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Angus Journal

News Update

February 25, 2016

Beef Talk: Expanding genetics

If one is building a house and the door does not fit, does the carpenter throw away the hammer? No. If one is building a cow herd and the cows are the wrong size, does the producer throw away the bull expected progeny differences (EPDs)? No.

Cow-size discussions at any time can be pretty involved and good. Are the cows too big? Are the cows too small? What is the right size? The discussion tends to feed into groups who tend to gather and discuss the other group.

Discussion is good. The cow-size goal should meet the needs, resources and environment the cow will live in, and it should match the desires of the producer in performance and acceptable type. Producers have many cows from which to pick. Sorting cows is an art and a science; it should be fact-based with some modification for experience.

Let’s change the cow-size discussion to a bull-size discussion. Generally, the cow herd genetics are changed through the purchase of bulls. On average, genes from an individual calf are as follows: Half come from the sire, one-fourth come from the maternal grandsire and one-fourth come from the maternal granddam.

Continue reading the story online in the Angus Media newsroom.

— Adapted from an article by Kris Ringwall, North Dakota State University Extension.

South Dakota House Committee Considers COOL

South Dakota Stockgrowers Association (SDSA) representatives testified in support of House Bill 1228 in front of South Dakota’s House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. The bill would have created a requirement that grocery stores within the state of South Dakota label beef as to its country of origin if the information is available to them.

According to Bill Kluck, president of the SDSA, “Our association has been strong supporters of COOL and feel that a customer really should be able to determine where their food is coming from. We have these labels on most of our other products, and we think a customer should have the same information on their beef.”

In testimony offered during the hearing, Silvia Christen, executive director of the SDSA said, “This bill makes sure that any information that our grocery stores do have about the origin of the beef in their stores is passed on to the customers.”

For more information, please view the full SDSA news release online.

— Adapted from a release by the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association.

SRM Concludes 2016 Annual Conference

The Society for Range Management (SRM) recently concluded its annual conference, hosted in Corpus Christi, Texas, Jan. 31-Feb. 4. This year’s meeting, “Rangelands and Wildlife,” sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, included symposia, workshops and forums focused on the unique relationship between the world’s rangelands and wildlife.

In what continues to be an important topic within the natural resources field, this year’s meeting brought together federal agencies, private range consultants, producers, academia, high school and collegiate-level students and industry partners in a week-long conference totaling more than 1,100 attendees and representing 34 states and seven countries.

For more information, visit www.rangelands.org.

— Adapted from a release by Kelly Fogarty, Society for Range Management.

Alltech Mycotoxin Management Enhances Website

Following farmer feedback and several months of development and testing, the Alltech Mycotoxin Management program has relaunched an updated version of the website, www.knowmycotoxins.com.