Politico has just tweeted that the TPP Deal is Done- details will be forthcoming later today from Atlanta- Here is the story we wrote just a couple of hours ago before news came in of the deal being finalized:

A little over a year ago- the Texas Beef Industry put into place a secondary state checkoff as an additional levy on cattle owners above and beyond the federal dollar which has been collected since the late 1980s. The Oklahoma cattle industry is working to put into place a similar checkoff- with a petition drive now underway to get signatures of cattle producers that would like to have a referendum on having a secondary state beef checkoff in Oklahoma. The goal is to get 5,500 signatures of cattle owners by the end of the year in order to get a possible vote on an Oklahoma checkoff late next spring.

For those that might wonder how the new Texas beef checkoff is doing, Richard Thorpe III, who is an officer with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers, offers his opinion after the accessment has been in place for about a year:

"Texas cattlemen and women voted in a referendum in June 2014 to establish a state-level beef checkoff program to promote my personal favorite food product - beef. The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) supported passage of the referendum and it was overwhelmingly approved with 66.79 percent of producers voting in favor of creating the Texas Beef Checkoff.

Collections from the checkoff began in October of 2014, and it's encouraging to see how much the program has accomplished in a short amount of time.  Since Oct. 1, 2014, more than $7.2 million has been collected from the checkoff.  Click here to read more.

This year's outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the United States and resulting egg price increases have caused the food industry to closely examine a current policy that forces broiler chicken producers to destroy perfectly acceptable and safe shell eggs. The National Chicken Council, Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Association for Dressings and Sauces this week petitioned FDA to reverse or modify this policy.


"In light of the strain the HPAI outbreak is putting on the nation's egg supply, FDA should revisit the use of the surplus of affordable, quality eggs available in the United States for use by egg breakers and their customers, rather than seeking costly imports of foreign eggs," the groups wrote.


"Already faced with egg shortages, food producers and consumers might be hit even harder in their wallets as we head into the annual holiday baking season, unless FDA allows us to stop throwing away these eggs," noted Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., NCC senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.

To read more about this situation and the petition proposed, click or tap here.

 

American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union (AFR/OFU) kicks off its 71st annual fall speech contest series November 5th in Enid. Each year, the contest engages young Oklahomans from across the state, with more than 500 students competing in the contest's five districts.


At each district contest, students grades 4-12 compete in five categories-American Farmers & Ranchers, Natural Resources, Student Organizations, Agribusiness and Agriscience. The district contests result in more than 160 finalists advancing to the state contest held on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater.


"Over the years, our speech contests have been an AFR/OFU priority activity for the youth of Oklahoma," said AFR/OFU President Terry Detrick. "The opportunity these young people have to better their leadership skills and hone their ability to speak publically makes every participant a winner. We encourage every teacher, parent and grandparent to introduce their young people to this opportunity and to encourage their participation. They will not regret it."

We have been told that one topic many young people may be speaking on this year is the need for State Question 777 to be passed.  This ballot initiative that is known as Right to Farm will be on the November 2016 General Election ballot.

Details of the District Contests and more are available by clicking here.

Mindy Brashears began her career as a meat scientist at the University of Nebraska in the late 1990's, where she was at the forefront of early work on E. coli 0157. She came up with a protocol that has reduced the incidence of E. coli in live animals and in the final meat product. Today, Dr. Brashears' work continues at Texas Tech University, as the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence. On Tuesday, she testified before the House Ag Committee on Food Safety Research efforts. In partnering with other faculty, she said they have conducted several feeding studies to determine if a cattle pro-biotic controlled pathogens in the feedlot. Brashears' probiotic product proved to work.


"After several studies, we found E. coli can be reduced up to 50 percent in live animals, thus reducing the risk of product contamination," Brashears said. "This product has been commercialized and is used in many feedyards across the United States."


The beef industry has also used other strategies to improve food safety. This includes implementation of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and the use of antimicrobial intervention. Brashears said the government's investment in food safety research over the past 20 years has saved lives.


"In the early 1990's, we were scrambling for solutions to control E. coli, but federal investment in translational research delivered effective controls," Brashears said. "The FSIS testing shows that ground beef contamination has fallen more than 90 percent and the CDC reports that the human incidence has been cut in half."

In testifying before House Ag Sub-Committee members, Dr. Brashears told lawmakers while a lot of good things have already happened, there's still a lot of work to be done.  Click here to read more or to listen to this feature.

 

 

Express Ranches will offering some industry leading Angus and Hereford Genetics in their annual Ranchers Bull Sale that gets underway at 12 noon today.  293 Angus and 21 Hereford Bulls headline the sale- which will also include some top notch commercial females as well.  

 

Details are to be found on the Express Website- click here to get to the links to the Sale Book and Videos of the Bulls on offer.  

 

The Sale will be held at the ranch in Yukon and is also online at Superior Click to Bid.

 

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Speaking of our friends at Superior- they are partnering with the Oklahoma State University Animal Science Alums to have a special Internet Cattle Auction on October 16th.   

 

Details are here- and the deadline to consign cattle for this special sale is October 13th.  

 

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The last weekend in September found our Leslie Smith at the Heart of America Farm and Home Show- where she caught up with dog  trainer Bufford Barrett of Sapulpa. 

They talked about Buford's Border Collies and how he practices what is becoming a lost art- training pups to become stock dogs.

If you enjoy watching Border Collie stock dogs work their magic with livestock- click here to read this feature- and a chance to hear Leslie's conversation with Barrett.