News Update
October 10, 2017
Hello Fresh Beef Tour
The consumer’s path to purchase beef is looking more and more diverse every day. Not only can consumers choose to shop at their traditional brick-and-mortar grocery store, they can also shop at Internet-based grocers or opt for complete dinner solutions from companies like Hello Fresh, an online meal-kit delivery service.
Hello Fresh ships boxes of refrigerated ingredients and recipes to customers who prepare and cook the meals themselves. A large portion of their customer base is in the Northeast, where approximately a quarter of the nation’s population lives.
On Aug. 25, 2017, the national beef checkoff hosted a group from the New York City Hello Fresh corporate office for a full-day beef immersion experience at Thunder View Farms in Grahamsville, N.Y. The Richard Coombes and Philip Coombes families manage Thunder View, which prides itself on raising high-quality Angus genetics. The company retains ownership of its calves through finishing, then directly markets their finished cattle.
Following the morning farm tour, which included discussions on cattle feeding, reproduction, selection and herd health, the group was treated to a lunch of smoked beef brisket, courtesy of Thunder View Farms.
Continue reading this Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
Farmers Squashed by Labor Shortage
Without access to an adequate and stable workforce, many farmers are being forced to leave fresh produce to rot in the fields. Farmers and ranchers across the country are calling for long-overdue reform to the current guest worker visa program that would create flexibility and provide stability in the agricultural workforce.
As Washington state farmers Burr and Rosella Mosby explain in a new video from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the farm workforce is dwindling, and even with higher wages, it’s hard to find enough workers for harvest. The Mosbys were forced to abandon a field of zucchini squash on their farm just south of Seattle when their workforce came up 25% short this season.
“I think we need more options,” Rosella Mosby said in talking about the guest worker visa program. She said there is an availability of foreign workers ready to come work in agriculture, but the current system does not give farmers or workers the flexibility needed to fill farm jobs.
“It’s supposed to be that you work hard and produce something, and you’re getting paid at the end of the day,” Burr Mosby said as he watched the 20-acre field being plowed under.
For more information, view the Farm Bureau news release online.
New Perspectives
Boots hit the ground at the American Angus Association as nearly 20 Angus producers entered the building June 19. Looking to further their knowledge and education in the cattle world, participants of the 10th annual Beef Leaders Institute (BLI) arrived at the Association with much anticipation for a week of learning and networking with professionals in the cattle industry.
The Angus Foundation-sponsored event was hosted June 19-23 and started at the Angus Association’s headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo. For five days, 17 Angus members and Association staff traveled throughout the Midwest exploring less familiar aspects of beef production for a pasture-to-plate experience.
For most of the producers in attendance, this was their first time visiting the Association office. The opportunity to learn about the daily operations of the Association gave them insight to the dedication Angus employees have to their membership of nearly 25,000 people.
“I had always wondered where our fees and money go to, but it is a great investment,” said Martin Allison with Allison Farms in Waverly, Tenn. “People truly don’t understand the effort and time the Association puts into its members.
Read the full Angus Journal article online.
Latest USDA Supply and Demand
Estimates Lower U.S. Beef Production
The USDA released its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report Sept. 12, which should prove to be neutral to slightly bullish. U.S. beef production for 2017 was lowered by 140 million pounds (lb.), from 26.699 billion lb. to 26.559 billion lb., while 2018 production was lowered by 85 million lb. to 27.275 billion lb. There are likely a few things driving this reduction in beef production.
One driver is lower than expected fed-cattle marketing as reflected in the last Cattle on Feed report, although we know those cattle are still out there and will end up coming to market at some point in the future. For many of those cattle, it is more of a matter of when they go to market rather than if they will go to market. Probably the biggest driver is reduced slaughter weights. Total slaughter numbers have been trending at or above last year’s numbers most of the year, however slaughter weights have been trending well below year-ago levels. When those two are put together, the lower slaughter weights outweigh the increase in the number of head, leading to lower production numbers.
Learn more in the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
Historic Herd, Fresh Focus
Dixon Shealy grew up in Miami, 670 miles and a world apart from Black Grove Angus Farm. Although his father, Walter Shealy, was raised in Newberry, S.C., and started the herd as a 4-H project in 1962, he didn’t move his family to the operation until 1992, when Dixon was a high school sophomore. Even though Dixon did show cattle one year, he says, “I wasn’t a 4-H kid. I played all the sports and studied really hard.”
After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in finance and managing a restaurant, he came back to Black Grove as its sole employee in 2005.
“Obviously, it was a disadvantage not to have an ag background, but I’ve used it as an advantage,” says Shealy, now 39. “My dad and I look at things from a different plane, both from each other and from other farmers in the area.”
One of the first things Shealy’s fresh eyes noticed was the grazing program on the 330-acre operation.
“It was a basic rotation system with permanent subdivided pastures and a not very high stocking rate.”
Read this Angus Journal article online.
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