News Update
September 29, 2014
Early registration for the National Angus Convention ends Oct. 1
The clock is ticking for cattle producers hoping to attend the Angus Means Business National Convention and Trade Show Nov. 4-6 in Kansas City, Mo. The early registration fee, at just $25, expires after Wednesday, Oct. 1.
Registration to the first-ever event located conveniently near the airport at the KCI Expo Center is available to all cattle producers and includes:
- Angus University, an all-day educational opportunity sponsored by Merck Animal Health. Sessions feature the industry’s thought leaders from various sectors who explore “A Story of a Steak,” a look at the entire beef production chain and how quality beef is produced from the seedstock breeder to the consumer. The presentation theme is modeled after the award-winning series from High Plains Journal and The Angus Report.
- Angus Means Business workshops presented in four blocks: Marketing, Business, Breed Improvement and a consumer-focused Cattleman to Consumer
- Keynote speakers Richard Picciotto, the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the World Trade Center collapse and last fireman to escape the devastation, and Lowell Catlett, an exciting futurist and Regents Professor in Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business and Extension Economics and Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University
- Annual meetings and evening gatherings of the American Angus Association, its entities and members
- Top-notch entertainment including cowboy poet Baxter Black and country music star John Michael Montgomery
- Meals featuring the Certified Angus Beef® brand
- An extensive trade show that includes more than 100 exhibiting industry partners and prize giveaways including a 2015 Yamaha Viking VI
A detailed schedule of events, lodging information and registration is available at www.angusconvention.com. Registration fees will increase to $50 after Oct. 1 For more information or to access the official convention guide, visit www.angusconvention.com.
Child Agricultural Safety Grants Offered — Up to $20,000
The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety is offering three mini-grants of up to $20,000 each to support small-scale projects and pilot studies that address prevention of childhood agricultural disease and injury. Highest funding priority will be given to projects that:
- 1. Address issues pertaining to barriers, motivators and interventions for keeping young children out of the farm worksite.
- 2. Address vulnerable populations (e.g., immigrant workers’ children, Anabaptists, African Americans, and Native Americans).
- 3. Test safety strategies with new partners (e.g., insurers, bankers, equipment dealers, media).
The application deadline is Nov. 7, 2014.
Information on eligibility, priority topics and the application process is available at www.marshfieldclinic.org/nccrahs/minigrants.
Texas A&M Launches Online Farm Bill Decision-aid Tool
The Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University is part of a $3 million education grant in providing online decision aids to assist farmers with the 2014 Farm Bill.
“There are a lot of moving parts to the new Farm Bill and farmers will have to give careful consideration electing which type of program they choose,” said Joe Outlaw, co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, College Station, and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist.
“The online decision-aid tool will help producers and landowners choose the program option that best suits their operation,” Outlaw said. “These choices are complex, though the decision aid will help reduce some potential confusion by educating producers of the possible future outcomes of the numerous program options on their respective farms.”
Outlaw said the decision aid, available at http://usda.afpc.tamu.edu/, will help producers determine which options are best for them.
New programs that are part of the 2014 Farm Bill — Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) — are commodity safety-net programs and take the place of direct payments. Both programs offer farmers protection when market forces cause substantial decreases in crop prices and/or revenues. Producers will have through late spring of 2015 to select which program works best for their businesses.
“We’re committed to giving farmers as much information as we can so they can make an informed decision between these programs,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These resources will help farm owners and producers boil the information down, understand what their options are and ultimately make the best decision on which choice is right for them. We are very grateful to our partners for their phenomenal work in developing these new tools within a very short time frame.”
Starting Sept. 29, farm owners may begin visiting their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices if they want to update their yield history and/or reallocate base acres, the first step before choosing which new program best serves their risk-management needs. Letters sent this summer enabled farm owners and producers to analyze their crop planting history in order to decide whether to keep their base acres or reallocate them according to recent plantings.
The next step in USDA’s safety net implementation is scheduled for this winter when all producers on a farm begin making their election, which will remain in effect for 2014-2018 crop years between the options offered by ARC and PLC.
CSU Ag Day 2014: Food, Fun and Football —
All for Scholarships
Thousands of Colorado State University (CSU) students, alumni and friends are expected at Ag Day 2014, the 33rd annual football-day feast of Colorado-grown food.
Ag Day will be hosted 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, on the south side of Hughes Stadium off Overland Trail in Fort Collins. The barbecue is open to the public and precedes the football game between the CSU Rams and Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Advance meal tickets cost $17 each and may be purchased in combination with football tickets. Tickets and information are available on the Ag Day website at http://agday.agsci.colostate.edu/.
Ag Day showcases the bounty of Colorado agriculture while funding scholarships for students in the CSU College of Agricultural Sciences. During 2013-2014, 19 CSU students received Ag Day scholarships.
“The College of Agricultural Sciences is pleased to help host Ag Day. It’s a hallmark event at CSU, and draws more than 3,000 people for a delicious game-day meal and a celebration of our state’s rich agricultural heritage,” said Craig Beyrouty, college dean and event co-chair. “Beyond the fun, it’s amazing to consider how many students have benefitted from Ag Day scholarships.”
Colorado’s leading commodity groups partner with the College of Agricultural Sciences to plan the event and provide the Ag Day feast.
The menu includes Colorado beef, pork, lamb, potatoes, beans, wheat and dairy products, watermelon, and drinks.
Ag Day highlights include farm-themed activities for kids, farm displays and CSU agricultural student groups.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a State of Colorado Proclamation that designates Oct. 4, 2014, as CSU Ag Day.
“This ‘green’ event encourages consumers to buy locally,” the proclamation states in part. “CSU and its partners continue to help ensure a positive future for Colorado’s agricultural industry — an industry that plays a vital role in our state’s economy.”
For more information, visit the website: http://agday.agsci.colostate.edu/ or call 970-491-6274.
Brush Busters Program to be Highlighted in Oct. 2 Webinar
Brush management is a challenging problem for livestock producers and landowners throughout the state, but guidance will be offered at an Oct. 2 webinar by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service ecosystem science and management unit.
“Brush Busters” is next in the Texas Range Webinar Series, scheduled on the first Thursday of each month. Each webinar is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m., said Pete Flores, webinar coordinator in Corpus Christi.
“Brush Busters is a do-it-yourself, user-friendly, environmentally safe and ecologically sound approach to rangeland brush control developed by AgriLife Extension,” according to Morgan Russell, AgriLife Extension range specialist in San Angelo.
Russell will present the Brush Busters webinar and cover how and why the program was developed, equipment options, individual plant treatment methods, where to find Brush Busters information, and examples of species found in the Brush Busters publication series.
Licensed agricultural private pesticide applicators participating in this webinar can earn one integrated pest management unit. Participants seeking Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units must pay a $10 fee on the website. For all others, there is no fee, Flores said.
For more information please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
AgriLife Extension Sets Oct. 7 Beef Cattle
and Range Tour at Post, Texas
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a multi-county Beef Cattle and Range Tour from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at Post, Texas.
The program will convene at the Post Community Center for the morning session, then travel to the range site at 10:45 a.m. for the tour on the UU Ranch, said Greg Jones, AgriLife Extension agent in Garza County.
Cooperating on the event are the AgriLife Extension offices in Garza, Scurry, Borden, Lynn and Mitchell counties.
“Compared to recent years, we’ve had a pretty fair grass-growing summer, and we’re now enjoying at least the possibility of a normal fall, moisture-wise, so the whole goal of this workshop will be to conserve the good pasture recovery we have started here while optimizing these continuing great cattle prices,” said Jones.
“We’ll have two great speakers with some fresh ideas, a tasty lunch, a tour of a good ranch operation and continuing education units offered, so all in all, this is shaping up to be a good program if you are in the cattle business grazing native range in our region.”
The key guest speakers will be Morgan Russell, AgriLife Extension range specialist at San Angelo, and Ted McCollum, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist at Amarillo.
Russell’s topics will include range recovery, pasture restocking and weed management, range site forage sampling and evaluating range, and pasture/range inventory — determining stocking rates per cow size.
McCollum’s topics will include beef demand vs. supply — short- and long-term outlook; will a $3,000 cow work on your operation?; and balancing nutritional requirements through the year.
Jones will conclude the workshop with a presentation entitled Smartphone Applications for Range and Wildlife.
Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be available.
For more information please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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