News Update
September 8, 2015
An Eye on the Markets
Increasing market share for proteins like pork and poultry will play a heightened role in price discovery for beef moving forward into the next couple of years. That’s according to CattleFax Senior Analyst Kevin Good.
“Here in 2015, year-to-date, both pork and poultry production are up over 6% a piece,” Good said. “We’ve got more total protein in the U.S. market this year by about six pounds, it looks like, per capita. It’s going to be about 206 pounds per capita vs. about 200 pounds a year ago. That’s a tremendous year-over-year change.”
He emphasizes beef producers can set their product apart from the competition by continuing to produce high-grading cattle and a superior product for consumers, both domestically and abroad.
See the full interview with Good on this week’s The Angus Report.
You can also tune in for the show at 5 p.m. CDT Wednesday, 1:30 p.m. CDT Saturday and 7:30 a.m. CDT each Monday morning on RFD-TV.
Five Quick Tips for Weaning
Reducing stress at weaning can help protect calves against bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and set them up for success in the feedlot. Calves are especially vulnerable and immune-compromised when weaning-related stressors — namely separation from the cow, vaccination, shipping, commingling and nutritional changes — all happen within a short timeframe. Here are five suggestions for weaning management to prepare calves nutritionally and immunologically to face these challenges.
No. 1: Spread out the stressors
The goal on weaning day should be to separate the calf from the cow. Period. It is the most stressful day of the calf’s life, so ideally, other stressors should not be added to it. All the other necessities — vaccination, nutrition and shipping — should each have a different designated day for completion to minimize stress on the calf’s immune system.
No. 2: Examine your vaccination strategy
Vaccine choices present another stress-management option, as some products can themselves be a significant source of stress. For example, because intranasal vaccines are applied within the calf’s nasal passages, their contents do not enter the bloodstream, where most adverse reactions are initiated.
To view additional suggestions, access the full Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
Agriculture Leadership Program Seeks Applicants
The Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership (TALL) Program is seeking applicants for its new class, which will begin in July 2016. TALL is a two-year leadership development program managed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Applications for the new class, Class XV, are due March 15. The application forms are online at http://tall.tamu.edu.
“The agriculture industry constantly faces new and unique challenges, and there is a need for individuals who have leadership potential to serve in decision-making positions. TALL graduates provide a new pool of proven leaders that can provide the leadership, insight, knowledge and direction to ensure that agriculture is viable in the future,” said Jim Mazurkiewicz, AgriLife Extension leadership program director.
The program invests 455 hours of intensive training per person in seminars, speakers and domestic and international study trips over two years, Mazurkiewicz added. It is equivalent to the time spent obtaining a master’s degree in agriculture. The typical class size is about 26, and tuition is $3,000.
Participants include traditional crop producers, ranchers, bankers and attorneys, as well as those who work in lumber, food processing, agricultural corporations and horticultural industries, he said.
For more information, view the full release online.
Beef Cattle Price Outlook at MU Farm Event
The U.S. cowherd is growing after decades of decline. That means more beef supply. Traditional supply-and-demand law says beef prices will drop. After recent years of record high cattle prices, herd owners need not panic.
A Sept. 15 field day at Spickard, Mo., a University of Missouri (MU) beef economist will tell a new view of beef supply and demand.
Scott Brown, in a recent study, found that not all beef is priced alike. Quality beef calves draw higher prices at packing plants. Also, his study shows buyers of USDA grade Prime and High Choice beef are not likely to shift to other meats as prices rise at the grocery store. In the past, as beef prices went up consumers switched to pork or chicken. That is changing.
Brown will speak at the MU Thompson Farm, the research center that since 1996 has shown producers how to improve herd genetics to consistently produce prime and choice beef.
The field day covers genetics, fixed-time artificial insemination, nutrition and much more. Rod Geisert, superintendent and MU professor of reproduction physiology, emcees the program.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
Beef and Range Fall Program, Sept. 16
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Farm Bureau in Wilson County will present the Beef and Range Fall Program Sept. 16 in Poth. The free program will be hosted at Hermann Sons Hall, 181 South 1 Mesquite St.
Registration will begin at 6 p.m., with programming from 6:30-8 p.m.
Topics and speakers will include Hot Issues Affecting the Beef Industry, Rick Machen, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist; Brush Control Equipment and Calibration, Robert Lyons, AgriLife Extension range specialist; and Applications for Agricultural Producers, Bryan Davis, AgriLife Extension agent, Wilson County.
Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered. Please RSVP to the AgriLife Extension office in Wilson County at 830-393-7357 by Sept.15.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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