News Update

January 4, 2017

Beef Leaders Institute Reaches 10-year Milestone

The Beef Leaders Institute (BLI) is a premier leadership experience for American Angus Association members that provides a look into the entire beef supply chain, while enhancing participant knowledge of the Association and strengthening their leadership skills.

Now in its tenth year, Angus producers between 25-45 years old are invited to apply for the five-day tour hosted June 19-23, 2017. Applications are due by March 1.

Thanks to generous support from the Angus Foundation, BLI offers producers a chance to tour all facets of the beef production line. With a trip to the Association, tours to feedlots, harvesting and packing plants and industry leading genomic companies, all the way to Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) in Wooster, Ohio, Angus cattlemen and women receive elite hands-on learning and insight into quality cattle production.

For more information, read the Angus news release online.

— Adapted from a release by JD Rosman, Angus Media.

Stock Show Parade Canceled

Due to Denver weather forecasts, the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) has canceled the annual Stock Show Parade scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 5, at Noon in Downtown Denver.

“After several hours of gathering facts, we have decided to cancel the parade this Thursday. It will not be rescheduled. The risk of animal injury and injury to people is far too great with the 4 to 8 inches of snow predicted and 6° temperatures,” said Stock Show President and CEO Paul Andrews. “We invite everyone to come out to the grounds and celebrate the start of Stock Show with us this weekend.”

The annual Stock Show Parade barbecue lunch will take place, as scheduled, in the atrium of the Wells Fargo Building at 17th Street & Broadway, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The barbecue is open to the public and benefits the 4-H International Youth Group. Lunch tickets are $10.

The 111th NWSS will open its doors on Saturday, Jan. 7, at 9 a.m. The 16-day show runs Jan. 7 – Jan. 22. Grounds admission and event tickets are on sale at www.nationalwestern.com and all King Soopers locations.

— Adapted from a release by Karen Woods, National Western Stock Show.

Commodity Credit Corporation Lending Rates

The USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announced interest rates for January 2017. The CCC borrowing rate-based charge for December is 0.875%, up from 0.750% in December.

The interest rate for crop year commodity loans less than one year disbursed during January is 1.875%, up from 1.750% in December.

Interest rates for Farm Storage Facility Loans approved for January are as follows, 1.500% with three-year loan terms, up from

1.125% in December; 1.875% with five-year loan terms, up from 1.375% in December; 2.250% with seven-year loan terms, up from 1.750% in December; 2.375% with 10-year loan terms, up from 2.000% in December and; 2.500% with 12-year loan terms, up from 2.000% in December. The interest rate for 15-year Sugar Storage Facility Loans for January is 2.625%, up from 2.125% in December.

Further program information is available from USDA Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Financial Management Division at 202-772-6041.

— Adapted from a release by the USDA.

American Farm Bureau Endorses Pruitt for EPA

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has formally endorsed the nomination of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). AFBF President Zippy Duvall called Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general, “an ideal nominee” who “has profound respect for the laws written by Congress.”

Duvall conveyed that endorsement in a letter to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-Del.). In the letter, Duvall cited Pruitt’s contesting of the EPA’s Waters of the U.S. rule when he defended “the bipartisan view of Congress that the agency has illegally overstepped its bounds and ignored the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The letter also referenced Pruitt’s work to defend Congress regarding the Clean Power Plan and cap-and-trade provisions, in which the nominee soundly took the view “that Congress has not authorized the sweeping attempt by EPA to coerce action by the states.”

For more information, view the Farm Bureau news release online.

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

Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic

The 36th annual Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Milam County Youth Exposition Building, 301 S. Houston St. in Cameron.

Program topics will include a beef cattle market outlook by Jason Johnson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist, Stephenville. Jason Cleere, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist, College Station, will discuss cattle evaluation from the perspective of genetics, order buyers and sellers along with Kenny Mingus of Milam County Livestock Auction and Pete Scarmardo, Scarmardo Cattle Company, Caldwell.

Joe Paschal, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist, Corpus Christi, will address new technologies and techniques in castration, dehorning and vaccination. Additionally, Cleere will give an update on the new Veterinary Feed Directive and Joshua Gaskamp, research assistant with the Noble Foundation in Oklahoma, will discuss feral hog control methods.

For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.

— Adapted from a release by Blair Fannin, Texas AgriLife Communications.

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

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