News Update
August 30, 2016 Hoosier Hospitality
As thoughts turn toward fall planning, the American Angus Association invites cattlemen and women to register for the 2016 Angus Convention hosted Nov. 5-7 in Indianapolis, Ind. An event favorite is the preconvention tour, presented this year by Indiana Angus Association members.
“The National Angus Tour is an opportunity for Angus producers all over the country to come in and see how we do things here in the Midwest, here in Indiana,” says Clint Coverdale of Coverdale Angus, host of the tour’s final stop near Frankton, Ind. Participants, he adds, will get to meet people from all over the country, share ideas and experiences, and “see how we do things here in the Corn Belt.”
Indiana is as competitive with Angus cattle as anywhere in the country, says Ted Willer of Willer Timber Ridge, Greencastle, Ind., host of one of the day’s farm stops.
“We have show cattle, and we have performance cattle,” he explains of the state’s cow herd, adding that the cattle have to perform in a tough environment.
Read more about the Indiana Angus Tour and the upcoming Angus Convention in the Angus news release online.
USDA App Protects Cattle from Heat Stress
USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has launched a new smartphone application (app) that forecasts conditions triggering heat stress in cattle. The app is available at both Google Play and the App Store.
Compatible with Android and Apple mobile phones, the app issues forecasts one to seven days in advance of extreme heat conditions, along with recommended actions that can protect animals before and during a heat-stress event.
In some cattle, distress and discomfort from prolonged exposure to extreme heat cause diminished appetite, reduced growth or weight gain, greater susceptibility to disease and, in some cases, even death. Cattle housed in confined feedlot pens are especially vulnerable to heat-stress events, notes Tami Brown-Brandl, an ARS agricultural engineer at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb.
In addition to high temperatures, weather-related factors like humidity, wind speed and solar radiation can contribute to heat stress, adds Brown-Brandl.
For more information, view the USDA news release online.
Where’s the Beef?
Along America’s Angus Trails notes the seemingly never-ending quest on the part of the vegan crowd to duplicate the taste, texture, aroma and now juice of the great american hamburger. They’ve failed so far, and this latest elaborate effort seems similarly destined.
Let’s face it, the best hamburger factory is right there on your place — your cow herd, right there on your pasture.
But, any day now, you can expect to be reading that Silicon Valley startup Impossible Foods has placed a faux burger on restaurant menus. It is engineered to bleed and taste like real beef. But can coconut oil and potato proteins compete with the red-blooded original?
This latest attempt is being treated as a clandestine effort, in a very confidential, blackened-windows Redwood City, Calif., laboratory, with none of the vaunted, lavish Silicon Valley aesthetic, with plugged-in electric cars out front. Instead, it’s in a very modest industrial park space, with rows of drab desks packed with scientific equipment.
Impossible Foods was founded in 2011, and has received $182 million in four rounds of funding from top venture-capital firms and wealthy individual investors like Bill Gates.
Continue reading in the Angus Media news article online.
Check Cornfields for Stalk Rots
Farmers should scout cornfields now for anthracnose and other stalk rots.
University of Missouri Extension corn specialist Greg Luce says stalk rots, including anthracnose, charcoal, diplodia and fusarium, can be found to some extent in cornfields across much of the state.
Scout fields before corn matures, 40-60 days after pollination, Luce says. Check 10 sections of a field for stalk rot. Anthracnose stalk rot may not appear in the entire field. Anthracnose shows up late in the growing season. Infected plants begin dying prematurely. Black, shiny streaks or spots appear mostly on the lower portion of the stalk. In some cases, the entire stalk blackens.
Affected plants fall when pushed. Stalks yield easily when squeezed between the thumb and forefinger. Split stalks appear discolored and rotted during the top dieback phase, also known as ghosting.
For more information, view the news release online.
Niman Ranch Joins Certified Humane
Niman Ranch in Denver, Colo., and its more than 720 independent family farms and ranches throughout the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and mid-Atlantic regions, is the newest company to join Humane Farm Animal Care’s (HFAC) Certified Humane® program.
Beginning Sept. 1, 2016, all of Niman Ranch’s pork, beef, lamb and processed products, including bacon, sausages, hot dogs and hams, will officially become Certified Humane making them the largest multi-protein company in the United States to join the program.
“Niman Ranch shares our commitment to raising farm animals under strict humane standards,” says Adele Douglass, executive director for HFAC. “Whether they’re raising hogs, cattle or lamb, all of their animals across all of their farms will be raised under Humane Farm Animal Care’s Animal Care Standards.
For more information, view the news release online.
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