Although Corn Belt farmers scarcely face the consequences of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) up close, Klamath Basin farmers in Oregon and California say the agriculture industry in other parts of the country should take notice and get organized before a crisis occurs.

In a recent memo to executive branch units, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said requests for discretionary appropriations for FY 2013, which begins Oct. 1, 2012, should be at least 5 percent below what departments and agencies received for FY 2011 unless they have been given specific direction otherwise.

John Harrison agrees weaning and heat are a good way of doubling your problems. The Cairo, GA, producer schedules for an October through December calving season, but that means he weans in June and July. And it doesnt help that cattle are designed without a good radiator.

Research has shown that adding distillers grains to livestock diets can cause quicker oxidation or brownish discoloration of meat.

The July USDA Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports put corn ending stocks below trade expectations, allowing the corn market to recover from recent losses.

Highly optimistic for the short term, cautiously so for the longer term, was the mood among the several hundred bankers, agribusiness executives and farmers attending a symposium entitled Recognizing Risk in Global Agriculture at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Reduced weaning weights for calves, lower weight gains on yearlings, summer mastitis and pinkeye theyre all key management points that can mean the difference between a year that ends in the black and one that bleeds red. And at the center of that balance sheet is the lowly fly.

One aspect is how fast deals like this go off. I had a shot at it, because Ive known the owners family since 1985. Otherwise, it would be all over before I had even heard about it, Myers said. Im still in the market for land, but I doubt it will be in Illinois.

Cow production inputs started to skyrocket, explains Theeck, the veteran central Texas cowman. Thats when I realized to survive in the cattle business, I had to learn to do it with one cow to 10 acres with very little supplement or hay, as opposed to one cow to two or three acres as I was doing before.

Feeding corn stalks, corn hay or corn silage to the herd this year could be akin to poisoning your cows. Given extreme drought conditions across much of cattle country, dryland corn crops are more likely to have high levels of nitrates this year. And the first sign of nitrate poisoning is usually dead cattle.