News Update
February 17, 2017
Angus Foundation Introduces
New Scholarship
The Angus Foundation is pleased to announce that the family of Pat Goggins has provided an $11,750 gift, creating the Pat Goggins Memorial Angus Scholarship Endowment Fund.
Goggins was a publisher, columnist, auctioneer, livestock market owner, real estate broker and longtime Angus breeder from Billings, Mont. He gained great prestige in the Angus industry working as a fieldman and ringman for Western Livestock Journal, the Montana Farmer Stockman and Western Livestock Reporter.
A self-taught auctioneer, Goggins became one of the leading purebred livestock auctioneers in the United States. Over the years, Goggins’ keen business sense led him to acquire three auction markets, numerous ranches and feedlots, the first livestock video auction, a real estate company and other business ventures.
Read more in the Angus news release online.
Cattlemen Applaud Bipartisan House
Passage of Red River Bill
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) applaud the House passage of H.R. 428 the Red River Gradient Boundary Survey Act. The bill, introduced by Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) would seek to settle all federal ownership claims by providing legal certainty to landowners along the Red River.
“Private landowners have owned and successfully managed lands along the Red River for quite some time, some for over 100 years,” said Joe Guild, NCBA policy division chairman. “These landowners hold deeds to the land and have regularly paid property taxes. We remain opposed to the taking of private property through federal usurpation and applaud the House for taking affirmative action to fix this problem.”
In 1923, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the gradient line of the south bank of the Red River was the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma (Oklahoma v. Texas). Recognizing that the Red River is a unique situation, the state of Texas and the state of Oklahoma agreed to an interstate boundary compact known as the Red River Boundary Compact, essentially resolving the dispute over the definition of the border between the two states.
For more information, view the NCBA news release online.
Satisfying Consumer Hunger for Food Verification
Leann Saunders shared her perspectives on “capturing value” within the industry during a Cattlemen’s College® session Feb. 1 at the 2017 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Saunders is president of Where Food Comes From Inc., which is a leading provider of certification and verification services to the food industry.
Saunders and her husband, John, have been working in the area of livestock identification, traceability and food industry verification for 21 years. Where Food Comes From brings together their two former companies IMI Global and Sterling Solutions, as well as the entities of International Certification Services Inc. and Validus Validation Services LLC.
Saunders prefaced her remarks by highlighting the ever-changing consumer dynamic. She noted that in 1984 consumers were focused on taste, convenience, nutrition, variety and price. Today, in 2017, they still are concerned with all of those things, but now also consider what Saunders dubs “credence attributes.”
Continue reading in the Angus Media news article online.
Measuring a Wild Card
When the season’s first calves arrive, you begin to see results of your genetic decisions, perhaps eager for more or thinking about what a new bull could bring. Poring through bull catalogs and looking at expected progeny differences (EPDs), keep in mind the environment affects what your calves are now and what they will become.
Genotype plus environment equals phenotype. The equation’s simplicity lies not in its precision but in stating the relationship, for who can quantify the environment’s role from one calf crop to the next?
Perhaps the only solution out on the ranch can be found in averages, once you identify indicators of herd progress. Among weaning weight, overall profitability, annual cow cost, pounds weaned per cow exposed and pounds weaned per acre, each provides insight. None tell where the progress or setback originated because combined effects are so broad.
Read more in the Angus Media news article online.
Live Oak County Fever Tick Update
Since the first detection of fever ticks on a Live Oak County premises in late November 2016, the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) has confirmed seven additional infested premises in the county.
The additional premises were detected through systematic livestock and wildlife inspections conducted within the original Control Purpose Quarantine Area (CPQA), and the inspection of livestock moved to other premises as part of regular management practices.
As a result of detecting additional premises infested with fever ticks, the CPQA has expanded from approximately 12,587 acres on Nov. 30, 2016, to 57,541 acres.
Premises located within the CPQA are subject to movement restrictions, systematic inspections and potential treatment in accordance with the regulations in Title 4, Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 41 Fever Ticks.
For more information, view the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
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.