News Update
June 6, 2017
Lemmon Presented BIF Pioneer Award
The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) recognized Harvey Lemmon posthumously with a BIF Pioneer Award June 1 during the group’s annual meeting and symposium in Athens, Ga. The award recognizes individuals who have made lasting contributions to the improvement of beef cattle, honoring those who have had a major role in acceptance of performance reporting and documentation as the primary means to make genetic change in beef cattle.
Lemmon’s love of livestock began as a youngster growing up in southwest Virginia. When he was 9 years old he purchased his first bred, registered Angus heifer. That heifer went on to have a daughter that was named the 1957 Virginia State Fair Junior Show grand champion and, as Lemmon recalled years later, ignited his fire for the Angus business.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Virginia Tech, he began his career at Millarden Farms as a cattle manager. In 1971, he established his own cattle farm, Lemmon Cattle Enterprises, in Woodbury, Ga. He was the owner and operator of Lemmon Cattle Enterprises for 46 years until his death in January 2017.
Read the complete BIF news release online.
Mundhenke Beef Named BIF Commercial Producer of Year
The BIF presented John and Gina Mundhenke of Mundhenke Beef near Lewis, Kan., the BIF Commercial Producer of the Year Award June 1 during the group’s annual meeting and symposium in Athens, Ga. This national award is presented annually to a producer to recognize their dedication to improving the beef industry at the commercial level.
Diversification, commitment to principles and an underlying desire to make improvements each day are what make Mundhenke Beef a successful agricultural enterprise. Mundhenke Beef encompasses an Angus-based cow-calf herd, backgrounding yard and farming business. All enterprises are managed carefully and provide the diversification necessary to shoulder risk and uncertainty in today’s agricultural industry. Although the operation is diverse in nature, the priority remains with the cow herd and its ability to produce high-quality beef in demand by consumers.
They started their herd with commercial Angus females, artificially inseminating (AIing) them annually. They purchased 20 registered Angus donor females and, through several years of embryo transfer and using commercial cows as recipient females, they replaced the core herd with the registered Angus.
Learn more in the BIF news release online.
Bull Sale Report Update
Sale prices for registered Angus bulls during the spring sale season remained strong, with much enthusiasm on display during production sales and offerings nationwide.
According to sale reports submitted to the American Angus Association, breeders have sold nearly 49,000 head of registered Angus bulls so far this fiscal year, with averages around $4,800 per head. Association Regional Manager Kurt Kangas shares this report from his territory in Montana and Wyoming.
“It was a real successful bull season this year. I think with the expectations in the feeder calf market this last summer, bull sales were widely well attended, and buyers bought good bulls at really nice averages that I think that people were real pleasantly surprised.”
Learn more by tuning into this week’s episode of The Angus Report online. You can also catch the show at 1:30 p.m. CDT Saturday or 7:30 a.m. CDT every Monday morning on RFD-TV.
USDA Awards $6.6 Million to Combat Childhood Obesity
The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced June 1 more than $6.6 million for 10 grants to combat childhood obesity, a public health issue that affects one in five school-aged children. The funding is made possible through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
“Healthy habits start with families,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “With these NIFA investments, we are helping at-risk families make lifestyle changes that will add up to a lifetime of better health for their children.”
AFRI is America’s flagship competitive grants program for foundational and translational research, education and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. The AFRI Childhood Obesity Prevention Challenge Area supports projects to gain a better understanding of the factors behind childhood weight gain, to develop and expand effective interventions, and to train more parents, caregivers and educators to promote childhood obesity prevention.
For more information read the USDA news release online.
Land Leasing, Estate Planning Program set for June 27 in Sweetwater
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct the Ag Land Leasing and Estate Planning Program at 6 p.m. June 27 at the Roscoe STEM Center, 12822 N. Interstate Highway 20, Roscoe.
“Our speaker will be Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, AgriLife Extension agricultural law specialist from Amarillo,” said Zach Wilcox, AgriLife Extension agent in Nolan County. “She is well-versed in all aspects of land leasing, whether it’s for wind turbines, minerals or hunting or grazing leases. Estate planning for new, as well as seasoned landowners is another area of her expertise she will be discussing. This should be of keen interest to those in our area.”
For more information, visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
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