News Update
May 18, 2018
Celebrations Planned for
the 50th Anniversary of the
National Junior Angus Show
As preparations begin for the 2018 National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) in Madison, Wis., can you believe that 50 years ago, the first NJAS was held in Columbia, Mo.? Since inception in 1969, the show has grown, changed and evolved in many ways. Just 103 head of cattle were shown at the first NJAS and last year, record numbers were exhibited! Cow-calf pairs, bulls, steers and carcass steers were added since the show began. Plus, the show has traveled to 15 states and 22 cities across the nation.
To celebrate the monumental occasion, there will be several activities taking place throughout the week of the 2018 NJAS. The Events and Education Department would like to formally extend an invitation to the Opening Ceremonies at 6:00 p.m. Sunday, July 8; the 50th Birthday Party at 4:00 p.m. Monday, July 9; and the Closing Ceremonies at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, July 12. There will be no shortage of celebration at this year’s event.
In addition, a “museum” dedicated to NJAS memorabilia collected over the past five decades will be showcased near the trade show.
Read this Angus Media news article online.
Cattle Farm Tour Shows How Shade Improves Profits
Cattle producers are invited to attend a field day at the Mingo Farm in St. James, Mo., to learn how to use natural shade to improve their beef operations.
The field day begins at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, at the Mingo cow-calf operation, 25385 County Road 1000, St. James. The University of Missouri Extension, MU Center for Agroforestry, and MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources sponsor the event.
University of Missouri (MU) Extension specialists will tell how owner Brian Tomazi uses shade to improve cow comfort and increase profits. Specialists will give a tour and discuss rotational grazing, equipment and portable breeding barns. They will explain how Tomazi manages timber, forages and livestock in an integrated system.
Over the years, Tomazi thinned hardwood trees at the edge of grazing paddocks and moved fences back to take advantage of the additional grazing area. This gives cows a place to cool before going back to the pasture to graze again or calve.
MU researchers found that access to shade improves weight gains for calves. Reducing heat stress also significantly improves pregnancy rates.
For more information, read the MU news release online.
Equipment Leasing and Finance Industry
Confidence Eases Further in May
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) released the May 2018 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) May 17. Designed to collect leadership data, the index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $1-trillion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market eased further in May to 64.6, down from the April index of 68.3.
When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Michael Romanowski, president of Farm Credit Leasing Services Corporation, said, “Customers are continuing to work through the impacts of tax law changes and making decisions on how best to finance capital investments. Projects are beginning and we anticipate an increase in purchase leaseback activity in the last quarter of the year.”
May 2018 Survey Results: The overall MCI-EFI is 64.6 in May, a decrease from 68.3 in April.
• When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 22.2% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, a decrease from 33.3% in April.
Read more of this news release online.
Review Animal Health Challenge Areas to Assess Feed Hygiene
As new and different farm management schemes are adopted and new ensiling technology continues to emerge to improve feed fermentation across all sectors of the agriculture industry, the opportunities for improved feed hygiene also grow. The term “feed hygiene” refers to the anti-nutritional factors that affect the purity and sanitation of feeds — from the field, to fermentation and through feeding. Even while knowledge in the sector of anti-nutritional factors continues to grow and management factors that contribute to poor feed hygiene are identified, an easy solution to combat all of these aspects remains unfound.
“We are recognizing bacterial loads in feedstuffs to a far greater extent than ever before, and they are appearing in more places than ever before,” says John Goeser, Rock River Laboratory animal nutrition, research and innovation director. “For instance, clostridia outbreaks are usually resigned to just haylage, but we can also find these bacteria in corn silage and even TMR (total mixed rations).” Goeser explains that when anti-nutritional factors, like fungi or pathogenic bacteria, are present in feed, it is a sign of contamination.
Continue reading this Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA article online.
AgriLife Extension Conducting Custom
Agricultural Rates Survey
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is conducting a survey to collect rates charged for custom agricultural operations and services across Texas.
Steven Klose, AgriLife Extension economist in College Station, encourages farmers, ranchers, landowners and custom service providers to respond.
“We receive a number of inquiries each year for custom rates for a variety of agricultural operations and services,” Klose said. “The information collected in this survey is the only source for market and pricing data related to custom-hire activities in Texas.”
He encouraged farmers, ranchers, landowners and custom service providers to respond to the survey, which accounts for activities such as tractor rental, tillage operations, planting operations, chemical and fertilizer application, custom harvesting, hay baling, land preparation, brush control and other miscellaneous operations or services. The resulting price publication provides a baseline of regional and statewide average rates.
“The survey should only take 10-15 minutes for most people because we only want them to answer the questions that pertain to their operation,” Klose said. “Hard copies of the survey will be mailed to a limited group, however, anyone with knowledge of custom farm and ranch operations is encouraged to participate online at: https://agecoext.tamu.edu/crs2018.
For more information, please view the full release online.
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