News Update
August 3, 2016
Adding Protein
Across the country, state beef industry councils work together with the national checkoff to promote beef products, educate consumers and invest in industry-leading research. Mark Russell, executive director for the Missouri Beef Industry Council, cites an interesting study from the University of Missouri that explores how adding meat protein into the diet at breakfast could make big impacts on health — especially for the nation’s youth.
“This year we’re finding, really, an interesting project in Missouri that is looking at the importance of meat protein in the diet, more specifically at breakfast time,” Russell says. “We’ve got a nutrition scientist named Dr. Heather Leidy at the University of Missouri that has a hypothesis that if we can get 30 grams of protein into teenagers’ bodies in the morning, that we will drastically drop juvenile diabetes. We will help juvenile obesity as we know it in our country today.”
Leidy’s research will be finalized this fall.
For more, tune into this week’s The Angus Report online. You can also watch the show at 1:30 p.m. CST Saturday and 7 a.m. CST each Monday morning on RFD-TV.
R-CALF USA on Brazilian Beef Imports
“[The Aug. 1] announcement by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stating he is reopening the U.S. market to raw Brazilian beef and Brazil is reopening its market to U.S. beef is a political tit-for-tat that will expose U.S. consumers and the U.S. cattle herd to an unnecessary and avoidable risk of disease,” said Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) CEO Bill Bullard.
Bullard said Vilsack’s announcement for the nearly simultaneous market reopenings reads like talking points created by high-paid, multinational meatpacker lobbyists.
“This is absurd,” said Bullard adding: “Brazil produces far more beef than it can consume. This is why, with the world’s second largest cattle herd, which far and away dwarfs the size of the U.S. herd, Brazil is the world’s third largest beef exporter, behind only India and Australia. And like India and Australia, Brazil’s imports of U.S. beef for longer than a decade before it closed its borders to U.S. beef in 2003 were miniscule.”
For more information, view the R-CALF news release online.
Canadian Angus Foundation Announces Junior Stockman
From the time Maguire Blair could walk, he has been involved in the feeding, preparation and marketing of his family’s Angus and Simmental cattle. That involvement has earned him the 2016 Junior Angus Stockman Award.
In addition to involvement with Blair’s West Land & Cattle, his family’s operation near Drake, Sask., Canada, Blair has developed his own herd of purebred Angus cattle. He makes all the breeding decisions for his females and has been slowly expanding his herd through female purchases and embryo transfer. He also plays junior hockey with the Prince Albert Mintos. Blair’s future plans include attending Lakeland College in Vermilion majoring in animal science and crop technology.
This past year, Blair’s cow Bar-E-L Erica 74A was the most dominant show female in Canada. Blair and Erica dominated every show attended including winning championships at Showdown, Lloydminster Stockade National Angus show, Brandon Ag Ex, Farmfair and Agribition.
For more information, view the CAA news release online.
Triangle 10 HB Vaccine
A common form of leptospirosis, Leptospira borgpetersenii hardjo-bovis (HB), is prevalent in 40% to 50% of cattle herds, often causing costly problems with cattle reproduction. Beef and dairy producers now have a trusted solution for protecting cattle against HB.
Triangle® 10 HB is now labeled for the prevention of urinary shedding of Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar hardjo type hardjo-bovis in heifers 10 months of age or older. Often contracted through infected urine, HB can lead to poor conception rates, early embryonic deaths, abortions, weak calves and other reproductive losses.
Clinical signs of HB are often mild and subtle, making them difficult to detect, said Dr. Doug Ensley, professional services veterinarian at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI). “Hardjo-bovis can impact conception rates, leading to delayed breeding. This can result in significant production losses.”4-7
Vaccinating cattle with Triangle 10 HB 20 to 30 days prior to breeding allows for peak immune response at the most critical time.
For more information, visit www.bi-vetmedica.com.
KSDVL Processing Samples for Gold Standard Labs
The Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSDVL) at Kansas State University (K-State) is known for providing bovine testing services to veterinarians and cattle producers nationwide and is now the new service provider for samples previously submitted to Gold Standard Labs.
As a Bovine Diagnostic Center of Excellence, the KSDVL uses the same testing platform for bovine viral diarrhea virus persistent infection as Gold Standard Labs utilized in its diagnostic testing services business. The K-State lab also has expertise in blood pregnancy testing and other bovine testing services.
Gold Standard Labs has shut down operations at its laboratory facilities located in Jarrell, Texas, and Bowling Green, Ky., and will no longer accept samples, making the KSDVL the primary service provider.
Read more in the K-State news release online.
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