Tuesday February 10 Ag News

When Should Colostrum Replacement Products Be Used for Newborn Calves?
Larry Howard, UNL Extension Educator, Cuming County

It is crucial that newborn calves get off to a good start and one of the most important things that needs to happen at birth is the adequate consumption of high-quality colostrum by the newborn calf. Ideally, we like to see vigorous calves stand and nurse within two hours of birth and repeatedly nurse by the time it’s 12 hours old.  Richard Randle, Nebraska Extension Beef Veterinarian says that there are situations that could impact the quality and quantity of colostrum available to newborn calves. In those situations, colostrum replacement products may need to be considered. Those situations include:

DIFFICULT CALVING
Calves that experience difficult births often are slow to stand and nurse. Research has shown that calves born with no assistance stood and nursed within 40 minutes after birth and had a higher immunoglobulin concentration at 24 hours while calves that required assistance took more than an hour to stand and had a significantly lower immunoglobulin concentration.

SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS
Harsh winter weather conditions can cause cold stress. Calves that experience cold stress may be less likely to get up and nurse, cold-stressed cows also have reduced potential of providing high-quality colostrum.

THIN COWS
Nutrition plays a direct role in the production of colostrum. Undernourished cows may not have received enough energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins during the gestation period and, therefore, the ability to produce quality colostrum is reduced. As body condition decreases so does the amount and concentration of immunoglobulins in colostrum.

FIRST-CALF HEIFERS
Colostrum quality and quantity is usually lower in first-calf heifers. There is also a higher likelihood that first-calf heifers may lack good “mothering instinct” and will not allow the calf to immediately suckle – or may reject the calf altogether.

Dr. Randle says that there are a number of colostrum replacement products commercially available today. Care should be taken in selection of the product to ensure you are getting a replacement and not a supplement. Although similar, replacements have higher concentrations of immunoglobulins(Ig), specifically IgG, than supplements and are intended to serve as the sole source when fresh colostrum is not available. There are other nutrients such as sugars, fats, vitamins, and minerals in replacements, but there can be variability in the quality and digestibility of products based on the source of these nutrients and the method of processing. Be sure to carefully read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions since products may vary in how they are mixed and the number of recommended feedings. You should consult your veterinarian to help you make a more informed purchasing decision for the colostrum replacement product that is suited best for your operation. This decision is an important one because you only get one chance to start a calf off right.

For more information on colostrum Dr.Randle’s “Care of the Newborn Calf: Colostrum Management Webinar” can be viewed at http://go.unl.edu/4eez.

Private Applicators Need Certification
All farmers who use restricted use pesticide must have a current certification card according to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension is conducting the following training sessions. Which are approved for renewal or initial certification according to University of Nebraska Extension Educator Larry Howard of Cuming County.  Again this year, there will be a fee charged to support the cost of materials.  Producers are reminded to bring their old cards and the letter with the form at the bottom that they received from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture if they are recertifying.

Each session last approximately three hours and will be held in West Point at the Nielsen Community Center on March 2 at 1:30 p.m.

For additional information, contact the Nebraska Extension office in Cuming County at 402/372-6006.

Again this year, the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department’s Operation Heart to Heart will be available before the pesticide training (From 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. They are providing cardiovascular screenings for farmers and their families.  This year there will be a charge for the screening.

A screening consists of measuring blood pressure, body mass index, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides and glucose.  Results are available within minutes.  Fasting 8 hours prior to the screening is recommended but not required.  A blood sample is taken from a finger poke.  No income or insurance guidelines or restrictions.  Operation Heart to Heart serves residents in Madison, Stanton, Cuming and Burt counties.

A light snack or lunch will be available.  Walk-ins are always welcome.



Ag Champions contest announced for Nebraska FFA chapters

Championing for a cause is as important to Olympian Curt Tomasevicz as preparing for a bobsled race.  But this cause is agriculture. The Nebraska Corn Board (NCB) and Nebraska FFA, with the help of Curt Tomasevicz, spokesman for NCB, are partnering on a new program and contest for Nebraska FFA students called “Ag Champions”.

The purpose of the Ag Champions program is to build up FFA students to become “agvocates” (agricultural advocates) in their communities and amongst their peers. The program will provide a toolbox of resources and a contest to allow FFA chapters to submit a plan which would earn the top three winning chapters grants, based off of the budget in their agvocacy proposal. The Grand Champion winning chapter will earn the opportunity for Tomasevicz to be involved with their program.

“Through this project, we want to engage FFA members by developing a lasting impact through direct community involvement, as well as encouraging grassroots agvocacy,” said Anita Wollenburg, interim Nebraska FFA state advisor. “Through this plan, FFA chapters will determine an issue in their community, the audience they want to reach and expand on an agvocacy plan of defending agriculture along with education and communication.”

While this contest only provides three winning grants, the goal of the Ag Champions program is to create agvocates in the state’s communities and help put a realistic plan in place that can be used by the FFA chapters and students in any situation.

“As issues affecting agriculture appear too often, we are encouraging local FFA chapters to have a plan in place to defend their industry, while also putting agriculture on the offense,” said Kelly Brunkhorst, NCB executive director. “Education is key to important issues and could dispel many issues that arise when the foundation and basic understanding of an issue is in place.”

Tomasevicz is helping to spread the message about the Ag Champions program with a shout-out to FFA students on his YouTube channel. All Nebraska FFA chapters will be receiving information about the contest details from the Nebraska State FFA Officers on their chapter visits, but more information can be obtained on www.NebraskaCorn.org. Deadline for the Ag Champions plans to be submitted to NCB is May 15, 2015.



SURVEY SHOWS IOWANS SUPPORT TARGETED APPROACHES FOR MULTIPLE-BENEFIT AGRICULTURE

More than 1,000 Iowans were surveyed to learn more about their expectations for agriculture and concerns about environmental quality. The survey found that not only do Iowans support targeted approaches for multiple-benefit agriculture, they are willing to pay for it too.

The survey was conducted by J. Gordon Arbuckle Jr. and John C. Tyndall, social scientists collaborating on the STRIPS project at Iowa State University. STRIPS stands for Science-based Trials of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips. The STRIPS project measures the impacts of strategically planting prairie strips in crop fields.

Results from the STRIPS plantings have shown that small amounts of prairie can yield disproportionate, multi-functional benefits to soils, watersheds, wildlife habitat and biodiversity. The multidisciplinary STRIPS research team conducted the survey to find out the extent to which Iowans were interested in this kind of paradigm shift toward conservation agriculture.

Fifty-five percent of Iowans surveyed agreed that agriculture has some negative impacts on the environment, and two-thirds indicated that they would support a shift toward a targeted conservation approach that would minimize these negative effects while also providing a range of benefits to agricultural landscapes.

The survey revealed that water-related benefits were especially attractive. Given a list of 15 items to rank on a five-point scale ranging from “no priority” to “very high priority” for agricultural policy and programs, drinking water quality was the highest priority by a wide margin: 91 percent said it was a high or very high priority.

Protection of water quality for aquatic life, improving flood control, and protecting water quality for recreation were also top priorities. Iowans would also like to see agriculture provide benefits such as the creation of wildlife habitat, mitigation of climate change, and provision of opportunities for recreation, tourism and economic development.

Importantly, the survey respondents were willing to pay an estimated $42 million per year over a period of ten years to support the implementation of conservation agriculture that yields these diverse kinds of benefits while still producing food, feed and fuel.

The survey was conducted about one year after 63 percent of Iowa voters passed an amendment to the Iowa Constitution creating a Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. The amendment would dedicate a fraction of one percent of any future sales tax increase to create a stable funding source for addressing natural resource needs. The state has not increased sales tax since the 2010 referendum, however, so the Trust Fund does not yet have a dedicated source of funding. One primary objective of the survey was to measure Iowans’ willingness to pay into such a fund.

Sixty-three percent of the survey respondents—the same proportion of Iowa voters that voted to create the Trust Fund—indicated that they supported a shift to a targeted conservation approach, and 89 percent of those who “voted” for the shift were willing to pay for it through methods like taxes, license plate fees or voluntary contributions.

The survey provided 10 dollar amount options, ranging from $0 to $75 per year over 10 years. Half of the respondents were willing to pay $30 or more per year. In fact, at 21 percent, $75 was the most commonly selected amount, suggesting that many would have selected even higher annual payments if they had been given the option.

The results of this survey are summarized in a new report, “Iowans’ Perspectives on Targeted Approaches for Multiple-Benefit Agriculture: Measuring Support for a Paradigm Shift in Agri-Environmental Policy,” which can be found online at www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs.

Learn more about the STRIPS project on the research team’s website, www.prairiestrips.org.



American Heart Association® Certifies Extra Lean Ground Beef as Part of a Heart-Healthy Diet

The Beef Checkoff Program announced today that Extra Lean Ground Beef (Ground Beef that is at least 96% lean, 4% fat) is now certified by the American Heart Association® to display its recognized and respected Heart-Check mark. Retailers now have the opportunity to help identify eight different extra lean beef items as options for part of an overall healthy diet to their shoppers using one of the most trusted nutrition icons on food packaging today.

The extra lean beef cuts that meet the American Heart Association’s® requirements for heart-healthy foods as part of an overall healthy dietary pattern, and are certified to display the Heart-Check mark, include:
-    Extra Lean Ground Beef (96% lean, 4% fat)
-    Bottom Round Steak (USDA Select grade)
-    Sirloin Tip Steak (USDA Select grade)
-    Top Sirloin Petite Roast, Boneless (USDA Select grade)
-    Top Sirloin Strips (USDA Select grade)
-    Top Sirloin Filet (USDA Select grade)
-    Top Sirloin Kabob (USDA Select grade)
-    Top Sirloin Steak, Boneless, Center Cut (USDA Select grade)

“Beef has many nutritional benefits and having the American Heart Association certify yet another beef cut empowers consumers to feel good about including beef in their diet, not only for its great taste but for its nutritional value,” said Jo Stanko, a cow-calf operator from Steamboat Springs, Colo., and vice chair of the Checkoff’s nutrition and health subcommittee. “Beef farmers and ranchers like myself share a common goal; to help consumers make shopping decisions to fit their needs and lifestyles by educating them about the health benefits of their food. To this end we will continue to support valid science to show consumers how extra lean beef is part of a healthy diet.”

Before putting its Heart-Check mark on any food, the American Heart Association® evaluates it against nutrition requirements based on sound science regarding healthy dietary recommendations, food categories, specific product ingredients and nutrient values.

Multiple retailers with hundreds of stores across the U.S. currently display the Heart-Check mark on certified beef items in the meat case. Retailers and processors can work with the Beef Checkoff Program to receive a discount on the certification fee for the American Heart Association® Food Certification Program.

Resources such as on-pack labels, posters and recipes are available for retailers to use in store and in shopper communications to promote the certified beef cuts.

To learn more about participating in the American Heart Association® Food Certification Program, please visit www.BeefRetail.org.



EIA Ups 2015 Ethanol Output Forecast

The Energy Information Administration expects ethanol production this year to average 938,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to the latest Short-term Energy Outlook published Tuesday afternoon, 2,000 bpd above last month's estimate and 5,000 bpd higher than output averaged in 2014.

After reaching a record monthly production average of 978,000 bpd in December 2014, ethanol production in January is estimated to be 969,000 bpd. The agency forecast 2016 production at 936,000 bpd, slightly below January's STEO.

EIA said biodiesel production averaged an estimated 80,000 bpd in 2014, down from 89,000 bpd in 2013. Biodiesel production is forecast to average 84,000 bpd in 2015 and 2016.



All Fertilizer Prices Increasing

Fertilizer prices continue to rise, but they are increasing at a fairly slow rate, according to retail fertilizer prices tracked by DTN for the fourth week of February 2015.

All eight of the major fertilizers edged higher compared to a month earlier, but none of the eight were up significantly. DAP had an average price of $569 per ton, MAP $597/ton, potash $488/ton and urea $473/ton. 10-34-0 had an average price of $589/ton, anhydrous $707/ton, UAN28 $329/ton and UAN32 $369/ton.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.51/lb.N, anhydrous $0.43/lb.N, UAN28 $0.59/lb.N and UAN32 $0.58/lb.N.

Two of the eight major fertilizers are now double digits higher in price compared to February 2014, all while commodity prices are significantly lower from a year ago. 10-34-0 is 18% higher while anhydrous is 15% more expensive compared to year earlier.

DAP and MAP are both 8% more expensive and potash is 4% more expensive compared to a year earlier.

Three nutrients are now lower compared to retail prices from a year ago. UAN28 is down 2% while UAN32 is now 3% less expensive and urea is 6% less expensive from a year previous.



USGC Delegates Begin Winter Annual Meeting in Costa Rica

More than 250 U.S. Grains Council (USGC) delegates from across the United States began meetings Monday in Heredia, Costa Rica, to assess programs and develop marketing strategies for the upcoming year.

The 12th International Marketing Conference and 55th Annual Membership Meeting, as the gathering is known, is a once-a-year opportunity to assemble as a group to discuss the Council’s boots-on-the-ground efforts directly with the Council’s international staff.

In addition, the USGC Advisory Teams (A-Teams), which provide guidance and set priorities for the Council’s international operations, and commodity-specific stakeholders are meeting to review global strategies and compare notes about the global grain trade.

“The purpose of the winter annual meeting is to bring the Council’s stakeholders and global staff together under one roof,” said USGC Chairman Ron Gray. “Work at this meeting will help us provide for more transparent markets around the world, allowing both producers and end-users to maximize market opportunities.”

Attendees will also learn about agriculture and trade in the host country, with agricultural site visits to Costa Rican farms and agribusinesses scheduled for Tuesday.

“Costa Rica offers a diverse set of agricultural interests for USGC delegates to experience,” Gray said. “Settings for these tours range from a dairy to a craft brewery to a sugar cane distillery to a coffee plantation.”

The Council’s winter annual meeting will conclude Wednesday with business meetings by the USGC Board of Delegates and Board of Directors.



Brazil's Abiove Raises Soybean View to 92.3 MMT

Brazil's Soy Industry Association (Abiove) raised its forecast Tuesday for the 2014-15 season by 400,000 metric tons to 92.3 million metric tons (mmt).

The hike bucks the recent trend for falling soybean numbers amid dryness concerns in the center-west and northeast. However, Abiove previously had a much lower number than everyone else.

Private consultants have been lowering their crop figures from the 95 mmt range to 92-94 mmt over the past couple of weeks due to a drier-than-normal January across most of the Cerrado region. Reports from Mato Grosso farmers indicate the crop does have some issues there.

Abiove maintained its soybean export forecast at 48.0 mmt, up 5% on the year before, but raised its carryover stock forecast by 8.7% to 6.1 mmt.



U.S. Food Sales to Cuba Off to Slow Start

U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba fell below $300 million last year for the first time since 2003 as the communist-led island's financial woes continued, and it purchased food on credit elsewhere, a trade group said last week. The United States created an exception to its trade embargo of Cuba in 2000 to allow food and medicine sales, but it still denies Cuba credit, forcing it to pay cash up front. 

Although the United States and Cuba are seeking to restore diplomatic relations after more than five decades of confrontation, the embargo on Cuba remains largely in place.

With Cuba increasingly turning to suppliers who extend credit, American farmers have argued for normalizing trade with Cuba so they can better compete. U.S. food sales of $291 million in 2014 were down from $349 million in 2013 and far from the $710 million peak in 2008, the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council said in a report obtained by Reuters.

It attributed the decline to a cash shortage, Cuba purchasing on credit and from government entities and a desire to pressure the United States to lift trade restrictions.

President Raul Castro, who took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, has introduced austerity measures, including significant cuts in imports and a push for trade credits with payments due in 365 days or more.

A new private agricultural organization backed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is likely to seize on the report as an argument for ending U.S. sanctions against Cuba. The U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba was formed after the announcement Dec. 17 that the United States and Cuba would restore diplomatic relations.

Cuba imports between 60 percent and 70 percent of its food. It buys chicken, corn, soy, wheat, animal feed and other products from the United States but most purchases come from Asia, Europe and Latin America and are made on credit. Cuba's food imports were $2 billion in 2014 and are expected to increase by $200 million this year, the government said.



Protective Order Stops EPA From Releasing Data

A U.S. District Court judge Friday issued a protective order against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stopping it from disclosing to radical environmental and animal-rights groups information on farmers, pending the resolution of a legal challenge brought by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation over the release of such data.

Without undergoing review, EPA’s Office of Water released in February 2013 extensive private and personal information it had collected on farmers in 30 states to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earth Justice and the Pew Charitable Trusts under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests the groups filed. In some instances, the data contained farmers’ home addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and personal medical information, as well as similar information for their employees, spouses and children. After objections from NPPC and other agriculture groups, EPA requested that the environmental organizations return the data. In late June, NPPC learned that EPA was preparing to respond to additional FOIAs from activist groups, seeking additional personal information that the agency collected from other states. NPPC and the farm bureau objected to that release, and in July filed suit against EPA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, seeking to enjoin the release of the farmers’ private and personal information.

The court dismissed the suit Jan. 27, claiming that neither NPPC nor the farm bureau had standing to sue since some of the information could be obtained from other sources, noting that one farmer had a Facebook page and, therefore, had no expectation of privacy. NPPC and the farm bureau appealed the ruling and sought a protective order to prevent release of any farm information while the appeal is pending.

“We’re thrilled that the court recognized the importance of protecting this information and the need to prevent its release until the conclusion of the appeal,” said NPPC President Dr. Howard Hill, a veterinarian and pork producer from Cambridge, Iowa. “We are confident in our position. The idea that a farmer having a Facebook page, something 71 percent of Americans with online access have, amounts to a waiver of his or her right to privacy strikes us being at odds with common sense and the clear direction of the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Releasing farmers’ personal information constitutes an irreparable harm that is not outweighed by any public interest, because the public strongly favors the protection of private information.”

EPA gathered the information on farmers despite being forced in 2012 to drop a proposed data reporting rule for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) because of concerns about the privacy and biosecurity of family farms. The proposed regulation was the result of a 2010 “sweetheart” deal the agency entered with environmental groups, including NRDC whose lawyer in the case is now a Staff Attorney at the radical Humane Society of the United States.  The deal was struck while EPA and livestock and poultry producers were in the middle of a lawsuit brought by NPPC over EPA’s 2008 CAFO rule, which required large livestock and poultry operations that propose to or that might discharge into waterways to obtain Clean Water Act (CWA) permits. A federal appeals court ruled that the CWA requires permits only for farms that actually discharge.

While the agency dropped the reporting rule, it gathered farm data from state water agencies without informing them about its intention to share the information with outside groups, including through a searchable national database.



Syngenta Drive to Thrive contest to reward individuals and farming communities

The application period for the second annual Syngenta Drive to Thrive contest is now open. The contest asks growers and other industry professionals to describe how agriculture makes their communities thrive. In exchange, the 10 best entries will each receive a mini touch-screen tablet and leather case. From those finalists, one grand prizewinner will receive a $500 gas card, plus Syngenta will make a $1,000 donation in his or her name to a local charity or civic organization.

“Agriculture is the engine that drives so many communities across the U.S. to succeed,” said Wendell Calhoun, communications manager at Syngenta. “The Drive to Thrive contest gives us a chance to reward and recognize a few individuals whose talents and hard work make U.S. agriculture the leader in feeding, fueling and clothing the world.”

The process to participate is simple:
-    Click on the easy-to-use online entry form.
-    In about 200 words, describe how agriculture makes your community thrive.
-    Then, upload a photograph or video that visually supports your written entry.

The deadline for entering is June 1, 2015. Shortly after this date, a panel of judges will choose 10 finalists. Syngenta will then post all finalists’ entries on the Thrive website and ask visitors to help choose the grand prizewinner by voting for their favorite. These votes, along with the judges’ scores, will determine the winner. Online voting ends Sept. 1, 2015, with Syngenta announcing the grand prizewinner in October.

Syngenta kicked off the Drive to Thrive contest in 2014, when the company invited participants to describe what drove their farms or agribusinesses to succeed. Jim Cuddeback, a grower from Washington, Iowa, was the grand prizewinner.

To apply or learn more about the Drive to Thrive contest, visit www.syngentathrive.com.



Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. acquires norflurazon assets from Syngenta

Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. (TKI) announced today the purchase of the herbicide assets of norflurazon (Solicam®) from Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC.

The product will be managed by NovaSource, the crop protection business unit of TKI.

SOLICAM is used for control of grass and broadleaf weeds in citrus, alfalfa, peanuts, tree fruits and nuts, caneberries, grapes, asparagus, and other crops.

"This acquisition provides customers with continued access to this important herbicide," said David Cassidy, Group Vice President. "NovaSource is pleased to add SOLICAM to its portfolio of niche crop protection products," he added.

NovaSource acquires the global norflurazon assets including trade names, registrations, and knowhow.

TKI is a subsidiary of Tessenderlo Group, Brussels, Belgium. With headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, TKI produces and markets specialty chemical solutions, including fertilizers, crop protection chemicals and process chemicals and services to diverse markets around the world. TKI operates 11 manufacturing plants in North America in addition to an extensive terminal network.



Research Shows Copper Supplementation is the Key for Piglet Performance

Supplementing nursery pigs with MINTREX® Cu chelated trace minerals significantly improved daily gain by an additional 3 percent and feed efficiency by 2.6 percent when compared to other forms of trace minerals, according to a recent meta-analysis of available study results.

These findings are supported in the paper, "Multi-trial analysis of the effects of copper level and source on performance in nursery pigs," published in the Journal of Animal Science (JAS), the world's leading agriculture and animal sciences journal. The paper was co-authored by Yulin Ma, Karen Wedekind, Jeffery Escobar, Junmei Zhao, Mercedes Vazquez-Anon and Geoff I. Zanton of Novus International, Inc.

The results showed that weaned pigs fed MINTREX Cu had improved gut health resulting in a reduction in diarrhea incidence by 23 percent, as compared to other trace mineral forms. And, growing-finishing pigs fed the supplement experienced an improved immune response and improved nutrients digestibility in a common corn-soybean diet.

"It's important to meet a pig's nutritional needs during critical growing periods to improve feed intake and feed efficiency, and promote growth," said Yulin Ma, PhD, swine nutrition technical manager at Novus International, Inc. "Although copper is needed in only small amounts, this research presents compelling evidence that the trace mineral contributes to optimal pig performance, and that the unique properties of MINTREX Cu make it the best choice for producers."

MINTREX Cu from Novus International, Inc., is a highly bioavailable source of copper and the only mineral chelated with HMTBa, the active ingredient in ALIMET® feed supplement. Research has proven that MINTREX® delivers more bioavailable trace mineral to the small intestine than other leading organic trace minerals. The more bioavailable a mineral is, the lower the dietary concentration needed and the less mineral excreted to the environment. Increased bioavailability reduces feed costs and minimizes nutrient waste.

Copper is an essential component of a functional immune system and contributes to performance in a variety of ways including iron utilization, nutrient absorption and digestion, and general metabolic function. Copper also has similar antibacterial and growth promoting effects as antibiotics.

This year, Novus is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of its MINTREX chelates, which reflects its leadership position in the trace minerals market. The MINTREX molecule truly embodies the company's commitment to delivering and supporting innovative products, through science, that support animal health and performance.