FMD - Not If, But When 

Even though many countries have been free of FMD for many years, global travel and trade have the potential to spread a highly-contagious outbreak far and wide, devastating large segments of the livestock industry. Many experts believe that a serious outbreak is not a matter of "if," but "when."

At a special Foot-and-Mouth Disease Symposium at the National Institute for Animal Agriculture's Annual Conference, I spoke with Dr. Gay Miller from the University of Illinois. She is a world renowned epidemiologist who has studied the challenges of controlling FMD while maintaining continuity in the livestock business. 

Miller spoke at the conference and said the only way to really get a handle on the disease that could devastate international trade is to be prepared.

"We need to prepare for it as if it is going to occur in the near future, plain and simple," she said.

In years past, the only strategy for dealing with an FMD outbreak was massive herd depopulation. Miller said that is one option, but not, perhaps, the most effective.

"The old-style approach was very much stamping out, was the only consideration, but we have capability developed, now associated with vaccinations so that we can, at the very minimum, marry a stamping-out approach with a vaccination approach in a way that will be effective in handling an outbreak-much more economical and with much less wastage of animal protein."

You can read more of this story or listen to our conversation by clicking here.  

Emergency Drought Relief Fund Measure Heads to Governor Fallin 

On Monday, the Senate gave unanimous approval to a measure that will help provide financial assistance around the state during severe droughts. House Bill 1923, authored by Rep. Dale DeWitt and Ron Justice, would create the Emergency Drought Relief Fund and an Emergency Drought Commission.

"Our state is going through one of the worst droughts in its history. Water plays a critical role in our daily lives, and we've seen how devastating not having it can be for our agricultural community, municipalities, counties, and private citizens," said Justice, R-Chickasha. "We tend to take for granted that water will always be available but we've learned that isn't always the case. It's imperative that we have a fund for emergency drought relief activities to protect our state from the devastating effects of a severe drought."

The commission will recommend fund expenditures to the governor in the event of an emergency drought declaration. The commission is comprised of the executive director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the executive director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. 

You can read more by clicking here.  

 

Filing Period Opens for Conservation District Directors

The Oklahoma Conservation Commission is providing notice that Oklahoma's conservation districts will be holding an election for the position of board member on the 87 local conservation district boards of directors across the state. The local conservation district board is made up of five individuals who set the priorities for the conservation districts. Three of the members are elected by registered voters within the district and two are appointed by the Conservation Commission upon recommendation by the local conservation district board.

The filing period for the board member position is May 1-14, 2013. In order for citizens to have their names placed on the official ballot for this election they must fill out and submit a Notification and Declaration of Candidacy form. The form can be found on the Commission's website at http://go.usa.gov/TjBJ or at their local conservation district office. In order to be eligible for this position, a person must be a registered voter in within the boundaries of the conservation district and must have entered or will enter into a Cooperator Agreement with the local conservation district. The conservation district director election is scheduled for Tuesday, June 4, 2013. Locations of polling places will be determined at the close of the filing period.

For further information about conservation district board member elections please contact the Oklahoma Conservation Commission at 405-521-4826 or your local conservation district office. A listing of conservation district offices is available on the commission's website at http://go.usa.gov/TjDh, or by calling the Commission office at 405-521-2384.  

Three Main Factors Affect the Percentage of Cows Cycling at the Start of Breeding, Selk Says

Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, writes in the latest issue of the Cow-Calf Newsletter:

The breeding season is, or soon will be underway for those herds that have a spring calving program. The most important factors that determine if, and when, a cow returns to cycling activity were studied by Kansas State University reproductive scientists. Over a period of seven years, Kansas State scientists used more than 3,200 beef cows in estrous synchronization studies. As a part of these studies they determined which cows were cycling before the start of the breeding season both before and after synchronization treatments. They then looked at the previous data about each cow and determined the major factors that influenced the likelihood that she would have returned to heat by the start of the breeding season. The research indicated that three main factors were the most important determinants as to whether the cow would recycle before the breeding season began: body condition, age of the cow, and the number of days since calving were the biggest influences on incidence of cycling activity before breeding. 

Click here to read more of this story.

R-CALF USA Urges USDA to Go Even Further to Modify COOL

In comments supporting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) March 12, 2013 proposal to modify its country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations, R-CALF USA urged the agency to adopt additional modifications the group said would achieve cost savings, eliminate redundancies, and reduce the record-keeping burden for all suppliers of cattle, both domestic and foreign.

In June 2012, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that COOL regulations required livestock suppliers to gather more information than was ultimately provided to consumers via a label. Due to this imbalance between information gathering and information sharing, the WTO determined that COOL discriminated against Canadian and Mexican livestock.

USDA's proposal is intended to bring COOL into compliance with the WTO ruling. R-CALF USA, however, has been urging USDA to modify its COOL regulations long before the adverse WTO ruling - since at least July 2009 according to the group's comments.

The current COOL regulations "were improperly and unlawfully adopted, are contrary to the intent of Congress, and impose record-keeping requirements on cattle producers that are not needed to accurately inform consumers as to the origins of beef," the group's comments state.

Click here to read more and to find a link to R-CALF's comments to the USDA.

Governor Fallin Signs Measure Creating Safeguards for Agritourism Businesses

A bill protecting the rights of agritourism operators has been signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin.

House Bill 1638, by state Rep. Scott Biggs, R-Chickasha and Sen. Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, protects business owners in the agritourism industry. It calls for a limited liability for agritourism operators and protects them against injuries suffered during an agritourism activity provided the venue is registered with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and a warning label is posted. It does not protect operators in cases of gross negligence or willful disregard of the guest.

"The signing of this bill is great for the small-business owners in the agritourism industry in Oklahoma," Biggs said. "This industry is filled with many family operations that are running a small business in the truest sense of the term. And what they have to offer provides Oklahomans with great resources to learn more about the agricultural economy of the state as well as provide new ways to enjoy their free time in a unique way. Ensuring these operators have this protection will mean these options will be available for us all for years to come." 

Click here to read more.

 

This N That- Big Iron, Ag Leadership Oklahoma and Superior Livestock Brings the Market to You 

 
Click here to jump over to the Big Iron website and check out the wide variety of agricultural items on the virtual auction block this morning. 

 
If you would like to visit with the Big Iron Rep for Oklahoma, North Texas, western Arkansas and much of New Mexico- call Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718. Mike can walk you through how you can buy or sell items with ease on Big Iron.

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Agricultural Leadership of Oklahoma (ALO), the alumni association for the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program (OALP), is holding a reception this Friday, April 19th from 5-7 p.m. at the American Farmers & Ranchers offices, 800 N. Harvey, Oklahoma City, OK.  All OALP alums are invited to attend.  There will  be an ALO Board Meeting starting at 6 p.m.  Join your fellow OALP Alums for a fun evening of reconnecting with old friends.

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Our friends at Superior Video Livestock Auction have a two day sale planned for this week- staritng Thursday morning at 8 AM central time- and then continuing on Friday morning as well. Over 53,000 head of cattle to be sold- including

400 Holsteins, 13,900 Yearling Steers,  8,800 Yearling Heifers, 15,300 Weaned Calves,13,200 Calves on Cows, 2,000 Bred Heifers, Bred Cows and Cow/Calf Pairs.

As always- the sale can be seen on DISH, DIRECTV and via the internet- and you can call the Superior Livestock Folks in Ft WOrht for more information at 1-800- 422-2117- or scoot over to their website by clicking here.