News Update
March 5, 2015
Oldest Living ABS Bull Celebrates Golden Birthday
ABS® Global Inc., the world leader in bovine genetics, reproduction services and artificial insemination technologies, recently celebrated the 17th birthday of a veteran ABS bull — New Design 878. A black Angus, born Feb. 17, 1998, New Design 878 has been an impressive producer since he was a yearling.
At the turn of the year, 878’s production level approached 725,000 units, and he continues to rank in ABS’s top 20 bulls for beef semen sales in several regions across the globe. From 2003 through 2006, New Design 878 topped the registration charts as the number one sire for registrations in the Angus breed, still holds the single-year registration record with 10,190 calves registered in 2004 and ranks second (behind first place, another ABS bull, N Bar Emulation EXT) for total lifetime registrations with 52,978 calves through September 2014.
“We knew from the day 878 arrived at ABS that he was going to be a popular animal,” said Doug Frank, ABS beef product manager. “He had a quick start and customers really liked his first calves — skyrocketing his popularity. He has since had a strong finish — continuing to offer the highest accuracy multi-trait proof in the industry.”
“At a healthy 17 years of age, 878 is proof that solid genes and great care are key to the performance and longevity of the animals,” said Brian McCulloh and Dan Borgen, Woodhill Farms, part owners of the bull. “As producers out in the field every day, we see firsthand that the way we care for our animals directly impacts how they grow and perform. ABS has this figured out and it only takes one look at their facilities and their animals for living proof of the great care their animals receive.”
Despite his age, New Design 878 continues to hit the list of American Angus Association’s Pathfinders — holding the top slot for five years from 2008-2012 and remaining No. 12 today. 878’s maternal influence will likely be his most important legacy with 16,630 daughters on record weaning 55,543 calves and continuing to pass along his phenomenal genes.
Agriculture Under Secretary Scuse Leads USDA Trade Mission to Southeast Asia March 9-13
Leaders from six state agriculture departments and 21 U.S. agribusinesses and organizations will accompany USDA Under Secretary Michael Scuse on a trade mission to Southeast Asia from March 9 to March 13 to expand export opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.
“U.S. agricultural exports to Southeast Asia have been on the rise thanks to strong economic growth and increasing demand for high-value products in the region,” said Scuse, who leads USDA’s Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services mission area. “With this growth expected to continue, the region holds significant untapped market potential for U.S. exporters.”
“I am especially pleased to be traveling with a broad cross-section of U.S. agricultural interests who represent every region of the country and will help me showcase the quality, variety and abundance of farm and food products produced for export by the United States,” Scuse said.
Scuse noted that the majority of participating companies are small- or medium-sized enterprises and many are owned by women, minorities and veterans.
The delegation will travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Manila, Philippines, and will also meet with potential customers from Burma and Thailand while in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia, the Philippines, Burma and Thailand boast a combined population of 262 million. As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), these countries are already strong trading partners of the United States. U.S. exports of food and agricultural products to the four countries have doubled during the past five years, from $2.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 to $5.4 billion in 2014.
Mission participants include representatives from the Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia departments of agriculture.
For more information, please view the full release here.
New Time-Lapse Video Series
Shows Weeds after Herbicide Applications
A fascinating new series of time-lapse YouTube videos demonstrates how weeds wither and die after being sprayed with an herbicide.
The videos, created by members of the weed science team in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University (OSU), are meant to show growers what to expect from an herbicide as they try to manage weed infestations in their fields, said Mark Loux, an OSU Extension weed specialist.
Understanding how herbicides work is all part of helping growers get a good start for spring planting and manage weeds throughout the growing season, Loux said.
“The videos are a very good demonstration of how herbicides work on weeds,” he said. “Growers can use the videos to know what to look for when scouting their fields after an herbicide application to create a timeline of what the weeds should look like after spraying.
“This information is helpful for growers to determine if the weeds in their fields have developed a resistance to the herbicide and also can help them in diagnosing injuries to their crops.”
The series includes 14 time-lapse videos depicting eight different herbicide sites of action on a variety of weeds. The weeds shown in the videos are common to Ohio crops and include a demonstration of an herbicide’s impact on waterhemp, which is one of the major weeds affecting Midwest growers, Loux said.
“We’re trying to get people to think about how you get more diversity in herbicide programs from the site of action standpoint to try to minimize risk in herbicide treatments and resistance,” he said.
The videos were created over a two-year period. For every second of movie time shown, one hour of real time passed, he said. The videos were created using three cameras set up at various angles to photograph a weed treated with an herbicide in a lab, using iMovie to create the videos.
The series can be viewed at www.go.osu.edu/timelapsevideo.com.
AgriLife Extension Sets South Plains
Profitability Workshops for March, April
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct four profitability workshops from 9 a.m.-3 p.m March 17, March 31, April 7 and April 23 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 1102 E. Farm-to-Market Road 1294, Lubbock.
“South Plains producers are facing stressful times because of depressed commodity prices and alternatives added to the new farm bill,” said Jackie Smith, AgriLife Extension economist at Lubbock. “Farmers will be looking for and considering decisions that could cut costs or improve yields. Some will also be considering alternative crops.”
Smith said the curriculum objectives include introducing participants to the budget spreadsheet to compare various alternative crops including planting covered crops on a generic base. He said the budgets will be used to compare the net income of cotton with that of relevant covered crops including the safety net of Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments up to reference prices.
Smith said there may be additional profitability workshops at other locations, and all the workshops will be listed on the South Plains Profitability website at http://agrilife.org/southplainsprofit/.
The crop spreadsheet budgets used in all the workshops can be downloaded from the same site. All the workshops will use the newest decision-aid tool developed by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, called the “Generic Base Joint Planting and Program Election Assistance” tool.
“The tool calculates net returns for alternative crops under Price Loss Coverage or PLC and Agricultural Risk Coverage or ARC, for which you could allocate generic base,” Smith said. “The workshops will also review the ARC/PLC Evaluator for Generic Base.”
Participants will receive a jump drive with the budget spreadsheet on it. Those wishing to bring and use their own computers may do so.
For further information, call Smith at 806-746-6101. There will be no charge for the workshop, but pizza will be provided at lunch for $5 per individual.
For more information please view the full release here.
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