News Update
August 26, 2016
Continuing Growth,
Angus Hires HR Director
The American Angus Association has served the nation’s quality-minded cattle producers for more than 130 years, and managing day-to-day business requires a talented group of professionals across a number of disciplines. Ladena Keuhn, a native of north central Missouri, joined the Angus team Aug. 11 to lead the member-driven organization’s human resource programs and initiatives.
Keuhn brings nearly 20 years experience in human resources management, training and development, employee relations, recruitment, corporate planning and benefits management. As the Association’s first director of human resources, Keuhn is a key member of the executive team and will develop programs and policy to align with the organization’s strategic business plan.
“With Ladena’s proven experience in human resources management, she provides a great amount of leadership to our team of 100-plus employees in Saint Joseph, Mo.,” says Allen Moczygemba, American Angus Association CEO. “She will help us maintain the quality reputation we’ve established over the years for exceptional member service and performance.”
Most recently, Keuhn served as a vice president with Individual Assurance Company, which provides a full range of insurance products.
For more information, please view the full Angus news release online.
Planning an Angus Sale?
If you’re planning an Angus sale this fall, be sure to contact the American Angus Association and request a complimentary sale-day kit, which includes educational resources, posters and information on Association programs and services. Submit an order today to ensure it arrives on the ranch in time for sale day.
The kits come in three types — one tailored specifically toward female sales, another for bull sales, and the third for bull and female sales. Each kit includes various literature and posters in quantities of 10 to 25.
Sale-day kits include information on what potential customers should know about the breed and its programs and services, including specific information on AngusSource®, AAA Login, Beef Improvement Records, Certified Angus Beef LLC, the Angus Foundation and many others. Buyer guides, beef improvement information and full-color posters are a few of the additional items that are available.
To order a sale day kit, go online or contact the Association’s Communications Department at 816-383-5100.
For more information, please view the full Angus news release online.
Noble Foundation Releases Ag Calculators, Utilities App
With continuous technology advancements, production agriculture is more efficient and mobile than ever before.
As part of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation’s focus on advancing agriculture, the organization has released a new app called “Ag Tools.” The app will provide agricultural producers and land managers with calculators and utilities to help crunch numbers and gain information when making management decisions. Calculation topics include beef cattle, grazing, wildlife and fisheries, pecan trees, sprayer calibration, and fertilization.
“We wanted to create an app that would provide more information for farmers and ranchers, giving them the ability to make better-informed management decisions out in the field,” said Bryan Nichols, Noble Foundation livestock consultant. “We chose the calculators that best fit the common situations producers encounter on a daily basis.”
The app is available for free download through the Apple and Android app stores. The calculators are also available in a desktop version online at www.noble.org/ag/tools.
Calculators currently available in the app are:
- Body Condition Score Change
- Breeding Season
- Calving Season
- Frame Score
- Lime Application
- Pond Fish Stocking
- Pearson Square Ration Balancing
- Value of Gain
More calculators will be added in the future.
Regulations Appropriate to Manage CWD-Infected Deer Herds
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found in an intensively managed white-tailed deer herd, a deer breeder operation, in Medina County in 2015, and was discovered in a free-ranging mule deer population in the Hueco Mountains in far West Texas in 2012.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) testing — conducted since 2002 on more than 32,000 samples — indicates that CWD is not in the free-ranging white-tailed deer population.
CWD is to deer what bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is to cattle. It is a transmissible disease that causes infected deer to weaken and die.
Like the beef industry response to BSE in cattle, it is reasonable to expect the wildlife management community’s response to CWD in captive white-tailed deer herds to be aggressive, with the goals of containing the disease and protecting the white-tailed deer population.
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) leaders and members support the TPWD efforts to manage and control the spread of this serious wildlife disease, and support the collaboration with Texas Animal Health Commission to establish proper testing protocols.
For more information, please view the full TSCRA news release online.
Cattlemen’s Seminar Highlights
Effective Management Strategies
Area beef cattle producers are invited to a pair of free profitability seminars Sept. 9 and 10 in Springfield and Gainesville, Mo., respectively.
This year’s seminar, titled Effective Management Strategies in a Challenging Market, has grown to a second day and a second location. Local representatives of Dow AgroSciences, Barenbrug USA and Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. once again are hosting this annual event, with the Ozark County Farm Bureau and Ozark County Soil and Water Conservation District helping bring the program to Gainesville.
Expanding cattle numbers, low grain prices and other market factors have created a challenging economic climate for agriculture, including beef cattle producers, seminar organizers say. Getting more production from resources and maximizing cattle value will drive profit opportunities.
Each day’s program is free, is open to the public and includes lunch. Speaker lineups and schedules vary slightly.
For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
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