Glenn Selk Reviews Tips for Protecting Your Cow Herd From Spring Time Storm Dangers 

Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter (adapted from D. W. Smith, Extension Safety Program Specialist, Texas A&M):

Spring time is thunderstorm season across the Plains. As we observed this week, spring storms occasionally bring severe winds or even tornadoes. Cleaning up after a severe storm is difficult enough. Losing valuable cattle brings additional financial hardship to the situation.   

Cattle loss can occur in several scenarios. Livestock may be killed, lost, or stolen during a stormy situation. An accurate accounting of livestock and property is essential to a cattle operation's storm preparedness. Keep a CURRENT inventory of all animals and the pastures where they are located. Individual animal ID tags on all animals have several other purposes, but can become extremely valuable if cattle become scattered or even stolen. If these records are computer based, consider having a "back-up" copy stored at a neighbor's or a relative's house.

An up-to-date immunization program for your cow herd can be doubly important if a storm hits your area. Cattle that are intermingled with animals from other farms and ranches may become exposed to pathogens that generally have not been a problem on your operation.   

A few more suggestions:

1.      Make sure livestock have plenty of water and food that have not been contaminated by pollutants. In some cases, it is necessary to truck in water and food, or to remove livestock from contaminated areas.

2.      Properly and immediately dispose of dead carcasses. If rendering plants are still available in your area, they may process some dead animals. Those not processed should be buried away from water bodies at least 3 to 4 feet deep and covered with quick-lime to accelerate decomposition.

You can read more tips for keeping your cattle safe and find a link to a Texas Extension Disaster Education fact sheet by clicking here.  

Farmers Shoulder Nearly $17 Billion in Losses in 2012 

Before farmers received a single dime in crop insurance indemnity payments, they shouldered $12.7 billion in losses as part of their deductibles to crop insurance policies, according to a guest editorial published by Tom Zacharias, president of National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS).

"When combined with the $4.1 billion farmers paid out of their own pockets to purchase crop insurance last year, total farmer investment neared $17 billion," explains Zacharias in the May 6 edition of Roll Call/CQ.

Zacharias noted that it was important to get those numbers out because of the ongoing assault on the "the men and women who put food on our tables and clothes on our backs" over their purchasing of crop insurance. "Critics called crop insurance a farmer bailout and said things like farmers were 'laughing all the way to the bank' and were 'praying for drought, not praying for rain,'" the article notes. "Farmers even have been compared to cheap drunks at an open bar and told to pay their fair share."

Click here to read more.

 

UC Davis Professor Says U.S. Livestock Producers Have Made Great Strides in Sustainability

Dr. Frank Mitloehner from the University of California at Davis, says that "sustainable intensification" is the way of the future in animal agriculture. He spoke at the Alltech International Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky, this week. He also talked about the concept with me on how American farmer and ranchers have made great strides in this area, and how he thinks animal agriculture in this country will continue to reduce its environmental footprint. While here at the Alltech event- we talked with Dr. Mitloehner about sustainability and how the US beef industry is doing in this arena.

"One important aspect of reducing the environmental footprint is to become very efficient. The more efficient you are, the fewer animals you need. And we've known this for a long time. Intensification is really aiming at improving efficiencies and optimizing efficiencies and we have done a pretty good job in this country of doing that.

"This is really one of the big success stories throughout the world: we have doubled livestock production with half the number of animals now versus 50 years ago. That is exactly the direction we have to go worldwide."

You can listen to our full interview or read more of this story on our website.  Please click here to go there.

 

Stabenow Opines on Farm Bill, Senators Praise Stabenow & Coalition Battles to Protect Crop Insurance  

The following editorial was written by Senator Debbie Stabenow, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry:

May 21, 2013 Last year, in the middle of a hard-fought election, the Senate Agriculture Committee came together in a bipartisan way to craft a new kind of farm bill - one with major reforms and tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts, a bill that media outlets called a "landmark shift" and "one of the biggest policy changes in generations." 

However, even though last year's farm bill passed the Senate with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle, House leadership prevented the bill from getting a vote, and the bill died.

There can be no more kicking the can down the road. We must pass a farm bill this year to provide certainty to the 16 million Americans whose jobs rely on agriculture. We must cut unnecessary spending. And we must ensure that consumers will continue to have a safe, healthy and affordable food supply. 

You can read Sen. Stabenow's full editorial by clicking here.

Other Farm Bill Notes:

The Senate Ag Committee has compiled a set of comments praising Chairlady Stabenow and Ranking Member Cochran for the measure brought to the Senate Floor this week- Click here and notice neither of Oklahoma Senators have joined in on this "adoration fest."

The Coalition of farm groups and conservation groups that agreed to back conservation compliance on crop insurance and to reject any other demands like means testing has its work cut out for them- a multitude of amendments eyeing the pot of money associated with Crop Insurance have been introduced- and at least one of these- the so called Durban-Coburn amendment- garnered 66 votes in the Senate in 2012. This amendment would reduce premium support for crop insurance participants with an Adjusted Gross Income of more than $750,000 by 15 percent for all policies beyond catastrophic coverage.

Click here for a full rundown of these amendments as provided to us by the National Corn Growers Association- one of the farm groups who are a part of the coalition.

From the Floor on Tuesday- SNAP was the focus.

The Senate has rejected an effort to increase the cut in food stamps in the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 from four-billion dollars to 31-billion.  The vote was 40 to 58. Kansas Senator Pat Roberts offered the amendment that would have ended the use of energy assistance as a basis for food stamp eligibility and eliminated categorical eligibility, a training program and grants to the states for good performance in managing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. According to Roberts - the amendment would have helped rein in the largest expenditure in the USDA budget. Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow strongly opposed the amendment. The Senate then moved to an amendment on the opposite end of the spectrum - as New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand tried to eliminate the SNAP cut in the bill altogether by cutting crop insurance. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 26 to 70. 

Beef Exports Important, Depend on Quality Reputation

Compared to global competitors, U.S. beef is not cheap. Dan Halstrom of the U.S. Meat Export Federation says that presents both challenges and opportunity.

"The vast majority of our competition is grass-fed beef, not high-quality in any sense of the word as we define it. Not to say there isn't a taste for grass-fed around the world and their interpretation of what is value might be different than ours. But what we try to do is to show the distinguishing characteristics of U.S. grain-fed beef and the high quality definition of that is very, very important and really sets us apart in a lot of the parts of the world. Even though our prices may be higher, there's a definite, growing demand for that high-quality beef."

From the Middle East to the recently-reopened Japanese market, Halstrom says the future of U.S. Beef Exports looks promising and that's good news for the ranchers and feeders raising it.

"We're at about $215 for every head slaughtered is attributable to the export business. And this has seen dramatic growth in the last few years and we're going to continue to see that grow especially with the recent announcement on Japan. We figure that's another $20 a head incremental, so were up to $235-$240 a head for 2013 which we think is phenomenal." 

Click here for more of this story.

 

National Pork Board Comments on Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV)

The National Pork Board confirms the USDA has reported the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in the United States for the first time through testing at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory. This is not a new virus, nor is it a regulatory/reportable disease. Since PEDV is widespread in many countries, it is not a trade-restricting disease, but rather a production-related disease. PEDV may appear clinically to be the same as transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) virus with acute diarrhea. Producers will need to work with their herd veterinarian with if any TGE-like symptoms appear and as always, maintain strict biosecurity protocols.

--PEDV has been identified in the United States in a small number of herds. The virus is not a new virus as it was first recognized in England in 1971. Since then, the disease has been identified in a number of European countries and Canada, and more recently in China, Korea and Japan.

--USDA, State Animal Health Officials, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians and veterinarians at the National Pork Board are actively monitoring this disease and will make recommendations to producers as necessary.

--PEDV does not affect pork safety. Pork remains completely safe to eat.

You can read more by clicking here.

 

This and That- Help for Tornado Victims, Big Iron and World Pork Expo Cometh

One of the locations in the Oklahoma City area where you can drop off items that can of help to those who have been hit hard by the tornadoes of this week is on North Stiles across from the State Capitol- at the state headquarters of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau.  Click here for details on their plans to receive items in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, the Radio Oklahoma Network is a part of the effort by Griffin Communcations to accept contributions at our studio location- 7401 N Kelley in OKC. Items needed include water, gloves, boots, toiletries, power bars and Gatorade. Cash will also be accepted.

Griffin will turn donated cash over to the Red Cross and target it to Oklahoma Relief. Checks must be written to Oklahoma Relief - Red Cross. This will ensure that the money stays in Oklahoma.

If you are out of the area- and prefer donating money to someone other than one of the national groups- one that has an excellent track record is the Baptist Disaster Relief Team.  Every dollar you give goes straight to helping those who are hurting in the Moore-Newcastle area. None of the money goes for administration.  Click here for details and how you can donate.

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It's Wednesday- and that means its time for us to remind you of the closing of the auction- a few items at a time- for Big Iron.  This week- there are 309 items this week (with an even bigger auction planned for next Wednesday- 477 items to be closing next on May 29)- and  you can learn more about Big Iron by clicking here- read some of the tips on how to use Big Iron and then proceed on at the link on that page to this week's auction items.  Our page includes an interview we did recently with Mike Wolfe about how Big Iron can work for both the buyer and the seller.

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2013 marks the 25th anniversary of World Pork Expo - which will take place June 5th through the 7th at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. The Expo offers the world's largest pork-specific trade show, educational seminars and breeding stock shows and sales. National Pork Producers Council President Randy Spronk says there is something for everyone at World Pork Expo. He says folks can fill their days gathering information at seminars, visiting with fellow producers or investigating new technologies and products. Nearly 20-thousand pork producers and industry professionals from 38 countries were on hand for the 2012 Expo. A similar showing is expected this year.