News Update
June 14, 2013
BIF Names Seedstock, Commercial Producers of the Year
Congratulations to Bradley 3 Ranch, Memphis, Texas, and Darnall Ranch, Harrisburg, Neb., for being named Seedstock Producer of the Year and Commercial Producer of the Year, respectively, by the Beef Improvement Federation. For more information, visit the “Awards” page at http://www.BIFconference.com.
USDA Announces Funding to Boost
Rural Electric Grid Efficiency and Reliability
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced funding June 12 for rural electric projects in 16 states to provide reliable, affordable electricity for rural residents, including improved service for Native Americans. USDA remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. The announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.
“USDA funding for rural electric utilities not only improves service to customers, it makes the grid more efficient and reliable and encourages investment, business development and job creation in rural communities,” Vilsack said.
USDA’s support for rural electric utilities benefits more than 8.5 million rural electric consumers annually. Smart-grid technology further increases the efficiency and reliability of the rural electric system.
The announcement includes more than $356 million in loans to upgrade rural electric services, including more than $15 million in smart-grid funding. The funding will help finance the construction of more than 2,400 miles of new or improved electric line.
One of the utilities that will receive funding is Western Farmers Electric Cooperative Inc., in Anadarko, Okla. It was selected to receive an $82.4 million guaranteed loan to build or improve 78 miles of transmission line, two substations, and make other system improvements. Additionally, the loan includes $4.5 million for smart grid projects. The funding will benefit customers in Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas.
Projects planned by Beltrami Electric Cooperative Association in Minnesota, Butte Electric Cooperative in South Dakota and Benton Rural Electric Association in Washington include funding for electric service improvements in Native American communities.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Website Launched to Promote
Sustainable Rangeland Management
The Rangelands Partnership recently launched a one-stop shop website for all things rangeland. Considering rangelands cover 70% of the world’s land area, and nearly that percentage for the United States, the information on the site is quite vast.
“The Rangelands Partnership has been working on this website for the last decade. The RangelandsWest website contains the most comprehensive body of information on the world’s rangelands relative to any other source,” said Karen Hickman, professor at Oklahoma State University’s Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management.
The suite of websites (http://globalrangelands.org) has a database for more than 13,000 resources to support research, sustainable management and education about the world’s rangelands. The Rangelands Partnership is a collaboration of 19 western U.S. land-grant institutions and several international organizations, which have been working to develop evaluated, science-based information resources and tools.
“These websites have organized, comprehensive information on all aspects of rangelands, much of it not previously easily available to practitioners or the public, especially those living in remote locations,” said George Ruyle, Marley Endowed Chair for Sustainable Rangelands Stewardship at the University of Arizona.
Globalrangelands.org is the home website. The site gives an international perspective on rangeland themes and allows entry to the database containing full-text articles, reports, videos, learning tools and key websites.
“This partnership is experimenting with a new Extension solution for both copyright and no-copyright content delivery by engaging rangeland specialists, librarians and IT specialists to create a one-stop shop to a general public,” said Chris Zou, NREM assistant professor.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Summer Heat and Cattle Stress
At this time last year, much of the lower 48 had experienced some very hot weather. So far, the summer of 2013 has started off with no major or prolonged heat waves. However, it won’t be long before we encounter periods of extended heat in many areas, especially as we head into the end of June and into July and August.
During periods of hot temperatures and high humidity, livestock losses can occur from hot weather-related stress. Hot weather related stress is particularly hazardous to livestock in feedlots, sorting and holding pens, trucks and rail cars. When high relative humidity combines with temperatures of 80° F or more it adds to the likelihood of profit-stealing losses if necessary precautions are not taken.
In the month of July, the heat will be a concern in the far west, southwest and southern Plains. Watch out for the heat in New Mexico and west Texas. East Texas and some portions of the Mississippi Delta will experience rounds of hot and humid conditions. There may be some episodes of hot and humid weather in July across portions of the central Corn Belt, especially late June through July.
For August, we are expecting many of the same areas that we are concerned about in July receiving more heat in August. August could be quite hot, especially early in the month across the southern plains, southern Rockies and far west. Occasional periods of heat and humidity will be found at times across portions of the Midwest as well in August. The far northern Rockies and northern Plains are not expected to have excessive periods of heat in July and August as temperatures will be closer to normal, if not below normal at times.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Wheat Producers Have Another Aphid Control Tool
Producers looking for aphid control in their wheat fields might have a new tool, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study.
Jerry Michels, AgriLife Research entomologist in Amarillo, and Johnny Bible, research assistant, are conducting a study on control of small grain aphids with seed-applied thiamethoxam insecticide, or Cruiser, at the North Plains Research Field north of Dumas. Michels and Bible have demonstrated the control for the past three years as part of the iWheat project.
iWheat is a multi-state project funded by the USDA Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program, also known as RAMP. The goal is to develop a region-wide pest management program for winter wheat that includes insects, plant diseases, weeds and agronomic practices.
The iWheat team includes members from AgriLife Research, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Colorado State University, Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University, the University of Nebraska and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service.
“The team laid the foundation for iWheat in 2010,” Michels said. “Some of our efforts have been hampered by the current drought, and of course this year’s severe late freezes. But, we made the best of the opportunities we’ve had, and implementation of iWheat is underway.
“There are some additional features we want to incorporate into iWheat that need user input,” he said. “The most important features that will make iWheat shine are maps and predictive models. We need to accumulate data this year and in the years to come. The more data we have on pests, varieties, yield and other production components, the more accurate our predictive models will be, and in real time, you can access information on problems throughout the season.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
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