News Update

June 29, 2016

Angus Celebrates 60 Years in Saint Joe

Driving down Frederick Avenue in Saint Joseph, Mo., you’ll notice a historic brick building that’s home to one of the beef industry’s largest membership organizations.

The American Angus Association, which represents more than 25,000 members nationwide, officially opened its headquarters in northwest Missouri on June 29, 1956. The Association welcomes the community to tour the building on Wednesday, June 29, and celebrate as the Angus team marks 60 years in Saint Joseph, Mo.

The American Angus Association was established more than 130 years ago to serve as the official registry for the growing Angus breed. The organization made its home in the Chicago stockyards from 1902 until moving to the new Missouri location.

History tells us that Saint Joseph, Mo., worked harder than anyone else to draw the American Angus Association to its city. A five-acre tract of land along what was then the eastern edge of town was donated by a group of area business leaders.

To continue reading, access the Angus news release online.

— Adapted from a release by Jena McRell, Angus Media.

AFBF Supports National GMO Pre-emption Bill

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is supporting proposed Senate legislation that establishes federal pre-emption of what was expected to grow into an unruly patchwork of state-by-state mandatory GMO labeling laws.

“Our nation’s top scientists agree that crops enhanced through GMO technology are safe, and this bill will act to stop the expansion of state laws that threaten interstate marketing and effectively ignore science,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall, following a vote by the AFBF Board of Directors to support the bill.

“The bill is far from perfect, but it correctly puts the federal government in the driver’s seat in important areas such as protecting interstate commerce and new crop development techniques. There is no public health or scientific justification for the bill’s mandatory disclosure provisions, but the national uniformity established by this bill is paramount.”

Go online for more information.

— Adapted from a release by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Do We Need a New YG Formula?

The beef carcass yield-grading system used in the United States may not be completely broken, but it surely doesn’t work very well. That was the opinion that West Texas A&M University animal scientist Ty Lawrence offered during the 2016 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Annual Meeting and Symposium hosted June 14-17 in Manhattan, Kan.

Speaking before the Advancements in End Product Improvement breakout session, Lawrence called USDA’s method for determining beef yield grades “an antiquated system based on antiquated cattle.”

Ty Lawrence contends that instrument grading is superior to the more subjective determination of yield grade by humans. The bigger issue, however, is that cattle have changed over the decades, but the basis for calculating yield grade has not.

Sharing the history of its development and adoption, Lawrence said the yield-grading system is rooted in the 1950s.

— Adapted from an article by Troy Smith, Angus Media.

North Dakota Brand Inspection Fee Change

Some North Dakota brand inspection fees will change on July 1. The per-head inspection fee will be $1.50; the permanent horse permit fee will be $25; the registered feedlot permit fee will be $25; and the per-head registered feedlot fee will be 50¢. The fees have been the same since 2011; the 1980s, 1979 and 1992, respectively.

The North Dakota Legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee reviewed these and other changes as part of revisions to the State Board of Animal Health’s administrative rules on June 14. The Administrative Rules Committee meeting was one of many steps in the change process, which began in June 2015 and included a public hearing and comment period and other steps.

The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association administers the brand inspection program on behalf of the state. In North Dakota, inspection is required before cattle, horses or mules leave the state and as they move through marketing channels, such as auction markets or weigh stations.

— Adapted from a release by the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association.

Introducing Masterline Syringes

Destron Fearing™ is pleased to launch the new Masterline syringe line. With a presence in over forty countries worldwide, Destron Fearing provides solutions that meet the increasingly complex standards for animal management.

The new line of Masterline syringes includes the: 50 milliliter (ml.) Roux Revolver Syringe, 2 ml. F GRIP Syringe, 6 ml. V GRIP Syringe, the 12.5 ml. V GRIP Syringe and the 30 ml. V GRIP Drencher.

The 50 ml. Roux Revolver pistol grip syringe is designed for multiple dosing of livestock with easy dose settings. The V GRIP syringes feature “dial-a-dosage” for easy settings and ARE adaptable to bottle and tube feed configurations. Lastly, the F GRIP is a self-filling syringe with an ergonomic design for high-volume use.

For more information, view the Destron Fearing news release online.

— Adapted from a release by Scott Holt, Destron Fearing.

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

Editor’s Note: The articles used within this site represent a mixture of copyrights. If you would like to reprint or repost an article, you must first request permission of Angus Productions Inc. (API) by contacting the editor at 816-383-5200; 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. API claims copyright to this web site as presented. We welcome educational venues and cattlemen to link to this site as a service to their audience.