Talking Irish Beef Cattle Production with Cathal McCormack of Alltech 

They are one of the largest animal health companies that many people have never heard about- and they are the biggest one that is privately owned. The company is Alltech Animal Health- and Alltech welcomed Class XV of the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program to their European Headquarters in Dunboyne, Ireland on Tuesday. One of the officials that talked with OALP was Cathal McCormack, who leads beef cattle marketing efforts in Ireland for the company.


McCormack told us that he was raised on a beef cattle farm in eastern Ireland, and has worked within the beef cattle industry most of his life. He described Ireland as a significant player in the beef export marketplace- number five internationally in the sales of beef to other countries. What we call beef cows in the United States are referred to as "suckler cows" in Ireland- and McCormack says there are a little over a million head of these suckler cows in the country, along with a significant number of dairy cows in the southern counties of the country.

Click here to read more about our visit with McCormack- and a chance to hear our full conversation with him about Irish beef production, which is a grass beef system with some grain fed at the very end of the production cycle.  We also have a video at this link from the Alltech folks that offers some further insights to how they interact with the beef cattle business.   

AND- remember we have all of our stories to date from the International Travel Experience of the OALP in Scotland and now Ireland on our website in one location- click here to get there.

 

New Highly Erodible Cropland Initiative Announced for Conservation Reserve Program 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced a new conservation initiative to protect up to 750,000 acres of the nation's most highly erodible croplands. Vilsack made the announcement via video to attendees of the National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic, held Feb. 17-19 in Kansas City, Mo. The new initiative will assist producers with targeting their most highly erodible cropland (land with an erodibility index of 20 or greater) by enabling them to plant wildlife-friendly, long-term cover through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Producers can enroll land on a continuous basis beginning this summer at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office. With the use of soil survey and geographic information system data, local FSA staff can quickly determine a producer's eligibility for the initiative.

"This announcement will strengthen CRP by focusing on protecting the most environmentally sensitive land. It targets limited resources where they can make the most difference for farmers, ranchers and to drive economic growth. I urge landowners who have highly erodible land to visit their county office to learn more about this program," Vilsack said.

To read more about the new conservation initiative, click here. 

NCBA Keeps Up Pressure On EPA Over Proposed CAFO Rule

The comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule that would require all Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations to submit operational information has closed, but not before the National Cattlemen's Beef Association weighed in.

Ashley Lyon, the deputy environmental counsel for the NCBA said her organization's members opposed the proposed rule on two grounds.

"One of which is that they are beyond their authority," she said. "The EPA has gone beyond their Clean Water Act authority in requiring this information from all CAFOs across the country instead of following what the Fifth Circuit said last March that the EPA and the Clean Water Act only have authority over CAFOs that actually discharge and it goes no further than that."

While legal and Constitutional issues are huge, Lyon said NCBA members have more immediate concerns.

"Probably the biggest concern for our owners and operators is the privacy issue and that the information they are requesting and requiring of these owners and operators like the latitude and longitude of the production area, the number of acres available for manure application, number and type of head."

Click here to read more of Lyon's comments or to hear her full conversation with Ron Hays. 

Peanut Expo Promises Recipe For Success After Year of Records

After a year of record-setting weather and record-setting markets, peanut producers are making production plans for 2012.

For many producers there is no better way to start than by attending the Oklahoma Peanut Expo. This year's expo is coming up on March 16th at Quartz Mountain Resort.

The expo will be preceded by the 67th Annual TX/OK Seed Quality Meeting.

This year's program promises to be timely and the topics addressed reflect issues bound to affect operations statewide.

U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe will be one of the program's highlights. As ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Inhofe will bring a "front-line" perspective on the EPA's apparent warzone mentality towards agriculture.

For more information on this year's Peanut Expo or registration contacts, click here.

Senate Committee Hearing Explores Strengthening Conservation in the 2012 Farm Bill

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, will convene a Committee hearing on Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 a.m. in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

The hearing, Strengthening Conservation through the 2012 Farm Bill, will explore the Conservation Title's investment in America through policies that help farmers maintain soil health, keep our water clean and available, our food abundant and safe, and our wildlife plentiful - so as to protect the basic principles of farming and our way of life for future generations. Administrator Bruce Nelson, of the Farm Service Agency, and Chief David White, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, will testify. Additional witnesses are detailed below.

The hearing will convene on Tuesday, February 28 at 9:00 a.m. CST in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. A live webcast of the hearing can be viewed on the Committee's website at http://ag.senate.gov.

You can see the list of witnesses scheduled to testify by clicking here. 

Bingman Says Revenue Increase Should Result in Tax Cuts, Smaller, Simpler Government

Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman issued the following statement after Tuesday's State Equalization Board meeting.   According to the final certification, $6.5 billion in revenue will be available for state budgeting in fiscal year 2013, which represents an increase of $47.2 million.   

"Oklahoma's economy continues to heal from the impact of our national recession. An increase in certified revenue is a testament to the common-sense of Oklahomans during tough times-our families and communities have buckled down, and we're just beginning to see all the good our forward-thinking jobs agenda is doing for the state. We have every reason to look to the future with optimism.

"We must be good stewards of what we've received. We simply cannot afford to celebrate our success by making government bigger. Instead, we should seize our momentum to cut taxes for hardworking Oklahomans while redoubling our efforts to thoughtfully target what we must spend on essential services: improving teaching in the classroom, fixing our broken roads, and making our communities safe places to live and raise our families. Let's pursue government that is smaller, simpler, and smarter, for the sake of Oklahoma's continued success."  

More Pics from OALP in Ireland- and a Reminder About the Pollard Sale on Saturday

The second full day in Ireland proved to be a busy one for class members of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- as the young agricutural leaders found themselves in traffic, driving on the "correct" side of the road (accordindg to our bus driver) to appointments with US Embassy staff, researchers with Alltech's European Headquarters in Dunboyne, Ireland, a wee bit of lunch in the tiny community of Dunboyne and stops back in Dublin at St. Patrick's Cathedral and the number one user of grain in Ireland, the Guinness Brewery. 

We have posted another batch of pictures of all of these activities from the OALP travels- including some interesting shots of a small family butcher shop that we spent a few minutes in on Tuesday- click here for those pics and all of the others to date from the 2012 International Travel Experience.
 

The Pollard Farms Performace Genetics 13th Annual Bull and Commercial Female Sale is scheduled for Saturday, February 25, 2012 at Pollard Farms, Waukomis, Oklahoma. The sale begins at 12:30pm selling - 80 Home Raised Service Age Angus Bulls
140 Commercial Females, about 100 Commercial Spring Calving First-Time Heifers
About 40 Mature Cows, half fall calvers and half spring calvers. Click here for more details about the sale- and a chance to jump over to their website to view the catalog of the production sale.