Tuesday June 7 Ag News

Producers Should Prepare for First Livestock Heat Stress Event This Week
Rick Stowell, NE Extension Specialist – Animal Environment

The forecast for this weekend calls for potential 100 F temperature.  With some tropical moisture added in, dangerous livestock heat stress conditions will likely exist beginning Thursday or Friday.  While there have been some warm spells to help animals acclimate to heat, the first heat wave of the year can often take a toll on livestock that aren’t ready for summer conditions.  Hopefully, producers in your area have made some advance preparations for summer conditions.

While some performance losses may be unavoidable, producers certainly need to avoid death losses.  Even at this late stage, some advance actions can make a world of difference for cattle and other livestock.

-        Double-check that all water sources are functional.

-        Delay or move up any handling activities that are scheduled for the heat period, especially for heavy, at-risk animals.

-        If heavy cattle and other at-risk animals can be provided access to shade or preferable pens, move them early, preferably while temperate conditions still exist.  Don’t mix groups, as this will add stress associated with re-establishing a pecking order that will extend into the heat period.

-        Monitor animals closely and be prepared to respond early.  Animals are like a battery that can store some excess heat, but once they’re maxed out, unfortunately , things can go bad quickly.

For a fuller description of ideas for minimizing and mitigating effects of heat stress, refer to:
http://beef.unl.edu/feeder-cattle-heat-stress
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=21348

 

PVC Plan Annual Summer Tour for June 20th

It is that time of the year again for the annual Platte Valley Cattlemen Summer Tour on June 20th. The Board has decided to take a charter bus and visit the Dekalb Bagging Plant east of Waco. After the Dekalb tour, the tour will head south of Milford to Weber and Sons Co. and view their handling facility. Once the tour at Weber and Sons Co. is completed, folks will return to Wunderlich’s and enjoy cold refreshments and steak sandwiches.

Agenda:
-Depart Wunderlich’s at 11:50 a.m.
-Arrive at Dekalb at 12:45 p.m.
-Leave Dekalb at 2:30 p.m.
-Arrive at Weber and Sons Co. at 3:00 p.m.
-Depart Weber and Sons Co. at 4:30 p.m.
-Arrive at Wunderlich’s at 6:00 p.m.

Please call President Marcus Urban (402-276-3830) or Sec/Tres Lloyd Cuda (402-615-1978) if you will be riding the bus. They would like to have an idea on a head count of how many individuals will be traveling. Please eat before the trip as you won’t be eating until you arrive back in Columbus. A big shout out to Dekalb, as they are helping sponsor this tour.



PROPER HAY STORAGE
Bruce Anderson, NE Extension Forage Specialist

               Did you make any good quality hay yet?  To keep it valuable and in good shape, proper storage is needed.

               I've said it before and I'll say it again – your hay is only as good as it is the day you feed it or sell it.  No matter how good your hay is today, between now and feeding time, every windstorm, every rain is going to steal nutrients from every exposed bale and stack.

               So what are you going to do about it?  Hopefully, one of the things you do is store that hay, especially your best hay, in a manner and location that will minimize nutrient losses caused by weathering.

               Weathering tends to lower the yield and nutrients available from your hay by about one percent for each month of exposed storage.  High value, high quality hay that will be sold or fed to high value animals like dairy cows and horses should be stored under cover.  A hay shed, a partially used machine shed, or any other shelter with a roof will be better than exposing your hay to what Mother Nature dishes out this summer.  Plastic wraps can be very effective, too, when good quality plastic is wrapped around bales enough times.

               Next best may be tarps, especially heavy-duty ones that can be tied down without tearing in the wind.  Plastic also works, but it takes special care and a lot of luck to fasten down plastic well enough so it doesn't get ripped during storms.

               If uncovered storage is your only option, place bales and stacks on an elevated site with good drainage so moisture doesn't soak up from the bottom.  Don't stack round bales or line them up with the twine sides touching – rain will collect where they touch and soak into the bale.  Also, allow space for air to circulate and dry the hay after rain.

               Good hay can stay that way. But it’s up to you to make it so.



Three Tips to Spot Sulfur Deficiency in Corn
Andrew Hoiberg, VP Research & Development, Calcium Products, Ames, Iowa
   
Now is the time to start scouting for sulfur deficiency in corn plants. As you’re out and about this spring, keep these three tips in mind to successfully identify sulfur deficiency.

1. Check young corn plants. Sulfur deficiency is most obvious early in the growing season, when the plant is most vulnerable to nutrient shortages.

2. Look at leaf color. From afar, plants with a pale green appearance should be inspected closer for nutrient deficiency symptoms. Both sulfur and nitrogen deficiency are marked by yellow striping between the veins of the leaf (interveinal chlorosis), which can cause confusion when diagnosing sulfur vs. nitrogen deficiency.  The image above shows sulfur deficiency.

3. Inspect plants’ youngest leaves. Sulfur deficiency shows up in the youngest leaves of the corn plant first, while nitrogen deficiency appears in the older leaves first. The difference is related to how each nutrient is mobilized in the plant.

The good news is that sulfur deficiency can be quickly corrected with a broadcast application of SuperCal SO4. An application rate of 100-150 lbs/acre will result in plant green-up in as little as seven days.

Keep in mind, corn needs sulfur throughout the growing season, so make sure you are supplying a source that offers flexible application timing and a release pattern that is compatible with plant requirements.



Battle Between Higher Hog, Feed Prices

Higher feed prices are once again the main story reducing prospects for profitability in pork production. In the first quarter of 2016, corn prices received by U.S. farmers averaged $3.60 per bushel and high protein meal at Decatur averaged $276 per ton. Today, those prices are closer to $4 per bushel for corn and nearby meal futures are above $400 per ton. Will higher feed prices erase hog profits?

According to Purdue University Extension economist Chris Hurt, it is fortunate that lean hog futures have also received a recent boost due to prospects for additional pork exports to China. "In 2014, Chinese pork producers reduced herds due to poor margins. Now there is a shortage of pork, resulting in record-high retail prices. China's pork imports have been growing and China will likely displace Japan as the world's top pork importer this year. This is no small feat because Japan has been the largest pork importer since 1989," Hurt says.

USDA analysts have forecast total U.S. pork exports to grow by 5 percent this year to 5.2 billion pounds. However, weekly export data this year points to even larger growth. Total export commitments for 2016 are 17 percent higher than last year at this point. Export commitments include the amount already shipped this year plus undelivered sales. With the prospects for Chinese imports to expand this summer, Hurt says total export growth may be stronger than the current 5 percent USDA forecast.

"Pork producer margins are currently caught between the good news of potentially higher pork prices from growing exports and the bad news of higher feed prices from reduced South American corn and soybean production and weather concerns for 2016 U.S. crops," Hurt says. "Both pork prices and feed prices are in a period of upward dynamics right now. How these two issues ultimately work out will have a great deal to do with margins for the remainder of 2016 and 2017."

Hurt says hog price prospects have improved somewhat.

Prices in 2016 are expected to be near $52 per live hundredweight, compared to an average of about $50 last year. Prices are expected to be in the mid-to-upper $50s in the second and third quarters and then seasonally drop to the higher $40s in the fourth quarter this year and first quarter of 2017. Although hog prices for 2016 are expected to be about $2 higher, the cost of production is also expected to rise by nearly $2 per live hundredweight with current feed price estimates based on futures markets for the rest of the year.

"This means that margins will be similar in 2015 and 2016," Hurt says. "Small losses of $3 per head are estimated for last year and projections for this year are for losses of $2 per head. These are small losses, so one could characterize the industry as operating near breakeven costs for both years. Breaking even covers all costs including depreciation, labor cost and an equity return," he explains.

According to Hurt, the seasonality of hog prices will continue to be an important determinant in the profitability by quarter. Hog prices tend to be the highest in warm weather months and the lowest in cool weather months. Following this pattern, profits are expected to be $10 per head in the second and third quarter this year and losses of $16 per head are expected in the fourth quarter of 2016 and first quarter of 2017.

"Higher feed prices have raised the red flag on expansion," Hurt says. "Producers well remember the extreme feed prices experienced in 2008 and again in 2011, 2012, and 2013. That unpleasant memory should help keep expansion plans on hold for now."

Hurt adds that two important factors determining margins this year are 1) the potential for higher pork exports and thus higher hog prices and 2) the potential for higher feed prices.

"These are tugging at margins in opposite directions," Hurt says. "Who is going to win the battle? So far, the impact of higher hog prices has been roughly offset by higher feed costs."



CUTC is About the Fine Art of Grinding Corn

Low prices in agriculture have created a little negativism these days but discussions at the 2016 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference took on a decidedly more positive tone starting with the opening session Monday night.

Kris Lutt, President, Sweeteners, Starches and Acidulants, told the group of 250 scientists, students, farmers and corn milling industry representatives he is very optimistic about the industry outlook and noted several areas that will provide more opportunities for the use of corn. These include building more foreign market demand, the development of new products made from corn, increasing worldwide demand for meat, focusing more on food safety and security and continuing to develop alternatives to petroleum.

NCGA CEO Chris Novak says that the need for new technologies to utilize corn has come about since farmers realized that with new production technology they can create a surplus. NCGA is very attuned to this dynamic he said and the organization's farmer leaders have created a new strategic plan reflects a new commitment to building corn demand.

Lutt noted the world will need to produce as much food in the next 40 years as we did in the previous 10,000 years and that alone presents enormous opportunity. And how are we going to meet that demand? He offered s three step approach as a place to start:
1. Continue to increase yields on existing land.
2. Prevent waste throughout the entire food chain.
3. Get more out of the crops we are producing.

And corn growers are off to a great start with planted acres from 1980-2015 up only 5% but yields have doubled. That's the equivalent of 80 million virtual acres, and pretty much using the same crop inputs, seed, fertilizer, etc...as we did in 1948.

Wade Ellis, Bunge North America president and general manager of milling, pointed out how much the corn world has changed since CUTC began two decades ago. Traceability and sustainability will be watch words for progress in the corn world. This holds true for both corn farmers and industry partners like Bunge. Not all consumers will use the increasing amount of information being made available but that doesn't lessen the need to provide the data and connections consumers want.
For corn processors who are providing s growing list of products that will mean a lot of work and engagement.

"We want a lot of products out there that compete against each other," Lutt said. It's what he calls "the fight for the grind" and that's where profit lives for corn. Both Lutt and Ellis emphasized you can make almost anything from corn but you have to make it competitively."

And that's what CUTC is about; ideas, equipment, processes and technology that produce more corn products that are both functional and profitable.



Beef at the Strolling of the Heifers Parade

The beef checkoff’s Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NEBPI) partnered with the Vermont Beef Industry Council, through a grant from the South Dakota Beef Industry Council, to ensure that beef was prominently represented at one of the most well-known outdoor summer festivals in the New England region. The 2016 Strolling of the Heifers parade and expo took place in Brattleboro, Vermont, the first weekend in June.

The weekend highlight is the parade, the actual Strolling of the Heifers. Regional 4-H dairy clubs and farms lead their heifers, complete with a collar of flowers, down Main Street in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont. Community bands, antique tractors and regional companies also exhibit on wagons or on foot in the parade. The NEBPI’s mascot, Patty Melt strolled in the parade and greeted the enthusiastic crowd with high-fives and hugs. The parade ends at an 11-acre outdoor festival full of youth activities, vendors, entertainment and food demonstrations. 

The beef checkoff was represented at two booth spaces at the festival. One booth space, located next to the Beef & Cheese Demonstration Tent included the ever-popular Beef Trivia Spin Wheel for attendees to test their beef knowledge and learn more about beef nutrition, cookery and production. Attendees also had the opportunity to win the “Best of Beef” raffle basket by completing a short informational survey. Local chefs demonstrated their culinary skills throughout the afternoon and beef was featured in five of the seven dishes; Beef Chopped Salad, Beef Meatballs with Chimichurri Sauce and Braised Beef Pasta with Goat Cheese were several of the dishes demonstrated on stage.

The second beef checkoff tent was located in the food court where the aroma of grilled steaks filled the air all afternoon. Checkoff staff and Millennial-to-Millennial volunteers grilled and sampled beef strip steaks, ribeyes, and tri-tip roasts throughout the day. Beef value cuts including the Denver cut and flat iron steak were also sampled by festival attendees. Discussions about choices of beef available in the market place accompanied the samples of sliced steak and attendees had the opportunity to take handouts of ‘Beef Made Easy’ cut chart guide and “Confident Cooking with Beef” recipe booklet.

The Tour de Heifer, a cycling race of 15, 30 and 60 miles wrapped up the weekend activities on Sunday morning. Cyclists were provided with lean beef snack sticks during their lunch break following the ride.