Wednesday April 11 Ag News

Registration Available for 2012 Ranch Practicum

Registration is now open for the 2012 Nebraska Ranch Practicum, which will provide ranchers cutting edge research in range livestock production from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Natural resources, livestock management and economic reality are integrated throughout the practicum.

During the three-season UNL Extension class, participants have the opportunity to expand their knowledge with an overview of ranching practices from new angles. Throughout the program, participants will cover a variety of topics including the effective use of decision support tools to evaluate management and marketing alternatives, plant identification, range conditions and grazing strategies, wildlife management, evaluation of cow body condition scores and beef cattle production systems.

Classroom activities will open and close the practicum in North Platte with the remainder of the classes conducted at UNL's Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory, a working ranch with education and research facilities near Whitman. The 12,800 acre ranch provides hands-on experience to ranchers.

Practicum dates are June 13-14, July 12, Sept. 5-6, and Nov. 1, and Jan. 9-10, 2013 for the eight-session class. Scheduling of the sessions from June to January is designed to cover the production cycle of both livestock and forage resources.

The 2012 Nebraska Ranch Practicum can count for college or continuing education credit. Participants looking to earn credits should make arrangements during the initial session.

Applications are due May 4 with a $250 deposit. The registration fee for this eight-session Practicum is $650 for applications submitted before April 20. The registration fee is $700 if your application is submitted between April 20 and May 4. Fees for a spouse are $350. All educational materials, noon meals and breaks are included. Participants are responsible for travel and lodging expenses.

Enrollment is limited to 35, and applicants will be notified of their status by May 21. Deposits will be refunded if space is not available. Participants must pay the balance of the registration fee by June 13.

For applications or additional information, contact Brent Plugge at 308-236-1235, e-mail brent.plugge@unl.edu or visit the practicum website at http://nebraskaranchpracticum.unl.edu/.



FDA: Limit Animal Antibiotics

In its sternest warning to date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that farmers need to reduce their use of antibiotics in swine, cattle and poultry to keep the drugs from becoming ineffective against human infections.

The FDA singled out the widespread practice of using antibiotics to spur growth in food-producing animals and said it has to be phased out, but left it to the drug and livestock industries to comply voluntarily.

"We know that the widespread use of antibiotics can contribute to antimicrobial resistance, which has public-health consequences," said FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor.

The drop in antibiotic resistance after the drugs stop being used for growth promotion will be substantial, said Bill Flynn, an FDA deputy director, although he did not give any specific amounts.

Farm animals in the U.S. consumed 29.1 million pounds of antibiotics in 2010, according to the latest data released by the FDA last October.

Using antibiotics to boost meat production has become commonplace, but it is also leading to the overexposure of bacteria to drugs and creating a greater risk that those bacteria become resistant to medically important drugs such as penicillin and tylosin.

Antibiotics have a secondary effect on animals of increasing the efficiency of digesting feed, making them grow faster. In one of two guidance documents disclosed Wednesday, the FDA is instructing drug companies to remove growth promotion as a valid use for the antibiotics that are primarily given to livestock through feed.

Taylor said the FDA expects it will take three years for the drug and livestock industries to completely phase out using antibiotics to promote growth. That's a quicker and easier path than creating complex regulations to mandate the change, he said, but also stressed that if industry does not comply, the FDA "will consider further action."

"FDA has taken an important step to help protect the public's health from antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture," Laura Rogers, director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, said Wednesday.

But Rep. Louise Slaughter, D., N.Y., said she was disappointed the FDA did not decide to mandate changes.

Voluntary "recommendations are not a strong enough antidote to the problem," she said. "Of course if an animal is sick it should be treated, but the misuse of antibiotics in animal feed is destroying the effectiveness of antibiotics and limiting our ability to treat human illnesses."

While the FDA is not asking livestock producers to stop the practice of administering antibiotics to animals as a preventative measure to keep them from getting sick, Flynn said, the agency does not want the drugs being fed to animals "to cover whatever disease should come along."

Instead, veterinarians need to be involved in the dosing of animals to make sure the drugs are only being used to target specific diseases, he said.

More veterinarian involvement is another key factor in reducing farm animal antibiotic use, the FDA said, and the agency has been working with the Department of Agriculture to make that possible.



FDA Antibiotics Guidance Problematic For Producers

The loss of and restricted access to products expected with implementation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s guidance on the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry production likely will disproportionately affect small producers, have a negative effect on animal health and increase the cost of producing food while not improving public health, said the National Pork Producers Council.

First proposed in June 2010, the FDA guidance issued today calls for antibiotics that are “medically important” to humans to be used in animals only when necessary to assure their health. FDA will work with animal health companies to help them voluntarily discontinue the sale to livestock and poultry producers of antibiotics that are labeled only for nutritional efficiency. Additionally, all antibiotics that are in classes used in human medicine will need to be used under a veterinary feed directive (VFD).

“The guidance could eliminate antibiotics uses that are extremely important to the health of animals,” said NPPC President R.C. Hunt, a pork producer from Wilson, N.C. “And the requirement for VFDs could be problematic, particularly for smaller producers or producers in remote areas who may not have regular access to veterinary services.”

The guidance, which does not have the force of law but may be treated as such by FDA, is a move to address an increase in antibiotic-resistant illnesses in humans, which opponents of modern animal agriculture blame on the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry production.

But numerous peer-reviewed risk assessments, including at least one by FDA, show a “negligible” risk to human health of antibiotics use in food-animal production.

“FDA did not provide compelling evidence nor did it state that antibiotics use in livestock production is unsafe,” said Hunt, who pointed out that the agency already has authority to withdraw unsafe products. “Pork producers work with veterinarians to carefully consider if antibiotics are necessary and which ones to use, and we use them to keep animals healthy and to produce safe food.”

The agency did state that disease prevention, control and treatment uses of antibiotics in livestock production are therapeutic and essential to protect animal health, and those label claims will not be affected by its guidance. FDA also will work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to understand the implications of the VFD on underserved areas.



AFBF Analysis Sees Soybeans as New Market Driver

A new report on world agricultural supply and demand estimates issued this week by the Agriculture Department is setting up what could be an interesting new crop market dynamic, according to economic analysis from the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The WASDE report issued Tuesday was largely unchanged on the corn and feedgrain side and was generally viewed as neutral, but on the soybean side, supply estimates were reduced and U.S. exports increased to help make up for smaller South American crops, according to AFBF Economist Todd Davis.

“We are looking at a situation where soybeans, rather than corn, could very well become the market leader in the U.S. grain and oilseed complex,” Davis said. “Typically, corn prices usually help drive the market prices for the other grain and oilseed commodities, but given what we now know, soybeans are ready to move to the forefront.”

Davis explained that the report, coupled with prospective planting estimates from late March, indicate the United States is in rebuilding mode in regard to the nation’s corn supply, as U.S. farmers are expected to plant 95.9 million acres. This represents the highest corn acreage since 1937. But soybean supplies are likely to move in the opposite direction and become much tighter next year as 2012 U.S. soybean plantings are expected to decline by more than a million acres compared to 2011.  Complicating the picture has been the drought that has already cut into South American beans.

Soybeans were clearly the newsmaker in this April WASDE report. U.S. soybean ending stocks number was reduced by 25 million bushels to 250 million bushels. The decline was due to an increase in the expected amount of soybean crush and stronger U.S. exports to make up for the South American shortfalls.

On the world level, soybean ending stocks for 2011-12 are projected to decline to 55.52 million metric tons. The Argentina soybean crop estimate has been reduced by 257 million bushels from the November estimate and the Brazilian soybean crop has been reduced by 330 million bushels from the November estimate – again all due to the drought farmers in those nations worked through this growing season.

U.S. corn ending stocks for the 2011-12 marketing year were unchanged from the March report. Pre-report estimates were for a reduction in stocks based on the March 30 grain stocks report. Davis said that projected marketing year ending corn stocks of 801 million bushels is a 6.3 percent stocks-to-use ratio, or roughly a 23 day supply of corn available at the end of August.

Also related to corn, the WASDE report projects greater livestock feeding of wheat instead of corn, which will reduce the amount of corn used for that purpose. In addition, the 2012 corn crop is being planted earlier this year, so there is greater potential of the new-crop corn being harvested in southern states that could be fed in August. Davis said that “would provide some cushion for the tight 2011-12 corn balance sheet.”

At the world level, corn ending stocks for the 2011-12 marketing year will be the tightest since the 2006-07 marketing year with a stocks-to-use ratio of 14.2 percent, which was the tightest ending corn inventory in recent history, according to Davis.



EIA: Weekly U.S. Ethanol Stocks Drop

Domestic ethanol inventories tumbled 781,000 bbl or 3.5% to 21.772 million bbl for the week-ended April 6 to mark the third straight week with a drawdown, while supply is 6.1% higher than the year-ago level, according to fresh data from the Energy Information Administration.

Ethanol production from domestic plants rose 23,000 bpd or 2.6% to 896,000 bpd last week, while down 0.2% on the year.

Implied demand, as measured by refiner and blender net inputs, rose 8,000 or 1.0% to 824,000 bpd from the prior week, while up 4.4% from a year ago.

Elsewhere, the EIA reported that implied demand for motor gasoline slipped by 103,000 bpd to 8.681 million bpd for the week-ended April 6 while four-week average gasoline demand at 8.6 million bpd was down 4.0% from the level seen a year ago.



Digestibility, Nutrition of Whey Co-Products for Weaning Pigs

New research from the University of Illinois sheds light on the nutritional value of whey powder and whey permeate as a lactose source for pigs.

"We wanted to determine the energy concentration and digestibility of phosphorus in whey powder, in conventional whey permeate, and in low-ash whey permeate because these values had not been determined," said Hans H. Stein, a U of I professor of animal sciences.

Skim milk powder has been used to meet the requirement for lactose by weanling pigs, but it is costly and usually uneconomical to use in commercial production. Whey powder, a co-product of the cheese industry, contains lactose and protein and is more economical to use in weanling pig diets, he said.

"Some companies take the protein out of whey powder because they sell it for the human food market," Stein explained. "When they take the protein out, they are left with whey permeate, which contains mainly lactose and ash."

In their study, the scientists used conventional whey powder--66 percent lactose, 13.2 percent crude protein, and 15.8 percent ash--and two permeate products. One of the permeates was a conventional whey permeate that contained approximately 76 percent lactose and 9 percent ash. Most of the ash had been removed from the other permeate product, which was approximately 89 percent lactose and only 1.7 percent ash.

The concentration of metabolizable energy and the standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus were determined in all three ingredients using weanling pigs. Results indicated that the conventional whey permeate contains less metabolizable energy than whey powder (3,081 vs. 3,462 kcal per kg DM). However, the low-ash whey permeate contained 3,593 kcal metabolizable energy per kg DM.

"Removal of protein from whey powder resulted in a reduced concentration of metabolizable energy in the whey permeate. If ash is also removed, the resulting high-lactose, low-ash whey permeate has a concentration of metabolizable energy that is slightly greater than that in whey powder," Stein said.

The concentration of phosphorus in whey powder, conventional whey permeate, and low-ash whey permeate was 0.63, 0.57, and 0.10 percent, respectively, but the standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus was not different among the three ingredients (91.2, 93.1, and 91.8 percent, respectively).

"These data clearly indicate that phosphorus from all three ingredients is well digested by weanling pigs," he said.

Stein said that these results make it possible to include whey powder, whey permeate, or low-ash whey permeate in diets for weanling pigs that are formulated on the basis of metabolizable energy and the standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus.

"These data will provide the feed industry and swine producers with more options for including lactose in the diets," he said.