News Update

February 16, 2017

Tips for Talking to Your Banker

What are your business plans for 2017? How will you present them to your lender?

Those were questions asked of cattle producers attending an Angus University Workshop conducted during the 2016 Angus Convention hosted Nov. 5-7 in Indianapolis, Ind. Louis McIntire, credit officer with Farm Credit Mid-America, offered information about preparing to talk with a banker.

“Have a plan and go to your banker early to visit about renewing a line of credit. …,” said Louis McIntire, credit officer with Farm Credit Mid-America. “Ask your banker to visit your operation and meet your family. It does make a difference.”

McIntire said that despite the trend toward lower farm and ranch income, credit is available. However, when considering applications for operating loans, most lenders are focusing on the applicant’s management capabilities and the quality of their financial data.

To read more, view the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.

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

U.S. House Resolution to Repeal BLM’s Planning 2.0 Rule

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) Feb. 7, hailed U.S. House passage of a resolution that would repeal the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Planning 2.0 Rule, calling it a “huge victory” for America’s ranchers. If the U.S. Senate also quickly passes the resolution, it would go to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

“For years, the Obama Administration ignored the concerns of ranchers and local officials and instead rammed through this massive regulatory overreach as they were being shown the door,” said Ethan Lane, executive director of PLC and NCBA Public Lands. “This is a huge victory for America’s cattle producers and a sign that some common sense is finally being restored in Washington.”

Continue reading in the NCBA news release online.

— Adapted from a release by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assocation.

Managing Winter Manure Nutrients

An overwintering, cow-calf beef herd produces manure — quite a lot of it. In one day, the average 1,250-pound (lb.) beef cow produces 75 lb. of manure and urine. This manure has approximately 0.31 lb. of nitrogen (not all of this is retained), 0.19 lb. of phosphate and 0.26 lb. of potassium. The feeding method beef farmers use to deal with this nutrient resource can have a positive impact on their forage and other crop production systems.

Care should be taken to not overfeed in an area. Too great of an accumulation of wasted hay and manure can have a negative impact on forage yield next year.

There are four basic approaches to feeding the cow-calf herd during the winter:

1. Drylot feedyard. Drylot feeding consists of confining and feeding cattle in a drylot pen from October through April, or later. Cows are fed daily and nutrients accumulate in manure/straw pack throughout the winter.
2. In-field bale feeders. Bale feeders are placed in a field with frequent relocation of the feeders to better distribute manure and waste feed nutrients and avoid sod damage.

For more information, read the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.

— Adapted from an article by Jim Isleib & Frank Wardynski, Michigan State University Extension.

Endangered Species Reform

In congressional testimony Feb. 15, Wisconsin Farm Bureau President Jim Holte told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee current Endangered Species Act (ESA) enforcement fails to provide adequate incentives for species conservation on working lands and, instead, imposes far-reaching regulatory burdens on agriculture.

Congress intended for the ESA to protect species from extinction, but even after species have recovered, regulations and litigation often fail to allow them to be removed from protected status. According to Holte, a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors, the law is ripe for reform because it places a priority on keeping species listed rather than carrying out actual work related to recovery and habitat conservation.

Holte, a beef and grain farmer from Elk Mound, Wis,, said that in his state regulatory action related to one species in particular, the gray wolf, is having adverse effects on many farmers.

Continue reading in the Farm Bureau release online.

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

Target Weight Considerations

Both preweaning and postweaning nutrition are important to the development of replacement heifers, but most beef herd managers have more opportunity to manipulate nutrition after weaning. To help managers avoid having nutrition be a limiting factor in replacement heifers’ ability to become pregnant, the target weight concept was proposed. This gave managers a goal of having heifers reach a certain percentage of their mature weight by the beginning of the first breeding season.

During the 2016 Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle (ARSBC) Symposium, University of Idaho animal scientist John Hall talked about the target weight concept and the debate over which of two different targets may be most appropriate. Hall suggested that the answer may not be the same for every cow-calf producer.

For many years, the rule of thumb called for heifers to be developed to 65% of mature weight — a recommendation Hall said was based on sound science.

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

— 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.