News Update
February 18, 2014
NFU’s 2014 College Conference
on Cooperatives a Success
More than 135 students from the United States and Puerto Rico participated in the National Farmers Union (NFU) College Conference on Cooperatives last week. The students learned how cooperative businesses are adapting to changing environments in order to succeed and heard from cooperative experts from across the nation on why member-owned businesses are thriving in industries ranging from senior housing to healthcare.
“This is an opportunity for the cooperative community to teach young people about cooperative business principles and to show them that there are great careers in these dynamic, ethical and community-minded businesses,” said NFU President Roger Johnson.
To bring cooperative education to life students toured housing, retail and marketing cooperatives in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minn. They visited the headquarters of CHS Inc., the nation’s largest agricultural cooperative. Students heard from cooperative leaders, farmers, and government experts who explained current challenges they face.
Presenters ranged from members, directors, employees and managers of traditional and value-added agricultural cooperatives to representatives of electric, housing, and worker-owned co-ops, as well as consumer cooperatives such as credit unions, REI and natural foods co-ops. These professionals offered insights on cooperative development here and abroad.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Some Newborn Calves Need Help Breathing
Despite a cow-calf producer’s best efforts relative to providing desired herd genetics and ease of birthing through bull selection and heifer development, some cows or heifers still need assistance at calving time.
“It’s important to remember that every baby calf has a certain degree of respiratory acidosis, one reason why producers need to keep as close an eye as possible on newborns,” said Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension emeritus livestock specialist.
Acidosis is the result of oxygen deprivation and accumulation of carbon dioxide that results from passage of the calf through the birth canal. The excess of carbon dioxide results in a buildup of lactic acid.
Typically, a healthy calf will pant vigorously shortly after birth, its body working to auto-correct the lack of oxygen and the excess of carbon dioxide and its byproducts.
“Unfortunately, some calves may be sluggish and slow to begin this corrective process,” Selk said. “It’s imperative that newborn calves begin to breathe as soon as possible, and that means producers need to be both watchful and knowledgeable about how to render assistance.”
To stimulate the initiation of the respiratory process, first manually clear the newborn calf’s mouth and nasal passages of fluids and mucus.
“Hanging the calf over a fence is not the best method to initiate breathing,” Selk said. “The weight of the calf on the fence restricts the movement of the animal’s diaphragm muscle. This diaphragm activity is necessary to expand the lungs to draw in needed oxygen.”
Selk suggests a better method is to briskly tickle the inside of the calf’s nostrils with a straw. This will usually initiate a reflex action such as a snort or cough in the newborn, expanding its lungs and allowing air to enter.
For more information, please view the full release here.
New Wheat Variety Offers Many Benefits
At Kansas State University’s (K-State’s) Agricultural Research Center in Hays, Guorong Zhang is a wheat breeder whose research focuses on trying to improve the wheat crop by developing new varieties with adaptation to western Kansas, including the latest new variety — a hard red winter wheat named KS09H19-2-3, or Oakley CL.
Development of Oakley CL began in 2002, and in late 2013, K-State’s Agricultural Research Center released it. Its registered and certified seed is expected to become available in 2015, while test plots will continue to be analyzed in 2014. Zhang said Oakley CL came from a three-way cross, so it has three parents that contribute to its high yield potential, Beyond® herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance, disease resistance, and good quality for milling and baking. It also has good straw strength and grain shattering resistance to combat high winds in western Kansas, and it has good resistance to preharvest sprouting.
“The Beyond herbicide resistance actually comes from one parent, Above. Above is the first publicly released one-gene Clearfield wheat variety,” Zhang said. “The other two parents are Danby — the most popular white variety in western Kansas — and another parent from our own breeding lines. From Above, this variety inherited its herbicide resistance. From Danby, it inherited some drought tolerance, so it has performed very well in western Kansas. The third parent had the wheat streak mosaic virus resistance. Stripe rust resistance might come from both Danby and the third parent.”
Oakley CL, Zhang said, shows strong resistance to stripe rust, a fungal disease that causes wheat to have yellow or orange blister-like lesions arranged in stripes. He has tested it for both 2010 and 2012 races of stripe rust.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Pre-Breeding Heifer Meeting Set for Feb. 25,
Hosted by Sunflower Supreme Program
Expansion efforts are on the minds of many cow-calf producers who have decreased herd sizes in the past couple of years due to poor weather conditions.
With many producers having to liquidate some of their herd, total cattle inventory is the lowest it has been since the 1950s, said Jaymelynn Farney, southeast area beef specialist with K-State Research and Extension. One step to increase herd expansion is by providing best management techniques for breeding success of replacement heifers.
To help producers with management practices that can improve breeding success and genetic selection, an evening producer meeting will take place in Erie, Kan., Feb. 25. The meeting will be at the Function Junction (next to R&F Farm Supply, South of Erie on Hwy 75) beginning at 6 p.m. with dinner and a presentation at 6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University (K-State) professionals, including Bob Larson, professor and Coleman Chair of Food Animal Production Medicine with K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, will speak. Larson will discuss prebreeding exams for bulls and heifers. His emphasis will be to help producers make management decisions to get a greater number of heifers bred successfully.
One area of focus in Bob Weaber’s work as a cow-calf specialist with K-State Research and Extension is genetics. Weaber will discuss expected progeny differences (EPDs) and ways to adapt EPDs for success within a beef operation.
Sandy Johnson, northwest area livestock specialist with K-State Research and Extension, will discuss optimizing artificial insemination and estrous-synchronization programs. Johnson is a livestock reproductive specialist and will be available for discussions on the topic.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
AgriLife Extension Sets Cattleman’s Spring Clinic
for Feb. 27 in Lampasas
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct the Cattleman’s Spring Clinic from 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Lampasas County Farm Bureau Building, 1793 N. U.S. Highway 281 in Lampasas, Texas.
The multi-county program involves the AgriLife Extension offices in Lampasas, Burnet and Llano counties.
Individual preregistration is $25. The fee covers a barbecue lunch. RSVP by Feb. 24 to the AgriLife Extension office for Lampasas County at 512-556-8271.
“This winter has been really something weather-wise, but as February rolls along, we know spring can’t be too far off,” said Heath Lusty, AgriLife Extension agent in Lampasas County. “Our goal for this clinic is to ready our area’s producers once spring finally arrives.
“We’ve gathered some of the top experts in several fields to speak, and we’re also giving them ample time to cover a lot of material. I think this program is a must for anybody seeking ranch-related information in our area.”
Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units, two general and one integrated pest management, will be offered.
For more information call Lusty at 512-556-8271 or any of the AgriLife Extension offices in the participating counties.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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