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The Fed Reserve, concerned about deflation and jumpstarting the
economy, has focused on increasing liquidity and pumping dollars into
the economy. But it appears the possible signs of deflation were more
likely just symptomatic of the economic contraction. As a result, this
flood of dollars hasn’t eased the decline in price and security
prices. We needed to rationalize prices and the marketplace is doing
that.
Despite all the governmental efforts to sidetrack it, the economic
recovery may already be beginning. All these misguided steps won’t
stop private capital from returning to the marketplace when there’s
been enough value created by the rationalizing of prices.
The problem is how will the economy absorb all these dollars? The seeds
for inflation have been sown. The more cynical among us would point out
that inflation is the largest tax of all, but given the unprecedented
increase in government spending moving forward, it may be the only way
to keep the government solvent.
The theory that currently holds sway in Washington is that the economy
is suffering from too little aggregate demand; thus, the government must
step in and provide it through spending. While this is somehow well
accepted, it’s muddled thinking.
For instance, let’s attempt to apply Keynesian economics to the dairy
situation. Instead of reducing supply to meet falling global demand for
dairy products, and/or focusing on rebuilding global demand, the
government would just step in and start buying milk, support the price,
and subsidize milk buyers, with the hope that eventually global demand
would return to previous levels.
Of course, the general consumer would quickly realize that they were
paying twice for their milk. So to avoid that issue, they simply borrow
dollars by printing more and deferring the bill from today's consumers
and taxpayers to the next generation, with the assumption that something
will come along that will allow them to pay for it.
Obviously, when the logic is applied on a micro-level, it’s not
difficult to see that this isn’t sustainable. Ultimately, we’re
writing and floating checks; at some point, the system will demand
payment. Prolonged inflation is one way to begin to address this.
Certainly inflation brings a whole host of economic issues with it
(increased interest rates, etc.), but as a whole, land values and
commodities tend to fare better than most segments during inflationary
times.
-- Troy Marshall
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This is my absolute favorite time of the year. The kids are
finishing up school and looking forward to a summer of chasing their
dreams. Like a lot of areas, we’ve had very solid moisture conditions
and the grass is really popping. Artificial insemination season is
wrapping up and turnout time is just around the corner.
It always seems to happen so quickly, but the winter blizzards are now
nothing more than distant memories (maybe not so distant for those in
the Dakotas and Wyoming). And it is a time of renewed hope.
Green grass and spring weather can't totally remove the anxiety over the
economy, corn prices, and calf prices this fall, but it does a pretty
good job.
-- Troy Marshall
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I always love talking to successful ranchers, cattle feeders and the
like. From a distance, one always assumes that simply a whole string of
successes enabled them to reach their current lofty status.
I'm sure there are stories out there where people just enjoyed one
success after another, each one leading to a bigger and better one, but
I've yet to hear one. Instead, their story is usually one of
experimentation and numerous failures.
Of course, they certainly did their best to avoid failure through
planning, risk management and hard work, but they almost always have a
litany of failures that they’re willing to discuss. That seems to be a
common denominator of the truly successful; while they certainly don't
strive to create failures per se, they also aren’t overly concerned by
them. They understand that success is often created through numerous
failures.
An attitude that says all mistakes should be eliminated is paramount to
eliminating success as well. Find me a cattle feeder that hasn't lost
significant dollars feeding cattle and I’ll show you one that hasn't
made significant profits either.
One key seems to be that they’re able do a very good job of mitigating
risk. This might be a simplistic analogy but I was moving cows with my
10-year-old son the other day. He got a little out of position and a cow
cut back on him. He was mad at himself. I told him a couple hundred more
mistakes like that and you will be a pretty good hand.
He looked at me funny, and said: “So, if I get in 20 horse wrecks, I
will be a trainer?” I laughed but there is some truth to his question
– the more mistakes you make, the quicker you’ll become an
expert.
That’s when it dawned on me that, as a parent and a manager, I've
probably made failure out to be something far worse than it is. Never
start out to fail, but few successes are enjoyed without a healthy dose
of failures along the way.
-- Troy Marshall
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The American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) and Pfizer
Animal Health remind veterinary students that applications for the AABP
Foundation – Pfizer Animal Health Scholarship are due June 15. Offered
to third-year vet students in the U.S., the scholarship program supports
students interested in food animal medicine by offering a chance to
receive one of several scholarships. As part of the scholarship,
recipients will also receive a travel stipend to the September AABP
conference in Omaha, NE, next fall. Check out the electronic application
online at www.aabp.org or call
800-269-2227
-- AABP/Pfizer release
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The FBI has placed Daniel San Diego on its Most Wanted Terrorist
list – the first domestic terrorist to be included on the list that
sports such notables as Usama Bin Laden.
San Diego is wanted for his alleged participation in bombing two biotech
facilities in California in 2003. The facilities were targeted because
they did business with Huntingdon Life Sciences, an ongoing target of
animal rights terrorists.
Animal rights and environmental extremism pose a significant domestic
terror threat, according to the FBI. So far, the agency says extremists
have been responsible for more than 1,800 criminal acts and more than
$110 million in damages and it is investigating more than 170 incidents
across the country.
San Diego has been described as a strict vegan who avoids consuming or
wearing anything made with animal products. A reward of up to $250,000
has been established for info directly leading to his arrest. For more
info, go to www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/tersandiego_da.htm.
-- FBI release
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Did you bale some first cutting hay a little tough due to high
humidity and frequent rain showers? If so, your hay could mold, spoil or
suffer heat damage, says Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska
Extension forage specialist.
Anderson says excessive heat can lessen hay’s digestibility,
particularly impacting the protein. Heat-damaged hay often turns a
brownish color and has a sweet caramel odor. While cattle often eat this
hay readily, the heat damage can reduce the hay’s nutritional value.
Heat produced by a bale basically comes from two sources:
- Some heat is produced by biochemical reactions from the plants
themselves as hay cures. This heating is relatively minor and rarely
causes hay temperature to rise above 110° F. Very little damage occurs
to hay that gets no warmer than 110°.
- Most heat in hay, however, is caused by the metabolic activity of
microorganisms. Millions of these microbes exist in all hay and they
thrive when extra moisture is abundant.
As the metabolic activity of these microbes increases, the hay’s
temperature rises. Hay with only a little excess moisture probably will
get no warmer than 120°, but wetter hay can quickly get as warm as
150°. Hay that gets this warm nearly always becomes discolored, and
nutritional value can be very low, Anderson says. And, if hay temps rise
above 170°, chemical reactions can quickly raise temps over 400° and
cause fires.
“Be wary of the fire danger with wet hay and store it away from
buildings and other hay just in case,” Anderson says. Also, remember
the lower feed value that is caused by heat damage in wet hay. Get a
thorough forage test and then use this hay accordingly.
-- Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska
Extension
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The Agricultural Carbon Sequestration Standard Committee is seeking
public comment on a draft of the first Ag Soil Credit Standard. The
Agricultural Soil Credit Standard is an agriculture-based,
industry-supported standard for the creation of carbon credits that can
be marketed in a commodity trading system. Credits are achieved through
the sequestration of carbon in the soil when specific agronomic
practices are used and from the reduction of emissions by judicious use
of energy, fuel and fertilizer applications in crop, grassland and
rangeland management.
Comments will be accepted through June 26, which time the comments will
be reviewed by the Standard Committee and then submitted to USDA for
review.
The Standard Committee was formed in August 2008 to create an
industry-wide standard for validating carbon offsets resulting from soil
carbon sequestration of greenhouse gas emission reductions. The
committee now has more than 50 members and observers from ag business
and members of the carbon industry including aggregators, verifiers,
exchange traders, soil scientists and others. The group is facilitated
by Novecta, a joint venture company of the Iowa and Illinois Corn
Growers Associations.
For more info and to read the draft of the Sequestration Standard, go to
www.novecta.com.
-- Novecta release
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 Get to know your checkoff.
With 100 plus checkoff-funded programs, it’s hard to keep up with all
of the valuable returns your checkoff investment delivers. For the most
concise, relevant information, sign up for My Beef Checkoff News, a monthly
e-newsletter highlighting how your investment is Promoting, Educating,
Researching and Safeguarding to help build beef demand.
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The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Agricultural Division hosts the
2009 Texoma Pasture Conference June 13 at the Convention Center in
Ardmore.
Entitled “Pasture and Range Stability During Times of Economic
Instability,” the 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. conference focuses on answering key
questions about managing pasture and rangeland in addition to reviewing
resource use, during difficult financial times. Farmers and ranchers
have been questioning every aspect of their operation in an effort to
cut costs.
Registration is $20 and lunch is provided. Register online at www.noble.org/agevents or
contact Tracy Cumbie at tlcumbie@noble.org or
580-224-6411 for more info.
-- Noble Foundation release
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Congress will return next week from its Memorial Day recess. A
priority for the House of Representatives will be to begin work on
fiscal year 2010 appropriation bills. A number of House committees,
including agriculture, will begin their work on the climate change bill
passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week.
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.
correspondent
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In spite of ongoing global economic gyrations and the H1N1 flu
virus, U.S. meat exports continue, according to the U.S. Meat Export
Federation (USMEF).
According to Chad Russell, USMEF regional director in Mexico City,
economic and financial turmoil has affected the No. 1 market for U.S.
beef exports significantly, with total meat exports down 21% in the
first quarter of 2009. Following the H1N1 outbreak that began in Mexico,
exports decreased further, particularly for pork. However, Russell
thinks pork exports will return to normal by the end of June.
Beef exports may take longer to recover. Tourist travel to Mexico is off
20% because of H1N1, Russell says. And, since a significant portion of
U.S. beef sold in Mexico goes to the tourist trade, the H1N1 outbreak
may have longer-lasting effects on beef than on pork, he says.
Other markets are looking up, including Japan and Korea. Japan was
awarded “Controlled Risk” status for BSE this week by the OIE (World
Organization for Animal Health), bringing it on par with the U.S. That
implies Japan will abide by OIE standards and begin the process of
relaxing its age restrictions on imported beef, says Phil Seng, USMEF
CEO. Currently, that restriction only allows beef from cattle 20 months
of age or younger.
In fact, according to the Yomuri Shimbun newspaper, the Japanese
government has begun discussions on easing their age restrictions.
“With an eye on the OIE authorization, the Health, Labor and Welfare
Ministry and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Ministry will make
draft plans for easing the test guidelines before consulting the Food
Safety Commission,” the paper reports. “If the commission is
receptive, the ministries plan to revise a ministerial ordinance
regarding the law on special measures against BSE within this
year.”
The paper adds that if the Japanese government eases the age
restrictions on BSE tests on domestic beef cattle to 31 months or older
and keeps the condition on imports of U.S. beef to cattle aged 20 months
or younger, the U.S. may appeal to the World Trade Organization that
Japan is unfairly restricting trade.
-- Burt Rutherford
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 Let’s Talk Ag! Get your questions answered, along with
tips and advice from other farmers, for all things ag related.
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Local livestock auctions are the backbone of local farming and
ranching communities, providing employment, tax revenue, local business
support, and price discovery for livestock producers via competitive
bidding. Now, LivestockMarkets.com provides fast and convenient
access to the information and services available from those markets.
Livestockmarkets.com is CattleCo Marketing and Promotions’s new
marketing info tool for cattle buyers and consignors. Producers can
source the cattle they need, visit market listings to check upcoming
sales, sale reports, and updates from livestock markets across the U.S.
For more info, visit www.livestockmarkets.com
or call 217-354-4331.
-- C.J. Oakwood, CattleCo Marketing and
Promotions
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Winners of the first BEEF Daily contest of the summer have
been announced. See the winning photographic images and meet the winning
photographers at: blog.beefmagazine.com/photography-contest-winners/.
During the summer, BEEF Daily Editor Amanda Nolz will be
conducting reader contests with the top prizes being signed,
limited-edition western art prints with a retail value of $100-$125
each.
In addition, join the discussions on BEEF Facebook and
BEEF Twitter at: beefmagazine.com/social/.
-- Joe Roybal
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The White House Food Safety Working Group has launched a website to
provide info about the group’s activities and progress. USDA says
foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/Home.htm
will be a resource for people who want to learn about the current food
safety network as well as stakeholders and organizations that are
working to upgrade America’s food safety system.
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.
correspondent
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Got your brain wrapped around all this genomics stuff yet? It may
get even more confusing.
Increasingly, researchers are finding that non-genetic variation
acquired during the life of an organism can sometimes be passed on to
offspring – a phenomenon known as epigenetic inheritance.
An article in the forthcoming July issue of The Quarterly Review of
Biology lists more than 100 cases of epigenetic inheritance between
generations of organisms and suggests non-DNA inheritance happens more
often than scientists previously thought.
Scientists have long suspected that some kind of epigenetic inheritance
occurs at the cellular level. Skin cells and brain cells have different
forms and functions, for example, despite having exactly the same DNA.
There must be mechanisms other than DNA that make sure skin cells stay
skin cells when they divide.
Only recently, however, have scientists begun to find molecular evidence
of non-DNA inheritance between organisms as well as between cells.
For example, the article cites a study finding that when fruit flies are
exposed to certain chemicals, at least 13 generations of descendants are
born with bristly outgrowths on their eyes. Another study shows higher
rates of heart disease and diabetes in the children and grandchildren of
people who were malnourished in adolescence.
“The analysis of these data shows that epigenetic inheritance is
ubiquitous,” write Eva Jablonka and Gal Raz with Tel-Aviv University.
The findings “represent the tip of a very large iceberg,” the
researchers say.
-- ScienceDaily.com
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Recent changes to Kentucky’s CPH-45 (Certified Pre-Conditioned for
Health) program are aimed at enhancing its stature as an elite
feeder-cattle program and adding value to the cattle in the program,
says Kentucky Ag Commissioner Richie Farmer.
Recent changes enacted by the CPH-45 Advisory Board include:
- Because a proper mineral program improves animal health, which
allows vaccinations to be effective, a free-choice mineral supplement
containing at least 1,400 ppm copper (no copper oxide), 26 ppm selenium,
3,000 ppm zinc, 3,000 ppm manganese and 18-25% salt on a 4-oz. daily
intake must be available. No other salt can be available.
- Calves must be vaccinated for Manheimia haemolytica
(pasteurella).
- Heifers are guaranteed open at the time of the sale, and steers are
guaranteed not to be bulls. Seller agrees to reimburse buyer $200 for
pregnant heifers and intact bulls. All claims must be properly verified
by a veterinarian within four months of the sale.
- Males must be castrated and healed. The committee strongly
encourages early castration with a knife.
CPH-45 requires feeder cattle to go through a strict health regimen. It
also requires source and age verification. Cattle raised and sold
through the program historically have received $6-$8/cwt. more than
cattle sold in traditional stockyard sales in Kentucky, program
officials report.
For more info on CPH-45, go to www.cph45.com.
-- Southeast Farm Press
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America’s corn farmers made up ground in planting last week but
remain behind the pace of 1993, a flood year for much of Iowa, Missouri
and the Mississippi Valley. According to CME Group’s May 26 Daily
Livestock Report, the major catching up occurred in the eastern Corn
Belt states where wet conditions have slowed planting.
Illinois and Indiana went from 20% and 24% planted, respectively, one
week ago to 62% and 55% this week. The five-year pace is 96% of intended
Illinois acres and 89% of the intended acres in Indiana. Meanwhile, Ohio
reached 76% (vs. a five-year “normal” of 88%), and Michigan 77%
(average is 86%).
Nationally, 82% of corn acres were planted as of May 24, the slowest
pace since 1990 but only 4% behind last year and 11% behind the
five-year average.
As of May 24, 52% of the corn had emerged, compared to last year’s
level of 48% and a five-year average of 71%. Still, last year yielded
153.9 bu./acre, the second highest on record.
Soybean planting also picked up the pace with farmers planting 23% of
intended acres to push the year-to-date total to 48%, just 1% behind
last year’s pace but well short of the five-year average of 65%. This
pace is barely ahead of 1993, which was also the slowest on record for
soybeans.
The regional pattern is the same for soybeans as for corn, with western
Corn Belt states generally ahead of schedule and eastern Corn Belt
states behind. The exception is Missouri where wet conditions have
slowed planting much the same as it has in states to the east. While
progress is slow, planting dates aren’t critical for soybeans yet –
especially in the east where average first-frost dates are later than
for western states, the report says
-- CME Group
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Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Byron Dorgan
(D-ND), and Tim Johnson (D-SD) last week introduced the Livestock
Marketing Fairness Act. According to the sponsors, the bill would:
- Require that forward contracts for livestock (cattle, hogs and
lambs) be traded in public markets where buyers and sellers can witness
bids as well as make their own offers. This ensures the market is open
to multiple offers, the sponsors say.
- Require marketing agreements to have a firm base price derived from
an external source. This ensures that local contract prices are not
subject to manipulation by packer-owned herds.
- Exempts producer-owned cooperatives, packers with low volumes and
packers who own only one processing plant. This exemption targets the
source of price manipulation and ensures that the business practices of
small family-owned processors are not impacted by the law.
- Ensures that trading is done in quantities that provide market
access for both small and large livestock producers.
This legislation would limit swine contracts to 30 head/contract and
beef contracts to 40 beef animals/contract. Similar legislation was
introduced in the previous Congress.
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.
correspondent
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The Yuma County Conservation District (YCCD) with support from the
Colorado Grazing Land Coalition Initiative is hosting a workshop on
“Managing Grass Profitably,” June 12-13 in Wray, CO. The
registration deadline is June 5.
Part 1, “Laying the Foundation” is set for June 12 at the
Roundhouse/City Hall from 3:30-8 p.m., with supper included. This
session will cover why and how grass management pays financially. Part 2
consists of “Putting the Principles to Work,” and will be conducted
June 13 at the Chris & Shannon Stults operation northwest of Wray from
8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and includes lunch.
To register, contact YCCD at 970-332-3173, Ext.3 (7 a.m.-4 p.m.
weekdays); fax your reservation to 970-332-4425; or email Julie.Elliott@co.usda.gov.
Late registrations and walk-ins are welcome, but will not be guaranteed
lunch.
-- Julie Elliott, rangeland management specialist
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I always love talking to successful ranchers, cattle feeders and the
like. From a distance, one always assumes that simply a whole string of
successes enabled them to reach their current lofty status.
I'm sure there are stories out there where people just enjoyed one
success after another, each one leading to a bigger and better one, but
I've yet to hear one. Instead, their story is usually one of
experimentation and numerous failures.
Of course, they certainly did their best to avoid failure through
planning, risk management and hard work, but they almost always have a
litany of failures that they’re willing to discuss. That seems to be a
common denominator of the truly successful; while they certainly don't
strive to create failures per se, they also aren’t overly concerned by
them. They understand that success is often created through numerous
failures.
An attitude that says all mistakes should be eliminated is paramount to
eliminating success as well. Find me a cattle feeder that hasn't lost
significant dollars feeding cattle and I’ll show you one that hasn't
made significant profits either.
One key seems to be that they’re able do a very good job of mitigating
risk. This might be a simplistic analogy but I was moving cows with my
10-year-old son the other day. He got a little out of position and a cow
cut back on him. He was mad at himself. I told him a couple hundred more
mistakes like that and you will be a pretty good hand.
He looked at me funny, and said: “So, if I get in 20 horse wrecks, I
will be a trainer?” I laughed but there is some truth to his question
– the more mistakes you make, the quicker you’ll become an expert.
That’s when it dawned on me that, as a parent and a manager, I've
probably made failure out to be something far worse than it is. Never
start out to fail, but few successes are enjoyed without a healthy dose
of failures along the way.
-- Troy Marshall
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Odds are very high that total meat production will slump this year
compared to 2008, say Glenn Grimes & Ron Plain, University of Missouri
economists.
USDA currently estimates beef production to be down by only 0.1% from a
year earlier, while pork, chicken and turkey production are forecast to
be down by 2.6%, 3.8% and 7.4%, respectively. These declines would
result in a 2.8% drop in all meat production in 2009 compared to 2008.
For 2010, USDA is estimating beef production to be down 2%, and pork
production to be down 0.5%, but chicken and turkey to be up by 1.7% and
2.1%, respectively, compared to this year. This would result in a gain
of total meat products in 2010 by less than 0.1% from 2009.
Meanwhile, the CME Group reports in its May 19 Daily Livestock
Report that a weakening U.S. currency could have significant
implications for U.S. meat trade in 2009 and 2010. The newsletter says
that, according to the latest USDA supply and demand estimates, the U.S.
is expected to export 12.760 billion lbs. of beef, pork and poultry
products in 2009, or 14.1% of the amount of red meat and poultry that
will be produced in the U.S. this year. On the other hand, combined red
meat and poultry imports for the year are expected to be 3.732 billion
lbs.
Exports account for a significant part of the overall demand for U.S.
products and shifts in currencies tend to change the relative price that
consumers in different parts of the world see, thus providing an
incentive or disincentive for consumption, something may not be quite as
obvious if one were to study only U.S. dollar denominated prices, the
newsletter says. USDA expects combined U.S. meat exports to increase by
3% in 2010, an estimate that likely reflects a simple trend increase and
will likely be revised quite a few times depending on the path of
economic growth and exchange rates.
-- Media reports
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The recession is driving food shoppers of all regions, ages and
incomes to adapt their spending and diet choices, reports the May 11
edition of the FMI/Nielsen/Lempert E-Newsletter. According to the
Food Marketing Institute’s “U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2009”
report, 69% of shoppers say the recession is affecting their grocery
shopping, compared to 48% in 2008.
-- Click on headline to read the rest of this
release from the FMI/Nielsen/Lempert E-Newsletter
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Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,
and 15 other senators introduced legislation, the “Trade Sanctions
Reform and Export Enhancement Act,” to ease restrictions on ag exports
to Cuba and to allow U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba.
In 2000, legislation was enacted to allow U.S. ag products to be sold on
a cash basis to Cuba. However, the Bush administration in 2005 tightened
the “cash-in-advance” requirement, which requires payment when
products leave the U.S. Prior to 2005, payment was required before the
goods arrived. The Bush ruling severely restricted trade with Cuba,
sponsors say. The Baucus legislation would restore the pre-2005
definition of cash in advance and allow U.S. banks to receive payments
directly from Cuban banks.
The USA Rice Federation said, “While we continue to urge Congress and
the administration to lift the U.S.-imposed embargo, this bill would
allow rice producers, millers, merchants and allied industries to begin
to reclaim the costly ground lost over the last four years.”
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.
correspondent
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USDA announced an additional six public meetings in June to discuss
stakeholder concerns on the National Animal Identification System
(NAIS). In addition to the June 1 meeting previously announced for
Loveland, CO at The Ranch in the Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events
Complex, new meetings are set for: June 9 in Jefferson City, MO; June 11
in Rapid City, SD; June 16 in Albuquerque, NM; June 18 in Riverside, CA;
June 25 in Raleigh, NC; and June 27 in Jasper, FL.
USDA is seeking to engage stakeholders and producers to hear not only
their concerns about NAIS but also potential or feasible solutions to
those concerns. Info and ideas gathered will assist USDA Secretary Tom
Vilsack in making decisions about the future direction of animal
traceability in the U.S., USDA says.
In addition to attending the meetings, comments can also be provided at:
animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/feedback.shtml.
-- USDA release
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The world’s first vaccination against salmonella could result from
new research at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) in Norwich, UK. IFR
scientists have shown for the first time that salmonella relies on
glucose for its survival, thereby raising the possibility of vaccine
protection against this food-borne illness and other disease-causing
bacteria, including super bugs.
The research focused on glycolysis, the process by which sugars are
broken down to create chemical energy and that occurs in most organisms
including bacteria that occupy host cells. Disrupting bacteria’s
ability to use glucose could be used to create vaccine strains for other
pathogenic bacteria.
Scientists constructed salmonella mutants that were unable to move
glucose into the immune cells they occupy. Unable to use glucose as
food, they lost their ability to replicate but still stimulated the
host’s immune system. These mutant strains could be used to develop
vaccines to protect people and animals against salmonella poisoning.
Salmonella food poisoning affects about 20 million people worldwide each
year and causes around 200,000 deaths, as well as infecting farm
animals.
-- Food Production Daily.com
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A voluntary animal ID system in the U.S. "won't work" and risks
devastating losses to disease and lost export opportunities, the former
European Union (EU) commissioner for health and consumer protection told
a Lexington, KY audience last week, he said, according to
Feedstuffs magazine
David Byrne, who led the EU through the BSE, foot-and-mouth disease and
avian influenza epidemics, and put in place the EU's animal ID system,
says those experiences provided “a number of lessons." These include
the need for the rapid traceback of animals, feed and food to remove
sick animals and unsafe feed and food from the system. He says
authorities also learned that transparency is absolutely necessary.
Appearing at the Alltech International Animal Health & Nutrition
Symposium in Lexington, KY, last week, Byrne said the National Animal
Identification System (NAIS) must be mandatory.
"There needs to be a level playing pitch – a law or rule that applies
to everyone. If there's a disease outbreak, the animals enrolled in a
voluntary system would be traceable, but animals not registered would
continue to spread the disease and undermine the benefits of identifying
and tracing the former."
Accordingly, without "a comprehensive system" in which all cattle, for
instance, are enrolled and traceable, the only option to eradicate a
disease might be destruction of the entire herd, Byrne says.
Additionally, countries that don't establish national animal ID will
find themselves locked out of many markets that will ban or restrict
imports from those countries, he said. Moreover, if governments don't
impose restrictions, food businesses – driven by consumer desires for
traceability – will.
-- Muriel Elizabeth Hayes
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If you’re interested in keeping up with trends, rumblings and news
in the farm-animal welfare arena worldwide, you might find useful an
Internet portal recently launched by the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). The website www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/animal-welfare/en/
is designed to serve as a one-stop shop for those searching for the
latest info about livestock welfare. It provides info on legislation and
research findings, as well as animal welfare standards, practices and
policies relating to animal transport, slaughter and pre-slaughter
management, animal husbandry and handling and the culling of animals for
disease control.
FAO developed the portal in collaboration with the European Commission,
International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Organisation
for Animal Health, Compassion In World Farming, the Latin American
Poultry Association, Humane Society International, the International
Fund for Animal Welfare, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, the Brooke, the World Society for the Protection of Animals,
the International Dairy Federation, the International Federation of
Agriculture Producers and the World Veterinary Association.
-- United Nations FAO release
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At eight years old, Weston Svoboda is already a spokesperson for
rural living and the ranching lifestyle that his family maintains in the
Nebraska Sandhills. Although he just completed the second grade at
Sargent Public School, he’s spent the last two years communicating his
way of life with his peers in elementary schools in urban settings
through the Ag Pen Pals program.
-- Click on headline to read the rest of this
release by American Angus Association
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