the virginia cattleman, september 2014, page 1 5if ... cattleman sept... · tension hat back on...

THE VIRGINIA CATTLEMAN, SEPTEMBER 2014, PAGE 1

Th e Virginia Cattleman

P. O. Box 9

Daleville, VA 24083-0009

Non-Profi t

Organization

U. S. Postage

PAIDDaleville VA 24083

Permit No. 8

Offi cial Publication of the Virginia Cattleman’s Association • PLEASE NOTIFY SENDER IF ADDRESS LABEL IS INCORRECT

What’s Inside…September Beef Herd Management Advisor .................................................. Page 22

2014 VA Youth Beef Leader ............................................................................. Page 24

In Th e Spot Light ............................................................................................. Page 25

Why Tweeting Matters .................................................................................... Page 27

, SEPTEMBER 2014, THE VIRGINIA CATTLEMAN

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OpportuniesJason Carter

Executive Secretary

Over the past year I have been asked almost on a daily basis how much higher is the cattle market going to go or how long can these prices last. Well, by the time this is published, we may have confi r-mation that the cattle market has indeed peaked and is in search of a new normal range for trade. If you take a look at recent history, it isn’t hard to fi nd some breathtak-ing perspective for where we have come. May 31, 2013 saw the Chi-cago Mercantile Exchange Feeder Cattle Index at $130.81 which turned out to be the fi nale of a small downtrend from the market fl irting with several record highs from the turn of the previous year. On August 4, 2014 the CME Feeder Index reached $225.68 which is a $95/cwt turn. In other words the feeder cattle market rose a whop-ping 72.5% in 15 months.

NASCAR has something in rac-ing referred to as the “lucky dog”, if I have the term right, where the fi rst driver whose a lap down in the race gets a free pass back to the lead lap in the event a caution comes out and slows the race. That analogy for racing is my way

of comparing a situation where things eventually slow down to someone getting to be the last one to benefi t from the momentum. On August 4, 2014 the Bucking-ham Cattlemen’s Association sold their Virginia Quality Assured steers and heifers and the results were not simple “luck” by any means, they have worked hard to establish the superior reputation they enjoy, but they also may have found that last comparable high in the market for the time being. They sold around 1000 head for an average in the vicinity of $1700 a piece across the board of weights and sex. That’s not exact but it’s certainly in the ballpark and is pretty awesome to think about.

I really don’t like to make com-parisons between sales and par-ticular situations when it comes to selling similar type cattle but the market is a fi ckle place sometimes and there are many factors that influence it in an instant. This is why it is critically important that producers keep in mind that value is relative, not to other sales but, to market conditions at the time of sale. After August 4th the Feeder Cattle Index and Fed Cattle futures went down in a hurry. In fact limit down several

days that week. Over the course of the coming days a drop of $8-10/cwt meant some buyers were no longer shopping for loads of Vir-ginia cattle. Basis has seemingly become simply the cost of trans-portation now and the availability of Virginia calves and yearlings, even with freight added on, has made our cattle competitive on a cash basis with Midwestern cattle. However when the market starts to correct itself after it has trended upward so high and for so long, then little things start to become opportunities for cattle feeders to get back to break even on oversold cattle. So back to my theory of relativity. Relatively speaking, every producer in Virginia is mak-ing a whole lot more money on feeder cattle than ever before. A fl uctuation in the market causing a comparatively less value of $40-50 per head is signifi cant, but there have been times when that was all the added value in program cattle like VQA. This year that is 15% of how much more they are bringing than last. I saw a load of VQA cattle sell in Harrisonburg recently for $83 per hundred weight more than last year. Same producers from the same program.

Here’s where I slip the old Ex-tension hat back on again. Stick-ing with a program that builds reputation consistently wins. The

Virginia Quality Assured feeder cattle program is a vessel that has allowed producers working hard at management to benefit from building a collective reputa-tion. It’s true no matter where in Virginia you are. Sticking with a program adds value even in a high market where everyone is getting paid well. It has been well documented over the past nine months that infl uencers such as dwindling beef and other protein supplies, global and domestic beef demand and tight fed cattle numbers have rallied the market to unprecedented levels. Now as the reality of better than expected protein supplies, increased female retention and abundant corn are seeping into the market, the drop in market value is a natural set-tling into a new range of trade for cattle. The big question now is where will the new trading range settle on a fl oor? It could possibly be much less than $225/cwt but certainly much higher than $130/cwt. If average market correc-tion trends remain true, then it is reasonable to assume feeders will stay above $200/cwt. New step ups in any commodity market bring new challenges for manag-ing capital and risk as well as new opportunities for quality reputa-tion programs and producers to remain in front. We’re turning

new ground now and it should remain quite profi table for a good long while to come.

All of you know that the world we operate in has become equally important to how we market. As frustrating as it is to hear the word sustainability thrown around in the context of so many agendas, it is still a fact that simply being able to operate is a critical step. The regulatory side of the agri-cultural world is concerning and particularly in the environmental arena. Many of you have heard about the proposed Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule published by EPA with an intent to “clarify” the existing Clean Water Act law that gives them scope and regulation over exist-ing navigable water ways and water quality related to them. The Clean Water Act has been effective for 40 years giving both EPA and individual states power to identify and resolve issues that relate to protecting both the con-tinued accessibility and quality of important primary surface waters. However the philosophical theme of the current administration in Washington is that our federal government knows best and it has methodically sought to usurp the power of states to self-govern on issues ranging from health care to

Continued on Page 4


The VirginiaCattlemen’s Association

Affi liated with theNational Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc.

P.O. Box 9Daleville, Va 24083-0009

540/992-1009www.vacattlemen.org

The Virginia Cattleman540/992-1011

540/992-4632 - FAXpublished monthly by the

Virginia Cattlemen’s Association

Editor ...................................... Jason [email protected]

Publication Coordinator ...Jacquelynn [email protected]

Issued the fi rst week of each month. Copy deadline the 15th of the previous month.

The Virginia Cattleman is sent to members of the Virginia Cattlemen’s Association. Annual dues are $50/year or

participation in the Association’s Feeder Cattle marketing Program. Complimentary copies are sent to various

supporters of the Virginia Cattle Industry.

A Member of:

LPCLIVESTOCK PUBLICATIONS COUNCIL

Jason Carter ....................... Stuarts Draft Executive Secretary

Butch Foster.................................. Bristol Field Manager

Troy Lawson ..........................Churchville Field Manager

FEEDER COUNCILGlenn Wheeler ............................... Atkins

Region 1Chuck Miller ................................Crockett

Region 2Joe Meek .......................................Dublin

Region 3Forrest Ashby .............................Staunton

Region 4Rick Matthews .........................Browntown

Region 5Steve Hopkins ...............................Louisa

Region 6Tom Nixon .................................. Rapidan

Region 6Lin Jones .............................New Canton

Region 7Brett Stratton ........................ Appomattox

County Cattlemen

POLICY & INDUSTRY ADVOCACY BOARD

Gene Copenhaver ...............Meadowview District 1

Joey Davenport ...................Glade Spring District 1

Bill McDonald .........................Blacksburg District 2

Steve Furrow .......................Rocky Mount District 2

Bill Tucker .................................. Amherst District 3

Jon Repair ................................ Glasgow District 3

Jared Burner .................................. Luray District 4

Allen Heishman ......................... Edinburg District 4

John Goodwin ............................. Orange District 5

James Kean ..................................Louisa District 5

Jay Calhoun .............................. Callands District 6

Mike Henry ........................... Chesterfi eld District 6

Radiant 2-Sep 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889Front Royal 2-Sep 7:30 PM Feeders Virginia Livestock LLC 540-622-7752

Tel-O-Auction 8-Sep 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009Radiant 9-Sep 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889

Wytheville 9-Sep 7:00 PM Steers Wythe County Livestock Exch 276-223-0003Fredericksburg 10-Sep 7:00 PM Feeders Fredericksburg Feeder Assoc 540-373-8207

Dublin 10-Sep 7:00 PM Feeders Pulaski Livestock Sales 540-320-1025Harrisonburg 11-Sep 7:00 PM Feeders Rockingham Livestock Sales 540-490-9050Tel-O-Auction 15-Sep 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009

Radiant 16-Sep 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889Front Royal 16-Sep 7:30 PM Feeders Virginia Livestock LLC 540-622-7752

Harrisonburg 18-Sep 7:00 PM Holsteins Rockingham Livestock Sales 540-490-9050Tel-O-Auction 22-Sep 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009

Radiant 23-Sep 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889Wytheville 23-Sep 7:00 PM Holsteins Wythe County Livestock Exch 276-223-0003

Dublin 24-Sep 7:00 PM Feeders Pulaski Livestock Sales 540-320-1025Tel-O-Auction 29-Sep 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009

Radiant 23-Sep 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889

Tel-O-Auction 6-Oct 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009Radiant 7-Oct 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889

Front Royal 7-Oct 7:30 PM Feeders Virginia Livestock LLC 540-622-7752Dublin 8-Oct 7:00 PM Feeders Pulaski Livestock Sales 540-320-1025

Harrisonburg 9-Oct 7:00 PM Feeders Rockingham Livestock Sales 540-490-9050Tel-O-Auction 13-Oct 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009

Tri State 13-Oct 7:00 PM Feeders Abingdon Feeder Cattle Assoc 276-628-5111Radiant 14-Oct 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889

Tel-O-Auction 20-Oct 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009Radiant 21-Oct 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889

Front Royal 21-Oct 7:30 PM Feeders Virginia Livestock LLC 540-622-7752Wytheville 21-Oct 7:00 PM Feeders/Hol Wythe County Livestock Exch 276-223-0003

Dublin 22-Oct 7:00 PM Feeders Pulaski Livestock Sales 540-320-1025Harrisonburg 23-Oct 7:00 PM Feeders Rockingham Livestock Sales 540-490-9050Tel-O-Auction 27-Oct 6:00 PM Feeders Virginia Cattlemen's Assoc 540-992-1009

Radiant 28-Oct 10:30 AM Feeders Virginia Cattle Company 540-622-4889

October 2014

September 2014

Virginia Cattlemen's AssociationSponsored Graded Sales Schedule

Check our website at www.vacattlemen.org for updatesCONTACT LIVESTOCK MARKETS OR VCA STAFF FOR QUESTIONS

VCA 540-992-1009 Butch Foster 423-360-0434 Troy Lawson 540-430-0042

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environmental protection. WOTUS is not a law, but a 600+ page “clarifi cation” to an existing law that will effectively give EPA regulatory authority over nearly every waterway, intermittent and perineal, in the country. The selling point for them is more fl uid oversight of assuring water quality controls across the board. The troubling feature of the rule, aside from its lack of clarity, is the blank check of interpreta-tion WOTUS allows EPA to decide what water it chooses to regulate. Giving the federal government blanket ability to dictate land use adjacent to any water feature allows for fu-ture regulation concerning livestock production particularly to be in peril. Imagine a world where cattle are suddenly considered point sources of pollution similar to municipal waste water treatment plants. Then, regulation becomes geared towards changing the entire farm versus improving one aspect that directly affects water quality. How many of you would be interested in approaching a land owner you rent ground from for your cattle and ask them to maintain a waste permit from the Department of Environmental Quality or EPA so you can continue to run cattle? I can imagine the general reaction many landowners would have.

Please note the page ad this month dedicated to WOTUS and asking you as cattle producers and industry affi liates to consider submitting comments against WOTUS. Just like sell-ing cattle, there is strength in numbers, and we can show our collective strength as the Virginia Cattlemen’s Association by being a part of the process to protect ourselves. We have some great allies in Congress in Goodlatte, Hurt and Griffi th. We have a great Secretary of Agriculture in Virginia in Todd Hay-more and a new Commissioner of VDACS in Sandy Adams that are supportive of agriculture and listen to the commodity groups’ opinions and needs. Virginia Cattlemen’s Associa-tion, by action of its membership in March, has empowered itself to act in the best interests of our collective industry with a unifi ed voice and as THE cattle producer organization in the state. Get involved by staying on top of issues that affect our business. The Policy & Industry Advocacy side of VCA will evolve with time and opportunities for you to participate as members will grow in turn. Being involved now only strengthens us down the road. Our reputation is in our membership, and just like marketing, loyalty to our brand always wins in the long run.

Continued from Page 2

Opportunities


CED

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Reg#: 16936275DOB: Tattoo: A138

O C C Jet Stream 825J+Duff Jetset 7122 O C C Revolution Rose 887H

#TC Total 410+Whitestone Blackcap X815 +SBP Blackcap 3045

Reg#:Reg#:R #R # 169362169362169361693627575755Whitestone Blackcap A138pppppppppppckcapp A1A1cckkccaaappppppp A1A11133

This productive daughter of Duff Jetset 7122 is from a dam by TC Total 410. Due 1-8-2015 to Jindra Double Vision.

+Whitestone Blackcap X81p X815+SBP Blackcap 3045

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#S A V 8180 Traveler 004#S A V Net Worth 4200 + S A V May 2410

#S S Traveler 6807 T510 Sedgwicks Barbara 2996 Sedgwicks Barbara 3726

Whitestone Barbara Z231rbabara 31arrrrbb aa ZZZ222323A productive of the embryo program by the Pathfinder Sire SAV Net Worth 4200 from Sedgwicks Barbara 2996. Due 1-29-2015 to AAR Ten X 7008 SA.

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Whitestone Bonnie A160Reg#: 16936278

DOB: Tattoo: A160 Connealy Product 568Connealy Final Product # Ebonista of Conanga 471

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Reg#: +16499519DOB: Tattoo: Y257

#N Bar Emulation EXT#Whitestone Widespread MB M B Rachel 2173

#N Bar Prime Time D806+Sinclair Lady 2P61 4465 +Ideal 4465 of 6807 4286

R #Reg#: +16499164995195191649916499519519Whitestone Lady Y257yyyyyLadady yyyy Y2Y25757yyyyyyyLaadadddyyyyyyyy YYY252555757

A special feature by the Pathfinder Sire Whitestone Widespread MB from the now deceased Sinclair Lady 2P61 4465. Due 1-29-2015 to AAR Ten X 7008 SA.

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Connealy Product 568Connealy Final Product # Ebonista of Conanga 471

#G A R Predestined+Whitestone Kimberly Y718 Alberda Queen Kimberly 222

Reg#:R # 16936216936269691693621693626969Whitestone Kimberly A108yyyyyyyyyyyyyybeberly yy A1A10mmbbeeerlrlyyyyyyy AA1110

This productive daughter of Connealy Final Product was produced from a maternal sister to Alberda Traveler 416. Due 1-29-2015 to SAV International 2020.

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#Sitz Traveler 8180#S A V Final Answer 0035 S A V Emulous 8145

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How do you derail a free-trade agreement between Europe and the U.S. that could boost growth on both sides of the Atlantic by an estimated $100 billion annually? Well, fear-mongering might work. And that’s the path taken by sundry environmentalists regard-ing the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. So three cheers for Anthony Gardner, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, who last week delivered a sharp rebuke to the greens who say that implementing TTIP would mean forcing Europeans to eat American beef, poultry and other food products. “The debate has been mischaracterized by the enemies of this agreement,” Mr. Gardner told the website Euractiv. “They are accusing us of trying to force European consumers to eat products that they do not want. That is false.”

He was referring to the notion that regulatory harmonization be-tween the U.S. and EU under TTIP would somehow threaten con-sumer health by lowering barriers to entry for American food prod-

Phony Fears On Trans-Atlantic Tradeucts. Such claims have been made by mainstream center-left parties as well as the usual coalition of protectionists, environmentalists and anti-biotechnology cranks. “Cloned, hormone-treated, or genetically modified meat, or meat from the USA that has been cleaned using chlorine lye, must not be allowed to fi nd its way into the EU,” says a position paper of the European Parliament’s Socialists & Democrats voting bloc, which in theory supports the TTIP. “US agribusiness is now targeting Europe’s [genetically modifi ed organism] safeguards,” claims the Friends of Earth Eu-rope. The TTIP, says the Sierra Club, could “have devastating consequences for communities and the environment.”

Mr. Gardner blasted these argu-ments. “We want Europe to follow its own scientifi c advice, whether on biotechnology or clones,” he said. “There are no health issues involved in hormone-treated beef. . . . Enemies of this agreement are latching on to this issue (biotech-nology and chlorinated chicken) as ways to miscast what this is about. We should be talking about

why Europe ignores the scientifi c advice from its own agencies.” On chlorinated chickens, for example, the European Food Safety Author-ity has concluded that “treatment with trisodium phosphate, acidi-fi ed sodium chlorite, chlorine di-oxide, or peroxyacid solutions . . . would be of no safety concern.” Likewise, the safety authority has repeatedly found that vari-ous genetically modifi ed species of soybean, maize and cotton are as safe as their conventional counterparts.

The issue of hormone-treated beef is more complicated. Hor-mone-treated U.S. beef has been banned in Europe since the trans-Atlantic beef wars fi rst erupted in the late 1980s. Yet the safety au-thority’s most recent study (from 2007), while declining to revise its earlier conclusions, found that “it is not possible to assess the signifi cance of the large scale use of hormones in relation to many epidemiological studies that indi-cate a correlation between eating red meat and certain hormone-dependent cancers.”

And then there’s the simple fact that if European consumers don’t

want to eat hormone-treated beef or any other foodstuff of which they disapprove, they don’t have to buy it. For too long, Europe has used scientifi cally unsound argu-ments to close off its food market

to competition. The TTIP could change this, giving the Continent’s half a billion consumers access to less expensive food products. As Mr. Gardner asked: “Why don’t you believe your own science?”


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The latest USDA data provides some indication that herd expan-sion may be beginning but more clearly shows that herd rebuilding will be a long process and a slow one, at least initially. Not surpris-ingly, the July Cattle report shows estimates of herd inventories that are down in most all categories compared to the last report in 2012. Since no 2013 report is avail-able for comparison, it is not clear whether inventories are higher or lower than last year for the vari-ous categories but it is likely that most are lower. However, it does seem that the beef cow herd is sta-bilizing and is likely only slightly lower than last year.

The July 1 estimate of beef replacement heifers was down from July 2012 despite the fact that January 1 estimates of beef re-placement heifers increased each of the past three years. The ratio of the July 1 beef replacement heifers to the January inventory of replacement heifers is the lowest since the July estimates began in 1973. This ratio typically rises dur-ing herd expansion and decreases during liquidations. This indica-tion of additional herd liquidation is somewhat in contrast to the heifers on feed in the July Cattle on Feed report, which is down 4.6 percent from year earlier levels. The year over year decrease in July 1 heifers on feed is consistent with modest levels of initial herd expansion. Quarterly estimates of heifers on feed have posted year over year decreases for the past 8 quarters with an average decrease of 6.8 percent. So far this year, heifer slaughter is down 7.9 percent; a signifi cantly larger decrease than steer slaughter, which is down 2.9 percent for the year to date. Beef cow slaughter is down 16.4 percent so far this year compared to the same period last

year. These decreases in female slaughter strongly suggest that herd expansion is beginning.

Aggregate herd balance num-bers suggest that the capacity for herd expansion is greater than what is observed thus far. There are several factors that may be limiting herd expansion in these early stages. The record high feeder cattle prices that will even-tually stimulate herd expansion may, in the short run, increase the temptation to sell heifers rather than retain them for breeding. This is particularly true for producers still recovering fi nancially from drought and other economic dif-fi culties.

For some older producers who are considering retirement, cur-rent market prices may provide the incentive to sell out and exit the industry. While new produc-ers will, in most cases, replace the older producers, there may be a lag in herd growth during the transition. Additionally, the record high prices that cattle sell-ers currently enjoy also imply high prices for breeding females that may be a deterrent to expansion, at least initially, for some producers. Regional factors may be moderat-ing herd expansion as well. Much of the eastern half of the country has lost pasture and hay acreage as crop production has expanded in recent years and less herd re-building is expected in this area. In much of the Plains and Western regions, where proportionately more herd expansion is likely eventually, drought conditions persist in some areas and herd rebuilding may be moderated for several months to several years to allow recovery of pasture and range.

The biology of cattle production implies a strict limit on how fast cowherd expansion can take place. Herd expansion will start slow from the current low herd base

Herd Rebuilding Will Be A Slow Processunder the best of circumstances. It appears that herd expansion is be-ing further restricted at this time in

some regions due to producer age and expectations; fi nancial limita-tions; regional shifts in cow-calf

production; continuing drought conditions; and recovering pas-ture/range conditions.


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It was just one year ago when concerns surfaced over possible adverse effects of the beta agonist Zilmax on feedyard cattle. Follow-ing a special session preceding the 2013 NCBA summer conference in

Denver, where experts discussed concerns with lameness and other animal health and welfare issues, Tyson Foods announced a mora-torium on purchasing Zilmax-fed cattle. Shortly after that, Merck Animal Health temporarily sus-pended sales of the product in the United States, a policy that remains in place today.

New Zilmax Studies Find No Ill EffectsAt the same time, Merck an-

nounced a Five-Step Plan to En-suring Responsible Beef, which includes forming an independent advisory board, conducting new scientifi c studies and re-certifying feedyards for proper use of the product. Last week, during the Cattle Feeders Business Summit

in Denver, Merck Animal Health technical services specialist John Hutcheson, PhD, updated cattle feeders on progress and results of studies carried out over the past year.

At the time of the suspension last August and September, Merck im-mediately began a large-scale audit of cattle in feedyards and upon

arrival at packing plants. Trained observers collected mobility scores on over 60,000 head of cattle either at feedyards shortly before shipping or upon arrival at packing plants, or in some cases, at both stages. The vast majority of cattle in this audit – about 98 percent – were graded with a mobility score of “1,” mean-ing normal mobility and no sign of lameness. A small percentage had a “2” mobility score indicating slight discomfort and just a few graded “3,” indicating moderate lameness. Mobility scores of 2 or 3 were somewhat more common at the packing plants than at the feed-yard, including among those sets of cattle monitored at both locations, suggesting a association between transport and loss of mobility. They found, however, no differences in mobility scores between cattle that received Zilmax and those receiving no beta agonist.

Next, the company helped sup-port a variety of controlled, scien-tifi c trials in cooperation with the University of Georgia, New Mexico State University, Oklahoma State

University, Texas Tech, USDA and other research institutions. These trials involved a variety of cattle, including various beef breeds, culled dairy cows and calf-fed Holstein steers, fed in a variety of environments and seasons includ-ing during the heat of summer.The trials evaluated behavior and locomotion at feedyards, during loading and unloading at the pack-ing plant and through processing. One trial used pedometers to track the number of steps cattle took each day. In one trial, researchers fed Holstein steers for as long as 12 months, to fi nished weights as heavy as 1,900 pounds, to provide-comparisons among extremely heavy cattle.

None of these trials found any signifi cant differences in lameness or other negative outcomes be-tween cattle treated with Zilmax, untreated cattle or those treated with Optafl exx, the other FDA-approved beta agonist used in fi nishing cattle.

Several large trials included metabolic studies involving evalu-ation of blood metabolites, stress hormones, blood gasses, pH and lactate levels. Researchers also used infrared thermography to evaluate heat stress, monitored respiration rates and body temper-atures and studied histology on tis-sues and compared organ weights at slaughter. Researchers found slightly higher respiration rates among Zilmax cattle compared to controls, which Hutcheson says were in an expected range associated with animals with in-creased muscle mass. They found

no signifi cant differences in levels of stress hormones or body tem-peratures and blood chemistry measures were in a normal range among treated and control cattle. Hutcheson says in these trials, Zil-max did not detrimentally alter the ability of cattle to respond to stress.

At Texas Tech University, re-searchers actually conducted mag-netic resonance imaging (MRI) tests on the feet of control and treated cattle at slaughter weight. These examinations evaluated the lamellae, digital phalanx bones, deep digital fl exor tendons and other components in the lateral and medial claws. Almost all of the feet evaluated with MRI technol-ogy were normal, and there were no signifi cant differences between treated and control cattle.

Results of these trials and oth-ers were reported at the recent American Society of Animal Sci-ence (ASAS) annual meeting, and those reports are available online.

Several cattle feeders in the audience expressed frustration that the product, which can sig-nificantly improve the value of finished cattle, remains off the market. Merck representatives emphasized they are doing all they can to compile scientifi c data sup-porting its safety and to present those data to packers, retailers and other stakeholders. They maintain there is a path forward for restor-ing the product to the market, and that the company will, at that time, carefully control who uses the product and how they use it, through their feedyard certifi ca-tion process.


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Steve Lucas

If you’d known Harry and Larry when they were growing up, you’d never have guessed they were brothers. Larry took after his mother, tall, big boned, loud and outgoing. Harry was like his father, thin and bespectacled, shy and quiet. Larry was on the football team; Harry sat in the stands calculating the probability of making 40 yard fi eld goals. Dad was respected in the community as a knowledgeable cattleman, and he encouraged, but did not insist that his sons return to the family business. He did insist that whatever they decided to do, they do with passion.

Larry went to college on a football scholarship, married the captain of the cheerleading squad, and came home to teach PE at the high school. Harry got his MBA, returned to the area to manage the manufacturing plant and married his high school sweetheart.

At each son’s homecoming, Dad helped them get started in the cattle business by buying them six bred heifers of their choice. Larry came home fi rst and chose a fi ne group of purebreds of impeccable lineage. He and his wife built a new house on a hill overlooking a bottomland pasture where they now entertain fellow seed stock producers. They sit on the deck with their friends talking the merits of bulls with names like Beastmaster and Lightning Lega-cy. All the farming equipment is the same color, and his truck and her car came new from the same dealership in town.

Harry, on the other hand, looked around and found six crossbred heifers with a mixture of colors and markings. He fi xed up one of the old houses on the farm that sits off the road in a patch of woods. He and his wife seldom have company; his farm equipment is a mixture of several different brands and colors. He drives an imported pick up; her car is American made.

At family gatherings, the broth-ers spar good naturedly about the merits of buyer’s preference for hide color versus hybrid vigor. They will argue for hours over the advantages and disadvantages of a ZX5200 turbo fi red engine on a 9530 combine. Each one knows he will never convince the other. Both of them are right in what they believe. It’s not about color, it’s about passion.

A Dirt Road Dairy Colors

Rising beef prices are forcing restaurants to choose between rais-ing prices, or chopping items from menus.

A drought in the central United States has reduced hay production, cattle’s main meal. With less to feed them, ranchers are cutting back, too. Cattle production is down to a level not seen since the 1950s.

Taylor’s Market butcher Danny Johnson says this combination is driving all beef prices upward.

“I’ve seen spikes and it comes back down but this has been pretty steady,” he said. “There is always a rise during barbecue season, but this year was more significant. And even all the grind meats, the

shoulder meats—all that stuff is going up too.”

Across the country, Costco and Chipotle have already raised their prices, and local stores like Taylor’s Market in Land Park have followed.

Johnson says his meats are 60 cents a pound higher than they were last winter.

But customers we spoke to aren’t ready to give up on buying steak yet.

“It hasn’t necessarily driven us there,” said Darren Bouten. “We don’t necessarily eat a lot of beef anyway so when we do eat it I don’t worry about price points.”

But some restaurants worry sales will drop soon if prices keep going

up. Club Pheasant co-owner Patti Palamidessi says she tries to keep prices steady at the West Sacra-mento restaurant known for its steak sandwich.

“That is our main goal: good for us to carry on with business but comfortable for the customers to be here,” she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, restaurants and markets are on average paying 11 percent more for the same cuts of meat than they were a year ago at this time. Shoppers shouldn’t expect many changes for at least a year.

But if the drought continues into next year, butchers and restaurant owners expect prices to go even

Beef: It Could Be More Expensive For Dinner Due To Drought

higher. At that point, many of them say they will be forced to cut back on the beef cuts they sell, or get rid of the dishes.


P.O. Box 209 Fishersville, VA

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President - C.S. Fitzgerald, Raphine

P.O. Box 209 Fishersville, VAwww.vaangus.org

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BULL & FEMALE SALESATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2014

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Pete: (757) 880-7274 – [email protected]: (757) 298-6300 – [email protected]

Virginia Angus AssociationCalendar of Events

Sept. 26- Oct. 5Virginia State Fair,

Doswell, VA

October 11Northern VA Fall Female Classic and On Stage Sale

@ Woodside Farm,Berryville, VA

October 18SWVAA More for Your Money Sale,

Wytheville, VA

October 18Whitestone Brand of Quality Sale,

Aldie, VA

October 25Lazy Acres Angus Customer Appreciation & Open

House, Rocky Mount, VA

October 31Virginia Tech 20th Annual Hokie Harvest Sale,

Blacksburg, VA

October 31Quaker Hill Fall Bull and Female Sale,

Louisa, VA


Continued on Page 34

A succession plan is far more than a binderfull of legal documents and a life insurancepolicy. It’s founded on common goals andshared dreams. It ensures a smoothtransition, the family’s financial security,and a well-prepared next generation.

In this workshop, Kevin Spafford will teachthe five keys to planning success:

5. Planning Process4. Overcome Obstacles3. Common Objectives 2. Good Communication1. Commitment

Thursday, October 23, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Staunton Holiday Inn – I-81, Exit 225

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Succession Solutions for Farm Families

Presented By:Virginia Cooperative Extension

V i r g i n i a T e c h • V i r g i n i a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y

Registration fee:$69.00 – 1st participant per farm

$41.00 – each additional participant per farm

To register, please call Rockingham County Extension Office:

(540) 564-3080Or email: [email protected]

Send checks to:965 Pleasant Valley Rd.Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Made payable to:VCE Rockingham

Follow on Facebook for updates: www.facebook.com/farmsuccession

If multigenerational success is your goal, this workshop is for you.

In this session, participants will learn the fivekeys to preserving the farm, and passing asuccessful operation to a well-prepared nextgeneration. During the session, you’ll learnabout the planning process, goodcommunication strategies, and how toovercome obstacles. Utilizing tips from thisworkshop will help ensurethe farm remains in thefamily, provides financialsecurity, and offers careeropportunities forgenerations to come.

R i t ti f

Registration due October 2, 2014

Virginia Cooperative Extension programs and employment are open to all, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital, family, or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. An equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact Jeremy Daubert at (540) 564-3080/TDD* during business hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to discuss accommodations 5 days prior to the event. *TDD number is (800) 828-1120.

Tim Devaney, The Hill

Editor’s Note: The article below is a great example of how, in modern media and journalism, tidbits of facts are blended with sensational sound-ing partial truths to create stories. The term for this second rate report-ing at one time was “red herring”. However in an effort for all media outlets to compete for an ever decreas-ing American attention span and willingness to see the bigger picture, this sensationalism of news has now become the standard for many in the popular press.

This article correctly identifi es the Centers for Disease Control advocacy for decreased antibiotic use however it does not qualify the incorrect assortment that livestock utilize 80% of all antibi-otic drugs that also have human medicine usefulness. In fact the overwhelming majority of live-stock antibiotics sold are classifi ed as coccidiastats or antimicrobials that enhance feed effi ciency by improving the rumen microbial fl ora health and killing harmful parasites in the gut. These anti-microbial drugs have no place in human medicine and that fact, combined with livestock drugs are sold and administered largely by weight, skews the truth when reported as simply 80% of all an-tibiotics sold are sent to the food animal industry.

Our goals at Virginia Cattle-men’s Association is to provide marketing, representation and educational services for our mem-bers and the industry at large. Responsible management of cattle, including veterinary drug use, is clearly promoted for in the principals of the producer funded Beef Quality Assurance Program.

Virginia Cattlemen supports BQA and encourages all cattle producers to seek and maintain this important certification for the benefi t of their operation and our industry.

Responsible advocacy for our business begins with education. Education has to be sought and you must also seek perspective to actually be educated rather than simply memorize facts that blur with time. Consider our re-printing of this article as contrib-uting to your perspective as well as a nod to the urgency that we all remember the interconnected-ness of our farms and businesses within the greater cattle industry.

A health group is renewing its push for stricter Food and Drug Administration regulations that

Health Group ‘Superbugged’ By Antibiotic Misuse

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would prohibit farmers from giv-ing antibiotics to livestock to com-pensate for poor living conditions and help them grow faster. The group warns that antibiotics may be less effective on people who are sick because they are being overused on farm animals, which

gives bacteria more opportunities to learn how to defeat the antibi-otic, creating what is known as a “superbug.”

In fact, 80 percent of the anti-biotics used in the U.S. are given to livestock, rather than people,


With information fromKansas State Univ.

The USDA has proposed new regulations that will require stores to better trace ground beef.

“Currently there’s no regula-tions that require those retailers

to track what products and the amounts and the sources of those products that actually go into their store-ground product,” said Travis O’Quinn, Kansas State University Meat Specialist.

Most stores combine meat prod-ucts to create the ground beef found on shelves. The USDA wants them to keep records of what meat is used and where it came from. That would make it easier and faster to trace back contaminated beef, hopefully before many people eat it. The proposed regulation could lead to stores buying more pre-packaged

ground beef.“We may see more of a shift

toward products coming in foam trays that are already packaged as opposed to being ground on site, just to eliminate the extra record keeping that would be require for retailers,” O’Quinn said.

The proposal is currently open for public comment. Among the changes are requirements that the beef component used in each lot (in pounds), the date and time each lot of raw ground beef product was produced, and the date and time when grinding equipment and other related food-contact surfaces were cleaned and sanitized be disclosed.

Offi cial establishments and retail stores would also have to comply with the proposed record keeping requirements with respect to raw beef products that are ground at an individual customer’s request.

Ground Beef RegulationsMay Soon Change

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Virginia Simmental Association

www.virginiasimmental.com

VIRGINIA SIMMENTAL

ASSOCIATIONDana Campbell, VSA Secretary/Treasurer

[email protected] Lowesville Rd.

Lowesville, VA 22967434-277-9104

Don’t miss the Legends of the Blue Ridge Sale,located at

Echo Ridge Farm, Atkins, VASee Page 19 for more information about the sale.


Steve Strauss

Labels can inform or mislead. Our marketplace is literally drown-ing in labels, most of which have little meaning except to promote the sales of some products over others. What consumers want is labels that are reliable and mean-ingful, not more labels that do not accurately inform about health and environment.

We have a labeling law. The Food and Drug Administration requires foods that are “materially” differ-ent in nutrition or safety, positive

or negative, to be labeled as such — today. The focus is on the prod-uct, not the method. This “product not process” approach has been agreed to by numerous high-level scientifi c and government agencies around the world, including our own National Academy of Science, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Medical Associa-tion. A measure to label all prod-ucts of the GMO process as though they were universally harmful goes against this internationally agreed scientifi c principle.

GMO crops are getting more di-verse every year; a single label for all of them is misleading. Some of the major crops have enabled huge reductions of pesticide use; others offer improved drought tolerance and healthfulness of derived oils; still others include staples such as potato and corn with reduced natural toxins, and there are many in the science or development pipelines that are enriched in critical nutrients or have reduced allergens.

Even the herbicide-tolerant crops cited by Donohoe and Se-idler have provided large environ-mental benefi ts by promoting low tillage farming. Tillage is perhaps the largest single environmental harm humans do to this planet, mainly by accelerating soil erosion and climate change. What is need-ed are smarter ways to manage these crops for long term benefi t, which the Environmental Protec-tion Agency has now started to require of companies and farmers.

The “mounting evidence” of harm is the result of a small num-ber of highly contested papers from vocal anti-GMO activists. One highly publicized paper was so egregious it was declared irrel-evant by the European Food Safety Authority and was retracted by the journal that originally published it. There are literally hundreds of high quality scientifi c papers, many with no involvement of biotech companies, that have supported the safety of current food with biotech ingredients. The fi nding of safety is also supported by intensive reviews by scientifi c and regulatory agencies world-wide, including the World Health Organization, the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge (commonly known as the Royal Society, or Royal Acad-emy of Sciences) and our own FDA and EPA. Should there someday be sound science that shows harm, the EPA retains legal authority to revoke or restrict the licenses for crop or pesticide use.

Mandatory GMO labels typi-cally reduce rather than increase consumer choice, as we have seen in Europe. Labels that might stig-matize brands are often avoided by companies, thus lower priced foods with GMO ingredients are

Punitive GMO Labels Contary To Science And Accepted Standards

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often removed from the mar-ketplace entirely. The separate harvest, storage, shipping and monitoring systems required by

stringent labeling laws like the Oregon ballot measure would impose large costs upon the food system that consumers would

ultimately pay. The brunt of this increase in food cost is of course



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John Reid Blackwell,Richmond Times Dispatch

Russia’s ban on food and agri-culture products exported from the United States won’t impact Virgin-ia quite as severely as fi rst feared, state agriculture officials said recently. The ban was imposed on Aug. 7 to counter U.S. and European sanctions against Russia over its ac-tions in Ukraine. It does not include the largest single agricultural export from Virginia to Russia — soybeans. Nor does it include grains. However, another major export from Virginia to Russia — pork products — is included in the ban. So are processed meats, fi sh, vegetables and dairy products.

While the ban does not affect every export from Virginia, “obviously we remain concerned,” said Todd P. Haymore, Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry. “Anytime any product or commodity is restricted or banned completely, it has a negative economic impact on the company that is exporting.” “That being said, this could be a lot worse,” Haymore said “We are grateful it is not a complete ban on products from Virginia to Russia, because Russia is a very important customer of the commonwealth.”

About $117 million worth of agricultural prod-ucts were exported from Virginia to Russia in cal-endar year 2013, ranking Russia No. 4 as an export destination behind China (at $580 million), Canada ($259 million) and Swit-zerland ($190 million). In

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Russia’s Trade Restrictions Not As Extensive For Virginia As Feared

USDA updated its supply/de-mand forecasts for beef, pork and poultry on August 13th as part of its monthly WASDE report. The chart to the right shows the key changes that were made to the forecasts and also the degree to which out-put and availability is expected to change next year. Meat prices have increased dramatically this year and

there is plenty of anxiety among US retail and foodservice operators as to what kind of infl ationary envi-ronment they should expect in 2015. The main takeaway from the latest USDA report is that while beef sup-plies and availability will continue to decline in 2015, pork and chicken supplies will be higher, which could help bring prices lower from current

record levels. USDA made very modest ad-

justments to its beef production output for next year and at 24.396 billion pounds, production is now expected to be down 1% from 2014 levels. This forecasts likely may strike some analysts as a bit too op-timistic given reports of low heifer retention numbers in the July report

USDA Updates 2015 Meat Supply Outlook

the fi rst six months of this calendar year, Virginia farm exports to Rus-sia were valued at $79 million. Of that total, soybeans represent about $60 million, while pork is about $14 million. The restrictions exclude feed products, such as grains, be-cause Russia needs to feed its own livestock. While the ban includes processed poultry products, it does

not include live poultry or cattle, Haymore said.

In 2012, Virginia officials an-nounced a trade deal to export Holstein bulls to Russia, though the exact number of bulls to be exported was kept secret. Russia wanted to buy U.S.-bred bulls in order to improve the genetics of its herds.

and steady declines in the calf crop during the past few years. Cow slaughter this year has been down sharply, which has contributed to the lower beef supplies but it is unlikely that we will see a fl ood of cull cows come to market next year given the size of the beef cow herd in the US. In our view, there is a good chance that the beef pro-duction forecasts will be revised lower as we go forward. USDA also shows beef imports rising another 0.6% next year after jumping some 334 million pounds (+15%) this year. The increase in imports this year was due to record grinding beef prices in the US but also high slaughter numbers in Australia. Australia numbers will decline as current slaughter pace is unsustain-able and with few other sources of imported beef, we could see beef imports be lower next year.

Pork production for 2015 is cur-

rently pegged at 23.293 billion pounds, up about 2.2% from the 2014 estimate but only slightly higher than the production levels we saw in 2013. Traders of lean hog futures appear to be even more bearish in their assessment of lean hog supplies for next year, with futures prices for next year down in double digits from the levels we saw this year. Somehow, it seems that market thinks all the supply shortages we experienced this year are over and so are the risk premiums built onto those future contracts. The main risk to the USDA supply forecast is that we see a return of PEDv this fall and winter, not to the same extent as this past year but signifi cant enough to limit growth. Pork exports next year are projected to be 5.145 billion pounds, revised higher from the July forecast and up 1.6% than this year. Demand for US pork continues to grow, however, and we think the current forecast remains conservative.


Feedstuffs

In the most comprehensive study ever rendered about the Re-turn on Investment (ROI) of beef checkoff assessments, Dr. Harry Kaiser of Cornell University con-cludes that each dollar invested in the Beef Checkoff Program between 2006 and 2013 returned about $11.20 to the beef indus-try. “The news for beef checkoff investors couldn’t be better,” said Kaiser, the Gellert Family professor of applied economics and management at Cornell and director of the Cornell Commod-ity Promotion Research Program, who is sharing study results this week at the 2014 Cattle Indus-try Summer Conference. “It is clear to me that activities funded through the Beef Board budget have a substantial impact on beef demand in the U.S. and in foreign markets. The return on producers’ and importers investments into this program is vastly greater than the cost of the program.”

Commissioned through the checkoff’s Joint Evaluation Com-mittee, this new ROI study could be a useful tool for producers who make decisions about how to invest checkoff dollars.

“This really tells us that we’re on the right track with how we plan our checkoff programs,” said cattleman Ted Greidanus of California, who chairs the check-off’s Evaluation Committee. “We are accountable to beef producers and importers who fund the work we do with checkoff dollars, so we wanted to know how much differ-ence we were really making in the marketplace, good or bad -- and I must say that I am quite pleased at how good the news really is.”

Some additional key fi ndings in Kaiser’s benefi ts-cost analysis include:

•Had there not been any CBB-funded marketing between 2006 and 2013, total domestic beef demand would have totaled 15.7 billion pounds – or 11.3 percent

less than it was with the checkoff programs in place. Holding the effects of all other demand drivers constant, the activities funded by the CBB resulted in an increase in beef demand of 2.1 billion pounds per year.

•Had the national Beef Checkoff Program not invested in foreign-market development between 2006 and 2013, foreign demand for U.S. beef would have been 6.4 percent lower.

•The statistical results indicate that all eight CBB demand-en-hancing activities -- generic beef advertising; channels marketing; industry information; new-prod-uct development; public relations; nutrition research; beef-safety re-search and product-enhancement research -- have a positive and statistically signifi cant impact on increasing per capita beef demand.

•At the bottom line, the in-crease in beef demand due to CBB-funded marketing efforts resulted in higher prices for beef producers and importers, which means higher net revenue than they would have experienced without those checkoff programs.

Given the tremendous bud-get challenges of the checkoff in recent years, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board commissioned the all-encompassing study to provide a more thorough evaluation pos-sible of checkoff activities than it traditionally has. As a result, this new study presents a more complete and accurate picture of checkoff returns and provides

ROI Study Shows $11.20 Return On Checkoff

REASOR SIMMENTALS

[email protected]

SMITH REASOR,AUCTIONEER

a new benchmark. “Let me cau-tion against trying to compare the results of this study with the 2009 study, which reported a return of $5.55 on each checkoff dollar,” Dr. Kaiser said. “This time around, the Beef Board asked for a more com-prehensive study than ever before, so I evaluated all commercial beef disappearance, including retail, foodservice, and international data over eight years, whereas the 2009 study looked solely at domestic retail data for a fi ve-year period.

“Furthermore,” Dr. Kaiser con-tinued, “my study analyzed indi-vidual categories of nine marketing categories separately, and then brought the categories together to identify an overall beef checkoff return on investment. In 2009, the Beef Board commissioned a study analyzing only the checkoff as a whole.” Greidanus said he is quite confi dent in the study results. “As chairman of the Evaluation Com-mittee, I know that Dr. Kaiser’s re-search methods are well-respected, so we are very confi dent about the analysis and very pleased with the results,” Greidanus said. “And this tells us that the benefi ts of all CBB programs are 11.2 times more valu-able than their costs… As a cattle-man who pays into the program, it’s invigorating to know that my investment is making a difference.”

Kaiser, who has performed similar analyses for other checkoff programs, said the results should be encouraging to the country’s beef producers and importers. “If I was investing my hard-earned dollars into the checkoff, as beef

producers and importers are, I would be proud to do so, based on the fi ndings of this study,” Kaiser

said. “Most of us probably wish we could get that kind of return on all of our expenditures!”

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Robert Giblin

Opportunities, challenges and visibility for how agriculture will meet future needs for food, fi ber and energy are greater than ever, yet public funding for ag research may not be keeping up. The abun-dance, effi ciencies of production, safety and quality of food in the U.S. are direct results of agricul-tural research conducted during the last 150 years. The Morrill Act of 1862 established land-grant universities to educate citizens about agriculture, home econom-ics and other professions. In 1887, the Hatch Act established funding to support land-grant universities and promote the advancement of U.S. agriculture. In 1914, the Smith-Lever Act created Coopera-tive Extension.

Private industry, and other aca-demic institutions and federal agencies, land-grant universities and Extension are all critical part-ners in ag research. Publicly funded ag research experienced sustained growth from the 1930s until 1980. In 1980 private invest-ment in ag research and develop-

Will Public Research Keep Up With Demands On Agriculture?ment surpassed public funding. Most private research funds are channeled to applied research or commercialization of product, with a strong emphasis on crop seeds and biotech, farm machinery, and animal breeding and genetics. Private research on crop protection and chemicals has declined and there is evidence that animal health research funding may be shrink-ing. Public research typically is focused on “basic” research or the fundamental sciences, as well as food safety, resource conservation, farming practices or other areas that either serve as the launching pads for applied research or ad-dress needs where there are no direct private incentives.

Agriculture Department re-search funding fl ows through a few key channels, including: the Agri-cultural Research Service, which conducts in-house or intramural research projects within USDA; the National Institute for Food and Ag-riculture, which funds extramural research at the state level through land-grant universities and the State Agricultural Experiment Stations; the Economic Research

Service; and the Forest Service. States partner with the federal government to fund research. Universities and veterinary col-leges also receive money from state legislatures, private contributors and other federal agencies.

However, public spending on agricultural research is stable to declining. From 2000 through 2015 (projected), USDA budget authority for ag research will have declined 4.6 percent, with ARS losing nearly 28 percent, in 1914 constant dollars. Though actual research dollars increased, USDA research budget authority has been declining from its high in 2003, and fell nearly 16 percent from 1976 to 2015 (projected levels) in 1914 constant dollars.

Norman Borlaug often is cred-ited with being the father of the first Green Revolution, which increased agricultural production worldwide from the 1940s to late 1960s, through research, develop-ment and technology. Before his death at 95 years of age, in 2009, Norman Borlaug called for a sec-ond Green Revolution. Citing the need to produce as much food in

the next 50 years as we produced in the last 10,000 years, Borlaug said the Green Revolution hasn’t been won and the successes of the fi rst revolution may have led to a false sense of security about our ability to bring worldwide food security. During the fi rst Green Revolution, the United States was a primary benefi ciary and emerged as a global agricultural leader, with U.S. consumers benefi tting. From 1948-2012, U.S. household disposable income spent on food declined from nearly 25 percent to 10 percent. Those in other nations typically spend much more.

The need to increase funding for agricultural research is gaining recognition. For example, a Presi-dent’s Council of Advisors on Sci-ence and Technology report issued in December 2012 identifi ed seven key areas driving research needs: managing new pests, pathogens and invasive plants; increasing the effi ciency of water use; reduc-ing the environmental footprint of agriculture; growing food in a changing climate; managing the production of bioenergy; produc-ing safe and nutritious food; and

assisting with global food security and maintaining abundant yields. Numerous organizations are call-ing for increased research spend-ing in anticipation of meeting the food needs for an additional 2 to 3 billion people–9.1 billion by 2050. Of that, about 7.5 billion–our current world’s population–will live in urban areas. The number of farmers and land available for farming will decline, while pressure to minimize the environ-mental footprint of agriculture and meet increasing social pressures will increase.

With per-capita income in-creases and a growing middle class worldwide that has an increased appetite for proteins and higher-quality food, the amount of food available to meet future needs must be two to three times what it is now. While the needs and demands placed on agriculture are greater than ever, meeting all of those needs will require both new approaches and signifi cant invest-ments in agricultural research.

Robert Giblin consults, writes and speaks about agriculture and food industry issues and tr ends.


Gary Johnson

Daniel Adams was good. In fact he was very good. He started out feeding cattle and raising crops. Over time, his operation had grown and changed. He now had almost 2,000 acres. Dan had four hog buildings where he fi nished his own pigs and also had a 200-head cow/calf operation. Dan, or “Lucky” as he was called by his neighbors, had three sons. The old-est son followed in Dan’s footsteps and was part of the operation. He rented his own land but shared equipment with his dad. His second son also farmed but was independent from his father. His third son was never interested in the farming operation. He went to medical school and now was a family practice doctor in their area.

Dan was very focused in all that he did. His crops not only looked good, but so did his fence rows and waterways. The building sites he rented were always neatly mowed and cared for. Dan was also an ex-cellent marketer. He followed the news and was aware of the trends. When things were going up, Dan was selling. When things were going down, Dan was out of the market. Dan also seemed to know the best time to buy land. Dan’s oldest and youngest sons were both very successful. They seemed to be carbon copies of Dan. The second son was a different story.

He struggled to get things done on time. He was always back-wards in his marketing. After the market fell, he still had grain bins full of corn. His son seemed like a nice enough guy. Dan gave great thought to his second son. He de-cided he would help him out. Dan had always been reluctant to give too much advice, but now the time seemed right. He had put together a plan in his own mind. When he saw something wrong with what the second son was doing, he would simply tell him.

The fi rst opportunity to put his plan into action occurred the very next day. It was late in the spring and Dan had just fi nished plant-ing. He stopped at the second son’s house and told him he was late. He needed to pick up the pace and fi nish planting his beans. He left the farmstead feeling like he had done his son a great favor. A few days later, as he drove around inspecting his fi elds he saw that the second son had weeds com-ing up in the corn. So he drove to the second son’s house and told him he needed to get out there

and spray. Later that same day, he felt this would be a good time to be marketing corn. He stopped at the son’s house and told him he should be selling part of this corn for November delivery. And so it continued. Dan would see some-thing or know something and then he would stop at his son’s house and tell him what he needed to do.

For the first few months, the plan seemed to go very well. The second son seemed to appreciate Dan’s advice and counsel. As the summer and early fall passed by, Dan continued to find op-portunities to tell his son what to do. Sometimes he stopped and sometimes he called. In an effort to become more effi cient, he even started texting his son three or four times a week with helpful hints and sometimes outright commands. Strangely, the second son seemed less excited to have his father drive into the yard. By harvest, the son seemed reluctant to talk to Dan. Perhaps his son did not understand how Dan was try-ing to help him. He decided to pick up the pace of advice and counsel. He decided at least once a day he would stop at his son’s house and review with him areas in which he needed to improve. At this point, Dan’s son seemed almost belligerent and offended. Dan was confused. All he wanted to do was help his son. He reviewed his ad-vice in his mind. Was it not correct? The answer was yes.

Everything he told his son was true. If his son would simply fol-low his advice he would do better. He decided to continue his advice giving and perhaps add explana-tions pointing out the errors. By Christmas time, things had grown worse. Dan’s son wanted nothing to do with him. He seemed to be rude to his dad. Dan was discour-aged and had no idea why his son was so unhappy with him. While Dan was extremely capable, knowledgeable and a moneymak-er he did not understand how to deal with people. Giving advice, whether it be to family members or strangers, can be very tricky.

THERE IS a fi ne line between being perceived as helpful and being perceived as critical. People seldom respond positively to criti-cism. Dan’s blind spot was that he knew what he was saying was true and correct. And so it was. Dan’s advice was received as criticism by his son. In the beginning, the son was not threatened by what his father was doing. Over the weeks and months his son perceived

Parents Walk Fine Line Between Advice, Criticism

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his father thought he was a poor manager, unable to make correct decisions or perhaps lazy. The more the advice and perceived criticism came from Dan the more resistant his son became.

After several months of this treatment along with several sit-down meetings explaining the error of his ways, his son had had enough. We call this death by 1,000 cuts. Each additional piece of ad-vice is just another small wound. What might Dan have done differ-ently? He might have been better off to never begin the practice of giving advice and criticism. His son would have simply suffered the consequences and perhaps grown from the experience. Is there a way to give advice that is not offensive? Yes.

Throughout history, many fa-mous and smart men have had to learn this lesson the hard way. In his younger years, Abraham Lincoln was extremely critical. He wrote articles pointing out the

faults of others. One person was so offended that Lincoln found himself in a sword duel. It was only the efforts of their friends which stopped the duel. Benja-min Franklin suffered from the very same problem. Both of these great men eventually learned the lesson. Simply being smart and knowing what to do does not al-ways get the desired results. No one likes to be criticized and/or attacked. Making subtle sugges-

tions that are carefully crafted to each situation can help achieve the desired goal.

One of Dan’s neighbors tact-fully pointed out the problem with Dan’s advice-giving attitude. Dan then decided on a new course of action. He would no longer give recommendations to his son. As time went by, his son’s attitude toward him improved. Dan waited to be asked for his opinion before he volunteered it.

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Scott P. Greiner & Mark A. McCann

Extension Beef Specialists, Virginia Tech

September typically marks the beginning of the busiest calf-marketing time of the year. This year excitement is at an all-time high as a result of summer calf prices and the fall price forecast. Cow-calf producers are likely to enjoy substantial profi ts this fall, with the most important consid-eration being how to best utilize these returns from your cattle enterprise. First, make record of this moment for your personal time capsule. Secondly, assess your debt along with critical areas on the farm which require capital to improve. Fences, facilities and other equipment frequently make the list. As you weigh reinvest-ment options in your operation consider those which most impact your herd’s productivity. Correct-ing soil fertility and pH, weed control and overseeding legumes are all options which provide returns on your investment. Upgrading facilities provides opportunities for enhanced man-agement strategies which provide return on investment. Examples include appropriate facilities to wean, feed, and precondition calves post-weaning. Addition-ally, working facilities which accommodate an AI program can provide a signifi cant upgrade to

September Beef Herd Management Advisorherd genetics. These are rare times in the cattle business, be sure that you prepare yourself for whenever the leaner times return.

Spring Calving Herds(January-March)

General• Finalize plans for marketing

of calf crop. Coordinate and time weaning, vaccination program, and weaning-time management in concert with marketing plans. Calculate break-evens on various marketing options and consider risk management strategies.

• Schedule and conduct preg-nancy diagnosis with veterinarian 45-60 days following breeding season. Plan a marketing strategy for open cows.

• Plan for winter by evaluating feed and forage supplies and op-tions, including conducting for-age tests to determine nutritional content of hay on hand.Nutrition and Forages

• Body Condition Score cows at weaning and separate thin cows

• Use palatable feeds and high quality hay to background calves.

• Continue stockpiling• Continue to manage fi rst-calf

heifers separately; give them the best forage. Thin mature cows could be added to this group.

• Continue to feed high Se trace mineral salt. A forage analysis can reveal what other minerals should be supplemented.

• Continue to manage growth of warm season grass pastures by

rotational grazing. As warm sea-son pastures approach dormancy continue to use rotational grazing to manage residue.

• Store your high quality hay in the dry.

• Collect and submit forage samples for nutrient analysis..Herd Health

• In consultation with your veterinarian, fi nalize vaccination and preconditioning protocol for calf crop. Administer pre-weaning vaccinations.Reproduction

• Make plans to pregnancy check heifers as soon as possible after bull removal. This will al-low options in marketing open heifers.

• Remove bulls after 60 days for controlled calving season

• Schedule pregnancy check of cow herd with veterinarianGenetics

• Collect 205-day weights on calf crop at appropriate time (AHIR age range 120-280 days), along with cow weights, hip heights and body condition scores (cow mature size data taken within 45 days of calf weaning measure).

• Identify replacement heifers. Utilize available tools includ-ing genetics, dam performance, individual performance, and phenotype. Restrict replacement

heifer pool to those born in de-fi ned calving season.Fall Calving Herds (September-

November)General

• Secure necessary supplies for calving season (ob equipment, tube feeder, colostrum supple-ment, ear tags, animal health products, calving book, etc.)

• Move pregnant heifers and early calving cows to calving area about 2 weeks before due date

• Check cows frequently during calving season. Optimal interval is to check calving females is every 4 hours. Address calving problems early.

• Utilize calving area that is clean and well drained. Reduce exposure to scours by moving 2-3 day old pairs out of calving area to separate pasture (reduce com-mingling of newborn calves with older calves).

• Identify calves promptly at birth. Record birth weight, calving ease score, teat/udder score, and mothering ability of cow.

• Plan for winter by evaluating feed and forage supplies and op-tions, including conducting for-age tests to determine nutritional content of hay on hand.

Nutrition and Forages• Evaluate growth of yearling

heifers with goal of reaching 60-65% of mature weight by breed-ing. Depending on forage quality, supplementation maybe needed

to meet weight gain target.• Continue to feed high Se trace

mineral salt.• Reserve high quality hay

and pasture area for cows post-calving.

• Use grazing management to control the residue of warm season pastures as they approach dormancy. Use strip grazing as a tool to increase the effi ciency of utilization of cool season pastures by cows post-calving.

• Store your high quality hay in the dry.

• Collect and submit forage samples for nutrient analysis.

Herd Health• Ensure colostrum intake fi rst

few hours of life in newborn calves. Supplement if necessary. Newborn calves need 10% of body weight in colostrum fi rst 24 hours of life.

• Provide selenium and vita-min A & D injections to newborn calves

• Castrate commercial calves at birth

• Monitor calves closely for scours and pneumonia, have treat-ment supplies on hand.

Genetics• Collect yearling performance

data (weight, height, scrotal, ultra-sound) in seedstock herds.

• Evaluate bull battery and begin planning for the breeding season by evaluating herd goals and objectives.


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Editor’s Note: The Congressional letter referred to in this article below was signed on to by several Virginia Congressmen as well at the urging of Virginia Cattlemen’s Association. The Country Of Origin Labeling rule, in its current form, has and will prove to be detrimental to the Virginia feeder cattle business. The rule has no label for cattle born in the United States, fed in Canada and returned to the United States for harvest. We have enjoyed a profi table and growing relationship with Canadian feeders as they have purchased hundreds of trailer loads of our graded feeder cattle where they could profi t from our superior carcass genetics and sell these cattle for slaughter in the USA where they could be paid for yield and grade. Since the end of 2013, with the likely ruling that COOL is unfair for trade, these feeder have backed off signifi cantly from purchas-ing our feeder calves. Ultimately, COOL must be withdrawn by USDA to normalize this great partnership we have developed and avoid costly retaliatory tariffs on other goods by Canada and Mexico.

Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) and Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), ranking

member and chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit respec-tively, were joined recently by 110 members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Rep-resentative Ambassador Michael Froman regarding the impending compliance ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule. Should the WTO rule against the United States, the members of Congress are requesting the Secretary of Agriculture rescind the fi nal rule while Congress works to perma-nently resolve the issue.

“If the WTO fi nds the COOL rule to be non-compliant, the re-sulting consequences could have a detrimental impact on our econ-omy,” said Rep. Costa.“Congress must be prepared to act and fi nd a solution that maintains a healthy relationship with our trading part-ners and protects the American economy.”

The WTO is deciding on wheth-er the current COOL rule is, in fact, non-compliant with U.S. trade

Reps. Costa And Crawford Prepare For WTO Ruling On Cool Rule

2014 Junior Beef Leadership Academy visiting Capitol Front Row: (left to right) Helena St. Clair, Berryville; Caroline Maxey,

Chatham; Cassie Long, Phenix; Dottie Long, Phenix; Back Row: (left to right) Heath Sutphin, Dublin; Cody Boden, Clearbrook; Hunter Watkins,

Louisa; Matthew Trible, Blue Grass; Jake McCall, Greenville; Phillip Saunders, Piney River; and Jacob Pratt, Draper.

obligations involving its two larg-est trading partners, Canada and Mexico. In the initial complaint brought against the United States by Canada and Mexico, the WTO determined the previous COOL rule was not compliant with WTO obligations. The U.S. De-partment of Agriculture (USDA) then attempted to bring the rule into compliance in the fi nal rule May 24, 2013, but Canada and Mexico charged that this rule was more restrictive and would cause further harm to their industries.

“This letter represents broad concern from across the country about the harmful effects that retaliatory tariffs would have on our economy,” said Rep. Craw-ford. “I appreciate the leadership of my colleague, Representative Costa, in joining me on this letter that is signed by well over one hundred of our fellow members of the House, expressing concern about the outcome of the WTO ruling. Should the ruling come

back and fi nd we are not in com-pliance, I will work closely with Rep. Costa and others so that we

can ensure our country is not un-duly burdened by these increased tariffs on American exports.”


Emma Helm, VCE Intern, and Dr. Paige Pratt, Youth Livestock

Extension Specialist

The 2014 Virginia Youth Beef Leadership Academy was held August 5-7, 2014. Eleven youth ranging from rising high school

sophomores through recent high school graduates participated in the program that was designed to help participants develop industry knowledge, develop leadership skills, and learn to be better ad-vocates for the industry. The three day program consisted of industry tours, a trip to the nation’s capitol, and group presentations on current beef topics. Academy participants learned about running a successful beef operation, advocating for the industry, and were introduced to many segments of the industry. The program was sponsored for all participants by the Virginia Cattlemen’s Association, Southern States Cooperative, Farm Credit, First Bank and Trust, and Maple Springs Farm.

The first day of the academy began in Blacksburg, Virginia. Dr.

Mark Wahlberg, Associate Profes-sor Emeritus, and Jordan Wicks, VT Meat Lab Manager, gave the participants a tour of the Virginia Tech Meats Lab describing what occurred from the time animals entered the facility to the time meat was sold. In addition, they

discussed wholesale cuts of meat from a beef carcass, and broke those wholesale cuts into common retail cuts emphasizing newer cuts of meat that are now in de-mand. Students were introduced to careers in the meats industry, and learned about the precautions taken at every step to ensure a safe product for consumers. The second stop of the tour was Maple Springs Farm in Weyers Cave. Jeff Slaven took the group on a tour of the farm and discussed decisions that have allowed their operation to diver-sify and become more profi table. In addition, Luke Talley talked to the group about the operations at Maple Springs Farm as well as his own club-calf operation.

The second day of the academy started bright and early with a trip to Washington, D.C. The fi rst visit

Dr. Mark Wahlberg discusses meat fabrication with the 2014 Junior Beef Leadership Academy at the VT Meat Center

2014 Virginia Youth Beef Leadership Academy Provides Youth With Insight To Industry

Luke Talley tells the group about the cattle operation at Maple Springs Farm as well as his own commercial cow/calf

operation that he and his wife own and operate.

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was with Ms. Carrie Meadows, the Chief of Staff for U.S. Representa-tive Bob Goodlatte. She discussed what issues the congressman is dealing with on the agricultural side of things, and how they work with agricultural interests. After-wards, the participants went to the NCBA offi ce to meet with their staff. Mr. Colin Woodall, Mr. Kent Baucus and Ms. Kristina Butts met with the group over lunch to talk about their career paths, the legislative priorities of the NCBA, and how to be a more successful advocate for the beef industry. After the trip to Washington D.C., the group traveled to Aldie to visit Whitestone Farms. Mr. Mark Duf-fell, the general manager of the farm, talked to the group about how their operation and strate-gies they use to maintain their elite genetics. The last stop of the day was at Glenmary Farms, LLC, in Rapidan. Kim Nixon talked to the group about how they started their operation, and how they

have been successful through adapting to the market and diver-sifying their operation.

On the third and fi nal day of the academy, the group went to Harrisionburg. The fi rst stop was at Rockingham Livestock Sales to tour the sale barn and

2014 Junior Beef Leadership Academy visiting Maple Springs Farm Front Row: (left to right) Jacob Pratt, Draper; Caroline Maxey, Chatham; Helena St. Clair, Berryville; Dottie Long, Phenix; Cassie Long, Phenix; and Emma Helm, VCE Intern. Middle row: (left to right) Jason Carter, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association; Phillip Saunders, Piney River; Heath Sutphin, Dublin; Jake McCall, Greenville; Hunter Watkins, Louisa; Matthew Trible, Blue Grass; and Cody Boden, Clearbrook; Back Row: Jeff Slaven, Maple Springs Farm.

talk to the owner about sale barn operations. Mr. Steve Chambers gave the participants a tour, and talked to them about how their sales have changed over the years and how they ensure things are run safely and effi ciently. The next stop was at the Farm Credit offi ce for a discussion with loan offi cers about the credit needed to start an operation, and how a young person could get into the livestock business. The fi nal event was for the groups to give presentations. The groups were given an issue in the beef industry, and found a news article to refute. By fi nding facts to help rebut these articles, the participants gained knowledge that will aid them in advocating for the industry in the future.


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Allison Osborne

Randy and Billy Lawson located in Chilhowie, Virginia, grew up with a passion for farming and the desire to be successful. Born in 1977 and 1980, they have been right by each other’s side through it all. They helped their grandfather

farm while he taught them all about equipment and respect. Then as they became older they worked on their uncle’s operation as it grew from feeding cattle before school to working in the hay fi elds.

Both boys out of high school took jobs off the farm doing vari-

In The Spot LightBrothers Through Thick And Thin!

ous things from factory work to construction, then in 1999 they began to farm for themselves on the side with a small cow calf operation and raising tobacco. In 2003 they purchased their first farm. Starting from the ground up farming in very diffi cult in today’s times but they are determined to grow their operation and leave something for their children. Self-made men as others have called them.

In 2000 they started the now popular fencing business known as L&L Fencing to continue their pas-sion in agriculture. Their grand-father ’s work ethic has shone through in the hard work and many hours invested into doing a good job for their customers. Building agriculture fence and put-ting in water systems keep them very busy. L&L Fencing INC has been named Conservationist of the Year in Smyth and Tazewell Coun-ties in honor of the quality work they do. Most recently they were honored as recipients of the Smyth County Family Farm of the Year

Award from the Smyth County Chamber of Commerce.

The part time farmers have grown their herd to 300 momma cows and 550 stockers each year they now run over 2000 acres. Taking pride in improving the quality of the land, to be more benefi cial to their operation, they work long hours to make the most of it. Like many cattle producers

leasing land over a wide area, they are stretched out over Smyth, Wythe and Washington counties, they are determined to make it work.

Randy Lawson and Billy Law-son have stuck together through thick and thin while sharing a common work ethic and deter-mination to succeed ding things they care about.

Randy holding

daughter, Ryleigh,

and standing

next to his brother,

Billy Lawson.

Randy and Billy Lawson


HERE THEY COME! Beginning August 4th

10,000 Virginia Feedlot Ready Cattle 10,000 Virginia Feedlot Ready Cattle

Weaned, Vaccinated, Preconditioned Load Lots, One Owner Groups, Age &

Source Verified, and Grass Yearlings AvailableFor all sale dates visit:

BuyVirginiaCattle.com VDACS Livestock Marketing

540-480-1459 Virginia Cattlemen’s Association Vacattlemen.org 540-992-1009

ALLEN E. STRECKER, DVMMICHAEL L. HEPNER, DVMMELISSA J. FERRIS, DVMKATHRYN S. CASH, DVMNATHAN L. PUTMAN, DVM

David Cuddy

The last couple of years have been nothing short of amazing as cattle prices climbed steeply and rapidly. This could well end up being one of those “once-in-a-generation markets” that people will reminisce about years from now. The problem with a couple years of good times, especially when they’re as good as this year has been, is that it can sort of lull us into a fog, subconsciously causing us to let our guard down a little. We’ve not had to try very hard to make money lately. If we could gather up some cattle and keep them upright, we probably made a lot of money.

As we’ve progressed through August, though, prices for both fats and feeders have taken a sharp drop. There are still plenty of factors providing support for prices. Cattle numbers remain low and recovery of the beef herd will take time. The feed markets have provided room for feeders to remain profi table, even in the face of higher feeder prices. But there is a limit to how high things can go on the retail side, and as these factors converge and the markets fi nd the top, the potential for volatility be-

comes huge. Based on comments by leading industry analysts, it also appears that margins for stocker operators will begin to pull back to more “historical” levels, which to me, means there’s still opportunity to be profi table, we’re just going to have to be more careful in terms of the decisions we make, and or attitude toward risk.

A good risk management plan can help you make sure you stay profi table as the markets sort them-selves out. The term “risk manage-ment plan” is just a fancy term for making sure you don’t go broke. Simply put, the key objective is simple: “Take emotion out of the decision-making process”. Decisions driven more by emotion than facts are rarely good. Our goal should be to spend the time making decisions before we’re forced to, which will usually leads to greater success in the long run.

We need to make sure we can get a price for our cattle that cov-ers purchase and input costs, and leaves some money in the bank. The practice of risk management can help us do that. This is where many of us start to get a little glassy-eyed. The good news is, with a little work and some good advice, there are many alterna-

Managing Price Risk In A Volatile Market

continued on page 28

tives available for protecting your bottom line at sale time. If you’ve been hesitant to think about this stuff because it hurts your head and crosses your eyes, hopefully you’ll learn just enough in the fol-lowing lines to take the edge off and begin to dig into what could be a key factor in keeping your operation profi table over the next few months.

We’ll look at three basic strate-gies to help protect you from price risk: 1) Forward contracting; 2) LRP Insurance; and, 3) futures and options markets.

First, is probably the simplest way to know what you can ex-pect at sale time -- Referred to as forward contracting. This is an agreement between a buyer and a seller to purchase your cattle at a given time and for a set price. Important considerations for for-ward contracting are fairly straight forward:

• You need to have a level of knowledge and trust with the buyer, so that you can expect them to follow through on the agreement if markets move against their position.

• The contract should be in writ-ing. This protects both you and the buyer and defi nes the terms of the agreement so there’s no question later.

• You need to make sure you have some idea of what a fair price is. Relationships and reputation are key here, on both sides. If

there’s a down-side for the seller with this method, it’s that you can’t take advantage of the up-side if markets rise, so you need to honor your commitment, too.

Secondly, a federally subsi-dized insurance program, called Livestock Risk Protection, or LRP insurance, is a fairly simple way to put a fl oor price on your cattle. While not intended to lock in a big profi t, this is a good way, particularly for smaller producers, to protect against excessive losses. There are two big positives with this program. First of all, you don’t have to deal in a load-lot product, as you do with the third option we’ll discuss. As few as fi ve cattle can be insured, with an annual maximum of 2000 head. The pro-gram works similarly to a put op-tion, in that you determine a strike price or level of protection, based on the futures market at or near the time you expect to sell. A premium is calculated, based on the level of protection you choose. Generally, the closer to the actual futures price you get, the more expensive the insurance is. A portion of the premium is subsidized by the fed-eral government, reducing the cost to producers. This program allows a producer to place a fl oor price on their cattle, while maintaining the ability to take advantage of a rise in the markets prior to sale date. Additional information on LRP insurance can be found through: your local USDA offi ce – or usda. Continued on Page 28

gov; several insurance companies, including Farm Bureau; and your local Farm Credit offi ce. .

Finally, we’ll take a very brief look at the futures and options market. Time and complexity necessitates that this discussion remain extremely basic, but we’ll hopefully provide some food for thought. The two most basic tools useful to sellers are purchase of a put option or sale of a futures contract. A put option works similarly to the LRP insurance described above. The seller pays a premium based on a certain price level or strike price, which sets a fl oor price, by giving you the option to sell a futures contract, at your strike price, if the market falls below that price. The higher the strike price, relative to the fu-tures market, the more expensive the put will be. The goal here is not to make money, so much as to control loss in a major market decline. The futures contract, or hedge, involves selling of a contract at the futures price for the month cattle are expected to be marketed. If the market declines prior to sale, the contract will make up the dif-ference. When you enter into the futures market, you’re required to deposit a set amount of money into a margin account. To vastly over-simplify the concept, margin on a futures contract generally works as follows. When you sell a futures contract, you are taking a position expecting the market to go down, referred to as short-ing the market. If the value does


Valerie Vandyke

In the June/July issue of Vir-ginia Cattlemen’s, I wrote an article about Millennials. It’s possible that after reading how quickly a company must spark entertain-ment to grab Millennials’ attention, you may feel daunted by the task of having a meaningful impact sharing the story about beef. Well, this month I am here to qualm your fears.

Here are two of my favorite stories to share when someone tells me that Twitter for business is pointless. The fi rst occurred one morning when I woke up grumpy because my phone’s automatic nighttime ringtone silencer had failed, and I had been awoken by a friend’s call at 3am before an im-portant business meeting. Wanting my displeasure known, I posted on Twitter about it, but did not address my tweet at the company directly. Within an hour or two, the company responded to me saying, “I’m sorry the setting didn’t work & woke you. Can you tell us more so we can troubleshoot with you? –J.L.” We proceeded to fix the problem through 140-character messages back and forth. This is astounding not only because they saw I was speaking about them, but they responded so quickly! Imagine if I had called the 1-800 number? I may never have gotten a helpful response.

The second instance I realized Twitter matters for companies is while making a recommendation to a west-coast friend visiting DC. I tweeted, “Not sure if museums are too nerdy for you, but the Inter-national Spy Museum is actually pretty cool”. Again, I did not tag the company in my post. Within a day, they wrote to both of us pro-claiming, “Hey! We aren’t nerdy!

Hopefully you are beginning to see how useful it is for companies to have the capability to quickly create a personal connection with their current or potential cus-tomers. In the 20 seconds it took the Museum to type a quipping response, they created a sense of fun personality and lightheart-edness that instantly reaffi rmed my recommendation that they were worth a visit. Similarly, we within the beef community have the opportunity to display a sense of approachability and continue tearing down the walls of a Big Faceless Industry. We can share

Beef Buzz DigitalBeef Buzz DigitalProgrammingProgramming

September 2014September 2014

Why Tweeting Matters

BEEFY SWEET POTATO HASH

The perfect way to give leftover steak or roast new life, this hash is made with sweet potatoes and taco seasoning.

Total Recipe Time: 35 to 40 minutes

Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

1. 12 ounces cooked beef (such as steak, roast or pot roast), cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2-1/2 cups)

2. 1 large sweet potato, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3. 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4. 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix

5. 1/4 cup water

6. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

7. 2 tablespoons reduced-fat or regular dairy sour cream

8. 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

9. Chopped fresh cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BEEFY SWEET POTATO HASH

1. Combine sweet potatoes, onion and taco seasoning in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add water. Cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp-tender and water has almost evaporated, stirring once. Stir in oil; continue cooking, uncovered, 4 to 6 minutes or until potatoes are tender and begin to brown, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, combine sour cream and hot sauce in small bowl. Set aside.

3. Add beef to potato mixture. Continue to cook 5 minutes or until beef is heated through, stirring occasionally, adding 1 to 2 tablespoons water, if needed to avoid sticking.

4. Garnish with cilantro, as desired. Serve with sour cream mixture.

www.vabeef.org

Beef! It’s What’s For Dinner!®

A Monthly report on your Checkoff Dollars at work

from the Virginia Beef Industry Council

Virginia Beef CouncilP.O. Box 9, Daleville, VA 24083

540.992.1992

funny pictures of calves to display without words that we enjoy our work and care about their happi-ness, we can offer cooking tips to the friend complaining about an-other charred steak, etc. Our beef council is already making leaps and bounds in spreading news about beef online.

The reasons these posts worked so well is that they were in no way overly defensive, spouting facts about why the phone may have malfunctioned or listing reasons for why the museum was a fun place to visit. They simply disarmed with charm and showed you that the company

cares enough about their reputa-tion to place living, breathing hu-man beings behind their computer screens and otherwise faceless accounts. Sometimes that is all it takes for people to rethink a mis-conception, or to consider adding beef to their vegetable couscous on kale dinner tonight.

Keeping in line with our digitaltheme this month, I think it’s im-portant to take a deeper-dive intowhat our social media platformsprovide for producers investingin the Checkoff.

With a staff of less than 5 people,it is impossible for us to be presentat all meetings, events, and func-tions across the state to representpositive beef messages and repre-sent the 23,000 cattle operationsin Virginia. We are thankful forthe opportunity to reach as manyas we do, and to have the sup-port of many of you to representbeef in our absence. While theseon-site opportunities continue tobe the forefront of our focus andoutreach, we now have the op-portunity to expand our outreachthrough the digital stratosphere.

NCBA already manages beefdigital outreach through the “Beef.It’s What’s for Dinner” banner.The benefits of adding a statelevel is to further the social con-nection and personalize the mes-saging. For example, we havefound through our analysis thatpeople come to our page seek-ing production information andVirginia-specifi c facts. Knowingthis, we can now hook into state-specifi c events or trends, such asDC Restaurant Week, to inspirebeef purchases and be availableto answer customers’ questionsabout the dishes they try duringthis week-long promotion.

We’re also able to connect con-sumers with the producers theyare seeking to hear from. Werecently had a vegetarian postsome concerns about killing ani-mals for food. We were pleasantlysurprised to see a producer seizethis opportunity to commentabout why she chose to eat meatand raise animals for food. Thesesmaller interactions can buildonto our larger advertisementsand messages, and we hope thatVBIC’s social media platforms canhave the same effects as discussed.

VBIC Making Headway In

Social Media


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indeed go down, the value of your contract will increase relative to the market, and funds will be de-posited into your margin account according to the level of movement in the price of the contract you’ve sold. Conversely, if the price of the contract rises, you’ll be required to deposit money into the margin ac-count, as the value of your contract decreases, relative to the current price of that contract. This can seem quite complicated, but the simple rule to remember, is that when you sell a futures contract, you run the risk that if the market rises, you’ll have to send a check to your broker. The more the market rises, the more you’ll have to send. As long as you’ve got the cattle, and you sell them at the higher market, you won’t actually loose that money (you’ll make it back when you sell the cattle), but you still have to have access to it, and very quickly, if and when it’s needed. If liquidity is a problem for you to begin with, this could cause serious issues.

There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to a futures

MarketContinued from Page 26

contract vs. a put option. In a nut shell, though, futures contracts work best for sellers in a declining market. Put options are a great tool to protect down-side risk if prices are steady to rising, and a key advantage of options is that they do not expose you to margin calls unless you exercise the option and sell the contract.

The key to success in using futures and options is to fi nd a broker you can trust and who will help you develop a specifi c strat-egy for your operation. In addition to those described above, there are several other products or combina-tions of products that can work extremely well depending on the circumstances, but without the advice of a good broker, it could be dangerous for an inexperienced trader to rely on these products as an effective strategy. Another key person to have a discussion with is your lender. If you’ll need to use funds from a line of credit to meet margin calls, you’ll need to make sure your lender is on board before you commit yourself to funding the account. This discussion of futures and options assumes that you have cattle to offset any posi-tion you may take. When you enter the market without the cattle

to offset the position, you become a speculator, and this can be a very dangerous game. As a lender, I would never advise you to specu-late in the markets, particularly with borrowed funds.

Each of the tools discussed above, whether simple or com-plex has distinct advantages and disadvantages, and there’s no one-size-fi ts all tool. Any of these tools could work very well alone or in combination, depending on your operation and market con-ditions. I’ve hardly done justice to either LRP or the futures and options market, and I hope those of you who are well versed in the subjects will grant me pardon. My goal has not been to provide an in-depth education on these tools, but to plant a seed for thought and fodder for discussion.

The large amount of capital required now means that if we’re not prepared if the market moves against us, the losses we incur could be much more damaging than ever before. With the invest-ment of a little time and some good advice, though, there’s a lot you can do to protect your bottom line and your business. Those who are the most successful over the long run don’t allow themselves

to get caught up in the emotion of the markets or the size of the number in the calculator. Instead, they focus on making good deci-sions, before they are forced to, take emotions out of the equation. Managing risk will sometimes result in some money left on the table when the dust settles, and we have to accept that as the trade-off for the times that it keeps us in the black, rather than drowning in red ink. Our goals should center

on consistent profi tability, so that we’re in the game for the long run, rather than a fl ash in the pan.

Here’s to the best year in the cattle business most of us may ever see, and many more good years to come.

David Cuddy is a Commercial Agriculture Loan Officer with Farm Credit of the Virginias, based in the Abingdon Branch. He can be reached at (276) 628-5191 or [email protected].


VIRGINIA CHAROLAIS ASSOCIATION

Charolais bulls

for the most

discriminating buyer

124 Kindig Road

Waynesboro, VA 22980

Walt Winkler

(540) 943-6144

CrossMountain Cattle Co.

Robert Farmer8030 Greenwich Rd.Catlett, VA 201195

540-270-3886Gerry Scott 540-379-1975

Cell 540-968-1987Fax 540-962-7508

BreedingPolled-Registered

Performance CharolaisWilliam and Agnes Anderson

P.O. Box 304Altavista, VA 24517

(434) 369-5366“Keeping the commercial producers in mind”

River Croft Charolais CREWS FARMS

Registered Charolais

784 Payneton RdChatham, VA

Billy Crews, Barry CrewsBilly C. Crews, Brent Crews

(434) 656-2361(434) 656-3771

2013-2014VCA Offi cers

Bill Thompson – President1295 Park AvenueClifton Forge, VA 24422540-968-1987

Kaitlin Smith – Vice President454 Old Farm RoadLexington, VA 24450540-463-6778

Deidre Harmon – Secretary1445 Pipers Gap RoadGalax, VA 24333276-233-8852

Walt Winkler – Treasurer124 Kindig RoadWaynesboro, VA 22980540-943-6144

Rob Farmer – Past President8030 Greenwich RoadCatlett, VA 20119540-270-3886

Chad Joines –Southwest DirectorJunior AdvisorVirginia TechDept of Animal & PoultryScienceBlacksburg, VA 24061540-557-7263

We would like to invite anyone interested in becoming a member of our association to call one of the offi cers listed above.

The consignment form for our Fall Sale has been send out. The purebred Charolais you consign should be of a quality to promote your herd and the Charolais breed as well. Our members, past consigners and new Charolais breeders are invited to enter cattle in the sale. With our new association rules, a consigner can consign one breeding age bull per each female lot. All breeding age bulls must pass a complete fertility exam. Our sales manager for this sale is Robert Morton of Bob Morton Marketing. If you would like to consign Charolais cattle to our sale and did not receive a consignment form, please contact one of the persons below at once: Mr. Morton at [email protected] or phone 931-842-1234. You may also contact Bill Thompson at [email protected] or 540-968-1987.

All members of the Virginia Charolais Association are entitled to join all the sales we sponsor.

Our next sale

14th Fall Herd

Improvement Sale

at Virginia Tech

Nov. 8, 2014

1:00 PM

Data from the Spring 2012 Across-Breed EPD Genetic Trends presented at the Beef Improvement Federation documents Charolais and

Charolais-infl uenced genetics lead all major breeds compared for both weaning and yearling weights. In fact, Charolais cattle were proven to

excel at adding more pounds at weaning and yearling.

Every beef producer knows profi tability starts with more pounds.

More pounds. More profi ts. Simple math. Increased Red Meat Yield

Optimum Growth Moderate StatureHybrid Vigor Consistent Breed Identity

Reproductive Effi ciency Docility

AMERICAN-INTERNATIONAL CHAROLAIS ASSOCIATION11700 NW Plaza Circle Kansas City, Missouri 64153

816.464.5977 Fax: 816.464.5759

www.charolaisusa.com© American-International Charolais Association 2014

D o W h a t W o r k s

more pounds at weaning!

more pounds at yearling!


Name ___________________________________________

Farm/Business Name ________________________________

Address __________________________________________

Town/City __________________________ State ________________________________

County: ____________________________ Zip Code: ____________________________

Phone: _______________________ Email: _____________________________________

_____ General Membership: $50.00 (Includes subscription to The Virginia Cattlemen newspaper)

______ Allied Industry Member: $300.00 (Local Cattlemen groups and breed associations with budget <$10,000)

______ Allied Industry Member: $600 (Local Cattlemen groups and breed associations with budget >$10,000)

______ Associate Member: $300 (Livestock Markets, Agribusinesses, Lenders with budget <$1 Million)

____ Associate Member: $600 (Livestock Markets, Agribusinesses, Lenders with budget >$1 Million)

____ Associate Member: $1000 (Livestock Markets, Agribusinesses, Lenders with budget >$10 Million)

_____Please renew my membership (Current members only)

-

Working for Virginia’s Cattle Industry Marketing Virginia feeder cattle through special graded sales, tel-o-auctions, andspecial board load salesSupporting Virginia’s cattle industry through representation at regional andnational industry eventsProviding educational opportunities to Virginia’s cattle producers on a local andstate-wide levelRepresenting the cattle industry in regulatory and policy issuesWorking with industry groups, media and government to insure Virginia’sCattlemen have a voice

Membership benefits include a one year subscription to The Virginia Cattleman newspaper—providing valuable and timely information to VCA members!!

For more information call our office at (540) 992-1009 or visit http://vacattlemen.org/membership_join.php

Jayson Lusk, Oklahoma State University

The documentary fi lm “Cow-spiracy,” released this week in select cities, builds on the grow-ing cultural notion that the single greatest environmental threat to the planet is the hamburger you had for lunch the other day. As director Kip Andersen recently told the Source magazine: “A lot of us are waking up and realizing we can choose to either support all life on this planet or kill all life on this planet, simply by virtue of what we eat day in and day out. One way to eat takes life, while another spares as many lives (plant, animal and otherwise) as possible.”

James McWilliams, vegan au-thor of the 2013 book “The Politics of the Pasture,” argues that mod-ern agricultural, and the cattle industry in particular, are part of a global food-supply system so damaging that the only moral solution is to give up eating meat entirely.

Each to his own, you might say. But these ideas are work-ing their way into government policy proposals. For example, Angela Tagtow, a self-described “environmental nutritionist” formerly with the Minnesota In-stitute for Sustainable Agriculture, was recently tapped to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s effort to revise federal dietary guidelines. This is a sign that the new recommendations are likely to go beyond nutritional science to incorporate environmental considerations. Many observers believe that meat will be specifi -cally targeted for scrutiny.

Environmental nutritionists argue that the social and envi-ronmental costs of meat produc-tion—obesity, chronic disease, the production of green-house gases such as methane, etc.—are not refl ected in prices at the grocery store or restaurant. “The big-ticket externalities are carbon generation and obesity,” New York Times columnist Mark Bittman recently wrote. He argues that beef prices don’t reflect these externalities and that “industrial food has ma-nipulated cheap prices for excess profi t at excess cost to everyone.”

That the price of meat is too low might come as news to food consumers who, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, paid 14% higher prices for ground beef this June than they did in June 2013 and 29% more than two years ago. Recent droughts and high corn prices—due in part to Washington’s sup-port for ethanol—are largely to

blame. It is unclear how high prices must rise to overcome the view that meat is “too cheap.” Some industry critics have even called for new “meat taxes” to discourage consumption.

Those who promote sustainable agriculture often push for more “natural” production systems, such as grass fed, local, or organic beef. But these result in lower pro-ductivity, greater water and land use, and higher carbon footprints. More broadly, the argument that modern agriculture is a leading cause of global warming is tenu-ous at best.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that U.S. agricul-ture, including livestock produc-tion, accounts for only about 8% of total greenhouse-gas emissions in the country. Livestock in the U.S. have lower greenhouse-gas footprints than in other parts of the world. This is partly because

American producers generally use higher-quality feeds, higher-yielding breeds, and more produc-tivity-enhancing technologies such as probiotics, vaccines and growth hormones. Future improvements in feed and animal genetics could further reduce animal-agricul-ture’s impact. As economists have shown, one should not underes-timate the ability of innovation, markets, the courts and private negotiation to resolve the adverse effects of externalities. Moreover, the concept of externalities when applied to food is nebulous. At a recent Institute of Medicine meeting I attended, a room full of Ph.D.s struggled to understand exactly what to measure.

We would never trust a group of experts to set the price of beef, milk or automobiles. We rely on a decentralized marketplace to aggregate disparate information

Cheeseburgers Won’t Melt The Polar Ice Caps


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Information or Brochures:Peter Hostetler • 1-540-810-4605

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POTTS CREEK FARM

JASPER & ALICEPERSINGER, JR.

2917 POTTS CREEK ROADCOVINGTON, VA 24426

[email protected]

HARRY & BARBARA KNABE

2074 Gravel Hill Rd.DILLWYN, VA 23936

(434) 983-31102.2 MI. EAST ofU.S. 15 on 617

FAUQUIER FARM

6470 BEVERLYS MILL ROADBROAD RUN, VA 20137

HOME 540-347-4343OFFICE 540-347-7188NORTHERN VA areaCATTLE FOR [email protected]

CEDAR PLAINS FARM

R.E. BALTIMORE, OWNER, MANAGER, FIELD HAND

150 Cartersville Ext.Cartersville, VA 23027

(H) 804-375-3071(O) 804-399-7409

“All Cattle Made In America”

BAY BROOK FARM

RODNEY & BARBARA PHILLIPS4277 FACTORY MILL ROAD

DABNEYS, VA 23102804-556-3810

[email protected]“Hereford Bulls for sale

at all times.”

KNOLL CREST FARMJAMES, PAUL, JIM, BRIAN BENNETT

17659 RED HOUSE RD.RED HOUSE, VA 23963434-376-3567 OFFICE

434-376-7008 FAXJAMES BENNETT - 434-376-7299

PAUL BENNETT 434-376-5675JIM BENNETT 434-376-5760

BRIAN BENNETT 434-376-5309

DEER TRACK FARM3320 Deer Track Rd.,

Spotsylvania, VA 22551BOB SCHAFFER

540-582-9234 (FARM)[email protected]

HICKORY SPRINGS FARM

JOHN BRASUKRT. 2 BOX 211-A

FAIRMONT, W.VA. 26554304-363-5918

[email protected]

NORVUE FARM

JACK SHEEHAN4442 Factory Mill Rd.Dabneys, VA 23102

Telephone: 804-556-4947email: [email protected]

FROGTOWN ACRES

JERRY & REBECCA FUNKHOUSER417 Frogtown LaneEdinburg, VA 22824Home: 540-984-8833

Jerry Cell: 540-333-1019Rebecca Cell: 540-333-1019

email: [email protected]

MEADOW RIDGE FARMS, INC.

DOUG & MELISSA HARRISON2184 Hillyard Drive

Broadway, VA 22815540-896-5004

[email protected]

DUNROVIN

DON & SHEILA RICHARDSON3473 DUNROVIN FARM

CROZET, VA 22932434-823-4438

e-mail: [email protected], DARK RED, HEAVY MILKING COWS

DR WORLD CLASSDR MR. CONSERVATIVE

DIAMOND “W” FARM

Ken & Doris Worley25052 Rich Valley Rd.Abingdon, VA 24210

276-944-3458cell: 276-356-3458

[email protected]

WILLINGHAM FARM

Daron CulbertsonP.O. Box 91

Remington, VA 22734540-270-2185

[email protected]

“In memory of Alton Willingham”

ROLLING HILLS FARM

420 NORTH HAYFIELD RD.WINCHESTER, VA 22603

Sid & Dorothy RogersHOME - 540-888-3134CELL - 540-539-3352

[email protected]

MAPLEWOOD FARM

JOHN AND KAREN FLEISHMANDANIEL AND ELIZABETH5442 Daniel Cupp Road

Dayton, VA 22821John - 540-421-9511

Daniel - [email protected]

MOUNTAIN LION MEADOW

TODD, LYDIA, LAYLA AND LILLY SCOTT1191 Spring Mill Road

Concord, VA 24538434-665-1224434-993-2502

OAK CREEK FARM

BILLY AND JACKIE KOONTZ25840 Independence Road

Unionville, VA 22567540-854-6567

[email protected]

ROCK MILLS HEREFORDS

PAUL AND KIM NOVAK240 THUNDER VALLEY LANE

Castleton, VA 22716540-937-5553

[email protected]

HEREFORD HILLS FARM ROY AND KIM DEAN 9311 BRADY LANE

Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802 (540) 432-9805

[email protected]

COTTAGE HILL FARMMIKE TAYLOR

20 Cottage Hill RoadPetersburg, WV [email protected]

304-257-1557 (home)304-668-0580 (cell)

PIONEER FARMSCHARLES, MEREDITH AND

OLIVIA WILLIAMS485 Hereford Crossing

Fairfi eld, VA [email protected]

540-460-8803

“Virginia Finest” Performance Tested Bulls for sale.


Miller Farm LLCFirst Annual Bull Sale

12:00pm November 15, 2014At the farm.

Zoetis Educational Presentation on the value of DNA testing at 10:30 a.m. Followed by lunch.

Selling 30 Angus Bulls sired by Ingenuity, 9Q13, Revenue, 9M25, Fusion, Sunrise, Prophet, Consensus, Confidence.

Also selling 15 commercial bred Angus Heifers.Guest consignors include:

Arehart Angus (Carey 540-290-2240) and Gustin Land & Cattle (Jerry 804-693-7761)

Sale Manager Tom Templeton (540-421-8341)

Auctioneer Tom Weaver (540-435-0020)

“Where Value-Added Genetics Create Prime Profits.”A sale catalog will be mailed prior to the sale. Please plan to attend.

Craig Miller: 540-820-9818 or [email protected]

5510 Rawley Pike, Harrisonburg, Virginia

The table of adjustment factors to be used to estimate across-breed expected progeny differ-ences (AB-EPDs) for eighteen breeds was released at the Beef Improvement Federation Annual Meeting in Lincoln, NE on June 20 (see Table 1). Across-breed adjustment factors have been calculated for growth traits and maternal milk since 1993. Ad-justment factors for carcass traits have been calculated since 2009; to be included, breeds must have carcass data in the U.S. Meat Ani-mal Research Center (USMARC) database and report their carcass EPDs on an actual carcass basis using an age-adjusted endpoint. Bulls of different breeds can be compared on the same EPD scale by adding the appropriate adjustment factor to the EPDs produced in the most recent genetic evaluations for each of the eighteen breeds. The AB-EPDs are most useful to com-mercial producers purchasing bulls of more than one breed to use in cross-breeding programs. For example, in terminal cross-breeding systems, AB-EPDs can be used to identify bulls in dif-ferent breeds with high growth potential or favorable carcass characteristics.

As an example, suppose a Gel-bvieh bull has a weaning weight EPD of + 68.0 lb and a Hereford bull has a weaning weight EPD of + 46.0 lb. The across-breed adjustment factors for weaning weight (see Table 1) are -19.4 lb for Gelbvieh and -4.2 lb for Hereford. The AB-EPD is 68.0 lb – 19.4 lb = 48.6 lb for the Gelbvieh bull and 46.0 - 4.2 = 41.8 lb for the Hereford bull. The expected

weaning weight difference when both are mated to cows of an-other breed (e.g., Angus) would be 48.6 lb – 41.8 lb = 6.8 lb.

Most breed associations pub-lish EPDs at least on an annual basis. These EPDs predict dif-ferences expected in perfor-mance of future progeny of two or more bulls within the same breed for traits including birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, and maternal milking ability (as reflected in progeny weaning weights). Normally, the EPDs of bulls from different breeds cannot be compared because most breed as-sociations compute their EPDs in separate analyses and each breed has a different base point. The across-breed adjustment factors allow producers to compare the EPDs for animals from different breeds for these traits; these fac-tors reflect both the current breed difference (for animals born in 2012) and differences in the breed base point. They should only be used with EPDs current as of June 2014 because of potential changes in EPD calculations from year-to-year.

It is important to note that the table factors (Table 1) do not represent a direct compari-son among the different breeds because of base differences be-tween the breeds. They should only be used to compare the EPDs (AB-EPDs) of animals in different breeds.

The adjustment factors in Table 1 were updated using EPDs from the most recent national cattle evaluations conducted by each of the eighteen breed associa-tions (current as of March 2014).

The breed differences used to calculate the factors are based on comparisons of progeny of sires from each of these breeds in the Germplasm Evaluation Program at USMARC in Clay Center, Nebraska. These analy-ses were conducted by USMARC geneticists Larry Kuehn (email: [email protected]; ph: 402-762-4352) and Mark Thall-man (email: [email protected]; ph: 402-762-4261).

aMarbling score units: 4.00 = Sl00; 5.00 = Sm00

2014 Across-Breed EPD Table TABLE 1: ADJUSTMENT FACTORS TO ADD TO EPDs OF EIGHTEEN

DIFFERENT BREEDS TO ESTIMATE ACROSS BREED EPDs

Breed

Birth

Wt.Weaning

Wt.Yearling

Wt.Maternal

MilkMarbling Scorea

Ribeye Area

Fat Thickness

Angus 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.000Hereford 2.7 -4.2 -23.6 -17.7 -0.31 -0.08 -0.051Red Angus 4.1 -22.1 -29.9 1.5 -0.34 -0.02 -0.027Shorthorn 6.2 9.9 27.8 21.7 -0.19 0.23 -0.135South Devon 3.3 -5.2 -24.4 1.3 -0.11 0.23 -0.135Beefmaster 6.4 37.2 33.3 6.4

Brahman 11.0 44.8 10.1 23.9 -0.85 -0.08 -0.150Brangus 4.4 15.4 5.2 2.1Santa Gertrudis 7.0 40.6 43.5 13.0 -0.67 -0.09 -0.103Braunvieh 2.3 -23.4 -47.7 1.9Charolais 8.8 37.9 40.9 6.7 -0.43 1.04 -0.213Chiangus 2.2 -19.5 -45.6 1.0 -0.43 0.46 -0.145Gelbvieh 3.4 -19.4 -24.9 3.2 -0.35 0.67 -0.131Limousin 3.8 -0.8 -38.7 -7.0 -0.71 1.08Maine-Anjou 4.9 -19.0 -41.5 -7.1 -0.72 0.93 -0.224Salers 2.2 -5.1 -24.6 3.6 -0.10 0.82 -0.206Simmental 3.4 -6.4 -13.6 0.5 -0.41 0.46 -0.149

QUALITY GELBVIEH,

BALANCER AND ANGUS CATTLE

WL H

Little Windy HillFarms

Doug & Sue Hughes

F

6916 Peppers Ferry RoadMax Meadows, Va 24360

H [email protected] 276-620-4271


“Our cows work for us; so our bulls will work for you!”

McDonald Farms2070 Walnut Springs Road

Blacksburg, VA 24060540-552-2520 * 540-552-2947

www.mcdonaldfarms.comBLACK POLLED SIMMENTAL and ANGUS CATTLE

Private Treaty Sales ofbulls, heifers, cows & embryos

TRIO FARMS, INC.3070 US HWY BSN 340

Luray, VA 22835Jerry Burner (540) 743-3446

SUPPLYING QUALITY CATTLE SINCE 1971

YEAR

ROUNDYEARROUND

www.triofarmsinc.com

McIntireCattle Company

Andy McIntire(540) 955-0066

P.O. Box 103Berryville, VA 22611

Main Anjou • Show Calves • Breeding CattleTop Sires Distributor • Renaissance Livestock Minerals

GLENOWEN FARM - ROUND HILL, VA“Registered Angus for over 50 years”

20 - 2006 fall bulls15 - 2006 fall heifers

For information contact:Owen Thomas III, 242 Chestnut Ridge Road

Staunton, VA 24401 (540) 337-1847 after 6:00 p.m.

FOR SALE25 - 2007 fall bulls10 - 2007 fall heifers

glenowenfarm.com

Blue Ridge HerefordsIncrease your cow herd’s fuel mileageUSDA Line1 Bulls for Black Cow Herds

Complete performance and carcass dataR. J. Lester, Axton, VA

434-334-1376 - day • 276-650-8445 - night

Blue Ridge HerefordsIncrease your cow herd’s fuel mileageUSDA Line1 Bulls for Black Cow Herds

Complete performance and carcass dataR. J. Lester, Axton, VA

434-334-1376 - day • 276-650-8445 - night

FREE BULLS FOR SALEPositive contributions toward temperament, fertility and

cowherd retention makes for a strong case to utilizeHeterosis in the many Black cowherds of Virginia.Polled Hereford Bulls with complete performance

and carcass data for sale. Call for current date and video.

R J LESTER • BLUE RIDGE HEREFORDS • AXTON, VIRGINIA434-334-1376

BBB BBB BBB

Chestnut Ridge Farm222 acres Augusta Co. 9 tax parcels,

Barns, Silo and 1780 Log and Frame HouseOwner, Agent

Owen Thomas III, Chestnut Ridge Road, Staunton, VA 24401(540) 337-1847 or (540) 480-4817 (cell)

FOR SALE Double J Farm LLCRegistered Polled Herefords

Located in Traphill, N.C.“Quality Cattle for Quality People”

Headquarters134 Thorncliff DriveFayetteville, NC 28303

John Wheeler910/489-0024

[email protected]

Bulls and Females Available540-552-2520 • 540-230-6225

DEVON BULLS FOR SALE

EXCEPTIONAL BULLS FOR SALEAVAILABLE NOW:

Exceptional SimAngus and Simmental Bullsand Fancy Genetic Packages

3691 S. Middle Rd., Quicksburg, VA 22847 • (540) 335-1885 • [email protected]

Home of “the keepin’ kind”

Your Ad Here For $30

Call Jacquelynn

at 540-992-1009

for more information.

unknown to any single person or expert committee. And yet there is a belief among some that public-health experts can accurately divine a single true and just cost for a hamburger that will help prevent the melting of the polar ice caps and save millions of lives and billions of dollars in health-care costs.

Never mind that the nutritional composition of beef provides much-needed protein, vitamins and iron. Studies have shown that higher beef prices lead to iron defi ciency and more cases of anemia. It is hard to project the unintended consequences of policy-induced reductions in meat consumption, but they are likely to include reduced incomes for family farmers and rural com-munities and cast uncertainty over the use of millions of acres of grassland that currently support cattle producers.

Let us also not gloss over what is beef’s most obvious benefit: Livestock take inedible grasses and untasty grains and convert them into a protein-packed food most humans love to eat. We may be able to reduce our impact on the environment by eating less meat, but we can also do the same by using science to make livestock more productive and environmentally friendly.

CheesburgersContinued from Page 30

most strongly felt by the poor. Is that an ethical action that Orego-nians want to take?

We have choice in the market now in the form of widely avail-able organic food, which must be grown without GMO varieties. Voluntary GMO-free labeling is increasing daily, as well. The marketplace is offering a choice for those who are wary. It does not seem that a government program is needed for those with concerns over GMOs. I fully support efforts to educate Oregonians about their food and its safety and health and have been active doing that in teaching and outreach for many years. However, this punitive labeling measure would further confuse, reduce choice and add to food costs. It will mislead rather than enlighten.

Steve Strauss is a distinguished professor at Oregon State University, former director of the OSU program on outreach in biotechnology and a member of the governor’s task force on GMO crops.

GMOContinued from Page 15


Grade and Yield Your Fed Cattle HERE.

Double J Livestock LLCWEEKLY BUYING STATION

4176 Silling Rd., Dayton,VA7145 Polly Pitcher Hwy, Greencastle, PA

540-879-BULL (2855)Direct Agents for

Slaughter & Feeder Cattle Sales

Mike Allen • 540-476-4680 - Load LotsJames Housden • 540-476-0269 • Feeder/FatsBarry Wilkins, Jr. • 540-607-6032 • Feeder/Fats

JBS FED Cattle Buying Station

NEED GRAZING CATTLE?We purchase & sell “Farm Fresh”

calves to meet your needs.

Valley Feed Company 316 New Hope Rd

Staunton, VA 24401 Email: [email protected]

Toll Free: 1-888-886-2311

according to Food Policy Action. “Each year, more than 20,000 peo-ple die and 2 million people are sickened as a result of infections resistant to antibiotics,” the group said. More than 128,000 people have signed its petition calling for legislation that would prevent farmers from using antibiotics on

Health groupContinued from Page 11

HUCKLEBERRY BEEF

Our young stock program makesthe difference.

Out of AI sires & damsAll home bred & raised

For further information call: Curtis Sowers @ 540-230-6957 Mark Sowers @ 540-230-0177

1145 WILLS RIDGE RD, FLOYD, VA 24091

HuckleberryCattle.comQuality Breeding Stock you can count on.

Production Cow Sale1st Saturday each December

Commercial bull salesEach spring

their livestock for any purpose other than to treat a sick animal. This comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last month that antibiot-ics may no longer be effective enough to save lives in the near future if the government doesn’t do something to fi x the problem. “Every day we delay it becomes harder and more expensive to fi x this problem,” Director Thomas Frieden said.

Democrats are pushing the Pres-ervation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act in the House and a similar bill in the Senate to end the large-scale use of antibiotics in livestock production. The health group says it would like these bills passed, but neither one has advanced beyond the committee level since they were introduced last year. “These drugs should be used to treat illnesses, not to compensate for unsanitary condi-tions,” Food Policy Action wrote. “If we don’t take action, the steady stream of low-dose antibiotics in factory farms could create the next drug-resistant superbug.”

Virginia Cattlemen supports BQA and encourages all cattle producers to seek and maintain this important certification for the benefi t of their operation and our industry.

Responsible advocacy for our business begins with education. Education has to be sought and you must also seek perspective to actually be educated rather than simply memorize facts that blur with time. Consider our re-print-ing of this article as contributing to your perspective as well as a nod to the urgency that we all re-member the interconnectedness of our farms and businesses within the greater cattle industry.

A health group is renewing its push for stricter Food and Drug Administration regulations that would prohibit farmers from giv-ing antibiotics to livestock to com-

pensate for poor living conditions and help them grow faster. The group warns that antibiotics may be less effective on people who are sick because they are being overused on farm animals, which gives bacteria more opportunities to learn how to defeat the antibi-otic, creating what is known as a “superbug.”

In fact, 80 percent of the anti-biotics used in the U.S. are given to livestock, rather than people, according to Food Policy Action. “Each year, more than 20,000 peo-ple die and 2 million people are sickened as a result of infections resistant to antibiotics,” the group said. More than 128,000 people have signed its petition calling for legislation that would prevent farmers from using antibiotics on their livestock for any purpose other than to treat a sick animal. This comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last month that antibiot-

ics may no longer be effective enough to save lives in the near future if the government doesn’t do something to fi x the problem. “Every day we delay it becomes harder and more expensive to fi x this problem,” Director Thomas Frieden said.

Democrats are pushing the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act in the House and a similar bill in the Senate to end the large-scale use of antibiotics in livestock pro-duction. The health group says it would like these bills passed, but neither one has advanced beyond the committee level since they were introduced last year. “These drugs should be used to treat illnesses, not to compensate for unsanitary conditions,” Food Policy Action wrote. “If we don’t take action, the steady stream of low-dose antibiotics in factory farms could create the next drug-resistant superbug.”


2014 Dublin Feeder Cattle

Sale Schedule

For Info Contact: Joe Meek540-674-6080 H, 540-674-5311 [email protected]

All Sales held at Pulaski Livestock MarketDublin, VA

540-674-5311Sale time 7:30 p.m.

SEPT 10 - All breeder steer and heifer saleSEPT 24 - Black and black white face calf sale

OCT 8 - All breeder steer and heifer saleOCT 22 - All breeder calf sale

NOV 12 - All breeder steer and heifer sale

Instant Savings! Bring in this ad for a special discount during the month of May.

The title here highlights just how far the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pushed its au-thority under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) are tak-ing public comments on a proposed regulation that would expand the federal government’s authority over waters; private property rights be damned. This article provide farmers and ranchers with a taste of the proposed expansion and the devastating impacts it could have on their operations.

When passed in 1972, the CWA created a regulatory permitting sys-tem to control discharges (discharge includes dirt, manure, fertilizer, litter, pesticides, etc.) into “navi-gable waters.” The term “navigable waters” is defi ned in the CWA as “waters of the United States” and nothing more. This absurdly vague defi nition has provided the imple-menting federal agencies (namely EPA and the Corps) with the loop-hole they needed to systematically gain more and more regulatory authority over smaller and less significant “bodies of water” (a term used loosely) over the past 40 years. Despite Supreme Court rulings striking down broad inter-pretations of their authority over isolated waters the agencies keep trying to expand federal jurisdiction over ditches, ponds and puddles. The agencies latest attempt is the most brazen, and according to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is “cleverly written,” leading industry to believe the proposal is intended to be an end-run around Congress and the Supreme Court.

Many in the agricultural com-

munity have called this proposal the largest land grab in history, and I don’t think that is far off the mark, if at all. If landowners are required to get a CWA permit for spraying pesticides, applying manure, or simply grazing their cattle, there is no way to describe it but “landuse planning.” Once a responsibility of city and county governments, the federal agencies will now have the power to either give you a permit or not and thereby dictate what activities you can perform on your own property.

How did they do it? Through vague terms such as “neighboring,” ill-defi ned terms like “fl oodplain,” and expansive defi nitions such as “tributary.” Not to mention the agencies extremely broad defi ni-tion of what is considered a “sig-nifi cant nexus” between isolated waters and downstream waters. The agencies also leave most of these important key terms up to the “best professional judgment” of the federal regulator. These legal terms give the regulatory agencies the loopholes they need to find your pond, puddle or ditch to be a “water of the U.S.” and leave landowners with more confusion than ever before.

EPA and Corps have even drug the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture’s Natural Resource Conser-vation Service (NRCS) into the regulatory game. After includ-ing a non-binding “interpretive rule” in which a few select NRCS conservation practice standards will be allowed to qualify for the “normal farming and ranching” exemption under Sec. 404 (dredge and fill permit program), NRCS

Dear EPA: Is That Puddle Navigable?is now going to be responsible for determining whether a landowner is in compliance with the NRCS standard. If found in noncompliance the landowner is likely going to be in violation of the CWA, subject to fi nes and criminal sanctions or will be required to go through the regula-tory process to get a 404 permit. 404 permits cost on average $30,000 and take over a year to get through the permitting process. For example, one of the practices selected is Fencing, Practice Standard 382. If a landowner puts in a fence that does not meet every aspect of the NRCS requirements for Fencing you are likely to be in violation of the CWA, despite whether you are fencing cattle out of stream or riparian area which would benefi t water quality. This regulatory requirement (meet-ing the NRCS standard specifi cities) is required regardless of whether the landowner is under a contract with USDA-NRCS…it does not matter. If a farmer or rancher is putting in a voluntary conservation practice, but it does not meet the NRCS “gold standard” you are likely violating the CWA unless you had applied for

and were granted a Sec. 404 permit. So one must consider, after read-

ing this, can you be certain that when conducting routine activities

on your property you will not be touching a regulated “water of the U.S.” with a nonexempt activity? Tell the agencies to Ditch The Rule.

the virginia cattleman, september 2014, page 1 5if ... cattleman sept... · tension hat back on...

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