News Update
November 27, 2013
Angus Journal and American Angus Association Closed for the Holidays
The Angus Journal and the American Angus Association will be closed Thursday, Nov. 28, and Friday, Nov. 29, to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with our families. The office will reopen Monday, Dec. 2. Happy Thanksgiving from the Angus Journal!
American Angus Auxiliary Elects Officers
Deeply committed to serving the Angus breed and its future generations, the American Angus Auxiliary has played a central role in the American Angus Association for more than 60 years. The volunteer organization recently celebrated that tradition during Angus events held in conjunction with the 2013 North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) in Louisville, Ky.
The American Angus Auxiliary elected the 2013-2014 officers and regional directors during its Annual Meeting Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Members of the newly elected officer team are President Cortney Holshouser, Castalia, N.C.; President-elect Lynne Hinrichsen, Westmoreland, Kan.; Secretary/Treasurer Carla Malson, Parma, Idaho; and Advisor Cortney Hill-Dukehart Cates, Modoc, Ind.
The Auxiliary welcomed 2013 NAILE participants to its Annual Breakfast Sunday, Nov. 17, in the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center.
While eating, the nearly 200 guests were entertained by a vocal performance from junior Angus member Taylor Gazda of Athens, Ga. Afterwards, attendees listened to the 2013 Miss American Angus Esther McCabe’s retiring address.
To conclude the event, the Auxiliary welcomed Thomas Burke, Smithville, Mo., to the stage to announce the Angus Hall of Fame $10,000 donation to the Auxiliary.
For more information, please view the full release here.
2014 National Western Stock Show Nears
Hundreds of families will make the trip to Denver, Colo., this January to join in the 108-year-old tradition of the National Western Stock Show (NWSS). Angus events kick off Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, and continue through the weekend with shows, sales and other activities.
“We always look forward to starting the new year in Denver,” says Robin Ruff, American Angus Association director of activities, events and education. “The NWSS continues to be our biggest show of the year, plus it’s home to the breed’s only pen and carload show, and elite Angus sale offerings.”
While at the NWSS, stop by the Listening Post in the Yards, where Association, Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI) and Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) staff members will be available to visit with producers about Association programs and current issues facing the cattle industry.
The NWSS Angus headquarters hotel, the Marriott City Center, offers a shuttle that travels to the NWSS daily, each morning and evening, as space is available. To make reservations in the Angus block call the Marriott before the Dec. 21 deadline, at 303-297-1300 and ask for the American Angus Association block.
For more information, please view the full release here.
AgriLife Research Scientist Utilizes
Drone to Detect Wheat Disease Progression
Charlie Rush hopes to use a unique method — helicopter drone — to track disease progression across wheat fields to eventually help producers make better irrigation decisions.
Rush, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist in Amarillo, has enlisted the help of Ian Johnson, a Montana State University–Bozeman graduate student who is using his work in the university’s Science and Natural History Filmmaking Program to help scientists conduct research.
Approximately 1.1 million acres of wheat in the High Plains are irrigated, Rush said, making wheat the second-largest user of irrigation water from the Ogallala Aquifer. In this same region, mite-vectored virus diseases are the predominant pathogenic constraint to sustainable wheat production each year.
The viruses causing these diseases are transmitted by the wheat curl mite, he said. Infected wheat plants not only have reduced grain and forage yields, but also greatly reduced root weight and water-use efficiency. Therefore, fertilizer and groundwater applied as irrigation to diseased wheat is largely wasted.
Rush’s team is using the helicopter to take remote images of a field study where they are trying to develop an economic threshold for irrigation of wheat infected with wheat streak and other mite-vectored diseases.
“The problem for farmers is that these diseases develop in gradients over time and they don’t know whether or not they should apply new pesticides or fertilizers or water,” he said. “Most of these practices are done in April, and that is when the disease is just starting to show up. They may know they have disease in the field, but they really don’t know how much damage it might cause.
“So what we are trying to do is be able to go in early in the season and look at the disease development at a particular time and then based on what it looks like, say in early April, be able to give them a prediction of what the crop will be at harvest time.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Twenty-five Workshops in Five Tracks
on Tap at AFBF Annual Convention
More than 25 educational workshops will be offered at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) 95th Annual Convention Jan. 12-15, 2014, in San Antonio, Texas. That’s up from 12 workshops offered in previous years.
In addition to the five main workshop tracks, AFBF will showcase two featured workshops and two insurance workshops. Attendees may select a track and follow all of the offerings specific to their choice, or mix and match. All workshop descriptions will be available in the program and on the new Annual Convention app.
The convention kicks off with the opening general session Sunday morning, when AFBF President Bob Stallman will share Farm Bureau’s direction for 2014. At the closing general session Monday afternoon General Stan McChrystal will provide lessons in leadership.
Members attending the convention are encouraged to support ag literacy by bidding on items in the online/onsite auction and purchasing tickets to attend the Flapjack Fundraiser, the golf outing or the Foundation’s Night Out event. Learn more at http://annualconvention.fb.org/.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
Pheasant Numbers Up, A Little
The numbers are promising, at least up from last year, giving Oklahoma pheasant hunters something to look forward to when the season opens Dec. 1.
Dwayne Elmore, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist said the best areas for pheasant hunting are north-central, northwest and the panhandle.
“Reports indicate pheasant numbers are up in some areas of the state compared to last year, but it’s still not a banner year as last year was very poor,” he said. “Expect spotty hunting.”
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) performs brood count surveys in August to determine how many young pheasants survived the summer. Relief from the multiyear drought and mild summer temperatures improved the habitat of pheasants, leading to a brood count 20% higher than last year.
“These brood count surveys are the primary means we use to help us understand the annual population status of pheasant and to give us an idea of what the hunting season may be like,” said Scott Cox, ODWC upland game bird biologist. “Thankfully, the results are up this year.”
Expectations should be tempered, however. While the numbers this year are higher than last year, the population is still down from traditional levels.
“The excessive heat and lack of rain during 2011 and 2012 greatly reduced the number of game birds in Oklahoma,” Elmore said. “While 2013 was wonderful, it takes more than one year to bounce back to quality hunting.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
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