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Task force recommends not pursuing state checkoff for now

May 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The Nebraska Cattlemen State Beef Checkoff Task Force is recommending to the group’s executive committee that a state based checkoff not be pursued this year.

The task force, chaired by Thedford rancher Dave Hamilton, considered input from people who attended a meeting as well as from the results of surveys. They also evaluated current weather and market conditions. The task force acknowledged a good deal of positive input, but didn’t feel like the time was right considering the drought and adversity that cattlemen are feeling.

The task force says it’ll keep discussing the importance of increasing the checkoff at some point in the future.

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Livestock, News Tagged With: , ,

MU specialist: stick with corn maturity plan

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

University of Missouri corn specialist Brent Myers suggests that corn growers stick with the corn hybrid maturities they had planned on rather than switching to earlier season varieties through the end of the month. Myers says the optimal planting day for corn has already passed and corn’s yield potential has begun to decline slightly because of planting delays.

“Because of the late start to the corn planting season, what we’re seeing is that the large majority of the corn is being planted later than producers would like, beyond probably the optimal yield window,” said Myers.

Myers remains hopeful there is still the opportunity for a good corn growing season, even though excessive rainfall and cold temperatures have resulted in later planting than usual.

Corn planting in Missouri and all over the Corn Belt took a big jump this past week, the result of warmer, drier weather.

Missourinet reporter Mary Farucci contributed to this article.

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: ,

High wind hits Stark County, Illinois, some damage in town

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

An estimated 70-80 mph straight-line wind hit Bradford, in Stark County, Monday evening.

WMBD television reports that damage consisted primarily of uprooted trees, broken branches and downed power lines. A grain elevator was damaged to the tune of about a million dollars.

Farmers in the area tell Brownfield Ag News that there was no hail associated with the high wind and crops are too short to have been adversely affected.

There were no injuries reported.

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Few growing degree days limit hay growth

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

2013_MO_hay_storyIt’s nearing hay season, but there’s some concern in Missouri about how productive the first cutting will be.

“We don’t have foliage growth,” Lonny Duckworth, a cattleman from Butler, Missouri, told Brownfield Ag News Wednesday. “I estimate right now, sitting beside one of my hayfields, I’d be lucky, I’d think, to get a half-crop out of it.”

Duckworth, who farms on Missouri’s western edge, applies plenty of the fertilizer, and he just dumped 2.4 inches of water out the rain gauge, but this season that’s not enough.

“Grass likes, or course, warm humid weather and it likes it day and night,” said Duckworth, “and we just haven’t had it.”

Duckworth is hoping for better conditions to improve subsequent cuttings, but he’s not ready to give up on the first cutting.

Lonny Duckworth“If we would get some warm days and warm nights consecutively here, that could improve, but right now you know, it’s all headed out and it’s going to start putting its energy to seed production,” he said.

“It is interesting; this spring is exactly opposite of last spring,” observed Duckworth. “Last spring we were three weeks to 30 days ahead of normal season, and this time we’re about that much behind.”

Photo: Butler, Mo., cattleman Lonny Duckworth in a Brownfield file photo.

AUDIO: Lonnie Duckworth (8 min. MP3)

Filed Under: Crops, Livestock, News Tagged With: ,

Dueling amendments to expand and to reverse SNAP cuts fail

May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Opposing efforts to reverse and to expand food assistance cuts both failed on the Senate floor Tuesday. While Senator Kristin Gillibrand from New York pleaded to restore $4 billion worth of cuts to the food stamp program, Kansas Senator Pat Roberts urged deeper cuts to those benefits.

“My goal is simple,” Roberts said on the Senate floor Tuesday, “restore integrity to the supplemental nutrition assistance program in a common sense and comprehensive manner. Enacting this package of reforms will allow the federal government to continue to help those who truly need SNAP food benefits and assistance”

Over the course of a decade Roberts’ amendment would have cut about $30 billion from the food stamp program.

Meanwhile, Senator Gillibrand’s amendment would have reversed the $4 billion in cuts to SNAP benefits agreed to in the Senate Agriculture Committee last week. She maintains that the program experiences only about 1 percent in waste. On the other hand she says food stamps contribute to the economy.

“This money goes straight to the grocery stores, to the store clerks, to the truckers who haul the food from producers all across the country,” said Gillibrand. “Sixteen cents of every SNAP dollar actually goes right back to the farmer who grew the crop, according to the USDA.”

Gillibrand’s proposed fund restoration would have been offset by cuts in crop insurance reimbursements. Both amendments failed on the Senate floor.

Filed Under: News, USDA/Government Tagged With: ,

Proper lubrication ensures longer implement life

May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

As farmers are busy getting planting and other field work done, they also have to pay close attention to maintaining equipment. Part of that attention should be to the appropriate lubricants applied at the right times and intervals of operation. Andrew Hamilton, the marketing manager for Cenex Lubricants, makes clear that it’s not just grease, but the right kind of grease that makes implement operation more trouble free.

AUDIO: Andrew Hamilton (9 min. MP3)

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Innovations Tagged With:

Illinois topsoil moisture recovering nicely, corn planting progress jumps

May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Illinois corn planting was in full swing last week. Warm, dry weather resulted in corn planting progress jumping to 74 percent complete, up from 17 percent the previous week, according to the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service.

Many growers actually finished planting corn and moved on to planting soybeans. Topsoil moisture across Illinois is 98 percent adequate to surplus.

Soybean planting is 19 percent complete, compared to 75 percent last year and the five-year average of 35 percent. Winter wheat is 75 percent good to excellent. Alfalfa in Illinols is 76 percent good to excellent, while red clover is 86 percent good to excellent.

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: , ,

South Dakota corn three-quarters planted, winter wheat suffers

May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Warmer temperatures and drier soils accelerated spring planting progress in South Dakota this past week. Most areas of the state received an inch or more of rain, although it stayed dry in the western part of the state. The rain is welcome in the central part of South Dakota, however, and growers don’t mind sitting out a day or two because of it, according to Ruth Beck, an agronomy field specialist for South Dakota State University, who is based at Pierre.

“I feel like now we’ve come a long way and we’re not so far behind as we were; I think a lot of the corn and soybeans got done last week,” Beck told Brownfield Ag News Monday. “I think there are still people planting and there are still acres to be planted, but I think we’ve come a long way over the last week or so.”

South Dakota’s topsoil moisture is 90 percent short to adequate. The state’s winter wheat crop is not doing well. About a third of the crop is rated very poor by the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service, while 61 percent of it is poor to fair.

“A lot of our winter wheat was seeded, but it didn’t germinate, or if it did germinate it was very slow to grow and didn’t come out of the ground last fall,” said Beck. “Some of it’s been adjusted and then was taken out and maybe reseeded to spring wheat or to corn, but a small amount of it was left; not nearly the winter wheat crop that we usually have in this country though, and the crops that are left, a lot of those are very thin.”

It’s not uncommon for South Dakota’s winter wheat crop to be threatened by a lack of rain, but Beck said it’s rare for the crop to be drought stunted to the extent this one is.

“We haven’t had a lot of falls like that where our winter wheat didn’t even germinate,” she said.

The good news, according to Beck, is that the central part of South Dakota received precipitation.

“We had a nice rain here over the weekend, so that’s certainly going to help the winter wheat,” said Beck.

Corn planting in South Dakota jumped to 75 percent complete this week. It’s behind last year but ahead of the 69 percent average. Soybean planting is 28 percent complete, which is equal to the five-year average for this time in the planting season.

“We’re ok here, we’ve got probably some soybeans [left to plant] in this particular area and there may some acres of corn still to go in the ground,” said Beck, “and then of course we have sunflowers, but that’s usually not until the end of May or early June.”

South Dakota’s spring wheat seeding is 91 percent complete, and oats seeding is 92 percent complete.

“And milo,” added Beck, “there’s some milo going in and I’m sure there’s still milo to be planted yet, but we’re still in good shape for that.”

AUDIO: Ruth Beck (4 min. MP3)

Filed Under: Crops, News Tagged With: , ,

Pork, beef exports down for first quarter

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The value of first quarter U.S. beef exports is down slightly compared to a year ago. The drop resulted primarily from Russia virtually closing market access to U.S. beef, in addition to drops in exports to Vietnam and Mexico. U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) CEO Phil Seng put the spotlight on Japan Monday, citing their expansion of market access to U.S. beef from cattle 30 months of age and younger.

“For the most part, we are doing pretty well on the beef side,” said Seng, during a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “I think that when we take a look at Japan, for example, we were up 80 percent in volume just in March alone [following] the changeover from the 20 to 30 months, so that’s been significant.”

Pork exports from the United States during the first quarter, according to Seng, have challenges of their own.

“In traditional markets like Japan where we’ve always done quite well, it’s our leading market for a volume basis, we’re down about 12 percent; Hong Kong/China, down about 10 percent,” he said.

Pork exports to Colombia have jumped, but pork going to Russia has been severely restricted.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation Board of Directors is meeting this week in Washington, D.C. Seng made his comments from that meeting.

Filed Under: Livestock, News, World Ag News/Trade Tagged With: , , ,

Poultry exports good for corn, soybean growers

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Corn and soybean growers see poultry differently. What most of us think of as simply a chicken, growers refer to as corn and soybeans with feathers. That’s why the export of U.S. poultry is so important to those who grow corn and soybeans. The export market is growing for U.S. fed poultry. There are 120 markets spanning the globe that buy U.S. birds, according to Greg Tyler, vice president of marketing for the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, often referred to as USAPEEC. That organization is actively working in 75 of those markets from 14 offices scattered throughout the world. What’s amazing is the amount of soybean meal that leaves the country with every pound of exported poultry.

AUDIO: Greg Tyler (3 min. MP3)

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Managing for Profit Tagged With: , ,
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