National Livestock Producers Association

May 16, 2012

NSIIC Nominations Requested

American Sheep Industry Assn., 5/11/12 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service's Livestock and Seed Program is requesting nominations to the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center's (NSIIC) board of directors. Nominations are due to the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) by Friday, May 25.

For 2013, the board will have two vacancies. Members whose appointments will expire are Janet Mawhinney (Penn.), representing producers, and Glen Fisher (Texas), representing expertise in finance and management. Both current members are eligible to be re-nominated to their current position.

ASI is certified to nominate members to the NSIIC board. The ASI executive board will meet via a conference call at the end of May to make nominations; therefore, anyone interested in having their name put forward as a NSIIC board member should contact ASI before Friday, May 25.

The board is appointed by the secretary of agriculture and is composed of seven voting members, of whom four are active producers of sheep or goats in the United States, two have expertise in finance and management and one has expertise in lamb, wool, goat or goat-product marketing. The board also is composed of two non-voting members- the undersecretary of agriculture for marketing and regulatory programs and the undersecretary of agriculture for research, education and economics.

The diversity of nominees is, and will continue to be, a very important consideration in board appointments.

White Paper Highlights Challenges, Opportunities, Needs in Animal Agriculture

National Institute for Animal Agriculture, 5/7/12 - A White Paper that identifies and describes the challenges and opportunities today’s farmers and ranchers in animal agriculture face is now available. Specific challenges and opportunities topics addressed in the White Paper include technology, regulatory pressures, antimicrobial use, exports and traceability as well as the value of, and the need for, collaboration and outreach. A copy of the White Paper is available online at www.animalagriculture.org

GIPSA NEWS:

5/10/2012

Farmers Will Get Restitution Checks

Daily News, 5/9/2012 - Members of the state attorney general's office will be in Cave City this weekend to issue the first installment of restitution checks to farmers who were bilked by Eastern Livestock. In an announcement released Tuesday, Attorney General Jack Conway said his staff will be at the Comfort Inn, 819 Sanders St., Cave City, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The state has identified 173 people victimized at a Metcalfe County auction by the Indiana-based company, which operated a livestock sales facility in Edmonton. A settlement of more than $900,000 was reached with livestock producers through the attorney general's office, and the first installment payment will be given out Saturday.

Neillsville Livestock Dealer Fined for Falsifying Animal Records

Wisconsin Ag Connection, 5/15/2012 - A Clark County man has been ordered to pay over $2,700 in fines and court costs for illegally removing official identification from animals he was transporting and selling. According to the State Veterinarian's office, Timothy Heck of Neillsville pleaded no contest to one charge of falsifying, removing, altering and tampering with official identification. Court records show that Heck was frequently observed importing cattle from Minnesota and removing metal ear tags and paper back-tags from dairy cattle and then reselling those animals.

Sale Barn Yields To Changing Times

Trib.com, 5/13/2012 - The recent closure of the Central Wyoming Livestock sale barn in Glenrock reflects changing times in the cattle business, the former owner says. Kevin Rothschild said marketing channels are changing rapidly and dramatically. Videos have taken many cattle out of sale barns, he said, and ''now the Internet is starting to do to the videos what the videos did to the sale barns.'' He said the Glenrock sale barn found it increasingly difficult to create the kind of ''critical mass'' of livestock required for an auction business.

MF Global Customers Seeking Payment Feel Inequity

ValueWalk, 5/7/2012 - While some MF Global customers are slowly getting their money back, there appears to be a divide. According to The Wall Street Journal, not all customers are created equal. Andrew McCormick, a 27 year-old Seattle-based commodity-fund manager, had about $480,000 with MF Global at the time of its October implosion. His money was divided between U.S. and non-U.S. investments. He has reclaimed $175,000 (or 72 percent) from his U.S. holdings but as for the balance, he said, ''I haven't seen a penny'' from an account used to trade foreign contracts; it is currently frozen.

NMPF Urges Senate to Act on Farm Bill as Soon as Possible

National Milk Producers Federation, 5/15/2012 - The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is working with a bipartisan group of senators, as well as with other farm and agriculture organizations, to urge the Senate's leaders to bring the pending 2012 Farm Bill legislation to a vote this spring. In a letter sent Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 44 Senators urged that the farm bill be brought to a vote as soon as possible. If Senate action is delayed, it greatly diminishes the chance that the House of Representatives will make time to act on the Farm Bill yet in 2012 - meaning that important changes in dairy policy will not come to fruition this year.

FARM Takes New Track in Animal Rights Activism

The Sacramento Bee, 5/11/2012 - Along with their cabernet and Camembert, visitors at the Second Saturday art walk in Sacramento this weekend will get a taste of a new kind of animal rights activism. The images they will watch on video are graphic enough, organizers hope, that people will turn away and stop eating meat. Members of the nonprofit Farm Animal Rights Movement, based in Maryland, are sponsoring the unusual national campaign. In it, they offer people $1 to watch a short video that shows gruesome scenes of slaughter and abuse of chickens, pigs and cows at unidentified farming operations. Organizers boast that it is the largest and "most audacious" effort yet designed to discourage people from consuming animal products.

Bankers Make Recommendations For The Farm Bill

Pork Network, 5/11/2012 - The American Bankers Association through its chairman-elect testified this week before the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Credit of the House Committee on Agriculture. He offered recommendations to preserve and improve access to agriculture credit in the upcoming farm bill. ABA Chairman-Elect Matthew Williams recommended that term limits on loans guaranteed by the USDA's Farm Service Agency be repealed to expand access to credit for small and beginning farmers.

R.J. O'Brien Asks For Futures Trade Suspension

Brownfield Ag News, 5/15/2012 - Futures brokerage and clearing firm R.J. O'Brien is asking for a halt to futures trade on the 15 days a year USDA releases crop production, acreage, and quarterly stocks reports at 7:30 AM Central. According to a statement from the company, O'Brien's requesting activity be suspended from 7:15 AM Central to 9:30 AM Central to give market participants adequate time to receive and analyze the comprehensive global reports.

Horse Rescuers Overwhelmed With Animals

Kasa.com, 5/4/2012 - After undercover video of alleged abuses at an animal auction went public, horse rescue organizations are suddenly swamped with animals. The video was shocking. It showed starving and dying horses that couldn't even stand. It was taken in March by an animal rights group. Since then, many surrendered and abused horses in New Mexico are finding they have nowhere to go. The undercover video taken by Animals' Angels showed what the groups claimed were abusive conditions at the Southwest Livestock Auction in Los Lunas. The case is being investigated, but because of the controversy over the video, auction houses around the state are refusing horses.

The Value Of Growing Up In Agriculture

Beef Magazine, 5/16/2012 - I'll never forget how I first got my start in the cattle business. I was four years old and Grandpa told me if I helped him take care of a bottle calf, he would give me my very own heifer for payment. I took his business proposition seriously, and I accompanied my dad to the barn each day to offer the bull calf his bottle of milk. That fall, Dad and I looked over the replacement heifers, and I made my selection. She went on to have a bull calf that we took to the Black Hills Stock Show and sold in the Limousin sale. Shaking the customer's hand and collecting my first paycheck, I was hooked. The rest is history.

2.7 Billion New Consumers for Dairy Industry

The Cattle Site, 5/15/2012 - New research from Tetra Pak has identified 2.7 billion low-income consumers in developing countries as the dairy industry's next big growth opportunity due to an expected rise in prosperity, purchasing power and desire for packaged liquid dairy products (LDP). Consumption by low-income consumers in developing markets is forecast to increase from about 70 billion litres in 2011 to almost 80 billion litres in 2014, according to the Dairy Index, which tracks worldwide facts, figures and trends in the global dairy industry. Many of these consumers are expected to switch in coming years from drinking loose milk to packaged milk.

Brazilian beef: The China of Latin America?

Global Meat News, 5/11/2012 - The agricultural sector in Brazil remains critical to the overall economy per se at some 70% of GDP and employing around 30 million people.

Manitoba Pork Producers Urge U.S. to Amend COOL to Comply with Trade Obligations

Farm Scape, 5/15/2012 - Manitoba Pork Council is hoping the U.S. will make the changes to Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling needed to bring it into compliance with its international trade obligations. Last November the World Trade Organization panel investigating complaints by Canada and Mexico over U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling determined the law affords imported livestock less favorable treatment than like domestic livestock and violates U.S. trade obligations.

Goat Meat Goes Mainstream

Stock Journal, 5/14/2012 - GOAT meat is in vogue. It is gaining a prominent place in inner-city butcher shops and expanding into mainstream markets. With booming domestic demand and growth in traditional export markets, Australian pastoralists are reaping the rewards of harvesting rangeland goats or better managing goat herds as a resource. But securing a consistent supply and quality is challenging the fledgling industry.

Ottawa To Allow Slaughterhouses To Process Already Dead Animals

The Toronto Star, 5/14/2012 - The federal government wants to allow the carcasses of already dead animals to be processed in slaughterhouses for human consumption, a move that is raising concerns about the safety of Canada's food system. The Conservative government is pitching the change as a way to cut red tape and provide greater flexibility to slaughterhouse operators. But the New Democrats are raising a red flag saying the move invites possible ''contamination'' of the food supply.

Subcommittee Hearing Takeaway: Access to Credit Critical for Farmers

House Committee on Agriculture, 5/10/2012 - Today, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Credit held a public hearing to learn more about how credit programs are working for farmers and how they should continue in the 2012 Farm Bill. Two of the witnesses, a beginning farmer from Nebraska and an urban farmer from Ohio, explained how important it is for agricultural producers to have access to credit to both start and support their operations because of the risks inherently involved with farming.

The Ag Minute: Unfortunately for Rural America President Obama's Actions Speak Louder Than Words

House Committee on Agriculture, 5/15/2012 - This week during The Ag Minute, Chairman Frank Lucas discusses the disparity between President Obama's campaign rhetoric and his actions as president when it comes to energy policy. He claims to be for all-of-the-above energy sources, but his Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recently proposed New Source Performance Standards for power plants would suggest otherwise. This rule would prevent the construction of any new coal-fired power plants. Even EPA's own analysis of the rule assumes no new coal plants will be built in the U.S. Apparently, President Obama is for all sources of energy, except for when he is not.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Celebrates USDA's 150th Year of Service, Highlights Ways the Every Day, Every Way' Department Works for American People

USDA, 5/15/2012 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today marked the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and highlighted the positive impact that USDA has on the life of Americans each day. "For 150 years, USDA has supported our nation's economic prosperity and touched the lives of generations of Americans," said Vilsack. "I'm proud of the USDA employees who carry out President Lincoln's legacy throughout the country and around the world, making USDA a truly 'Every Day, Every Way' department. Whether improving domestic and international access to food, promoting nutrition and safety of our food supply, conserving our natural resources, advancing agricultural exports, or developing the rural economy, USDA helps Americans to lead better lives."

Characteristics Of Small-Scale U.S. Livestock Operations

Pork Network, 5/11/2012 - In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) conducted the Small-scale U.S. Livestock Operations study. The study focused on livestock operations with annual sales from $10,000 to $499,999 in which the predominant agricultural enterprise was a livestock/animal species such as cattle, poultry, goats, sheep, swine, horses, aquaculture, or other farm animals raised for sale or home use. There are approximately 350,000 farms in the United States fit this definition. Data for the study were collected April 17 to May 18, 2011, from 8,123 of these farms distributed across all 50 States.

National Livestock Producers Association, 13570 Meadowgrass Drive, Suite 201, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80921 Phone: 719-538-8843 * Toll-free: 800-237-7193 * Fax: 719-538-8847 Prepared by Melissa Schneider	Visit us online NLPA.org Twitter.com/NLPAorg
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