News Update
November 14, 2014
A Century of Angus Cattle Production: Dahl Angus
History runs deep in the Angus business. Today’s nearly 25,000 American Angus Association members have their Angus predecessors to thank for the breed’s well-earned reputation of success.
To honor the breed’s most long-standing operations, the Association presents Century Awards to recognize herds, their owners and families who have been in continuous production of registered-Angus cattle for 100 years or more.
This year’s Century Awards were presented Nov. 6 during the Association’s Awards Recognition Breakfast, hosted as part of the 2014 Angus Means Business National Convention & Trade Show in Kansas City, Mo.
Larry Dahl of Dahl Angus in Estelline, S.D., accepted the Century Award on behalf of his family, which is now in its seventh generation raising Angus cattle.
After more than 100 years, the cow that started it all, Rindahl’s Beauty, is still part of Dahl Angus. The cow meant so much to the family that when she died, James Dahl skinned and tanned her hide. Larry Dahl, Dahl Angus current owner and manager, confirms that the family still has the hide today.
The cattle operation began in 1897, when Peter Dahl purchased 20 bred Angus heifers and brought them home to the ranch in South Dakota; records do not indicate these heifers were registered. Peter’s son, James Dahl, purchased the family’s first registered-Angus cow in 1913, when Rindahl’s Beauty — with a bull calf by her side — was hauled to the home place from Iowa by horse and wagon. Even to this day, her lineage can be traced in the Dahl Angus cow herd.
In 1947, Lester Dahl, James’ son, took over and continued to grow the operation. Lester was awarded the South Dakota Angus Association’s Centennial Angus Herd Award in 1983 for operating an Angus herd 49 years or longer. At the time, Dahl Angus had 70 years in the business.
Larry and Rita Dahl began managing the registered herd in 1972. Through the use of artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer, they continued to build the herd using semen from bulls such as Big Bandy and Ankonian Dynamo.
Spotting the potential this technology brought to their operation, Larry became an ABS Global representative. He also served as South Dakota Angus Association president from 1992-1993, and Rita served as the first president of the South Dakota Angus Auxiliary in 1991-1992.
For more information, please view the full release here.
American Farm Bureau Calls on EPA to Ditch the Waters of the U.S. Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule is a blatant effort to expand federal authority over land use by regulating land as if it were “water,” the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said Nov. 14.
AFBF filed formal comments with the EPA after rallying farmers, ranchers, other regulated industries and members of Congress behind its #DitchtheRule campaign. EPA keeps spinning its rule to sell it to different audiences, but individual regulators won’t care about that spin when they’re out enforcing the rule, AFBF said. Agriculture isn’t buying the spin, as 146 agricultural groups joined in the AFBF-led comments.
“EPA is hiding behind vague and confusing language, but that language can easily be read to regulate most any piece of land where rainwater pools or flows,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said. “This proposal is a perfect example of agencies run amok — in this case, running far past the limits set by Congress and two Supreme Court decisions.” According to Stallman, “There’s no way to know which areas are regulated and, most importantly, which are not. That makes farmers, ranchers and other businesses and land owners vulnerable to arbitrary agency enforcement and even citizen lawsuits — regardless of any actual environmental impact of their activities.”
Farmers and ranchers know how important clean water is to all of us, and they take great pride in protecting our natural resources, but this proposal is hopelessly broken. “The agencies need to go back to the drawing board and give the public the clarity and certainty that we’ve been promised,” said Stallman.
Fall Harvest Requires Increased Focus on Safety
Working long hours without an adequate amount of sleep is just one example of how farmers can increase their risk of injury during harvest, a safety expert with the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences said. Knowing some simple safety precautions to take during harvesting is critical for farmers to reduce the potential for injuries, said Andy Bauer, an OSU Extension agricultural health and safety professional.
Harvesting is a time when farm workers are continually moving from one piece of equipment to another, Bauer said. This is a time when farmers should take extra precautions to prevent falls when working around farm equipment and in the fields, he said.
“Harvest is a time that involves long hours and working with several different types of farm equipment simultaneously to achieve the same goal — completing the harvest,” Bauer said. “As a result, farmers put in long hours, day after day, and that’s when fatigue and stress can set in.”
The combination of fatigue and stress can result in the increased potential for injuries, he said.
“The weather this fall has created harvest delays which creates stress on the farmer,” Bauer said. “As a result, we are working constantly and are less likely to take breaks because we’re trying to get the harvest done.
“Other stressors farmers face could be worries about the grain market prices, including concerns that maybe they didn’t sell enough grain ahead of time and may worry now about not getting optimal prices for grain. Or if they need to store grain at the elevator, will they be able to cover the storage charges.”
The additional stress could cause farmers to focus less on safety and lead to agricultural-related injuries, he said.
Every day, about 167 agricultural workers suffer a lost-work-time injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Five percent of these injuries result in permanent impairment. In 2012, 374 farmers and farm workers died from a work-related injury, resulting in a fatality rate of 20.2 deaths per 100,000 workers, according to the government agency.
For more information, please view the full release here.
8th Annual Western Sustainable Ag Crop and Livestock Conference Dec. 6 in Ogallala
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) Extension is hosting a Sustainable Ag Crops and Livestock Conference on improving soil health through cover crops and crop diversity Dec. 6 at Ogallala.
Cover crops and soil health, field peas, cropping practices’ effects on insects, alternative enterprises, and a program for women in ag are among the sessions planned for the 8th annual conference. It will last from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mid-Plains Community College Ogallala Extended Campus, 512 East B St. South in Ogallala.
Keynote speaker Keith Berns, co-owner and operator of Green Cover Seed, will discuss “Seven Things I Have Learned about Soil Health.” Berns combines 17 years of no-till farming with 10 years of teaching agriculture and computers. He grows irrigated and dryland corn, soybeans, rye, triticale, sunflowers, peas and buckwheat on his 2,500-acre no-till farm in south central Nebraska.
Berns was awarded a North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Farmer/Rancher grant in 2008 to try cover crops. This led to helping neighbors locate cover-crop seed and eventually grew into a family business, Green Cover Seeds.
Through Green Cover Seeds, one of the major cover crop seed providers and educators in the United States, Berns has experimented with more than 80 different cover crop types and hundreds of mixes planted into various situations, learning about cover crop growth, nitrogen fixation, moisture usage and grazing utilization of cover crops.
For more information about the Western Sustainable Ag Crops and Livestock Conference and to register, contact Karen DeBoer, UNL Extension Educator at 308-254-4455 or email kdeboer1@unl.edu. Lunch will be provided by the Open Range Grill. Walk-ins are welcome. However, the meal is not guaranteed unless preregistration is received by Nov. 26. The cost is $35 per person.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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