News Update
April 16, 2013
Compete Beyond the
Showring During the 2013 NJAS
Cattle show season is right around the corner, and the 2013 National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) in Kansas City, Mo., is sure to be a highlight for many. Before the summer heat wave hits and the school year ends, National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) members can begin to compete in the NJAS. In fact, junior members who cannot make the trip to Kansas City this summer can also participate through mail-in entry competitions.
“The NJAS is an event that goes far beyond the showring,” says Robin Ruff, junior activities director for the American Angus Association. “With more than a dozen educational contests, the NJAS is an opportunity for juniors to showcase their skills in several areas, which allows them to grow into the future of the Angus breed.”
The photography contest is to help NJAA members increase their communication skills through the creative display of a message or feeling through a camera lens. The winning photos will be placed in the September issue of the Angus Journal. A graphic design contest is offered to provide fun while sharing ideas that may be useful in promotion of the Angus breed. Members are able to use computer technology to design materials.
The purpose of the writing contest is to encourage the enhancement of written communication skills and to allow junior Angus members another chance to compete prior to the NJAS. Entries should be informative, and, if appropriate, entertaining. If space permits, winning entries will be published in the Angus Journal. Topics for each division can be found online.
For more information and the full release, click here.
NCBA Submits Comments on Proposed
Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling Rule
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) submitted comments April 12 on the USDA-proposed amended Mandatory County of Origin Labeling Rule (mCOOL). In the comments, NCBA stated that the proposed rule changing mCOOL will not satisfy the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the beef industry’s largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, who originally brought the WTO complaint.
“We have long advocated that mCOOL is a marketing tool and while cattlemen and women are proud of the products they produce, a mandatory labeling program does not provide a value to our industry or our customers,” said NCBA President Scott George, a cattleman from Cody, Wyo. “We support and see value in voluntary labeling programs like Certified Angus Beef®, where there is a genuine effort to distinguish and market the product. The proposed rule will not meet those ends and will only serve to increase the discriminatory treatment of non-U.S. product and will doubtlessly end in retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of our products and significant cost to our members.”
Under the proposed rule, all products sold at retail would be labeled with information noting the birth, raising and slaughter. This requirement will place greater recordkeeping burdens on producers, processors and retailers. Further, the rule would eliminate the ability to commingle muscle cuts from different origin, which will add to the costs of processing non-U.S. born, raised and slaughtered products, resulting in further hesitance to process product that was imported at any stage of development.
For more information and the full release click here.
American Farm Bureau Federation President
Regarding Framework Agreement on Ag Labor
“The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is pleased a framework was reached on agriculture labor provisions between the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, of which AFBF is a member, and the United Farm Workers. These successful negotiations will help provide America’s farmers and ranchers a much needed legal labor supply, while paving the way for many farm and ranch workers to obtain legal status.
“We appreciate the tireless efforts of Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) to garner consensus and agreement by all parties on such a significant issue. The framework and objectives established today are a positive step toward achieving meaningful immigration reform.
“Ensuring access to a legal workforce is a high priority for AFBF and we are pleased with this first step in the process. We look forward to working with Senate and House leaders as comprehensive immigration reform legislation is introduced and moves its way through Congress.”
Beef Quality Assurance Trainings to be
Hosted in Canton, Stephenville and Corrigan, TX
Beef producers are invited to any or all Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) training sessions to be hosted in May in Canton, Stephenville and Corrigan in Texas.
The training covers many aspects of beef production, including proper handling and the administering of vaccines, herd health, residue avoidance, genetic considerations and environmental stewardship, said Jason Banta, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service beef specialist, Overton.
The trainings will be at:
- May 2, Van Zandt County Farm Bureau office, 281 E. Highway 243, Canton, Texas.
- May 3, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 1229 N. Highway 281, Stephenville, Texas.
- May 31, Corrigan City Hall, 101 W. Ben Franklin St., Corrigan, Texas.
Registration at each location starts at 9:30 a.m., with the main program beginning at 10 a.m. and ending about 3 p.m. Lunch will be provided. There is no cost for registration, but those planning to attend should RSVP to Stacy Fox, Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association, 1-800-242-7820 or by contacting the AgriLife Extension office where the program is being hosted.
For the Canton program, contact the Kaufman County office at 972‐932‐9069. For the Stephenville program, contact the Erath County office at 254‐965‐1460. For the Corrigan program, contact the Polk County office at 936‐327‐6828.
“The benefits of the trainings are many, including learning best management practices that ensure production of a safe, wholesome food product,” Banta said. “Additionally, many of these practices can improve the productivity and profitability of your operation.”
For more information and the full release, click here.
Energy Working Group to Highlight
Fast-growing Anaerobic Digester Technology
The Indiana Biomass Energy Working Group will host a spring session to highlight anaerobic digester technology April 23 in Middlebury, Ind.
The session includes presentations by Purdue Extension and industry experts, as well as a tour of the Culver Duck anaerobic digester.
“A primary mission of the working group is to showcase biomass energy projects around the state,” said Chad Martin, Purdue Extension renewable energy specialist. “Culver Duck used to have to pay to dispose of offal waste, but the anaerobic digester now allows them to commingle that with corn stover to create biogas. The electricity generated by the facility is then purchased by the local power company.”
The tour will highlight how Culver Duck successfully navigated the permitting process to bring the plant online.
Indiana is one of the leading states in the United States in energy produced by anaerobic digesters. According to Jiqin Ni, Purdue agricultural and biological engineering professor, there are at least 12 such systems in the state, nine of which use some form of agricultural and agro-industrial waste, such as livestock-manure and duck-processing wastes.
“Anaerobic digestion has been developing at accelerating speed internationally, in the U.S. and in Indiana,” Ni said. “It’s been developing even faster in China and Europe, so here in the U.S. we have a lot more room to develop this technology.”
For more information and the full release, click here.
Farming? There’s an App for That
Smartphone apps aren’t just for social networking or entertainment. A growing number of apps make use of smartphone technology to help farmers do their job.
Farmers can use apps on smartphones or tablet computers for everything from staying up to date on agriculture news to calculating sprayer tank mix ratios, said Kent Shannon, University of Missouri Extension natural resource engineering specialist.
“In the area of precision agriculture are apps that we can collect geo-reference GPS data from,” Shannon said. “That allows us to do a better job of recording things in the field.”
One example is Connected Farm, which lets producers collect scouting information in the field and take pictures that are geo-referenced. There are also several apps that have commodity market information.
“By having information right there at your fingertips, you don’t have to go back to the office and get on a computer,” Shannon said. “You can make decisions right there in the cab of the tractor or combine.”
This is only the beginning, Shannon says. New and more powerful farm-related apps are being developed all the time as smartphone usage expands and technology evolves.
Shannon says producers will be able to use a tablet or smartphone to access diagnostic information on their equipment, anything from oil levels to hours run, allowing them to perform more timely maintenance.
Before jumping head first into mobile technology, there are some important things to consider.
Perhaps the most important one is wireless coverage in your area. Reliability of phone service and speed of Internet connections can vary greatly by location and provider.
For more information and the full release, click here.
Editor’s Note: The articles used within this site represent a mixture of copyrights. If you would like to reprint or repost an article, you must first request permission of Angus Productions Inc. (API) by contacting the editor at 816-383-5200; 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. API claims copyright to this web site as presented. We welcome educational venues and cattlemen to link to this site as a service to their audience.