News Update

December 31, 2015

Association Update

The American Angus Association and Angus Media offices will close at 1 p.m. (CST) today and remain closed through Friday in observance of the New Year holiday.

Offices will reopen Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.

Embracing Endangered Species

Is having an endangered species on your property a blessing or a curse? Some landowners view it as a negative for fear they are going to be told how to manage their land and livestock and in a manner that may not fit with their livestock objectives.

Yet Darrel and Karen Sweet encourage landowners to try to take a different perspective. They operate Sweet Ranch near Livermore, Calif., and they’ve embraced the fact that their land is home to the last remaining habitat for some endangered and special creatures. Sweet Ranch provides valuable habitat for four endangered species: the California tiger salamander, the California red-legged frog, the Western burrowing owl and the San Joaquin Kit Fox.

To read more, view the full Angus Journal article online.

— Adapted from an article by Kindra Gordon, Angus Media.

In the Cattle Markets

Looking at the most recent estimates of feedlot profitability, using the Kansas State University (K-State) Kansas Feedlot Net Returns Series, K-State ag economist Glynn Tonsor points out that we saw the largest estimated loss since the series began.

There are two sides of the equation when it comes to profitability for both feedlots and cow-calf operations: revenue and costs.

With harvest wrapped up across much of the country and many producers already planning for the year ahead, now is the perfect time to take a closer look at the other side of the equation and examine the cost side of cattle production. Typically, the largest component of feed costs for feedlots is corn, while cow-calf producers may be more interested in pasture rent.

For more information, please view the full Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA online.

— Adapted from an article by Brian Williams, Mississippi State University.

Add New Tasks to Your Regular Routine

Angus producers already wear multiple hats — animal specialist, nutritionist, veterinarian, recordkeeper, agronomist and more. Now it’s time to add advocate and spokesperson to the list. With pressure increasing from consumers to learn more about their food supply, beef producers must not only speak honestly about what happens on farms and ranches, but do it regularly.

“We really need to add speaking out to our list of farm chores; to promote all safe and healthy food,” says Diane Karr, who lives and farms in Blue Hill, Neb. She and her husband, Mike, raise corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and grain sorghum and manage a 90-head commercial Angus-cross herd. “This has become personal. It is important for us to realize that we will have to share more and more details about our operations as consumers are removed from the farm.”

— Adapted from an article by Barb Baylor Anderson, Angus Media.

Risk Management Plan Protects Beef Prices

With feeder-calf prices still falling, beef producers can protect current prices on their calves. Yet they won’t make as much money as they could have if they had sold futures contracts back in the summer.

All autumn, Scott Brown, University of Missouri beef economist, told herd owners to lock in what had been near record-high prices for their 2015 calf crop.

He fears few heeded that advice as calf prices slid from more than $200 per hundredweight (cwt.) to less than $150 in early December. A futures contract bought in August could return $20,000 more for this year’s farm income. That would be for one contract of about 70 calves sold on the board at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

After living through crashes in grain prices, corn farmers learned to lock in good prices when they could. We buy insurance on lots of things, Brown says, but cow herd owners haven’t done that. Most remain exposed to price risks.

For more information, please view the full Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA online.

— Adapted from an article by Duane Dailey, University of Missouri Extension.

Winter Cow Management

According to Shannon Williams, Lemhi County Extension Agent in Salmon, Idaho, the most important thing in winter cow management is to make sure you are meeting your cows’ nutritional requirements according to where they are in their gestational stage.

Dick Fredrickson, veterinarian and nutritionist for Simplot, Grandview, Idaho, says, “Assuming cows have adequate energy from forage, the next important thing is mineral supplementation — which is critical for digestion of forage.”

Salt should always be provided, since this is the mineral most lacking in forages. In many geographic locations, forage may also be lacking in copper, selenium or zinc.

Know the mineral content of your forages and provide supplements via a salt-mineral mix, bolus or injectable product if levels are low. Trace mineral status of the cow affects all aspects of reproduction and production, as well as the future well being of her calf.

For more information, please view the full Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA online.

— Adapted from an article by Heather Smith Thomas, Angus Media.

— Compiled by Paige Nelson, field editor, Angus Journal.

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