News Update
March 14, 2014
Oklahoma Sisters Lose Both Parents
in 48 hours; FFA Community Rallies Behind Them
FFA chapters across the state are coming together to help two of their own.
Sixteen-year-old Emily and 11-year-old Hallie Cooper lost both their mother and their father in a tragic 48-hour period.
Their passion for FFA runs in the family.
“He showed sheep and my mom, she just liked the goats,” says Emily. “So then we started showing them.”
As Emily, Hallie and their mom, Crystal Cooper, were getting ready for their next show, tragedy struck.
Their aunt Misty Griffith says, “She was on the ground, she was just clipping goats and fell over. She said hold on and just fell over.”
The girls were told their mom had died at 6 a.m. the next morning. Four hours later, Emily honored her commitment to the show, winning the highest awards.
Her family, friends and teachers couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
FFA advisor Tanner Thompson says, “I saw a girl with incredible strength. Emily said, ‘This has been a big part of mom and I’s life and I want to honor her by doing what we were getting ready to do.’ ”
“She came over it all to make her mom proud,” says Griffith.
Just 48 hours after losing their mom, the girls received a phone call with news their father, John Cooper, had died in a car accident.
Griffith says, “I cannot imagine what these girls are going through at all.”
Right then their community decided they’d do whatever needed to be done to take care of the Cooper girls.
The best way they know how is by putting together a live online auction that started with local livestock and farm equipment. It quickly grew into anything; anyone nationwide could donate.
The auction will feature a wide range of items, from livestock to paintings, and kicks off March 25.
For more information, please view the full article here.
House Passes Water Rights Protection Act
The Public Lands Council (PLC) and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) hail the passage of the Water Rights Protection Act (WRPA), H.R. 3189, by the U.S. House of Representatives by a 238 to 174 vote. Introduced by Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), the legislation reiterates the limits to federal agency jurisdiction of water.
H.R. 3189 comes as a means to combat the federal government by way of the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from seizing water rights in exchange for land-use permits, without just compensation. An issue that arose in a USFS directive applicable to ski areas was seen by industry as an issue that could threaten all water users, including ranchers, as they depend on water rights on public and private land to keep their businesses viable.
“With 40% of the Western cow herd spending some time on public lands, the ability to have secure water rights is imperative, not only to producers but to the economy,” said NCBA President Bob McCan, a rancher from Victoria, Texas. “This legislation is a commonsense bill that provides certainty to ranchers and leaves water management to the states where it belongs. The federal agencies must be accountable to citizens and the states and cannot, at will, circumvent state water laws at the expense of landowners.”
The legislation will prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from requiring the transfer of water rights without adequate and just compensation. Additionally, the bill supports long established state water laws, clarifying that the federal government does not have jurisdiction.
For more information, please view the full release here.
NFU Statement on House Ag Committee’s
Adoption of H.R. 935
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson issued the following statement on the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture’s adoption of H.R. 935, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, by voice vote:
“I commend the committee for adopting a commonsense solution to duplicative regulatory requirements that affect family farmers and ranchers.
“Pesticide application is already regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Under H.R. 935, farmers using FIFRA-regulated pesticides would not need to obtain redundant and costly National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to apply them. This law would continue existing regulatory oversight over pesticide application without adding duplicative and time-consuming permitting requirements.
“Since Congress failed to include a provision resolving this issue in the 2014 Farm Bill, I hope House and Senate leaders recognize the need for clarity on pesticide permitting requirements and advance this bipartisan legislation as soon as possible.”
Replacing Toxic Fescue Boosts Beef Gains;
Schools to Tell Proven Steps in Reseeding
Killing Kentucky 31 fescue pastures takes planning and patience. That’s required before seeding new nontoxic replacement forage.
The second step is managing the newly seeded pasture.
“Cows overgrazing can kill the new grass,” says Craig Roberts, University of Missouri (MU) Extension forage specialist.
Roberts and a team from the Alliance for Grassland Renewal will explain those steps in four one-day workshops, starting March 31. The group aims to eradicate toxic K-31 fescue. First, they teach how to reseed with one of five available varieties of novel-endophyte fescue.
Many farmers know the MU plan for “spray-smother-spray,” Roberts says. The yearlong process kills K-31 — and seeds in the soil.
The new varieties take more management, however. That will be a big part of the schools hosted across the state.
“Grass management is tricky,” Roberts says. The problem is that the toxic K-31 fescue was almost impossible to kill. The endophyte fungus in the grass limited overgrazing by livestock. The toxin limited feeding.
By limiting grazing, K-31 toxins cut livestock productivity. Cows produce less milk. Calves gain fewer pounds, and herd health fails. Cows don’t stay in the herd as long when grazed on toxic fescue.
By removing the toxic endophyte and replacing it with a novel endophyte, the plant defense was lowered. A novel endophyte is needed to protect the plant, but the defense isn’t as strong.
The novel endophyte boosts gains. However, the new varieties require managed grazing. Grass farmers who attended grazing schools will understand management-intensive grazing, Roberts says.
For more information, please view the full release here.
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