News Update
September 2, 2010

American Angus Association Releases Selection Tool for Feed Efficiency

Beginning this fall, Angus breeders will have access to the industry’s latest advancement in selecting animals for feed efficiency — the residual average daily gain EPD (RADG).

The American Angus Association and Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI) will introduce the RADG EPD, which characterizes postweaning efficiency differences in future progeny of Angus breeding stock. The new EPD capitalizes on the use of individual feed intake data, a sizeable growth database in Angus cattle, and the latest genomic technology.

“Feed costs are a significant financial component that producers must consider. The residual average daily gain EPD helps both seedstock and commercial cattlemen select Angus genetics expected to gain more on a comparable amount of feed,” says Bill Bowman, AGI president and Association chief operating officer. Read more.

Beef Capitalizes On The Power Of Lean

Gone are the days when healthy or convenient food is synonymous with “bad-tasting.” When it comes to beef, you can get good taste and a lean, tender, healthy product all in one.

“The rules have changed,” John Lundeen, executive director of market research for the beef checkoff program, told meat processors, manufacturers and retailers at the 2010 Innovative Beef Symposium in Denver, Colo., last week. “We continue to see growing demand for tasty new ways to cook lean, healthy beef quickly,” he continued, noting that the beef checkoff persists in uncovering products that meet those demands.

Lundeen’s comments came as he helped unveil six new cuts from the beef round, developed in Phase 3 of the checkoff’s muscle-profiling research. Phases 1 and 2 resulted in new cuts from the shoulder clod and the chuck roll.

According to consumer research, the key drivers for consumer beef purchases include safety, convenience, ease of preparation, good value, ‘a taste my family craves,’ a lean cut, and a versatile cut that everyone in the family likes, Lundeen said.

All six new cuts — the Sante Fe Cut; Round Petite Tender; San Antonio Steak; Tucson Cut; Braison Cut; and Merlot Cut — qualify as ‘lean’ or ‘extra lean’ by USDA guidelines, and all have passed a multitude of taste and tenderness tests.

“There’s a resurgence in consumers’ interest in protein, too,” Lundeen said, “so these new lean, tender cuts are right on target.” And their convenience is key, since 80% of meals are prepared in 20 minutes or less and 75% are cooked in 30 minutes or less. (The NPD Group/Dinner Mealscape, data period May 2003-April 2004).

Shalene McNeill, executive director of nutrition research for the checkoff, said the fact that all of the new cuts derived from the round are lean is extremely good news for consumers who might still question beef’s nutritional profile.

“Nutrition remains the key barrier for beef, as nutrition is the No. 1 reason consumers cite for eating less beef,” McNeill told symposium participants. “But today, more than 90% of saturated fat in the diet comes from food other than beef.

“Most Americans just don’t understand how much fat we’ve taken out of beef, simply through close trimming,” she added. “In fact, cuts from the chuck, rib, loin and round have 34.68% less separable fat than is reported in the National Nutrient Database. Checkoff research gives us this information to provide evidence for nutritional labeling and dietary guidelines.”

During the last decade, McNeill pointed out, the beef industry has gone from representing six cuts that qualified as ‘lean’ to 35 today, with the inclusion of these latest additions. For example, she said, the beef tenderloin has less cholesterol than a skinless chicken breast — and that’s the kind of message that consumers need to receive.

“Beef’s health and wellness opportunity is about capitalizing on the Power of Lean,” McNeill said.

For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit www.MyBeefCheckoff.com. 

— Release by the beef chekoff program.

Beef Production Field Day is Sept. 16 in Jackson, Ohio

Maximizing profit while protecting a farm’s natural resources is the formula highlighted at this year’s Profitable Beef Production and the Environment Field Day, which takes place Thursday, Sept. 16, at Ohio State University’s Jackson Agricultural Research Station in Jackson, Ohio.

Registration for the event costs $15 per person, includes dinner, and is due by Sept. 10. On-site registration is $20. To register, call Kenny Wells, Jackson station manager, at 740-286-3803 or e-mail him at wells.296@osu.edu.

The program begins at 5 p.m. with registration, followed by dinner at 5:30 p.m. The educational sessions run from 6-8 p.m. They focus on three topics:

• utilization of annual forages in a beef cattle grazing management system;
  
• the ‘5-day CIDR-Synch’ estrus synchronization program; and
  
• streambank stabilization.
  

Located at 019 Standpipe Rd., the Jackson Agricultural Research Station is one of 10 farms managed by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) throughout the state to support Ohio’s $90-plus billion food and agriculture industry.

OARDC is the research arm of Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

— Adapted from release by OARDC.
For the full release, see http://www.api-virtuallibrary.com/meetings_other_calendar.html

Management Is Critical to BVDv Eradication

What is the real cost of a calf persistently infected (PI) with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDv)? That is the question the beef industry has asked itself the past 10 years. Research has shown when as few as one PI calf is left in a herd each year for 10 years, it can cost producers $15 to $20 per cow per year.1 In a 100-head herd, that’s $2,000 per year, or $20,000 over 10 years.

According to Joe Campbell, professional service veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI), even with all of the research, discussions and press around eradicating BVDv, percentage-wise there are almost as many PI calves today as there were 10 years ago.

And, he adds, even though more and more producers are using appropriate methods for managing BVDv in their herds, the industry still has a long way to go to eradicate this costly disease.

Campbell stresses the importance of testing all calves for BVDv and culling any that are positive. Especially since many calves born PI don’t show signs of disease. “A dam can test negative, but still have a PI calf,” Campbell cautions. “Testing the calves is critical. If the calf is positive, then the dam should be tested.”

Additional biosecurity protocols to prevent a PI animal from being introduced to the herd include:

• testing all purchased animals;
  
• quarantining any purchased females that are pregnant, and testing their calves after they are born; and
  
• testing all bulls.

The final management practice that Campbell recommends is to vaccinate the herd with a good modified-live viral (MLV) vaccine labeled for prevention of PI calves.

“If you vaccinate your cow herd 30 days prior to breeding according to label directions,” Campbell says, “and a BVDv PI calf is found and the dam is not persistently infected with BVDv, BIVI will pay for the diagnostics to retest the calf and reimburse the producer for fair market value of their calf if that calf tests positive for BVD PI.”

Campbell recommends that producers work with their local veterinarians to develop a program that prevents BVDv from entering their herds.

For more information, please visit www.bi-vetmedica.com.

— Adapted from a Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. release.

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.