The importance of the U.S.-Japanese economic relationship, particularly as it relates to U.S. agriculture and red meat exports, was highlighted by U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President and CEO Philip Seng in an address before a packed media audience in Tokyo on April 19.

Cash cattle trade was a slow continuous drip of toolight-to-tell sales throughout the first half of the week. By Wednesday at the close of trade, almost 4,000 head had been confirmed sold with tiny volumes sold each day. Early sales were mostly regional and to the tune of $125 live and $200 dressed, $2 lower than the prior week.

Drought in 2011 and 2012 reduced U.S. hay production and increased hay demand, leaving the country with very limited forage supplies at this time. On Dec. 1, stocks of all hay were down nearly 28 percent from a 2001-2010 average prior to the drought..

Enough data is collected to allow fairly robust extrapolations to the industry at large. Estimates are also cross-checked with 25 distributors and five protein processors focused on the foodservice channel. The time range covered is 12 months through a September month-end.

Though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is currently considering whether to list the lesser prairiechicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, as a part of an agreement between USDA and USFWS, farmers and ranchers who voluntarily...

South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension’s online teaching platform, iGrow.org, recently introduced a risk categorization strategy for cattle producers that is based upon the potential for sickness and death in feeder calves and addresses Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD).

South Dakota hay prices have been at high levels throughout the 2012 marketing year. Based on numbers from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, March alfalfa prices were at $230 per ton and have remained steady for several months. The March price for other hay reached a record high of $170 per ton.

A Utah rancher last week testified before Congress on behalf of the Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Utah Cattlemen’s Association (UCA) in support of legislation to bring transparency and local input to the national monuments designation process.

“There were two farms separated by a road that had the same soils, same crops and same precipitation. While one farm thrived through extreme weather, the other one lost corn plants, soil and water. The variable here was the management of the land,” said Miller.

Each semester, we would take one of our welds to a local technical college to have them stress tested. The college staff would put the welds in a large hydraulic press. They would bend the metal until the welds were bent in half or broke. The student whose weld could withstand the highest pressure would win the competition.