Bill Broady Watches Oklahomans Raise $61,078 for the All American Beef Battalion

The All American Beef Battalion received its largest donation in the organization's history in Oklahoma City Monday. For the fifth straight year a special calf auction was held at the Oklahoma National Stockyards.   All American Beef Battalion Founder Bill Broady of Ashland, Kansas watched as Oklahomans raised $61,078(the number provided by Debbie Wedel last night from National Livestock Credit Corp).


"It's phenomenal, its the largest amount ever raised in any single function for us," Broady said. "The generosity of Oklahoma Cattlemen is just, is just......I'm speechless, I'm speechless." 


Over the last five years-  the support of the National Livestock Credit Corporation, affiliated companies and cattlemen have helped feed thousands of military personnel a ribeye steak as they come home from being deployed overseas. The 2015 calf was donated by 3C Cattle Feeders and the Clyde Runyan family of Mill Creek, Oklahoma.  

Broady said 100 percent of the money raised goes toward the mission of showing appreciation and respect for the Armed Forces Military Service members. Part of the Battalion's mission is to organize and sponsor steak feeds, entertainment, programs and projects for service members and their families.


The All American Beef Battalion was developed about six and half years ago by Broady, a Vietnam Veteran. One day he saw the mainstream media talking negatively about the nation's troops overseas. Broady said it was reminiscent of how he was treated when he came home from Vietnam and decided he wanted to offer a positive response for our troops coming back from serving outside of our borders. Being a lifelong cattleman, he choose to provide steaks for troops.  Click here to hear our conversation with Broady and to read more about the impact of this organization and how you can also support the cause.   

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


In his latest analysis of the beef cattle industry- Dr. Derrell Peel looked at both Canada and Mexico in regards to their current populations of female beef animals. Here's his look at the Canadian cattle industry:

  On July 1, 2014, Canada reported an all cattle inventory of 13.33 million head, down one percent from 2013. This total includes 3.92 million beef cows, also down one percent from one year ago. The July 1 Canadian beef replacement heifer inventory was 616,000 head, down 4 percent from 2013 levels. Weekly Canadian cattle slaughter data for the year to date through early November indicates that total cattle slaughter is up 4.2 percent year over year, including a 10.4 percent increase in heifer slaughter. Beef cow slaughter in Canada is down 8.1 percent for the same period.


U.S. imports of Canadian cattle for the first ten months of 2014 were up nearly 20 percent, including a 7.3 percent increase in cattle for immediate slaughter and a 42 percent increase in feeder cattle. Total cattle for immediate slaughter includes a two percent increase in slaughter cows and a 15 percent increase in slaughter heifers for the year to date. Among feeder cattle imports from Canada, year to date totals include a 68 percent increase in feeder heifers and a four percent increase in feeder steers. Roughly 95 percent of the year over year increase in feeder cattle imports from Canada consists of heifers, an increase of over 100,000 head.


Increased heifer slaughter in Canada combined with increased heifer exports to the U.S. suggests that heifer retention is not happening in Canada. This is consistent with decreased beef cow and beef replacement inventories and, reduced Canadian beef cow slaughter notwithstanding, suggests that the Canadian beef cow herd is not expanding or at most very slowly in 2014.   

Click here to read about the Mexican beef cow and how the Canadian and Mexican cow and heifer situation has implications for herd size and cattle production on the North American continent in coming years.  

LMA Opposes USDA Creating Second Beef Checkoff Farm Dust

The Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) submitted comments opposing USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack's plans to create a second Beef Checkoff under the Commodity, Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 1996. Cattle producers already pay a $1 Checkoff each time cattle are sold. This program was created in 1985 under the Beef Promotion and Research Act. If USDA moves forward with their plans, the second Checkoff would run at the same time as the current Checkoff.


The LMA is the leading national trade organization for more than 800 livestock marketing businesses located throughout the United States. LMA represents more than 75 percent of the regularly selling local livestock auction markets. Approximately 36 million head of cattle are sold at livestock markets each year, making the markets a major collector of the dollar remitted to state beef councils under the current Beef Checkoff. For example, approximately 80 percent of the Checkoff funds in Tennessee and 60 percent of the funds in Oklahoma are collected at livestock markets.


"We have concerns about the creation of a second Checkoff, as we have not experienced industry support for the creation of a second program," said Dan Harris, LMA President and owner of Holton Livestock Exchange in Holton, Kan., in LMA's comments to USDA. LMA has particular concerns that the new Checkoff could be collected for three years prior to a producer vote asking if the new Checkoff was desired.

Click here to read more from LMA is opposed to the creation of a second beef checkoff.  

Registration Now Open for 2015 No Till on the Plains Conference

No-till farmers won't want to miss the 2015 No-till on the Plains Winter Conference, featuring the theme "Unlocking the Potential on Your Farm," Jan. 27-28 at the Bicentennial Center in Salina, Kansas.


"This year's conference has something for everyone who wants to learn more about no-till production practices" said Ryan Speer, president of No-till on the Plains and a farmer from Halstead, Kansas. "The conference program will help producers understand basic concepts and principles of moving to a no-till system, plus help those long-term no-tillers who are seeking to optimize their management to reach it's highest potential for production, soil health and profit."


Featured speaker Dr. Fred Provenza will deliver the keynote address "Unlocking the Potential of Your Mind-Creating Our Way Into the Future. Dr. Provenza will discuss how the changing landscapes and environments that producers and humans continually must adapt to, provides the opportunity to tap into the power of the human imagination and creativity of the mind. Dr. Provenza is professor emeritus of Animal Behavioral Ecology and Management in the Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Center at Utah State University.  He is a pioneer in the study of how behavior links soils, plants, herbivores, and humans and their collective effects on the health of landscapes.  Click here to read more about the other featured speakers and topics being presented at the 2015 No-Till on the Plains conference.

A veterinary education is extremely costly, sometimes leaving students with a stack of debt at the end of vet school. Dr. Michael Dicks specialized in ag policy at Oklahoma State University in the Agricultural Economics Department. At the beginning of 2013 he became the director of the Veterinary Economics division of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Dicks said having a lot of student loans can make it very difficult for graduates to start a large animal veterinary practice.


"The market for education is the start of that pipeline and whatever it costs those veterinarians to go to school when they become veterinarians, some how they have to be able to make enough money to pay off that debt," Dicks said. "The average veterinarian getting out of school today has about $130 - thousand dollars in debt. That's the average, but we also have kids that have up to $400-thousand dollars in debt." 


Being a veterinarian isn't as financially lucrative as you might think. Dicks said veterinarians receive on average a salary of $66 - thousand dollars with the low end range at $40 thousand dollars annually and the top end receives about $85 thousand a year. He said this gives veterinarians a debt to income ratio somewhere between two and four and in most cases many would have to borrow money for the first five years in order to be a practicing veterinarian.
 

I featured Dicks on the Beef Buzz feature.  Click here to read more on the challenges facing rural veterinary practices and also some programs that will assist veterinary medicine graduates repay their student loans.   

It was a point of frustration this past week at the Tulsa Farm Show for both exhibitors as well as potential buyers of equipment that were in attendance at the show. The slowness of the Senate to approve the Tax Extenders package meant that many purchases of big ticket items that would have occurred at the show either fell to the wayside or were put on hold while both sides waited to hear whether the relatively small deduction limit in 2014 would be raised up to a six figure number or not. 

The package of tax breaks includes the extension for all of 2014 the Section 179 break. According to the website section179.org, 

"Despite pleas from small business organizations across the U.S., Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said the Senate would deal with the omnibus spending legislation that passed on Saturday before taking up the tax extenders, so tax relief for small business was being held to last."

If the measure is approved by the Senate (and most DC experts expect that to happen tomorrow or Thursday), you will have about 6 or 7 business days to take advantage of it in 2014- this one year extension is only for 2014- with a reorganized Congress led by the GOP in both bodies wanting to do a major overhaul of tax policy in general- so no telling what tax policy might look like for the new calendar year.