News Update
April 21, 2014
Nebraska State Fair Launches
Two New Cattle Shows
The Nebraska State Fair will launch two new open cattle shows in 2014. The first is an open junior breeding heifer show, which will take place Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 4 pm in the Five Points Bank Arena. This show will be open to any junior exhibitor who is enrolled in 4-H or FFA or is a member of a junior breed association. Nebraska residency is not required. The entry fee is $25 per head and the entry deadline is Aug. 10. Go to the state fair website for entry information.
Registration papers must be in the sole name of the exhibitor at least 30 days prior to the start of the fair. Original papers must be available for inspection at the show. Junior breeding heifers may also be exhibited in the open breeding cattle classes with an additional fee, as well as the open class jackpot feeder & breeding calf show. There is no limit to the number of animals an exhibitor may enter in this division. Substitutions within the same class and same owner only will be accepted until Aug. 15.
Classes for this initial year will be available for Angus, Charolais, Gelbvieh/Balancer, Hereford (polled and horned show together), Limousin (Limousin and Limflex show together), Red Angus, Shorthorn and Simmental (purebred and percentage show together) females. There will also be an Other Breeds division for those breeds not listed. If any breed fails to have 10 entries, those heifers will be placed into the Other Breeds division. Within each breed there will be a cow-calf class.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Food Shortages Could be Most
Critical World Issue by Mid-Century
The world is less than 40 years away from a food shortage that will have serious implications for people and governments, according to a top scientist at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“For the first time in human history, food production will be limited on a global scale by the availability of land, water and energy,” said Fred Davies, senior science adviser for the agency’s bureau of food security. “Food issues could become as politically destabilizing by 2050 as energy issues are today.”
Davies, who also is a Texas A&M AgriLife Regents Professor of Horticultural Sciences, addressed the North American Agricultural Journalists meeting in Washington, D.C., on the “monumental challenge of feeding the world.”
He said the world population will increase 30% to 9 billion people by mid-century. That would call for a 70% increase in food to meet demand.
“But resource limitations will constrain global food systems,” Davies added. “The increases currently projected for crop production from biotechnology, genetics, agronomics and horticulture will not be sufficient to meet food demand.”
Davies said the ability to discover ways to keep pace with food demand have been curtailed by cutbacks in spending on research.
“The U.S. agricultural productivity has averaged less than 1.2% per year between 1990 and 2007,” he said. “More efficient technologies and crops will need to be developed — and equally important, better ways for applying these technologies locally for farmers — to address this challenge.”
Davies said when new technologies are developed, they often do not reach the small-scale farmer worldwide.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Heifer Sales Help Owners Build Herds
with Show-Me-Select Bred Replacements
Beef herd owners rebuilding cow numbers have two sales this spring to buy Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifers.
Sales will be May 3 at the Fruitland (Mo.) Livestock Auction and May 16 at Joplin Regional Stockyards.
Owners of the bred heifers to be sold are enrolled in a University of Missouri (MU) educational program. Show-Me-Select assures quality genetics and management. The heifers are sold guaranteed bred.
With U.S. cow numbers at the lowest in decades and fed-cattle prices setting records, the sales draw attention.
“Everyone asks, ‘How high will they go?’ ” says Eldon Cole, MU Extension livestock specialist, Mount Vernon, and coordinator of the Joplin sale.
Roger Eakins, regional specialist, Jackson, Mo., says, “This is the best-looking set of heifers we’ve ever had. They came through a rough winter and are looking good.”
The southwestern Missouri sale offers 265 head. The southeastern sale offers 143.
Eakins said several consignors decided to keep heifers rather than sell.
Heifers at the spring sales are bred to join fall-calving herds.
Increasingly, heifers are bred by timed artificial insemination (AI). With AI carried out on a given day, predicted calving dates can be more precise. Buyers have learned to appreciate the short calving season.
Breeding by AI also allows use of the best proven sires in the breed.
Eakins says about 70% of heifers in the Fruitland sale will be AI bred. Also, 43 head will carry Tier Two ear tags. That shows those heifers are results of AI breeding, bred to AI bulls.
Past sales have shown highest premiums for Tier Two breeding.
A catalog issued on sale day gives genetic and management background on the heifers. The data adds value to the heifers.
Cole feels confident about buyers recognizing that value. “We’re surely going to beat the November 2013 average of $2,127.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Hard Freeze Could Damage Some Wheat In Kansas
The hard freeze throughout Kansas in the early morning hours of April 15 could cause some damage to wheat, said Jim Shroyer, Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension crop production specialist. Wheat in the jointing stage is most at risk, he said.
There are a number of key factors in determining freeze damage: the stage of development of the wheat, the density of the stand and condition of the plants, the amount of residue on the soil surface, the extent and duration of low temperatures, temperature gradients within the field, soil moisture and the wind speed, Shroyer explained.
The best thing producers can do for the first few days is simply walk the fields to observe lodging, crimped stems and damaged leaves, the K-State agronomist said.
“Be patient. Do not take any immediate actions as a result of the freeze, such as destroying the field for recropping. It will take several days of warm weather to accurately evaluate the extent of damage,” he said.
After several days, producers should split open some stems and check the developing head, he said.
“Where stems and/or growing points were killed by the freeze, start looking for new tiller growth coming from the crown area. In fact, look for new tiller growth even if you think the stems look okay. Sometimes tillers can be killed but will not show any symptoms for quite a while. In those cases, the first sign that the tillers are dead is the sudden growth of new tillers at the base of the plant,” Shroyer said.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Editor’s Note: The articles used within this site represent a mixture of copyrights. If you would like to reprint or repost an article, you must first request permission of Angus Productions Inc. (API) by contacting the editor at 816-383-5200; 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. API claims copyright to this web site as presented. We welcome educational venues and cattlemen to link to this site as a service to their audience.