News Update
Nov. 17, 2010

All-New I Am Angus Airs Nov. 22

Celebrate Thanksgiving week by joining the American Angus Association® as it airs a new I Am Angus program Monday, Nov. 22.

The hour-long show is the second program in the Association’s four-part fall and winter television series. This particular episode — titled “Winds of Change” — celebrates the history of America’s cattle industry and the heritage of the Angus breed.

“We’re eager to share the latest edition in the I Am Angus series, which follows on the heels of our largely successful October show. These are great stories of our Angus ranching heritage that share the positive story of American agriculture,” says Bryce Schumann, Association CEO. Read more.

Angus Offers Weekly Genetic Evaluation

Beginning last Friday, Nov.12, Angus farmers and ranchers have even more accurate, more rapidly available genetic feedback than ever before.
In another industry breakthrough, the American Angus Association and Angus Genetics Inc.® (AGI) provide weekly updates on all traits calculated within the National Cattle Evaluation (NCE).

Previously, weekly releases were only available for the Association’s selection of genomic-enhanced expected progeny differences (EPDs) for carcass, docility and residual average daily gain (RADG). Now, the industry’s largest beef breed organization has expanded that capability across the board on all Angus selection tools developed from the Association’s database of more than 19 million records.

“Angus members and their investment in technology have made this weekly capability possible,” said Bill Bowman, the Association’s chief operating officer (COO) and AGI president. “This was the next logical step in providing the most current set of EPDs for more reliable genetic decision tools.”

The weekly capability is considerably more frequent than NCE updates previously released just twice a year. Read more.

Registration Open for December USDA-DOJ Agriculture Competition Workshop

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that registration is open for a public workshop on agricultural competition Dec. 8, 2010, at USDA’s Jefferson Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

The workshop is the final in a series of five held throughout the country this year. The upcoming workshop will focus on margins at various levels of the agricultural supply chain.

The workshop will begin with opening remarks from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Christine Varney. A series of panels will discuss topics such as supply chain dynamics, issues in food retailing and margins in the beef, pork, poultry and dairy industries. Each panel will feature producers and industry representatives as well as academics with extensive research experience in the relevant field.

Attendance is free and open to the public. The general public and media interested may register at www.surveymonkey.com/s/marginsworkshop. There will be two opportunities for public testimony from those attending the workshop.

For further information, visit the DOJ Antitrust Division agriculture workshop website at www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/index.htm or contact agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov.

— Release by American Meat Institute.

Free Program to Demonstrate Livestock Handling Principles

Animal handling is an important component of an overall animal welfare strategy, and implementing low-stress practices is not only healthy for the animal, but also makes things easier for the animal handler.

Ohio State University (OSU) Extension will be offering a free livestock handling demonstration Nov. 20 from 1:30 p.m. until 3 p.m. at the Scott Pfeiffer Farm, 4315 Marion Johnson Road near Albany, Ohio. OSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Steve Boyles will discuss the moving and handling of livestock and demonstrate some animal handling principles.

“In today’s social environment and with agriculture under increasingly close scrutiny, it’s important that livestock producers and animal handlers apply low-stress animal handling principles,” said Rory Lewandowski, an OSU Extension educator in Athens County. “Additionally, evidence clearly shows it is a more productive way of handling livestock.”

During the handling demonstration, a number of animal handling principles will be discussed, including:

• Flight zone: The flight zone is how close one can get to the animal before it begins to back away. Unless the animal is completely tame and has no fear of humans, there will be a flight zone.
• Pressure and release: Pressure and release works with the concept of flight zone in handling animals. Stepping within the flight zone of an animal pressures it to move. Stepping back outside of the flight zone releases pressure. The animal feels safer and it stops moving. Constant pressure inside the flight zone can, in some cases, cause the herd to run. Using pressure and release keeps the herd calmer and allows movement to become more directed and purposeful.
• Point of balance: Point of balance uses the concepts of flight zone and pressure and release to direct cattle movement. “Experiment with your animals to determine exactly where it is,” said Lewandowski. “If a handler enters the animal’s flight zone from an angle behind the point of balance, the animal will move forward. If the handler enters the animal’s flight zone from an angle in front of the point of balance, the animal will move backward.”
• Noise reduction: Cattle are more sensitive to noise than people. Loud noises excite animals and flight zones can increase. “Good livestock handlers are very quiet, seldom speaking when they work with livestock,” said Lewandowski.
• Livestock vision: Livestock see differently than people do. Cattle, for example, have a blind spot directly behind their head, yet see very well from the sides of their head. In addition, cattle have poor depth perception. “While people have 140-degree vertical vision, cattle have only about a 60-degree vertical vision,” said Lewandowski. “This means they can’t see what is directly below their head when their head is up.”
• Speed of movement: Moving fast and trying to speed up the handling process, or making cattle move faster is a losing battle. “In most cases, cattle speed is slower than our speed but moving at their speed will get the job done faster,” said Lewandowski.

The animal handling principles that will be demonstrated can be applied to not only beef and dairy cattle, but also to sheep, goats, swine and other livestock.

“We will discuss and demonstrate low-stress methods of moving a group of cattle, and working a group of cattle, including sorting in a handling system and loading into a trailer,” said Lewandowski. “The objective is to offer a hands-on learning experience of methods that work and methods that don’t.”

For more information, contact Rory Lewandowski at 740-593-8555 or lewandowski.11@osu.edu.

— Release by OSU Extension.

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