This is Heather Lassen, special projects editor for the Angus Journal, with the October 25, 2023, update from the AJ Daily. Today’s update contains an interview with 2023 Angus Association Board Candidate Darrell Stevenson, an announcement from the American Angus Association about the release of the Functional Longevity research EPD, a report on fed-cattle slaughter numbers, an invitation from NCBA to vote in its National Anthem Contest, and a story from University of California, Davis about how adding crushed volcanic rock to cropland could help remove carbon from the air.
Get to Know Darrell Stevenson, 2023 Board Candidate
Adapted from a release by Julie Mais, Angus Journal
Darrell Stevenson, Hobson, Mont., is seeking a second term on the American Angus Association Board of Directors.
Stevenson says he has a lot of optimism for the Angus breed due in part to black-hided cattle’s overwhelming presence in the marketplace.
He says, “From an association standpoint, I think there are several [positive] things that are actually going on right now on a point-by-point basis. If you want to just get down to the little things, I think the announcement and rollout of the functional longevity EPD (expected progeny difference), I think that this is a big step forward for us.”
Stevenson says high input costs for producers are a concern for him. “We've got to get creative,” he says. “We've got to figure out a way that we can make all of this simply more cost affordable to our membership.”
Check out the full interview, where Stevenson talks about the challenges and opportunities ahead for the breed and how he’d like to see the Board address them.
To listen to the interview with Stevenson in addition to interviews with the other candidates, go to angusjournal.net.
Angus Genetics, Inc., Releases Functional Longevity Research EPD
Adapted from releases by Esther Tarpoff and Sarah Kocher, American Angus Association
The Functional Longevity (FL) research expected progeny difference, or EPD, was released by the American Angus Association® for breeders on Oct. 25. The goal of Functional Longevity is to help both further characterize maternal traits relevant to the long-term success of breeders and increase profitability of cow-calf herds.
A research EPD is a prelude to a production EPD. A research EPD does not get updated weekly, but can be updated periodically as more data flows into the database. Once more data is collected, the evaluation will become even more robust, and the research EPD can be moved to production.
The Angus Genetics Inc research team, which conducts the breed’s development of EPDs, leveraged the data set from Angus Herd Improvement Records Inventory Reporting as a base for Functional Longevity.
To read more, visit angus.org.
CAB Insider: Market Update
Adapted from an article by Paul Dykstra, Certified Angus Beef
Last week, fed cattle slaughter saw a bit of recovery with a 638,000-head weekly total. Singling out the fed-cattle slaughter shows Friday’s total was reduced just 8,000 head compared to the average daily total in the four prior business days that averaged 98,750 head each.
In the previous week, negotiated fed cattle traded in a range between $185-$186 per hundredweight last week in a market that denoted a much firmer tone than it had for many weeks. This price level was the highest since early August in a market that has been tightly rangebound for multiple weeks.
For the full article, go to cabcattle.com and select CAB Insider under the news tab.
Public Invited to Vote for Winner of NCBA’s National Anthem Contest
Adapted from a release by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Four finalists have been selected in the 11th annual National Anthem Singing Contest, sponsored by Norbrook. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is inviting the public to vote for the winner beginning Nov. 1.
Introducing the four finalists:
Landri Jones of Weatherford, Okla., is a fifth-generation cattle producer and FFA member whose family manages a cow-calf operation.
Shirley Matlock of Greenfield, Ind., is a veteran of the United States Air Force and enjoys working alongside her children and grandchildren on the family’s cow-calf operation.
Brittany Price of Center, N.D., is a fifth-generation farmer and rancher who works for North Dakota State University Extension, raises Simmental cattle and helps her husband operate a feedlot.
Anna Sponheim of Winifred, Mont., helps on her family’s cattle and wheat farm and serves the industry as program manager at the Montana Beef Council.
For more information, go to ncba.org.
Adding Crushed Rock to Farmland Pulls Carbon Out of the Air
Adapted from a release by Amy Quinton, University of California, Davis
Adding crushed volcanic rock to cropland could play a key role in removing carbon from the air. In a field study, scientists at the University of California, Davis and Cornell University found the technology stored carbon in the soil even during an extreme drought in California. The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Communications.
Rain captures carbon dioxide from the air as it falls and reacts with volcanic rock to lock up carbon. The process, called rock weathering, can take millions of years — too slow to offset global warming. But by crushing the rock into a fine dust, rock weathering speeds up. Previous studies have estimated this “enhanced” rock weathering could store 215 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 75 years if spread across croplands globally.
More information is available at the link in this episode’s description.
The AJ Daily is compiled by Paige Nelson, field editor for theAngus Journal. For more Angus news, visit angusjournal.net.