News Update
November 14, 2011
Hockley County’s Dec. 2 High Plains
Ag Conference to Offer a Variety of Topics
The Texas AgriLife Extension Service office in Hockley County will conduct their High Plains Ag Conference from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Oil Room at South Plains College, 1401 College Avenue in Levelland.
Five Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units — one in laws and regulations, 2.5 general and 1.5 integrated pest management — will be available for those with a private pesticide applicators license.
“The conference will offer a variety of topics relating to corn, cattle, irrigation and other subjects,” said Robert Scott, AgriLife Extension agent in Hockley County. “We’ll also have an outlook report on spring and summer forage crop strategies for next year. The Hockley County Ag Committee has taken special care in planning this event to include topics of interest for just about anybody who farms in our area.”
Other conference topics and their presenters will include: Corn Production Issues for 2012, Brent Bean, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Amarillo; Internal and External Parasites in Cattle, Ted McCollum, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist, Amarillo; Pesticide Laws and Regulations, Debbie Slocum, Texas Department of Agriculture pesticide inspector, Brownfield; Allocating Limited Irrigation in Different Cropping Strategies, Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Lubbock; and Update on Speciality Crops Production and Upcoming Issues, Russell Wallace, AgriLife Extension vegetable specialist, Lubbock.
Individual preregistration is $35 by Nov. 28 and $45 thereafter.
For more information and to preregister, call Scott at 806-894-3159 or go to http://hockley.agrilife.org/ for the complete program agenda and registration form.
Bass Pro Outdoor Fitness Festival Features Beef for Runners
The Missouri Beef Industry Council was a major sponsor for the Bass Pro Outdoor Fitness Festival, held Nov. 4-6. Approximately 2,500 runners participated in the Bass Pro Conservation Marathon, which included half-marathon, marathon and 5k races.
Ada Gallup, business manager for the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC), and Mark Sconce, cattle farmer from Polk County, Mo., promoted beef throughout the fitness weekend, including the fitness expo, where runners registered and visited vendor booths on Saturday and Sunday. At the fitness expo, MBIC distributed more than 2,000 beef sticks, along with nutrition materials and recipes.
Following the race on Sunday, Gallup and Sconce greeted the athletes near the finish line with 90% lean beef sticks to refuel their bodies with protein.
In addition to the booth and post-race interaction, Team Beef, the Missouri Beef running team, showcased how the power of protein in lean beef boosts their active lifestyle. Approximately 10 Team Beef runners ran in the Conservation Marathon, sporting red jerseys featuring the “Beef. Fuel for the Finish.” logo.
Gallup received lots of positive feedback from runners, nutritionists and other visitors who were happy to learn the importance of beef in a balanced diet and to see that MBIC had a booth at this event.
“The Mission of the Bass Pro Outdoor Fitness Festival is to celebrate fitness, health and wellness, outdoor adventures and wildlife conservation,” Gallup said. “Their health and wellness mindset fits very well with the Missouri Beef Industry Council’s goal to educate the food and health-involved person to incorporate lean beef in their healthy diets more often.”
Sconce, who is a Master of Beef Advocate, said it’s important to use checkoff dollars for events like the Bass Pro marathon to inform people about the importance of beef in an athlete’s diet.
“There are people out there that want to do away with our way of life. If producers are not speaking, then the public will listen to somebody else and they may not be telling the true message about our product,” Sconce said. “So it’s important for us to tell the true message about nutrition and beef in their diet.”
To learn more about Team Beef and the Missouri Beef Industry Council’s focus on fitness and health, visit www.MoBeef.org.
South Dakota Cattle Need TB Tests to Enter Wisconsin
Cattle from South Dakota will need to meet tuberculosis testing requirements before entering Wisconsin, following a new discovery of bovine TB there, Wisconsin State Veterinarian Robert Ehlenfeldt announced today.
Although South Dakota’s TB-free status has not been downgraded, Wisconsin will require testing for cattle from that state unless they are going to slaughter when they arrive, Ehlenfeldt said.
“South Dakota has fought this fight before and eradicated TB, but we can’t take chances in Wisconsin. The dairy industry is too important to our economy to risk by letting our guard down,” he said.
The new requirements include:
- Negative individual tests within 60 days before import for dairy and beef cattle brought in for breeding or exhibition, or as feeder cattle.
- Negative individual tests for veal calves that are 30 days or older unless they’re confined to one premise from arrival until they go to slaughter.
Animals will be exempt from testing requirements if they are from accredited TB-free herds, or go direct to slaughter or approved import feedlots.
South Dakota State Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven announced Wednesday, Nov. 9, that a TB-infected herd had been found in the southeastern part of the state. Animal health authorities in South Dakota are tracing other herds that might be connected with the infected herd.
South Dakota previously also found two infected cattle herds in January 2010 and destroyed both.
For detailed information about Wisconsin import requirements, go to http://datcp.wisconsin.gov.
Nutrition Labeling Coalition Commends USDA for Delaying Effective Date for Mandatory Nutrition Labeling Rule
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced it would delay for two months, until March 1, 2012, the effective date for enforcement of the “Nutrition Labeling of Single-Ingredient Products and Ground or Chopped Meat and Poultry Products” final rule. The announcement was made in response to a request from a coalition of organizations representing food, agriculture and retail associations that will be affected by the final rule to ensure they have time to implement the newly required nutrition labels.
Included in the coalition are the American Lamb Board; the American Meat Institute; the Food Marketing Institute; the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; the National Chicken Council; the National Grocers Association; the National Pork Board; the National Pork Producers Council; and the National Turkey Federation. The coalition issued the following statement in response to FSIS’s announcement to delay the effective date:
“The mandatory nutrition labeling rule will have a significant impact on the regulated entities, and we commend FSIS for recognizing the challenges we face and for extending the effective date. When FSIS announced this final rule last December, we began working to understand the new requirements to ensure implementation. Over the past 11 months, we have worked with FSIS to fully understand the rule’s requirements, but we still have questions that need to be answered before a smooth implementation can occur.
“While we support efforts to educate consumers about the nutritional profile of meat and poultry products, it is crucial to get it right. Delaying the effective date for two months will give retailers and others in the food production chain additional time to implement labeling systems, to obtain necessary software and scales to properly label the products and to educate employees about the new requirements. We look forward to continuing to work with FSIS over the next five months to find the least disruptive and most cost-effective way to implement the rule.”
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