Irish Animal Nutritional Innovation on Display at Keenan 

An innovative approach to developing and mixing rations for beef and dairy cattle was a part of the Thursday February 23rd agenda for Class XV of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program. The young agricultural leaders stopped at Keenan System Mix operations in Carlow County- south of Dublin- in the tiny village town of Borris. Keenan started in 1978- building mixer wagons- but their founder wanted to be more than just a piece of equipment on a dairy or beef cattle operation.  He had a vision that saw Keenan as "a leader in ethical and profitable solutions for the food chain."

Our group saw mixer wagons being built from a few pieces of metal into the finished product- and heard about the technology that this company offers their cattle producer customers. That includes "tweaking" cattle rations to achieve significant improvement in the utilization of the forage and grain fed- as well as more pounds of milk on the dairy side of things- and more pounds of beef for beef cattlemen.

We have lots of pictures we have added to our set on Flickr- click here to see those- and all of our pictures to date from Scotland and Ireland- and we also talked with their Business Innovation Director, John McCurdy about how they offer cattle producers not just a mixer wagon- but a feed system that will make them more money.  Click here for our complete story on Keenan and a chance to hear our visit with John McCurdy. 

Perhaps the take away for the Oklahoma group was the reminder that companies that are passionate about serving their customer- and offering them solutions that will make them money- those companies can thrive anywhere- even in a tiny village like Borris, Ireland.    

EPA Ranks Oklahoma Second In Water Pollution Reduction 

Recent analysis of nonpoint source pollution reduction numbers from across the nation shows that Oklahoma ranks as the number two state in the nation when it comes to reducing nutrients from our streams and rivers. This is the third year in a row that Oklahoma has ranked in the top ten among states in reducing non-point source pollution from our water, moving from number eight, to number five, to now ranking number two.

According to Joe Parker, President of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD), this continued improvement is a testimony to the success of the dedicated work done by farmers, ranchers and other landowners in partnership with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, local conservation districts and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to address these issues.

"This success shows what can happen when we work together to solve problems," Parker said. "When we respect folk's private property rights and when the state and federal governments give landowners the financial and technical assistance they need to make changes, we can accomplish great things. Locally-led, voluntary conservation works and it is a critical part of our natural resource work in Oklahoma."

To read more about Oklahoma's progress in water quality improvement, click here.

Court Validates Cattlemen's Concerns on EPA's Scientifically Shoddy Approach

The Florida Cattlemen's Association (FCA) and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) on April 28, 2011, challenged the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) determination letter and final rule establishing numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for Florida's lakes, rivers, streams and springs. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee, resulted in a mixed ruling on Feb. 18, 2012. Judge Robert L. Hinkle invalidated the criteria for streams as well as certain aspects of the downstream protection values for lakes ruling them "arbitrary and capricious." This action ultimately prevents EPA from implementing its proposed criteria for these water bodies in the state of Florida. While the Court upheld several of EPA's arguments, FCA and NCBA are encouraged by the outcome.

"We hope the recent ruling prompts EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to pull back from implementing federal nutrient criteria in Florida and properly return the authority back to the state where it belongs. It is clear that EPA's heavy hand will have irreparable harm on Florida agricultural producers if the agency's actions are not stopped. Just as importantly, EPA must be stopped from applying this flawed model to other watersheds across the country," said NCBA Deputy Environmental Counsel Ashley Lyon. "EPA's 'science be damned' approach should be stopped. Criteria must be based on science. EPA's approach is not based on science and was rightly invalidated."

You can read more about what this ruling could mean to cattle producers by clicking here.

Kim Anderson: Australian Wheat Bound To Affect World Markets

Oklahoma State University's Kim Anderson says wheat producers need to keep an eye on global markets and currency exchanges. He recently examined Australia's wheat market and what influence it will play on the world stage this year.

He said the country is coming off two record billion-bushel-plus years. Normal production is in the 880-million bushel range, so substantial surpluses are on hand to the tune of about 1.37 billion bushels.

While the Australians had a great year in terms of production, they didn't have a great year in terms of quality. They produced a record percentage of feed wheat this year, coming in at 31 percent. Anderson said that sounds high, "but with two billion-bushel crops in a row, they've got more than enough milling quality wheat to meet their demand and export demand."

Besides Kim Anderson's comments on the wheat marketplace- we also have our regular rundown on the weekly SUNUP program for this weekend- you can find that by clicking on the link for Kim's analysis.

You can read more of Anderson's analysis or hear an interview with him by clicking here. 

National Pork Board to Meet at National Pork Industry Forum

Now nearing the halfway point of a five-year strategic plan, the National Pork Board will meet in Denver, Colo., with the chairs of its nine producer-led committees on Feb. 29 and March 1 to assess progress in meeting the goals laid out in the plan.

The board is meeting prior to the start of National Pork Industry Forum, the annual meeting of the pork industry's two national organizations. Pork Forum begins the afternoon of March 1 and concludes March 3.

The National Pork Board relies on producer-led committees to advise board members on matters ranging from product marketing to animal well-being, food safety and environmental research. Each committee includes pork producers and industry experts and is chaired by a producer, who leads committee deliberations. As part of the board's budgeting process, the committees also propose tactics and budgets to address the priorities established by the board.
 

Elanco Partners With Heifer International To Defeat World Hunger

At the recent Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Elanco Animal Health featured the charitable organization Heifer International in its booth.   Radio Oklahoma Network's Ron Hays interviewed Heifer's Marlene Neu about the organization and its impact.

"Heifer International is a 65-year-old-plus organization," Neu said. We are about ending hunger and poverty. That's our mission statement. Ending hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. And the way we do that is we provide animals and the care and training of the animals to families all over the world. We're currently in 40 countries but we've operated in 53 since its inception."

She said the provision of animals is the first step in giving families the resources necessary to establish truly sustainable production even on the smallest of farm plots. But providing animals is just half the battle.

"There are small family plots, most of them live on less than two hectares of land and an animal can completely transform that family and that life. We teach these communities and families how to use the resources from these animals to lift themselves, their families, and their communities up out of poverty."
 

End of the Week Rants and Rumblings

It's been a great week as we have traveled with Class XV of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- we have been told more than once that the Irish suffered through a historic cold spell last winter, with temperatures slightly below zero with a good bit of snow.  Not so this year- we were right at 60 degrees yesterday morning and midday before it got cooler in the afternoon.  Our final days in Ireland are expected to low 50s which is just fine, thank you.  

One of the stops that we had on Thursday was at the Coolmore Stud- the world's largest breeder of Thoroughbred horses- they have quite an operation in the middle of southeastern Ireland in a tiny village of Fethard- they may well be the major employer of the community with 300 on the payroll. Under the heading of "its a small world," they have acquired a couple of farms in the US- in Kentucky and one of them is the Ashford Stud Farm.  The name rang a bell to me- and yep, I checked and it's  located in my hometown of Versailles, Ky. (which is the heart of racehorse country in that state)  

We have put a number of stories up on our website- you can see all of our stories to date from the OALP International Travel Experience by clicking here. 

While we have a few more days to go in Ireland- we are starting to get ready for several days in Nashville, Tennessee as we head to the 2012 Commodity Classic.  We will be reporting from there for several days next week as wheat, sorghum, corn and soybean growers converge on Opryland Hotel- a week from today- all of those folks will be hearing USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack who will deliver a keynote address at their General Session.