, and what water has to do with mineral supplementation.

Panel members will include Nick Ashcroft, NMSU Extension range management specialist; Manny Encinias and Marcy Ward, NMSU Extension livestock specialists; Brenda Simpson, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) northwest area rangeland management specialist from Grants; Gary Creighton, Purina Mills beef cattle specialist from Portales; Kent Mills, Hipro Feeds field nutritionist from Snyder, Texas; and Bill Smith, AC Nutrition nutritionist from Bellvue, Colo. Eric Scholljegerdes, NMSU range ruminant nutritionist, will be the moderator of the event.

For more information, please view the full release at Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.

— Adapted from a release by Jane Moorman for New Mexico State University.

Milam County Feral Hog Management Workshop Oct. 4

A feral hog management workshop featuring several topics related to biology, trapping and management methods is scheduled 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Oct 4., at the Thorndale Fireman’s Hall in Thorndale. The cost is $20 and includes a catered meal.

“Battling feral hogs is a problem many landowners are facing throughout Texas,” said Jon Gersbach, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for Milam County. “This workshop will provide attendees a sound background on biology of the feral hog, plus teach trapping options, as well as listening to personal experiences managing feral hogs from a panel of local livestock producers.”

Program topics and speakers are: feral hog biology by Tim Siegmund, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist, College Station; trapping and timing methods by Mark Tyson, AgriLife Extension associate, College Station; laws related to feral hog hunting, trapping and required license by Charlie Mayer, game warden, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; feral hog disease transmission by Tommy Barton, veterinarian, Texas Animal Health Commission, Rockdale; feral hog impact on water quality by Dan Gaskins, AgriLife Extension assistant, College Station; Boar Buster hog trap demonstration by Josh Gaskamp, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation; CHAMP Feral Hog Grant introduction by Milam County commissioners; and feral hog management methods by a producer panel.

Capital Farm Credit, the Thorndale Volunteer Fire Department and AgriLife Extension are program sponsors. RSVP is requested by calling 254-697-7045.

For more information, please view the Angus Journal virtual library calendar of events here.

— Adapted from a release by Blair Fannin for Texas A&M AgriLife Communications.

Bermuda Grass Stem Maggot Found in East Texas

The presence of a new Bermuda grass pest has been confirmed in Van Zandt County, and producers are advised to be on the lookout, said Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

Unlike other insects that attack plants from the outside, the Bermuda grass stem maggot damages them from inside, according to Vanessa Corriher-Olson, AgriLife Extension forage specialist, Overton.

“Basically, they consume material inside the stem, unlike armyworms or grasshoppers, where the damage is external,” she said.

Corriher-Olson did her graduate work in Georgia, where the pest has had a presence since 2010, and she is familiar with the damage it does. The Van Zandt field is the first confirmed instance of the pest in Texas.

She said the pest is native to southern Asia, common from Japan to Pakistan. Somehow it made its way to the United States, where it was found in three Georgia counties. “It’s relatively new to the U.S., and very little is known about its life cycle yet,” Corriher-Olson said.

“It is not yet known how damaging this insect will be in Texas,” said Allen Knutson, the AgriLife Extension entomologist at Dallas who confirmed the identity of larva found in a Van Zandt County field of irrigated Bermuda grass this summer.

What is known is infestation begins when the adult fly lays its eggs on a Bermuda grass stem near a node, Knutson said. The larvae, which grow to be about an eighth-inch long, look like a pale yellow maggot. They burrow into the Bermuda grass shoot to feed. This feeding causes the top two to three leaves to wither and die. Cutting open the stem just below these dead leaves will reveal the maggot and the brownish feeding site on the stem.

For more information, please view the full release here.

— Adapted from a release by Robert Burns for Texas A&M AgriLife Communications.

Selling Grass-Finished Freezer Beef

Grass-finished beef is in high demand. Many farmers are selling grass-fed beef as freezer beef. Grass-finished freezer beef will typically have a lower dressing percentage than grain-finished beef and producers should consider that and other factors when setting a price.

In a group of 54 cattle finished on grass through Michigan State University (MSU) Extension research, there was an average live weight of 1,224 pounds (lb.) with carcass weights averaging 668 lb. This equates to an average dressing percentage of 55%. Typically grass-finished beef will range in dressing percentage from 53% to 58% depending mainly on the amount of fat cover, muscling and carcass size.

The leanness of grass-finished beef may attract some customers, but it is still advantageous to aim for 0.3 to 0.4 inches of backfat opposite the 12th rib. This will allow for a carcass that has enough cover to stay in the cooler for 14 days of aging without drying out too much. It will also allow for enough fat for the ground beef. Depending on the genetics, type and size of the animal, decent marbling can be achieved in grass-finished beef if enough high-quality forages are available.

The Grass-Finished Freezer Beef Pricing Worksheet on the MSU Extension Beef Team website takes into account the lower dressing percentage and goes step-by-step through calculations to determine the live-weight price comparison and average final packaged price. The worksheet gives current averages as of August 2013 but producers are encouraged to determine their own production costs and marketing margin before setting a carcass price.

For more information, please view the full release here.

— Adapted from a release by Jeannine Schweihofer for MSU Extension.

— Compiled by Lynsey Meharg, intern, Angus Journal.