Big ag weighs in on food vs. fuel debate
By Tom Johnston Meating Place

Leading agricultural leaders on Thursday announced they have partnered to form the Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy, giving them a unified voice in promoting agriculture's ability to meet global demands for food and renewable forms of energy.

Founding members of the Alliance include the Archer Daniels Midland Company, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto and the Renewable Fuels Association.

"The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy will underscore the role that agriculture can play in supporting our food and energy needs," Mark Kornblau, executive director of Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy, said in a statement. "With growing global demand for grain, it's critically important that policy leaders start thinking about how we can grow our way to a solution. Innovation is part of the American DNA - through greater support for agricultural innovation, we can produce enough crops to supply both our food and energy needs worldwide."

The alliance said framing the food-vs.-fuel debate as an "either/or" decision is a false choice that "ignores both the capabilities of agriculture and our nation's history of using innovation to solve our problems. The Alliance realizes both are possible - and can be accomplished using less land and fewer resources than generally understood."

click to visit www.foodandenergy.org

Judge limits grazing on CRP acreage, skewers USDA
By Lisa M. Keefe meatingplace.com

A federal judge in Seattle Thursday morning entered a permanent injunction against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's program releasing acreage from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for haying and grazing.

USDA had opened the acres in an attempt to help ranchers cope with high feed prices and possible grain shortages.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour made sweeping exceptions to his prohibition, but then imposed terms that would make actually using USDA's program economically unattractive.

Click to read whole story

Audit says USDA lost track of imported cattle
By Stephen J. Hedges Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - Despite persistent fears of mad cow disease in Canadian beef, the Department of Agriculture has failed to properly track hundreds of Canadian cattle coming into the United States, the department's inspector general has concluded.

An audit, completed in March but only recently made public, said that some of the imported cattle did not have proper identification or health records despite federal regulations requiring them.

The audit did not say how many cattle were improperly brought into the U.S. and inspector general spokesman Paul Feeney said auditors are not sure of that number. The report said that a lack of records meant that "it cannot be determined" whether shipments other than those discovered "have bypassed inspection or whether this is a systemic problem."

Click on this for the whole story

By Tom Johnson of MeatingPlace.com

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed legislation that bans the purchase, sale and processing of meat from non-ambulatory livestock including cattle and swine.

The bill imposes fines and jail time for processors that sell meat from downer animals.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger said, "We are strengthening California's food safety laws and sending a message that violating these laws will not be tolerated."

The bill was a response to this year's recall of 143 million pounds of beef produced by Chino, Calif.-based Hallmark/Westland Meat Co., which was prompted by a Humane Society of the United States video showing workers abusing downer cows.

USDA also has proposed to ban slaughter of downer cows at federally inspected slaughterhouses.

Paul, Thanks so much for the phone call and personal service. I really appreciate the time you took to post my lamb ad. What a great web site!!! I'm not sure when I'll be able to have my husband help me with a photo, but I will try. Thank you again! Sandy

Here is Linda's ad

Cut Grasses Higher Than Alfalfa
By Neil Tietz, Editor, Hay & Forage Grower

Leaving only 2” of stubble when mowing maximizes the yield of alfalfa with little sacrifice in quality. But it may cause stand loss in grasses, warned a researcher at the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, Chazy, NY. Speaking at the recent Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference in Dubuque, IA, Everett Thomas pointed out that physiological differences make cutting height more critical for grasses than for alfalfa.

“Alfalfa stores its nutrient reserves in its taproot, so cutting it shorter really shouldn’t have much effect and indeed it does not,” said Thomas. “But grass stores the nutrients for the next cut in the bottom 2-4” of the plant. So if we cut too close, we’re not only removing the crop, we’re removing part of the nutrient reserves for the next crop.”

In a 2007 greenhouse trial at the institute, cutting first-year reed canarygrass 2” high killed every plant, but plants cut at 4” regrew to 16” in 21 days. Also, recent orchardgrass stand-loss problems in Pennsylvania and Maryland have been traced to cutting that grass about 2” high, Thomas reported. University of Maryland recommendations now say to leave 3-4” of stubble, he added.

Grass cutting height has become an issue with the popularity of disk mowers, he said. “This is something that we didn’t pay attention to 10 years ago. We didn’t need to because people had sicklebar mowers and they didn’t mow at 2”. So changes in technology have caused new problems that we’re having to deal with.”

In his alfalfa cutting-height research, Thomas found that the yield gain from cutting at 2” instead of 4” more than compensates for a modest quality loss. “So what we’re saying now is, unless farmers need that last bit of quality, mow alfalfa at about 2”, leaving 5-6” of stubble in that last cut in the fall to hold snow,” he said. “Also, adjust the mowing height to field conditions.”

Alfalfa-grass mixtures are a judgment call. “If alfalfa is your predominant forage, I’d probably cut it like alfalfa, maybe 2-2½”. If it’s mostly grass, then raise your cutting height,” Thomas advised.

Coalition forms to oppose California animal welfare initiative
By Janie Gabbett Meatingplace.com

A group of agricultural groups, veterinarians, family farmers, businesses and individuals have formed a coalition to oppose animal welfare-related "Proposition 2" which will appear on California's November ballot.

Californians for SAFE Food (www.safecaliforniafood.org)opposes the initiative that would require that gestation sows, egg-laying hens and veal calves have enough room to lie down, stand, turn around and fully extend their limbs.

The proposition could essentially end the use of gestation sow stalls in California, following similar actions in Colorado and Oregon, Arizona and Florida.

The coalition, which includes the National Pork Producers Council, California Cattlemen's Association and Pacific Egg and Poultry Association, among several others, says the proposition, sponsored by a coalition of animal rights groups, would jeopardize food safety and drive up food costs.
Link to Safe California Food Org

On Mustang Range, a Battle on Thinning the Herd
NY Times By FELICITY BARRINGER

An emotional debate is raging in the West over whether to thin a captive herd of wild horses that numbers 30,000.

Click to read article

Almost half of Americans worried about getting sick from contaminated food: poll
Ann Bagel Storck of Meating Place

Scared by a flurry of recent food safety problems with meat and produce, 46 percent of Americans said they were worried they might get sick from eating contaminated food and have avoided foods they normally would have purchased because of safety warnings, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

Twenty-nine percent have thrown out food earlier than usual, and 14 percent have returned food to the store.

Women, who do most food shopping, proved to be more concerned than men, according to the poll. While 39 percent of men said they were "very confident" the food they buy is safe, only 23 percent of women said they felt that way.

The telephone poll of 1,000 adults was conducted July 10-14 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the overall sample.

Scientists Find Genes to Lower Saturated Fats in Beef
USDA

Diets rich in foods with high saturated fatty acid content have been linked to an increased rate of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fat is found mostly in foods that come from animal products, including beef, lamb, pork, and poultry with skin. With funding from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), a team of scientists in Iowa identified genes to regulate fat deposits in beef.

Fatty deposits in beef and other ruminant animals are less dependent on diet than non-ruminant animals. In the ruminant animal's digestive system, enzymes released by microorganisms within the rumen break down most dietary unsaturated fatty acid and produce saturated fatty acids that are deposited in the muscle mass.

Donald Beitz and colleagues at Iowa State University examined three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), pronounced "snips," related to fatty acid production in beef cattle. The scientists looked into the relationship between the genetic traits for high fatty acid content and the actual fat deposit in the muscle content of Angus bulls.

SNPs occur when a single nucleotide in the genome sequence is altered. Many scientists believe SNP maps may lead to the identification of multiple genes associated with animal productivity and composition.

Animal breeders can use the findings from this study to select for animals with lower deposits of saturated fat, and thereby produce a healthier product for the consumer. Breeders may also select for cattle that contain greater monounsaturated fatty acid deposits.

This research is of interest because the ability to control fatty acid content in meat will have powerful implications for human health and nutrition. Many consider the saturated fatty acids in beef meat, such as lauric acid, myristic acid and palmitic acid, to be the most harmful fatty acids linked to cardiovascular disease. Polyunsaturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids are also found in beef meat, but are not as harmful.

CSREES funded this research project through the National Research Initiative Animal Genome program. Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, CSREES focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and the nation's future. For more information, visit www.csrees.usda.gov.

Manage your pasture's N cycle
By Jim Gerrish
Reprinted with permission from BEEF magazine

In the past I've discussed how effectively pastures can run on legume nitrogen (N) alone. While legumes can put quite a bit of N into the pasture, the next question is how effectively are you recycling N in your pasture system?

Whether it comes from legumes or fertilizer, N in pasture can be recycled for new pasture growth. The more effective job you do of managing the natural N cycle, the less money you will spend on N fertilizer.

While cattle consume a lot of N as protein in the forage, less than 5% of the N is retained in their bodies. The rest is excreted as either dung or urine.

When the diet protein level is close to what the animal needs, the excreted N is split equally between dung and urine, with the fecal N being slowly released as manure decomposes. Almost all urinary N is readily available in the soil.

As the protein content of the pasture increases, most of the extra N passes through the urine, making urine a potent N fertilizer. If you've noticed dark green patches of green in your pasture, it's because urine has the N-fertilizer equivalent of 200-1,000 lbs. N/acre in that little patch.

Because most of the N in urine is in a urea form, N can be lost to the atmosphere as ammonia gas, just as with urea fertilizer. Hot, dry soils lose a lot more ammonia than cooler moist soils.

As the urine remains in contact with the soil, the ammonia is converted to ammonium, a positively charged ion, and it becomes bound to the soil. However, as ammonium in the soil is converted to nitrate, it can also leach out of the soil, especially on sandy soils. So even though most of the N consumed passes through the animal, more than half of it easily can be lost from any further potential as a fertilizer. These loss pathways are why we have to continually add N to soils.

Capturing more N: Grazing management that leaves more of the soil covered with green plant residual or dead litter keeps the soil cooler and enhances urine infiltration rate. Good grazing management traps a lot more N in the soil and reduces the ammonia loss, leaving more N in the soil to support the next plant growth cycle. Short grazing periods that leave taller residuals after grazing result in a much more effective nutrient cycle, compared to grazing shorter through a longer period.

Changes in grazing management can make big changes in the effectiveness of the N-cycle. On continuously stocked pastures you may have noticed the urine spots seem to be scattered and don't really affect large areas of the pasture. Nutrient cycling research has shown that as little as 2-5% of the pasture area may be affected by cattle urine in a single grazing season. No wonder urine spots just serve as a reminder of how desperately the pasture needs N.

Graziers using high-intensity, short-duration grazing notice much more uniform pasture growth following a grazing period of just a few days. Research shows that in a short-duration grazing system, as much as 50% of the pasture surface area may be affected by urine in a single year. This produces a much more uniform pasture; and when cattle pass through a pasture the next time, they tend to graze more uniformly.

In a continuously grazed pasture with typical stocking rates for the Midwest, the effective N application rate from cattle urine is less than 1 lb./acre/day. This level does little more than feed the soil microbes.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is a grazing system where cattle are moved to a new paddock every day. In this scenario, the effective N-fertilizer equivalent from urine is around 50 lbs./acre/day - a fertilizer rate that will really make grass grow! Other stocking scenarios fall between these two extremes.

A twice-weekly rotation puts about 20 lbs./acre of readily available urinary N on the pasture. If the pasture has 30-40% legume in the pasture, the combined effectiveness of legume-fixed N and recycled urine can support a relatively high level of productivity. Several university studies around the U.S. indicate a well-managed legume pasture with effective nutrient cycling produces yields comparable to applying 100-200 units of N/acre.

With cost management an ongoing concern for most beef producers, taking nutrient-cycle management seriously is a key step to reducing or eliminating fertilizer costs.

Click on this link to visit Jim's website

I just ran across a new livestock site that charges $300 to list your livestock on their website. http://www.murphy-livestock.com/consignment.html

Just a reminder --- you can list your livestock or anything else you want to sell on our websites in your state FREE!

Click to see our sites

Enzi introduces bill to guard against Foot and Mouth Disease
Staff - Wyoming Business report

July 10, 2008 --
WASHINGTON D.C. – Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi, along with Sen. Tom Johnson of South Dakota introduced legislation today to prevent the importation of livestock from Argentina until the USDA can certify that country is free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Johnson and Enzi developed the legislation after constituents voiced concerns about the USDA’s plan to allow cattle, sheep, swine and livestock product imports from an Argentina region.

“Keeping the American beef supply safe is paramount to the U.S. continuing to produce and sell the highest quality meat products in the world. The risks of importing live animals from countries with known cases of foot-and-mouth disease are not worth taking,” said Enzi. “This bill would continue to keep American beef the safest in the world by maintaining the ban on live animals and fresh meat from Argentina, a country that is still in the progress of eradicating foot-and-mouth disease from its own herds.”

Johnson and Enzi developed the legislation after hearing from their constituents concerned about the USDA’s plan to allow cattle, sheep and swine and certain livestock product imports from a region within Argentina. Although the region itself is believed to be free of the disease, FMD is found in the surrounding regions and countries. The potential risk of airborne transmission and contamination remains high.

Foot and Mouth Disease effects ruminants and swine, and is considered to be the most economically devastating of all livestock diseases. According to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the economic impacts of the disease in the United States could cost the economy billions of dollars.

“As a state animal health official, I remain concerned that while the United States has been free of FMD for nearly 80 years, the same cannot be said for Argentina,” said Sam Holland, President of the National Assembly of State Animal Health Officials and South Dakota State Veterinarian. “Until Argentina can prove its infrastructure by remaining free of FMD, we need to ensure the safety of our livestock herds here at home and prevent the spread of this devastating disease. This is not a political issue, this legislation is a common sense approach.”

The bill has the support at least six other senators, including Wyoming’s Sen. John Barrasso.

The Number One Issue...
By Steve Kopperud, Brownfield Network

That mumbling you're hearing around the country is members of Congress up for reelection holding their prayer vigils, begging that something "good" happens to the economy generally and to gasoline/energy prices specifically. Time and again, I've heard or read statements from members about the "number one issue I'm hearing from my voters is energy!"

If you'll notice, Congress is generally flailing around, trying to come up with parochial solutions to components of the energy crisis rather than coming up with a holistic approach. This one wants to whack speculators in the energy markets, and that one wants to suspend the federal gas tax. The truth of the matter is the problem is bigger than targeted fixes, it needs a comprehensive approach, one that prioritizes need and seeks pragmatic solutions.

Let's start at the beginning: Energy sources. We rely on oil and gas, alternatives enjoying nice niche markets, but unable to fulfill national needs. This argues for a serious look at a mature approach to exploration, both within our borders and off-shore.

Then we have refining issues. This country hasn't built a refinery in 30-plus years. The ones we have are likely in need of serious infrastructure improvement. Incentives to increase refining capacity, targeted to areas of the country current deficient in storage -- as in both coasts -- are likely targets.

Let's move on to alternatives. Biofuels hold great promise, but we ain't there yet. However, there are such things as nuclear energy -- and don't anyone bring up Three Mile Island or Chernobyl as those are lessons from which we learn, not the state of current technology. There are liquid-to-coal technologies and coal gassification; there's wind and solar and there's hydrogen.

We have the "green" factor, as in how to do we increase energy production and still not run up greenhouse gas levels and water/land pollution? Judging by the number of industries advertising on TV about their "green" products, we're there.

And then there's a healthy dose of reality that needs to be taken. If you're a greenie, then be forebearing and realistic, understand this nation cannot be turned on a dime to become an energy self-sufficient behemoth that can, at the same time, maintain its manufacturing capacity, its exports and its food production, at least not without cost to individuals and companies. If you're a super-capitalist, accept your profits may slide from obscene to merely excessive by doing practical things to conserve. Get creative...last time I looked that's how all great entrepeneurs make money.

Sen. John Thune (R, SD) this week rallied nine of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle to send a letter to leadership that basically said, "Get off the dime. It's time to take the politics outs of this issue and convene an energy summit where we can listen to the experts and come up with a series of programs that will make this country energy independent over time."

Thune is to be commended. Now let's just hope the "leaders" listen.

The North Dakota State University, University of Minnesota and South Dakota
State University Extension Services have teamed up to sponsor the second annual
North Central Tri-state Meat Goat Conference on Sept. 26-28 in Alexandria, Minn.

This conference is open to anyone with an interest in meat goat production,
including new and experienced meat goat producers, Extension educators,
veterinarians, agricultural businesses, 4-H and FFA members and team leaders,
and university researchers.

Topics that will be covered include goat health, nutrition, breeding management
and artificial insemination, selection of meat goats for breeding stock, show
tips and techniques, and Midwest marketing strategies and opportunities.

Justin Luther, NDSU Extension Service sheep specialist and reproductive
physiologist, will be one of the speakers. Other presenters include Susan
McClanahan, University of Minnesota small-ruminant specialist; Fred Homeyer,
internationally known Boer goat judge, Robert Lee, Texas; Tess Caudell, Kentucky
Department of Agriculture; and Terry Hutchens, University of Kentucky Extension
meat goat specialist.

In addition to educational workshops and demonstrations, conference participants
will be able to visit with vendors, meet and socialize with other meat goat
producers and attend a Texas-style meat goat barbecue. The conference will
conclude with a "best of the best" Boer goat sale.

For more information about the conference, contact Luther at (701) 231-7993 or
justin.luther@ndsu.edu or Brenda Postels in the University of Minnesota
Extension Service's Wright County office at (763) 682-7381 or post0060@umn.edu.
Information also is available online at http://www.extension.umn.edu/meatgoats.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center
in Alexandria. Rooms need to be reserved by Aug. 1 to receive the conference
rate. To receive the reduced rate, ask for the goat conference rate. To reserve
rooms, call (866) 386-5263 or go online to http://www.arrowwoodresort.com.