News Update
May 12, 2014
Cattlemen’s Boot Camp Set for July
Cattle producers are invited to gather for a Cattlemen’s Boot Camp July 14-15, at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.
The event is hosted by the American Angus Association in partnership with the university and provides purebred and commercial producers timely information presented by academic and industry professionals.
Open to all cattle producers, the event is funded by the Angus Foundation and features a day and a half of educational speakers and hands-on activities to help improve their herd operations. The workshop is packed with pertinent information including bull selection, genomically enhanced expected progeny differences (EDPs), antibiotic labeling, reproduction practices and more.
“Cattlemen’s Boot Camps are not only a great way to learn about various aspects of beef cattle production but also provide producers the opportunity to exchange and share new ideas and perspectives,” says Milford Jenkins, Angus Foundation president. “Education is an important component of the Angus Foundation’s funding efforts, and this particular event is one that the Foundation is proud to support.”
Registration is $75 per person and includes meals and educational materials. Registration forms are due June 27 and can be submitted electronically or mailed to Ashley Mitchell at the American Angus Association, 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO, 64506. Late and walk-in registrations are not accepted.
Hotel rooms are available at the Hampton Inn for $109. To reserve a room, call 573-214-2222 and ask for the American Angus Association rate or use group code AAA.
To register, click here or visit www.angus.org for more information.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
NMSU Ranchers’ Roundtable at Corona
Addresses Postdrought Rangeland Recovery
During an extended drought, ranchers must manage their rangeland to ensure that they do not overgraze the land, causing plant mortality. Due to reduced animal units and current pasture conditions, ranchers have to consider new opportunities other than traditional grazing patterns. During a Ranchers’ Roundtable Wednesday, May 21, at New Mexico State University’s (NMSU’s) Southwest Center for Rangeland Sustainability in Corona, ranchers will learn new ideas and grazing practices to use while they look to the sky for rain. Panel members will be Brenda Simpson, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) range conservationist; George Douds, Lincoln National Forest rangeland management specialist; Kent Mills, Hi-Pro Feeds range nutrition specialist; and Richard Spencer, retired NRCS rangeland conservationist.
“This will be a lively discussion about best management practices that can be applied to the rangeland as many ranchers experience continued drought conditions on pastures that have experienced above-average use and plant mortality,” said Shad Cox, superintendent of NMSU’s Corona Range and Livestock Research Center.
“Participants will be able to take home new ideas and grazing practices to consider while developing future grazing schemes for their ranches.” The program will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch will be served. For directions to the center, visit the Corona Range and Livestock Research Center’s website at www.coronasc.nmsu.edu.
Lone Star Healthy Streams Workshop Set
for June 5 in Seguin
A Lone Star Healthy Streams workshop is planned for June 5 at the Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center, also known as the Big Red Barn, 390 Cordova Road, Seguin, Texas.
The Lone Star Healthy Streams program aims to educate Texas livestock producers and land managers on how to best protect Texas waterways from bacterial contamination associated with livestock production and feral hogs, said Jennifer Peterson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program specialist, College Station.
The workshop will begin at 10 a.m. and end by 3 p.m. A catered lunch will be provided.
The free event is sponsored by the Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board.
Three Texas Department of Agriculture general continuing education credits will be provided for certified pesticide applicators.
To RSVP for the workshop, go to http://lshs.tamu.edu/workshops/ or call Peterson at 979-862-8072.
Currently, about 300 Texas water bodies do not comply with state water-quality standards established for E. coli bacteria, Peterson said. By participating in this workshop, livestock producers and landowners can learn specific conservation practices that can help improve and protect the quality of Texas water bodies.
The workshop will focus specifically on issues within the Geronimo and Alligator creeks watershed, which recently completed a watershed protection plan, Peterson said. A watershed protection plan is a coordinated framework for implementing prioritized and integrated water-quality protection and restoration strategies driven by environmental objectives.
Workshop presentations will focus on basic watershed function, water quality and specific best management practices that can be implemented to help minimize bacterial contamination originating from beef cattle, horses and feral hogs, she said.
The Lone Star Healthy Streams program is funded through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source grant from the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
Lower Old-Crop Soybean and Corn Numbers Forecast
A new report from the USDA provides the first projections for the 2014-2015 crop-marketing year. However, the more compelling story in the latest World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) is in the old-crop soybean and corn stock numbers, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
Ending stocks for old-crop soybeans were reduced by 5 million bushels to a projected 130 million bushels. This is a projected stocks-use ratio of 3.8% or about a 14-day supply of soybeans available at the end of the 2013-2014 marketing year.
“If the projections are realized, we’re looking at a record-tight level of soybean ending stocks, which is cause for some concern,” said Todd Davis, a crops economist with AFBF. USDA’s ending stock projection for soybeans is slightly lower than anticipated by industry analysts.
Tempering the likelihood of tight-ending soybean stocks is the fact that a record crop is projected to go into the ground — 81.5 million acres — based on USDA’s prospective plantings survey. A record production for the nation’s soybean crop, 3.635 billion bushels, is forecast, based on record yield of 45.2 bushels per acre.
The April report lowered 2013-2014 corn ending stocks to 1.146 billion bushels because of strong demand in the export and ethanol markets. The 2014 corn crop is expected to come in at a record 13.935 billion bushels, slightly higher than the prior year. Strong demand from foreign markets coupled with continued steady use for feed and ethanol production is expected to consume about 13.39 billion bushels by the end of the 2014-2015 marketing year.
Despite the abundant crop projections, which illustrate great production capacity, Davis sounded a note of caution regarding Mother Nature.
“Farmers are still out there facing the reality of unpredictable weather as they work to get their crops in the ground, favorable weather during the growing season and then cooperative weather again at harvest time,” he said. “There’s still a long way to go before the crops are in the bin.”
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