News Update
November 26, 2013
Angus Offers Internship
and Scholarship Opportunities
The American Angus Association and its entities strive to provide students with opportunities to benefit themselves and the future of the cattle business. With paid internships and scholarship programs, the Association provides a chance for students to gain real-world knowledge and experience in the cattle industry, as well as financial support to further the education of undergraduate and graduate students passionate about beef and Angus cattle.
Internships are available through the American Angus Association Activities and Events Department, the American Angus Association Junior Activities Department, the American Angus Association Communications and Public Relations Department and the Angus Journal.
For more information about internships and scholarships, please view the full release here.
Celebrate 50K of HD 50K with Zoetis Genetics
Milestones are made to celebrate, and Zoetis Genetics will recognize a big one in the near future. Before the end of this year, the 50,000th Angus will be tested using the Zoetis HD 50K test — more high-density genomic tests than any other beef breed in the world.
As a thank-you for helping us reach this milestone, Zoetis will provide customers with commemorative jackets for Zoetis HD 50K test requests received by Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI) in November and December. Producers will receive one commemorative jacket for every 10 animals submitted for HD 50K testing from November 1 through Dec. 31. Customers who order 100 or more HD 50K tests during that time can also have their ranch name embroidered on the front of each jacket.
The commemorative jacket order form must be submitted by Dec. 31. Go online for specific details and instructions. There is a maximum of 10 jackets per operation.
Zoetis Genetics is proud to be able to partner with AGI to provide the Zoetis HD 50K test for Angus and to play a role in identifying superior Angus genetics. Send in samples today and join the effort to reach 50,000 Angus animals tested with HD 50K.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods America to Feature
Certified Angus Beef® Brand’s Education & Culinary Center
World-traveling food connoisseur Andrew Zimmern visited Wooster, Ohio, this past summer filming an episode of his hit show Bizarre Foods America. Spotlighting the cuisine and agriculture of Cleveland and surrounding Northeast Ohio, the episode debut will be Monday, Dec. 2, at 9 p.m. EST.
Zimmern, also a chef and award-winning food journalist, visited the Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) brand’s Education & Culinary Center to get the dish on beef from meat scientist Phil Bass. Zimmern witnessed the dry-aging process, discovered lesser known beef cuts and tested some essential meat science tools.
Among the other Northeast Ohio locations visited by Bizarre Foods America were Cleveland’s Greenhouse Tavern, a CAB brand partner, and the Atterholt family’s Angus farm in Jeromesville, Ohio.
Zimmern’s premium beef experiences — from gate to plate — will run during his show. Join the CAB brand for a live Twitter chat during the episode and Facebook virtual viewing party.
Follow @CertAngusBeef and hashtags #CAB101 and #bizarreCLE. Visit the CAB brand’s Facebook page that evening to follow along and enter to win a steak package. Local viewers are invited to attend a live “Bizarre BBQ and TweetUp,” hosted by Noodlecat during the show.
USDA Announces Notice of Funding Availability
for Value-Added Producer Grants
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Nov. 25 the availability of nearly $10.5 million in USDA grants to help agricultural producers enter into value-added activities designed to give them a competitive business edge.
“U.S. agriculture is connected to one in 12 American jobs, and value-added products from homegrown sources are one important way that agriculture generates economic growth,” Vilsack said. “Supporting producers and businesses to create value-added products strengthens rural economies, helps fuel innovation, and strengthens marketing opportunities for producers — especially at the local and regional level.”
The funding is being made available through the Value-added Producer Grant (VAPG) program. Grants are available to help agricultural producers create new products, expand marketing opportunities, support further processing of existing products or goods, or to develop specialty and niche products. They may be used for working capital and planning activities. The maximum working capital grant is $200,000; the maximum planning grant is $75,000.
Eligible applicants include independent producers, farmer and rancher cooperatives, and agricultural producer groups. Funding priority is given to socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers or ranchers, and to small- to medium-size family farms, or farmer/rancher cooperatives.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Alfalfa Study May Help Growers Determine
Returns as Water Resources Dwindle
In a perfect world, alfalfa might be considered the perfect crop. It’s packed with nutrients, is highly digestible, can use precipitation efficiently because it roots deeply into western Kansas soils, and produces high economic returns. Yet the semi-arid climate of southwest Kansas coupled with a depleting Ogallala Aquifer is not a perfect world for alfalfa because it needs more water than other annual crops.
To help farmers evaluate the potential economic returns of growing alfalfa in that region even as the water supply is diminishing, Kansas State University (K-State) researchers conducted a five-year study to better understand how alfalfa would fare with a limited water supply.
“Alfalfa creates the most economic return by far, compared with other crops for irrigators when water supplies are adequate for full irrigation,” said recently retired K-State Research and Extension water resources engineer, Norman Klocke, who cited consistent demand from the dairy and beef cattle industries, in particular. “As water resources in this region decline, the question is whether or not alfalfa production is possible with limited irrigation — especially when the crop is stressed because of a lack of water during part or all of the growing season.”
Klocke, along with researchers Randall Currie and John Holman, designed a field study conducted at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Garden City. The experiment was intended to reflect the declining ability of the aquifer to supply water for irrigation and also to reflect the constraints of water rights and irrigation management.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Blackland Income Growth Conference
to Feature Rebuilding the Beef Herd
A two-part session on Rebuilding the Beef Herd in Texas is one of several program highlights at the 52nd Blackland Income Growth Conference scheduled Feb. 4-5 at the Extraco Events Center in Waco. The center is located at 4601 Bosque Blvd.
“The Blackland Income Growth Conference has a long history of providing the latest research information and production management practices for farmers and ranchers throughout the region,” said Ronald Woolley, conference coordinator and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service regional program director at Stephenville. “This year’s conference has several experts in each commodity session. We think we have something for everyone, and producers will take home plenty of strategies they can incorporate into their operations.”
The annual conference is sponsored by AgriLife Extension and the Waco Chamber of Commerce.
Registration for the main Blackland Income Growth Conference on Feb. 4 is $20 per person and includes lunch. Several sessions will award continuing education units. Producers are encouraged to download the brochure at http://bit.ly/17IGNEB to see specific continuing education credit allocations, sessions and speakers.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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