News Update
September 18, 2013
Pacific Temperatures
Forecast Average Winter
The Midwest should see a drier fall and an average winter, according to a climate scientist at the University of Missouri.
Tony Lupo, chair of the Department of Soil, Environmental and Atmospheric Science at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, expects a weak La Niña period to persist through the autumn. This fall pattern will tend to steer storms following the jet stream west and north of the Midwest. A predicted shift later this year to a more neutral La Niña-El Niño pattern will bring the winter jet stream to a more typical route, giving the Midwest an average winter.
Lupo and his fellow scientists base their La Niña prediction on sea surface temperature trends in the Pacific Ocean.
With the jet stream’s autumn track, the Midwest from the Rockies to Illinois, and Texas to the Dakotas will be mostly on the dry and warm side, Lupo said. “It should be generally quite pleasant,” he continued. “The weather should be particularly good for farmers to get their crops harvested.”
If La Niña weakens, as expected, Midwest weather patterns should begin to resemble historic norms.
“Most areas may see the colder weather come earlier than last year, when we were under the influence of La Niña,” Lupo said. “Also, we should see a normal amount of snow. Last year, the Midwest had little snow well into the winter and then we got a lot of snow late. I expect a more normal distribution of snow this year.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Herd Expansion Means Tighter Supply First
In a roomful of cattle feeders, an Oklahoma State University (OSU) livestock marketing specialist had everyone’s full attention as he said there is no way around it: In the next two to three years, the already short supply of feeder cattle will only get tighter.
OSU Breedlove Professor Derrell Peel described the current feeder cattle situation and the circumstances leading to it at the eighth annual Feeding Quality Forum in Omaha, Neb., and Garden City, Kan., last month.
With a U.S. cattle inventory at levels not seen since 1952, “We’re much smaller than we ever intended to be,” Peel said. Drought and other circumstances led producers to liquidate their cow herds 15 out of the last 17 years, despite recent market signals to expand.
Peel expects that to change.
Throughout much of the United States, drought conditions have improved, opening the door to herd rebuilding. Instead of looking for the likeliest animals to cull, many producers will begin looking for the best heifers to keep.
“For the next several years I would expect the [heifer replacement] percentage to be above average,” Peel said. “And that has implications to what happens to feeder supplies in the short run.”
Growing the cattle population is the ultimate solution to the limited feeder supply, but it is not an instant fix. Until a heifer starts calving, each replacement kept is one less animal available for feeding. Cattle feeders already competing for a piece of that small supply know but don’t relish the fact, but “it will get worse before it gets better.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
USDA and Coca-Cola Partner to Replenish
One Billion Liters of Water to Nature
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Coca-Cola Americas President Steve Cahillane announced Sept. 13 a public-private partnership to restore and protect damaged watersheds on national lands. Together these efforts aim to return more than a billion liters of water to the National Forest System — which provides drinking water to more than 60 million Americans. The announcement was made at Midewin Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois.
“By working together, we can better protect our nation’s watersheds and further enhance restoration efforts, even during challenging budget times,” said Secretary Vilsack. “[This] partnership between Federal, private and nonprofit partners is just one example of the strong collaboration that allows government to continue providing results for the American people.”
The new collaboration between government, business and community organizations, including the National Forest Foundation (NFF) and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), which have also contributed funding for these projects, will leverage collective expertise to address increasing challenges on water resources. Additionally, federal dollars spent on these projects have been matched two-to-one by Coca-Cola, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the National Forest Foundation.
“Coca-Cola supports more than 100 water projects throughout the United States in an effort to balance the water we use and help to ensure clean water supplies for communities,” said Steve Cahillane, president, Coca-Cola Americas. “Our experience combined with the knowledge and resources of USDA and other partners will exponentially increase efforts to create healthier, more sustainable communities for all Americans.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Question the Direction of Beef Production at Global 500
“Horsegate” has left the European Union, thought to have one of the most transparent supply chains in the world, now questioning how this could have happened. Animal health concerns have meant that North America is investigating the use of yet another growth promoter. All the while input costs are rising, making feed efficiency vital for sustainable business, but what does feed efficiency mean in practical terms? In this volatile environment, is transparency even possible? Against this backdrop, how do beef producers improve margins?
These tough questions will be tackled at Alltech’s seventh Global 500, taking place October 1-3 2013, in Dublin, Ireland. More than 2 million cattle will be represented by the leading global farmers who have already registered for this year’s Global 500 event, held outside of the United States for the first time.
Globalization is marching on, and it will be businesses with a reliable market that will outlast their competitors in the changing landscape. These markets are opening up now, both domestically with growing demand for functional and traceable foods, and overseas in China and India. Find out where and how to access these markets, along with how to streamline your business and ensure your profitability in the future.
Topics will include the top ten opportunities for a more efficient, profitable and sustainable future; global beef industry outlook; feeding your future feed foundation; feeding your future herd performance; mining beef opportunities for profitability; managing your investments; and formulating a plan for your future.
“It’s not just about supply and demand; it’s about predicting where that demand will be and making sure that we can meet it. The world is opening up to beef and it’s no longer enough to react; proactive production is the only way to keep up with and profit from this changing landscape,” said Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. “This year’s Global 500 will cover everything that the progressive beef farmer needs to know in order to stay ahead of the herd — a global overview of the industry, protein sources and applications, mycotoxin management, performance challenges, finisher replacement and sustainability.”
Early-bird registration is open until the September 24, 2013. For more information, visit the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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