The Senate finally passed a version of the 2007 Farm Bill last Friday by a vote of 79-14. For the most part it was a loss for cattle producers in the nation. Despite the fact that the version which was passed still would eliminate the ability for producers to forward contract cattle with packers, there was one little bright spot. There was a provision added to the mandatory COOL portion to include chicken. According to the Majority Communications Director for the Senate Ag Committee, Kate Cyrul, “Chicken meat will be treated no differently than other cuts of meat under the low now.” Ms. Cyrul stated that the legislative language says, “whole chicken, or in part.”

USDA this week posted a new Natural claim PVP in the Federal Register. You can view the proposal on their Process Verified website at “processverified.usda.gov” as a .pdf file. In a nutshell to qualify to use the USDA sheild for this program cattle can receive no antibiotics, no growth promotants, and no animal by-products from birth to slaughter. It will be very interesting what the comment period reveals during the next 60 days. We would love to hear your comments on this subject.

I just read a marketing summary put out late last week by Corbitt Wall with USDA AMS. In summary feeder calf prices last week were all over the board from $5 lower to $5 higher, but the one consistency that remained this week in the calf market is that buyers continue to be more selective for health, quality, lot size, and their preference for steers. He went on to say that, the current calf trade is a good argument for cow/calf producers to narrow their calving window, wean, castrate, and participate in a structured health program that can be verified. Basically his article said the same thing that we have been hearing from unsubstanitated reports from the country that unweaned and undocumented health programs were being discounted in the marketplace.

So talk to you local MFA Agri-Service or salesperson about signing up for Health Track today. If you don’t, you are leaving money laying on the table.

Read his entire summary

We are starting to hear some rumblings regarding added value in Source Verified cows presumably as a source of lean trim for branded hamburger products that would include labeled for country of origin. This discussion ties in nicely with a long standing debate within the MFA Health Track world as to whether or not producers should enroll replacement heifers into the Health Track program. The important point I need to make here is that if a heifer is enrolled into Health Track, she will be Source and Age verified for the rest of her life at no extra cost as long as both of the Health Track tags (EID and Visual) aren’t removed. In my own herd I also have the advantage as they become older cows that they are RFID tagged and already in the Health Track database which makes record keeping and analysis of future calf crops extremely easy. Bottom line: put all of your calves into the Health Track program and reap all the benefits available today and tomorrow!

At a recent sale in Northeast Missouri, a set MFA Health Track calves selling amongst non-program cattle demonstrated the value capture opportunities available to cow/calf producers. Two things were very obvious based on the drafts that were reported; 1) there was a $10-$12 per cwt premium for the VAC 45, SAV Health Track calves. Secondly, the price spread between the 5 and 6 weight calves was $3-$5 per cwt. Couple that with the fact that the price spreads were narrower to non-existent 30 days ago and a profit signal to producers is becoming clear. Beat the rush and maximize your profit potential by selling preconditioned 6 weights before the middle of October. It’s definitely a high-demand and low-supply market created by feeders wanting healthy placements that will kill before the end of the April contract.

USPB has announced that they will continue to pay $25 per head for fed cattle that qualify as Age and Source Verified (ASV) in their system at least until May 31, 2008. In addition they have announced a continuation of the $1 per head rebate for cattle that are RFID tagged and marketed at their Kansas plants. MFA Health Track cattle are a great place to start as they are PVP verified for Age and Source and easily fit into this program. USPB has indicated that they will continue the ASV premium payments even if Japan adopts the 30 month age requirement in place of the current 20 month limit. We believe that even at 30 months, packers are going to need advance knowledge of animal age in order to have the ability to segregate and capture the added value through the exportation of items in the drop like livers and tongues.

Stu Ellis - the farm gate

Very little incites a good coffee shop argument than someone taking a strong pro or con position on a commodity checkoff program. All farmers have opinions, strong opinions, and those who have not served a couple terms on a commodity checkoff board have been those who have attempted to dismantle the programs. With the renewal of the Farm Bill, and perennial challenges about their constitutionality, what are the challenges facing commodity checkoff programs? >>> Read Full Story

I just read an announcement that by November 15th USDA is going to have finalized a standard for getting PVP certification for grass (forage) fed beef. I presume that the process for getting qualified would be much the same as getting PVP certified for producing Source and Age Verified cattle. The question I have had trouble getting around in my own brain is if there is merit behind this process? I don’t see or hear consumer demand pushing this issue. Is the benefit worth the cost?

I don’t know all of the specifics behind the grass fed niche, but it seems obvious to me that the consumers that seek out grass fed beef must pay a premium, if they didn’t, no one could afford to produce the beef as production costs are higher. There is no doubt that there are going to be even more additional costs incurred in this certification process. So is that same consumer going to be willing to pay even more to know that it is “USDA Certified Grass Fed Beef,” or can their pockets even be stretched that far? Is this an example of the government misleading the consumer towards a notion that grass-fed is better or healthier?

I know there are different divisions within USDA and they each have their separate budgets, but it seems that realigning the USDA budgets to where we did a better job of inspecting meat shipments prior to export to ensure those shipments contain no bone fragments or specified risk materials would be much more beneficial to the beef industry than plodding down the road of certifying if beef is raised on forages only.

All you have to do is drive down a country road right now and it is pretty evident that fall calving is in full swing. It seems that there has been a little bit of a shift to fall calving in this part of the country in recent years. Some people seem to make it work others seem to struggle. There are all kinds of theories on which strategies need to be considered/altered in fall calving operations when compared to spring calvers in order to be successful. Everything from calving early (Aug – Oct), cross-breeding, more moderate milking cows and wean early, you have to vaccinate the calves at branding, and the list goes on.

Any opinions?

I want to hear what you think it takes to make a fall calving operation work properly.

It’s becoming apparent that there are aspects of this fall’s feeder calf market calf sellers should be aware of. First of all, the normal access to wheat pasture in Oklahoma and Texas is under pressure due to the high value of wheat grain. Many stockers are finding either cost of gains going up or access completely denied. Add to that the high cost of fertilizer required to help grazed wheat produce a grain crop and you can see why the normal paradigm has changed. The price spread between 4 and 5 weight calves and the 6,7, and 8 weight calves is getting tight and the real value should be on heavy cattle that are healthy and Source and Age verified. Naturally, participating in Health Track has an even greater value than normal this year since HT calves are heavier, healthier and SAV qualified through Ag Info Link’s PVP.