News Update
April 14, 2016
Donation Items for
NJAS Silent Auction
The Angus Foundation is once again hosting its annual silent auction during the National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) in Grand Island, Neb. As always, the proceeds benefit education, youth and research initiatives supporting the Angus breed.
Items donated to the Angus Foundation for the silent auction may come from individual Angus supporters, farms, companies or state junior and adult Angus associations. Junior state Angus associations have an extra incentive to donate items: the state junior Angus Association that donates the highest selling item will receive $100. Donation ideas include paintings, gift baskets, books, cattle supplies, jewelry, clothing and Angus collectibles.
“The donation items are more than just ‘items’; they’re scholarship dollars for a hard-working student, funding for research to advance the Angus industry or funds for a leadership event for the industry’s best and brightest,” says Milford Jenkins, Angus Foundation president. “Generous donations and Angus family supporters are the key to the silent auction’s continued success.”
At the 2015 NJAS in Tulsa, Okla., the silent auction raised $13,000.
For more information, please view the full Angus news release online.
Farms Face Increased Financial Pressure
Farmers are feeling the pain of the continued slump in commodity prices, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Zippy Duvall told Congress April 14. Lower prices will affect income for all farmers and ranchers but will have an even greater impact on new and young farmers who have not built up equity, are renting a significant portion of their land or are paying off equipment.
“The bottom line is that farmers and ranchers are being forced to tighten their belts and pay much closer attention to their financial situation,” Duvall told the House Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management. “They will be in greater need of safety net and risk management programs than has been the case for some time — for some, since they started farming.”
Duvall's testimony included a long list of bad economic news:
- Cotton — 80¢ a pound just a few years ago — now brings prices in the 50¢ range.
- Milk that was selling for $20 or more per hundred pounds a couple years back now fetches $15 or $16.
To continue reading, please view the Farm Bureau news release online.
Aid to Communities Impacted
by Oklahoma-Kansas Wildfires
In the wake of the devastation recently caused by the wildfires in Oklahoma and Kansas, Merck Animal Health has announced it will donate $10,000 to help support communities impacted by the fires. The Kansas Livestock Foundation and Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Foundation will each receive $5,000 to assist in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.
Supporting those impacted by the fires also has a very personal tie for Merck Animal Health — with employees stepping in to lend a hand. For example, David Worrell, senior territory manager, Food Animal Team — Cattle, and his wife, Nancy, donated a semi truckload of more than 40 hay bales to ranchers in southern Kansas.
For more information, please view the full Merck news release online.
Funding Available Through Value-Added
Producer Grant Program
An apple is a beautiful thing. This flavor-filled fruit is delicious just the way nature made it, but it also has the possibility to become something arguably more “valuable,” like apple sauce or hard apple cider. For farmers, adding value to their products means adding revenue to their businesses, which also means more jobs and opportunities for their communities.
The Value-Added Producer Grant program (VAPG) is intended to help farmers do just that, and on April 8, the USDA announced the availability of up to $44 million in funding for farm and farm-related businesses through the program.
The deadline to submit paper applications is July 1; for electronically submitted applications the deadline is June 24. Up to $75,000 is available for planning grants and up to $250,000 is available for implementation grants, with project periods lasting from one to three years depending on the complexity of the project.
For more information, view the full news release online.
Beef Cattle and Forage Crops Field Day in SE Kansas
Kansas ranked third nationally with more than 6 million head of cattle on ranches and feedlots as of Jan. 1, 2016, according to the USDA, and many of those cattle are raised in southeast Kansas.
To bring the latest research-based information to beef producers in that part of the state, the Kansas State University (K-State) Southeast Agricultural Research Center will host a Beef Cattle and Forage Crops Field Day on Thursday, May 5, at the Mound Valley Community Center, 505 Hickory St., in Mound Valley, Kan.
Presentations will include: Development of Tall Fescue Hybrids — Bryan Kindiger, research plant geneticist, USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory; Utilization of Teff for Forage — Joe Moyer, forage agronomist, K-State Southeast Agricultural Research Center; Understanding Forage Analysis — Jaymelynn Farney, southeast area extension beef specialist; and Alfalfa Weed Management — Doug Shoup, southeast area extension crops and soils specialist.
For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
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