News Update
November 28, 2017
Evaluate Your Pastures
Fall is here and whether you’re calving, breeding or just waiting for that spring calving season to start, now is a great time to evaluate your pastures or hayfields and make plans for next year.
As you’re retaining heifers, expanding your cow herd and making an investment in Angus bulls, it’s also time to consider the quality of your pastures and how it can impact your herd’s performance. Improving the quality of pasture and hay can certainly have an impact on your herd’s performance, and the first step should always be a soil test. Soil sampling can be one of those important tools in maintaining the proper fertilization levels in your pasture or hayfields and overall forage quality.
The value received from a soil test vastly outweighs the minimal cost for an analysis. Soil tests can be taken at any time during the year, but now is a great time (unless your fields are already snow-covered) because it will allow you time to make plans for spring fertilization and beat the rush of soil samples in the spring.
Continue reading this Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
Missouri State Fair Foundation Youth
in Agriculture Scholarship Applications Now Available
The Missouri State Fair Foundation Youth in Agriculture scholarship application for Missouri High School seniors graduating in 2018 is now available. Applications should be submitted to the Missouri State Fair and must be postmarked by Feb. 1, 2018. Applicants must submit an original copy of their application and five additional copies.
These scholarships are possible thanks to the gracious contributions of many individuals and companies. One $5,000 platinum scholarship sponsored by Youth in Agriculture supporters, one $2,500 supreme scholarship sponsored by Sydenstricker John Deere of Missouri/Sydenstricker Angus Genetics, and 30 $1,500 scholarships sponsored by Youth in Agriculture are being offered.
Applicants must be high school seniors and active members of 4-H or FFA, and have participated at least once as a 4-H or FFA exhibitor at the Missouri State Fair. Eligible scholarship applicants must plan to enroll in an accredited Missouri community college or a four-year-college or university in the fall/spring semester immediately following graduation from high school. Applicants are not required to pursue a degree in agriculture; however, a five-point bonus will be given to applicants pursuing a degree in agriculture during the selection process.
Learn more in the news release online.
Minnesota Board of Animal Health Releases Annual Report
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health’s 2017 Annual Report concentrates on its slogan, “Healthy animals for healthy people and communities.” It was a busy year with many notable efforts to protect animal health: responding to the swine disease Senecavirus A, investigating chronic wasting disease (CWD) cases in deer, tracking animal movements within and across Minnesota’s borders, and planning and preparing for a foreign animal disease event. The annual report covers the 2017 fiscal year and ranges from July 2016 to June 2017.
“We’re always focused on healthy animals,” said Executive Director Beth Thompson. “We keep one eye on our past and the previous diseases we’ve experienced in Minnesota, while we maintain the other on our future, so that we can respond most effectively to what hasn’t happened yet.”
The last year was populated with a lot of news surrounding CWD in the state. The board responded to infections at two different farmed cervid herds. It also completed more than 1,300 successful routine CWD surveillance tests, which is 13% of the 10,607 farmed deer or elk in the state.
For more information, view the Minnesota Board of Animal Health release online.
Animal Agriculture Alliance Names
2017 College Aggies Online Winners
The Animal Agriculture Alliance announced the winners of the 2017 College Aggies Online (CAO) scholarship competition, which prepares students to become lifelong advocates for agriculture.
Since CAO launched in 2009, nearly 6,000 students have participated. This year’s program kicked off in early September with about 300 students competing in the individual division while 30 student organizations competed in the club division. The participants represented 43 states and 89 different universities.
In the individual competition, the winners were:
- First place, $2,500 scholarship: Erica Ballmer, Purdue University
- Second place, $1,000 scholarship: Allison Burenheide, Oklahoma State University
- Third place, $500 scholarship: Alex Jacks, Mississippi State University
In the club competition, the winners were:
- First place, $2,500 scholarship: Agriculture Club, Western Illinois University
- Second place, $1,000 scholarship: Agriculture Advocacy Class, Northwest Missouri State University
- Third place, $500 scholarship: Les Voyageurs, Louisiana State University
The top three individual winners along with a representative from each winning club will receive an expenses-paid trip to the Alliance’s 2018 Stakeholders Summit set for May 3-4 in Arlington, Va.
Read more of this Alliance news release online.
Ranchers Invited to Meet in Torrance County
with NMSU Livestock Production Experts
Agricultural producers will gather with New Mexico State University (NMSU) experts Wednesday, Nov. 29, for a Ranchers’ Roundtable discussion of range livestock production at the East Torrance SWCD Educational Building, 701 10th Street (at the fairgrounds).
“This will be another opportunity to reach out to livestock producers across the state, building on the success of our first two breakfasts at Alamogordo and Santa Rosa,” said Shad Cox, superintendent of NMSU’s Corona Range and Livestock Research Center. “We’ll have a good breakfast and then have ranchers ask questions of our livestock experts. It should be an opportunity for ranchers to become aware of specialized information that could help improve their cattle operations.”
The event will be presented in partnership with the Torrance County Cooperative Extension Service office.
Topics of discussion at the event, “Let’s Talk! Breakfast in Town,” will depend partly on ranchers’ questions, but experts on hand will be especially well versed in cow-calf/stocker nutrition, reproduction and management.
The event will start at 8 a.m. with a free breakfast at the East Torrance SWCD Educational Building. The program will start at 9 a.m. and conclude about 11 a.m.
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