Delay in study findings on A2 milk
By PAUL GORMAN - The Press | Monday, 29 December 2008
Advocates of A2 milk will have to wait a little longer to see if an international milk-safety study supports their views.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) decided early last year to do its own investigation into the safety of A1 milk, the dominant milk type in New Zealand and in many other countries.
The EFSA decision to look into the science behind A2 milk took the heat off the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), which started its own review to look at the way it had handled previous reports.
New Zealand's A2 milk lobby says it is keenly awaiting the outcome but has heard nothing for months.
NZFSA deputy chief executive Sandra Daly said the agency had not been informed of progress either.
EFSA told The Press it was in the final stages of the review. Spokeswoman Lucia de Luca said the outcome of the study would be available in the new year.
A2 milk does not contain the protein in A1 that some link to type-one diabetes, heart disease, autism, schizophrenia and Crohn's disease.
Lincoln University academic Keith Woodford, whose book Devil in the Milk made the case for A2 milk and exposed attempts to spin A2 information, said he had not been approached by the EFSA for comment.
A2 Corporation chief executive Anthony Lawler said the NZX-listed company made a presentation to the EFSA in May but had heard nothing more.
"A2 Corporation has done everything possible to make sure everything was put forward to the EFSA but has had very little contact since not for want of trying."
The briefing for new Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson refers to the EFSA review, saying the findings "are likely to be of considerable interest to food safety regulators, consumers and the dairy industry in New Zealand and internationally".
Labour Party food safety spokesman Ashraf Choudhary said he had been trying to get a briefing on the issue through Wilkinson's office without luck.
"I am looking forward to this review, because as a scientist I am personally interested in the results," he said.

• What’s the difference between ‘A1’ and ‘A2’ milk?
• What milk am I drinking?
• Should I stop drinking milk?
• What is the issue?
• What has NZFSA done about this?
• What is the situation with diabetes?
• What is the situation with heart disease?
• What is the situation with neurological disorders?
• What is the difference between ‘correlation’ and ‘cause and effect’?
• What is a multi-factorial disease?
• Where do I look for further information

The name comes from the type of protein in the milk. Milk from cows, and any other milk producing animal, can vary quite a lot in the types and amounts of proteins they contain.
Cow’s milk contains six major proteins. Four are casein proteins, the other two are whey proteins. Casein proteins make up about 80 percent of the protein in cow’s milk. A type of casein called beta-casein is one of the major ones, and is itself of different kinds, depending on the genetic make-up of the cow. The most common are beta-casein A1 and beta-casein A2. Milk high in beta-casein A1 is being referred to as ‘A1 milk’ while milk high in beta-casein A2 is being called ‘A2 milk’.

Milk produced in New Zealand and many other countries normally contains a mixture of A1 and A2 beta-caseins. Different breeds can produce different milk. For example Friesian cows produce mostly A1 milk, while Guernsey cows, sheep and goats produce mostly A2 milk.

No. Milk is nutritious and beneficial and should remain part of a balanced diet.

Research recently published in the New Zealand Medical Journal has suggested there is a possible link between milk protein consumption and heart disease and insulin-dependent diabetes. Researchers Dr Murray Laugeson and Professor Emeritus Bob Elliott collected data from various sources from 20 wealthy countries and reported a significant correlation between the amount of A1 beta-casein consumed in a country and the national rate of coronary heart disease. They also found a similar correlation between A1 beta-casein consumption and the rate of childhood type 1 diabetes.

NZFSA commissioned an independent expert, Professor Boyd Swinburn, to analyse available published literature on the A1/ A2 issue. That Review is now available. Overall, the NZFSA position continues to be that milk is important in the diet, and there is insufficient evidence to suggest any change to this current advice about the value of milk in the diet. NZFSA will continue to monitor developments and research in the area and seek expert advice if and when such research becomes available.

While the Review comments that the correlations between A1 milk and diabetes in one study are extremely high, the Review also states that such correlations cannot establish cause and effect, that clinical studies in this area are not very helpful and the results from animal studies are mixed. The Review therefore states that this is an area where further research is needed and could be very worthwhile. In light of this, NZFSA considers that there is not enough evidence to date on which to change positions about the exposure of people to types of milk. NZFSA will continue to seek independent expert advice on new information arising on this issue.

The Review states that cardiovascular disease is a multi-factorial disease. This means that there are many risk factors, supported by a wealth of evidence, that need to be addressed. The review suggests that one of the dangers of focusing on new potential risk factors with marginal evidence is that the important other major risk factors with good evidence are forgotten. Major risk factors include smoking and high saturated fat intake; major risk mitigating factors include omega-3 fatty acid, and fruit and vegetable consumption.
The studies available do not provide sufficient evidence to support changing advice on the consumption of milk.

Schizophrenia: The Review identified only one study related to the issue, and found no evidence of any causal relationship.
Autism: The Review identified a number of studies of ‘casein-free’ diets in people with autism, but all were associated with gluten-free diet as well. While the available evidence is suggestive that reducing casein and gluten in the diets of people with autism might play a role in improving behaviours, further research is needed.
The studies available do not provide sufficient evidence to support changing advice on the consumption of milk.

A correlation indicates that there may be a relationship between two things, but can not be taken as evidence that one of things causes the other (‘cause and effect’). For example, in New Zealand there is an extremely strong correlation between people who buy a car and later in life buy a home. Clearly, though, buying a car in your youth doesn’t ‘cause’ you to buy a home later in life.
Scientists look for correlations in order to help them discover possible causes for certain effects. They then conduct experiments and studies to see whether the relationship proves to be true or significant.

A multi-factorial disease is one that has more than one cause. Heart disease is a good example. Diet, smoking and drinking, as well as a family history of heart disease, have all been shown to be causes, or factors in the cause. Not all diseases are multi-factorial. Many foodborne illnesses, for example, are caused by an organism which gives its name to that disease, such as Toxoplasma causing toxoplasmosis.

There is more information on the NZFSA website at:
http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/policy-law/projects/a1-a2-milk/
See also NZFSA press release A1/A2 milk review released August 3rd 2004
All information on this website is subject to a disclaimer.
Contact for enquiries

BCCC Luncheon-Brazil an Important Part of Canada's America's Strategy - What Now, What Next?
A panel of recognized Canadian executives will discuss their insights and analysis of the market potential, strategy and expectations for Brazil economy in 2009 and recommendations for policy makers to strengthen the bi-lateral relationship.
If you are among the constantly growing number of Canadian companies that are doing business in Brazil, or considering expanding to this region, this is a must attend event.
Date: Thursday, December 11th, 2008
Time: 11:45am – 2:00pm
Location: The Albany Club
91 King Street East
Toronto ON
M5C 1G3
For further details please contact Alma Farias by email at afarias@tradepartners.ca or by phone at (905)827-5646

Dec. 4, 2008 >> Economic crisis will dampen exports in 2009
By Dairy Herd news source
The international economic/credit crisis could keep world dairy markets depressed for most of 2009, but long-term drivers should rouse demand by 2010. In the meantime, U.S. suppliers should redouble efforts to focus on customer service and meeting product specifications.

These predictions and recommendations were part of a panel discussion on the “Global Dairy Outlook,” a Webinar presented Nov. 18 by the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC).
The economic meltdown and credit freeze pinched demand at a time when global milk supplies were on the rebound, explains Matt McKnight, USDEC’s vice president of export ingredient marketing and industry affairs. “First we saw consumer spending slow this year due to strong inflation. As a result inventories increased. Then the credit freeze made it difficult for companies to finance existing stocks and to finance new purchases, so buying slowed dramatically,” he says.

“To an extent, the recovery in dairy demand will depend on the length and depth of the global recession. But the structural trends are still intact: population growth, westernization and urbanization will continue to drive global dairy consumption,” McKnight adds. Once consumer demand picks up again, buyers will come back into the market and contract for pipeline needs, he predicts.

New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and the European Union are poised to increase dairy exports over the next year as production rises, says Ted Jacoby III, vice president of cheese sales and risk management for T.C. Jacoby & Co.

When supplies get long, as they are now, New Zealand will “aggressively hit the first bid and lower prices because they have no choice — the product must move.” The United States, on the other hand, has a much larger domestic market and mechanisms in place (both government and commercial) to carry inventories in times of excess, Jacoby explains. In this environment, U.S. dairy exports are likely to decline in 2009 — “as much as 25 to 35 percent,” he said.

Prepare for a “bumpy ride” in the global dairy markets in 2009, predicts Deborah Perkins, managing director of Rabobank International’s Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory group.
In the first half of 2009, global dairy prices are “likely to overshoot going down and go much lower than anyone was expecting,” Perkins says. But demand will recover as retail price inflation slows, economic-stimulus packages take effect and credit becomes more available to companies.

“Longer term, there is reason to be optimistic,” she says. Low-cost producers from New Zealand, Australia and South America face constraints that will limit their ability to satisfy all of the eventual demand growth. That means the market will have to attract higher-cost supply and commodity prices will have to return to a higher trading band, said Perkins.
“There is a definite role for the United States to play. Not just in balancing the market but in becoming an important supplier to the market,” she adds.

“There are going to be challenges in 2009,” Perkins continues, “but for suppliers focused on exports in the longer term, it’s going to be very important to foster relationships with customers, to continue to supply key markets, because that’s certainly something the New Zealanders and the Australians have done despite their reduction in supply. They’ve chosen the markets and customers they still want to supply, and that will be important for exporters in the United States to do as well.”
Jacoby concurs: “Buyers don’t want to terminate relationships with U.S. suppliers because they know in a year or two they’ll need U.S. product again,” he said. “U.S. exports in 2010 could easily return to 2008 levels.”

Though U.S. shipments of bulk commodities will likely weaken in 2009, U.S. exports of non-commodity, value-added, differentiated products should continue to sell, speakers agreed.
For instance, dairy is uniquely positioned to meet the needs for health and wellness products in Asia, particularly through whey proteins and milk powders. In addition, U.S. specialty cheeses will continue to be competitive in both retail and food service segments.
To view an archived version of the Webinar, click here.
Source: U.S. Dairy Export Council

Dec. 1, 2008 >> MeatItaly – the 1st Beef Supply Chain Show

CremonaFiere S.p.a., the second exhibition centre in Lombardy, and Assocarni, the national Association representing the Italian beef industry within Confindustria - Italian Confederation of Industry, are pleased to present
MeatItaly – the 1st Beef Supply Chain Show which will take place in Cremona from October 22 to 25, 2009, parallel to the International Dairy Cattle Show.

Why a new exhibition dedicated to the beef market?
Our objective is not that of creating  one more food-oriented event to be added to the many organized all over Europe, CremonaFiere and Assocarni want, instead, to promote an innovative and very specialized meeting opportunity with an interesting conference calendar dedicated to the different stages of the beef supply chain.
An event which will soon become a reference exhibition for a complex and crucial field of the European economy which in Italy has never had a professional opportunity of strategic knowledge sharing. 

Why in Cremona?
Because Cremona is the centre of the Italian beef production and among the areas with the highest number of breeding centres in Europe. CremonaFiere has also achieved a unique know-how in the field by organizing for over 60 years the International Dairy Cattle Show, a reference exhibition which next year will run parallel to MeatItaly.

The target audience
MeatItaly will host the most important companies and national and international organizations representing all the different stages of the beef supply chain: breeding, slaughtering, meat processing, sales, marketing, distribution, packaging  and import/export. There will also be a special area dedicated to the promotion of  Regional Italian beef types and those of major international  import countries as well as the display of beef processing equipment and machinery, logistics, transportation systems and softwares.

Furthermore, MeatItaly will present a comprehensive calendar of conferences and seminars with the participation of national and foreign representatives of the private and public sector who will deal with the most urgent topics of the field. Interactive seminars will be organized to analyze the specific features of regional, national ad foreign types of beef and promote business among  the leading professionals of the most suitable market channels.

MeatItaly is already endorsed by major Institutions and leading Organizations of the field such as: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Ministry of Economic Development, AITA, ANMVI, APA, Department of Agriculture of the Lombardy Region, Chamber of Commerce of Cremona, CIA, CONFAGRICOLTURA, ICE, Cremona Province.

The following two updates are from the Agri-Food Trade Service “CAN SEA AGRI-FOOD UPDATE” for July - September 2008 (A quarterly newsletter presented by Canada's agri-food team in South East Asia):
VIETNAM
Animal Health Mission to Canada
A delegation of Vietnam animal health officials was in Canada from September 13-20 at the invitation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The delegates visited Canadian meat slaughter houses, processing operations and cattle farms and discussed a variety of animal health issues including expanding market access for Canadian beef to Vietnam. The delegates were very impressed with the Canadian animal health system and promised to continue working with CFIA on market access for Canadian products.
INDONESIA
Bovine Semen
Post continues work on the veterinary health certificate for export of bovine semen from Canada to Indonesia.

Proposed cow tax
The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles would have a serious impact on livestock production.  Full story.

South Korea urged to adopt BSE safeguards
By Tom Johnston on 11/28/2008

While South Korea has cited fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy as its rationale for banning imports of beef from the United States and Canada, Seoul still has not established its own regulatory measures to protect against the disease.

"South Korea is classified into the category of countries with undetermined BSE risk, while countries such as the United States and Canada are sorted as controlled risk countries," Lee Sung-shik, head of the Korean Society of Veterinary Services, said, according to Yonhap News. "Although [BSE] never occurred in South Korea, we should not neglect the standard set by the international community."

Jean-Luc Angot, deputy director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), also has publicly urged Seoul to submit documents required for a BSE risk assessment. He contended the country's capabilities to systematically control the disease, as opposed to the number of reported cases, will determine its risk classification.

Brains pay in BSE Research

Australia Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries doubled the money being offered for cattle and sheep brains used to help prove Australia is free of mad cow disease. Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin said Queensland needed to continually conduct surveillance to prove its BSE-free status in line with standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health.

The new rates of compensation to producers for the supply of brains under the program have been doubled to $300 for cattle brains and $50 for sheep brains.
(Source:North Queensland Register)

New global dairy report released
By Dairy Herd news source  |  Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Despite current short-term challenges facing the dairy sector, the medium- to long-term outlook is robust, according to a new Rabobank report.
With the market for dairy moving into a fundamentally changed time, the report, “The Global Dairy Industry -Reshaping in a New Market Era,” states that global demand for milk — at any price point — has increased. This is based on global income growth and favorable demographic and cultural trends that have increased the number of people who are aware of dairy, have access to dairy, want to consume it and can afford to do so.
Additionally, dairy analyst and Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory Managing Director Deborah Perkins said, “We believe that the medium-term price for dairy products has increased from its long-term average, and that economic growth and cultural changes have substantially increased the price the market will pay for milk.”

Short-term challenges
However, prevailing negative forces have been at play in late 2008, weighing on the previously buoyant dairy industry.
“The global dairy market has entered the closing months of 2008 in a bearish mood,” said Perkins. “Fundamentals on all sides have appeared to be weakening, with retail dairy inflation still building, United States milk supply growth only slowing modestly, financial market turmoil and a damaging milk contamination scandal in the Chinese market.”
After an extraordinary boom in global dairy prices in the past two years, which culminated in a phenomenal peak in late 2007, international dairy prices — in U.S. dollar terms — have fallen during most of 2008.

Expected turnaround
Global dairy demand is likely to remain below trend level through the first half of 2009, assuming continued weak economic conditions. However, it is hoped that a turnaround will occur later in the year brought on by an eventual improvement in the global economy, increased consumer demand from more-competitive pricing and continued demographic and cultural trends favorable to dairy consumption.
There is also likely to be a moderation of recent supply growth as farmers in many key export regions rein back investment in response to lower milk prices and an increase in the cost of production caused by higher input prices.

Increased production costs
Dairy producers around the world face significantly higher production costs than in recent history, the report says. “The cost of producing milk has significantly increased for all farmers due to the structural increase in the prices of feed grain, fertilizer and fuel,” Perkins said.
In addition, there are constraints on growth in traditional low-cost dairy regions, due to limited land or natural resource (water) availability. “This means that for additional export supply, the market will eventually need to turn to regions with higher costs of primary production, less efficient supply chains or greater structural impediments, such as Latin America and the U.S.,” Perkins said. “Extreme volatility in the dairy market is likely to remain.”

Volatility
Even with a recovery in prices, the industry must expect significant price swings, the report says.
“Within this higher trading band, price volatility will be high,” according to the report. “Global dairy stock levels are low and, in the medium-term, it is expected that there will be frequent shocks to the demand and supply side of the market, which are expected to unleash the latent volatility inherent in dairy product markets due to the short-term unresponsiveness of demand and supply to price.”

New strategies for key players
The new dairy market era is expected to significantly reshape the sector in the years to come and heralds the need for all players involved in the industry to reconsider their strategies, the Rabobank report finds.
“As the global dairy industry contemplates life in this new market era, players all along the supply chain will need to re-evaluate their strategies,” according to the report. “Those who adjust best will be well placed to reap the benefits that market change will bring.” Even with higher dairy commodity prices, farmers in most regions will not necessarily see margin improvements due to the increased cost of production, while those in export regions must be prepared to manage volatility on all sides of their business.
Domestically oriented dairy processors also face a battle to restore margins in very difficult conditions (with the focus on areas such as input sourcing, product range and brand), while export dairy processors will need to adjust their strategies and develop competencies to suit changed conditions, such as huge increases in export volumes.
Traders, meanwhile, face the prospect of limited volume growth from the traditional heartland of the European Union, but will need to be ready to diversify their sourcing base as other regions develop increasing milk surpluses.
Dairy ingredient users also need to reconsider the manner in which they will be able to secure supply and manage the volatility in price, while balancing the costs of reformulation and recipe flexibility with savings from substitution.
And all players, the report says, will need to consider the implication of increased credit risk and capital shortages in the current financial environment.
Source: Rabobank

CLGA Members note:  Shep Ysselstein is the brother of CLGA Member John Ysselstein (Friesvale Farms).  Read on:
By Melissa Lanzourakis
Cheese factory comes to Northwest Iowa

Posted: Nov 21, 2008 06:16 PM EST

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) - Iowa has always been known for corn, but an Iowa couple is giving the state of Wisconsin some friendly competition when it comes to cheese production.
Hull, Iowa is now home to the newest and one of the largest cheese production facilities in the entire country.
Dairy farmers, Shep and Natalie Ysselstein have a 7,000 head dairy farm near Rock Valley.
Wanting to put all that milk to use, the Canadian couple built "Green Meadows."
A cheese production plant which promises 80-million pounds of cheese a year.
"This is a tremendous area, very contusive to milk production, very contusive to feed production and it's pretty much the bread basket of the United States the way I like to see it," said Shep Ysselstein, the owner of "Green Meadows."
Along with cheese, the plant will also produce whey, a protein supplement found in protein bars, shakes, and some chocolate.
A study done by Iowa State University estimates this plant will bring $437 million to the region.
They're set to hire more workers with the plans to expand already churning.
So, do you know what dairy cows drink?
"Water," shouts production workers at Green Meadows.
It's the first thing you learn here at Green Meadows.  The second thing you learn, it's takes a whole lot of milk to make 80-million pounds of cheese a year.
"A quarter of a million gallons a day," said Tim Czmowski, General Manager of Green Meadows.
And since they plan to get their milk from Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota, they need more dairy farmers to get pumping.
"We'll need 40-thousand more cows in this region, anybody that would like to grow their dairy farm or build a new one, we'd love to talk to them," said Czmowski.
Along with dairy farmers, making this 340-thousand square facility operable requires at least 85 workers.
"We'll have a number of production jobs both on cheese and whey, certainly maintenance, and lab technicians," said Czmowski.
And even though the economy isn't doing well, the folks at Green Meadows say it hasn't had any impact on the world of cheese since the average American consumes 31 pounds of cheese a year.
"If the economy has caused a shift in the cheese market, it might be they're not being bought or consumed in restaurants as much but now it's being bought in grocery stores," said Czmowski.
And with the sluggish economy not having an impact on the demand for cheese officials here are planning to produce even more by the year 2010. 
Green Meadows officials say they will double production by 2010, creating more jobs, the need for more dairy cow farmers, and increasing the amount of money the plant will bring to the region.

November 1,1 2008, Mexico >>   RICHARD DOYLE (CA) ELECTED PRESIDENT OF
THE INTERNATIONAL DAIRY FEDERATION
For further information, please contact:
Marylene Tucci, IDF Communications Officer - Tel: +32 2 706 86 44, Fax : +32 2 733 04 13
E-mail : MTucci@fil-idf.org
- Richard Doyle (from Canada) was elected to a four-year term as the
new President of the International Dairy Federation succeeding Jim Begg. Richard Doyle is currently Executive Director of Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), an organization that represents the interests of the Canadian dairy producers and the promotion of dairy products and their nutritional benefits. With 32 years of experience in the dairy industry and an active involvement in IDF at national and international levels, Richard Doyle will bring a wealth of expertise in IDF and will expand the influence of the global dairy industry.

He stressed that his election comes at a time when the IDF has reinforced his influence with the admission of three new members - Brazil, Lithuania and Egypt - accounting now for about 85% of the world milk production. “Enlarging our network will further strengthen the IDF’s position towards international organizations. We have in place a strong IDF, and with the backing of our members, we must develop our potential.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Doyle said “It is a privilege to have been appointed to lead IDF and I will do everything I can to continue the positive development of our organization. I strongly believe that IDF is well positioned to respond to the future challenges facing the global dairy industry, both in terms of offering a well-recognized scientific and technical base and as an international forum where industry leaders can share their experiences, solutions and strategies to address an ever evolving dairy market place.”

October 28, 2008 > Jamaican Gov't to provide $140-m loan to help revive dairy sector

Government is making $140 million in loans and technical support available to resuscitate the dairy sector, and to increase milk production to 55 million litres by the year 2018.
"Revitalization of the dairy sub-sector is a critical element of Government's policy of enhancing food security, livelihood protection and rural development for Jamaica," production specialist at the Jamaica Dairy Development Board, Richard Miller, told JIS.
"The goals of the programme are to increase milk production from 2007 levels of 14 million litres to 31 million litres by 2013 and 55 million litres by 2018, by increasing production and resuscitation of pastures, herd expansion, redeveloping the Jamaica Hope breed of dairy cattle and achieving sustained small farmer participation," he explained.

Miller said that loans up to a maximum of $1.5 million would be available for sole ownership farms and $2.5 million for incorporated businesses. Applications for herd development and pasture resuscitation for both dairy and beef production are eligible, he said.

For farmers to qualify for loans, they should already be in dairy farming, be registered with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, under the Government's Farmer Registration Programme and must submit a farm development plan.

Loans to farmers would be administered by the Development Bank of Jamaica, and loan disbursement would be through the People's Co-operative Bank network. Interest rates, Miller informed, would be at a rate of four per cent amortized over seven years and equity of 20 per cent from farmers would be required.

Miller said that the maximum disbursement period would be six months and as part of the agreement, farmers would sign an irrevocable deduction order with the milk processor of his choice, for loan repayment. The Dairy Board, he said, would monitor farm development and authorize disbursements.

Commenting on the current state of the industry, he reported that in 2007, 14 million litres of milk were produced, while the current demand was 15 million litres per year. Miller said in conjunction with the increased production efforts, would be the incorporation of milk into the school feeding programme.

This, he said, would not only reduce the consumption of sugary drinks by children, but would also satisfy the World Health Organization standards for protein requirement.

Can India’s Dairy Revolution be Repeated in Africa?
Web Site

What's your carbon footprint?
Discussions on carbon footprints continue, and consumers are starting to tally what their total carbon footprint is. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal looked at six different products, including milk, and the carbon footprint of each. Full story.

Brazil Launches First Cattle Tracking Chip:  The new equipment, developed entirely in Brazil, is used to track information about the animals from birth to the date of slaughter.  Web Site

Michigan Cattle Producers Leading the Nation in Food Traceability Efforts:  Beef products easily traced to farm of origin with state's electronic ID program Michigan's cattle producers are leading the nation with easily identified and traceable beef products. As part of their Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements effective today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requiring all muscle cuts of beef and ground beef sold in the U.S. be labeled to help consumers identify the origin of the product.  Web Site

This year’s theme “Facing the supply challenge; the industry in a new environment” will tackle the issue of supply - can we produce enough milk to satisfy the world’s demand for our products?
The Forum will comprise a select panel composed of top executives of leading companies all over the world covering specific dairy fields including:
 
·  Fernando Falco (BR), S/A Fabrica de Productos Alimenticios Vigor
·  Luc Morelon (FR), Goupe Lactalis
·  Akira Oono (JP), Morinaga & Co. LTD.
·  Tom Coley (CH), Nestlé SA
Among the topics to be discussed will be the growing importance of Latin America for sourcing milk and consumers’ response to higher prices.
This World Dairy Leaders’ Forum is held with the aim of assessing the industry: Where is our industry heading? Is change permanent? Will decision makers revert to a “business as usual” situation? Will any suggestion be presented to peers and participants in order to keep the Global Dairy Sector expanding and profitable?
The industry leaders will present their views on the different strategies implemented in different regions of the world.
We highly anticipate what promises to be a challenging Forum, bringing together top professionals to discuss and exchange ideas on best practices, evaluate new tactics and celebrate recent success stories in the world of dairy.
We would be delighted to welcome you!
Register online now at http://www.wds2008mexico.com

Washington, D.C. (October 7, 2008) – The International Trade Commission (ITC) released a report today estimating that trade restrictions resulting from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) cost the cattle industry $11 billion from 2004 to 2007. 

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has worked tirelessly to remove unwarranted restrictions and regain lost export markets since 2004, and contributed data, briefings, and testimony to the ITC for this report. 

“Opening markets and advocating for science-based standards of trade remain top priorities for NCBA,” explains Arizona cattle producer and NCBA President Andy Groseta.   “This report confirms what cattle producers have known for years.  It serves a critical purpose in helping everyone understand the size and scope of the economic losses our industry suffers as a result of unfair trade restrictions.”

Farm-gate sales of cattle and calves during the period between 2004 and 2007 were $195.5 billion, so the $11 billion in losses estimated by the ITC translates to 5.6 percent of cattle producers’ income.  The report also estimated that tariffs and tariff-rate quota (TRQ) restrictions cost the industry another $6.3 billion from 2004 to 2007. 

NCBA Chief Economist Gregg Doud praised the thoroughness of the report, saying, “This illustrates the many economic consequences resulting from global tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.  Trade restrictions continue to hurt our industry, costing cattle producers considerable amounts in lost sales.”  Doud continued, “I appreciate the foresight shown by Senator Max Baucus in commissioning this study.  The analysis helps demonstrate why opening markets is so important.”

The report noted that BSE-related trade restrictions on U.S. beef are not based in science, saying, “As of May 2007, the United States has been recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as a controlled risk country with regard to BSE. However, certain countries…impose restrictions on U.S. beef that are more stringent than the OIE guidelines for a controlled risk country.”  The full report is available online at http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/docs/pubs/332/pub4033.pdf.

A Bloomberg report quoting UBS says milk consumption increased 9.3 per cent last year in China but could fall next year because of concerns about chemical contamination.

"Following the pattern of consumer behaviour after other food safety cases in China and elsewhere in Asia, we believe liquid milk consumption may recover in 2010," UBS says.

Fonterra's 43 per cent-owned Chinese dairy company San Lu is one of 22 firms caught up in the scandal, with products testing positive for the chemical melamine.

Dairy production in China doubled between 2000 and 2005 to 28.7 million tonnes. UBS lead analyst Lei Chen said the estimated 8.3 per cent growth in milk consumption for this year would not be reached, with the thirst for milk destroyed for the rest of this year.

UBS says parents may choose foreign-produced milk powder as a replacement for domestic products in China's large cities.

News Releases

For Immediate Release
Saturday, October 4, 2008
CONTACT: LISA BEHNKE, 608-224-6455
OR VIA EMAIL AT: lbehnke@wdexpo.com

The latest test of 609 batches of liquid milk from 27 cities across China detected no melamine, the industrial chemical at the centre of the dairy scare, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
Altogether 75 brands were sampled for the test, including prominent ones such as Yili, Mengniu and Bright Dairy, the paper said, citing the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

It was the sixth test in China since the milk scare broke out last month, according to the administration, the nation's top product quality watchdog. Melamine, which has been detected in a range of China-made milk products, is blamed for the deaths of four Chinese children and for sickening 53,000.
The chemical is used to produce plastic, but when mixed with watered-down milk it makes it appear richer in protein than it actually is.

Meanwhile, the agriculture ministry said on its website late Saturday that it was supervising a campaign to subsidise dairy farmers badly hit by the crisis.
Farmers had been dumping raw milk as daily reports of the toxic contents of some dairy products had caused demand to shrink precipitously, the ministry said in a statement.

CHINA: Hong Kong finds melamine in two Cadbury products
05. Oct.08
ABC News Online (Australia)/AFP
Web Site
The city's Centre for Food Safety said in a statement that the two products - Dairy Milk Cookies Chocolate and Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate, both sold in five-kilogram bulk packs - contained unacceptable levels of the toxic chemical.
Both products were among 11 recalled by Cadbury in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia last week, after the company said its own tests had "cast doubt on the integrity" of some items made at its Beijing plant.
The Centre said six other Cadbury products were tested and found to be safe for consumers. The remaining three products could not be tested due to lack of a sufficient sample.

NFU Praises Dairy COOL Legislation

WASHINGTON (Oct. 3, 2008) - National Farmers Union today commended legislation offered by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that would expand mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) to include dairy products.

"COOL enables domestic agricultural producers to distinguish their high quality products from imported food items. Moreover, it provides American consumers with clear and truthful information about where their food comes from," National Farmers Union President Tom Buis said.

Mandatory COOL for meat products, fruits and vegetables and nuts was finally implemented this week following years of delay. Buis said that as both consumer and producer demand for COOL increases it makes sense to expand COOL to other products. Both consumers and producers have consistently supported the measure.

NFU has been a steadfast supporter of COOL, playing a key role in its inclusion in the 2008 Farm Bill and continue to work to ensure the department of agriculture implements COOL as Congress intended.

• The final principles and guidelines for the National Dairy Animal Well-Being Initiative were released today at World Dairy Expo. "We are concerned that consumers are losing confidence in the food chain," says Logan Bower, a dairy producer from Pennsylvania. "With a program like this we can restore consumer confidence and maintain our market access."
• According to research at Cornell University, modern dairy production and dairy technology have reduced the carbon footprint of a gallon of milk significantly since 1944. The study, "The Environmental Impact of rbST Use in Dairy Production," demonstrates that rbST use reduces resource inputs and outputs from dairy farms. For example, Jude Capper, Cornell University post-doctoral research associate, notes that a 150-cow dairy producing 10 more pounds of milk per cow, would be equivalent to removing 38 cars from the road or planting 28,000 trees. "The volume of additional milk produced with rbST dilutes the ‘fixed costs’ associated with feeding and caring for a dairy animal (maintenance), allowing us to produce the same amount of milk with fewer cows, which generates environmental benefits," explains Capper

US: FDA awards $5.2 million in grants to further food and feed safety
30. Sep.08
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Web Site
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the awarding of 17 grants to enhance food and feed safety. These grants fund major cooperative agreements in four major areas. The FDA awarded a combined $5.2 million in these one-year grants to various state and local regulatory agencies.

"These cooperative agreements support and enhance local food protection efforts consistent with our Food Protection Plan," said Michael Chappell, the FDA's acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "The grants represent an important step in the FDA’s continued efforts to integrate and improve the effectiveness of food safety systems at the federal, state and local levels."

Prevention: Ruminant Feed Ban Support Program
The cooperative agreements for the Ruminant Feed Ban Support Program further enhance the infrastructure of state, territorial, and tribal animal feed safety and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prevention programs. Under these cooperative agreements, state, territory, and tribal governments will enhance their feed/BSE safety programs to increase the ability to locate and visit companies involved in the manufacture, distribution, and transportation of animal feed as well as operations feeding ruminant animals, and to verify their compliance with the BSE/ruminant feed ban. Funds may also be used to conduct educational outreach activities and to develop materials needed to further enhance the industries' knowledge of and compliance with the BSE/ruminant feed ban. The awards were up to $250,000 and the states receiving them were Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina and Washington.

Intervention: Food Safety and Security Monitoring
The grants for Food Safety and Security Monitoring provide funding to Food Emergency Response Network chemistry laboratories, laboratories essential to intervention efforts. The grants may be used for facility upgrades, training in current food testing methodologies, and increased laboratory sample analysis capacity, among other activities. In the event of a large-scale chemical terrorism event affecting food or food products, the recipient may be required to perform selected chemical analyses of food samples collected by the FDA or provided by other government agencies through the FDA. The states receiving these grants were Colorado, California and Ohio and were given up to $350,000.

Intervention: Innovative Food Defense
The Innovative Food Defense grants will generate novel solutions and outreach to address gaps in, or provide enhancement to, food defense nationwide -- for example, implementing the food defense programs in food establishments called the Assure, Look, Employees, Reports, and Threat or ALERT, and Employees Follow, Inspect, Recognize, Secure, and Tell or FIRST. Each recipient was awarded up to $40,000. The funded counties were Riverside County Dept. of Environmental Health (California) and Multnomah County Department of Health (Ore.). The funded states were Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Response: Rapid Response Teams
The first-ever Rapid Response Team (RRT) cooperative agreement will develop, implement, exercise and integrate an all-hazards food and food-borne illness response capability to more rapidly react to potential threats to our food supply. The RRT, which is designed to operate in conjunction with other food and feed agencies within state programs, other state RRTs, FDA district offices, and state emergency operations centers, is another tool to enhance response capabilities.

The RRTs will respond to all food hazard incidents in the farm-to-table continuum of food production and delivery by using incident command structure response protocols, a formalized crisis management system. Each recipient was awarded up to $500,000 to exercise its response team, conduct a program assessment, purchase additional equipment and supplies, fund personnel, train, and share information and data as appropriate. The funded states were North Carolina, Massachusetts, California, Michigan, Florida and Minnesota.

Is there more to prion protein than mad cow disease?
29. Sep.08
BioMed Central
Charlotte Webber
Web Site
Prion protein, a form of protein that triggers BSE, is associated with other brain diseases in cattle, raising the possibility of a significant increase in the range of prion disease. Publishing their findings in the open access journal BMC Veterinary Research, scientists have detected changes in the production and accumulation of the prion protein in the brains of cattle with a rare neurodegenerative disorder.
Martin Jeffrey of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency led a research team that tested 15 brains of cattle with idiopathic brainstem neuronal chromatolysis and hippocampal sclerosis (IBNC). They are the first group to show that the brains of animals with this disease accumulate prion protein (PrP), the protein that misfolds to cause BSE and which, when transmitted to humans through the food chain, can cause the deadly Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

IBNC is a rare neurological disease of adult cattle. It was first characterised in 1988 following laboratory tests from cattle suspected of having BSE. Although IBNC has some clinical similarities to BSE, the brains of affected cattle do not have the neuronal vacuolation (lesions) typical of BSE.
Further laboratory tests suggest that the misfolded form of PrP, which accumulates in the brains of BSE cases, is not present in IBNC cases. Commercial BSE testing kits did not detect the telltale, BSE-inducing form of PrP either. However, the presence of increased levels of PrP was detected.

"We've shown for the first time that prion protein is somehow involved in IBNC," says Jeffrey, "In this disease, there is an association with abnormally high levels of a prion protein in the brain but clearly this PrP is in a different form to that involved in BSE and CJD. This may have implications for diagnosis and recognition of typical forms of BSE as well as the related diseases in sheep, deer and in man.

Notes to Editors:
1. Idiopathic Brainstem Neuronal Chromatolysis (IBNC): a novel prion protein related disorder of cattle?
Martin Jeffrey, Belinda Baquero-Perez, Stuart Martin, Linda Terry and Lorenzo Gonzalez
BMC Veterinary Research (in press)
During embargo, article available here: Web Site
After the embargo, article available at the journal website: Web Site
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.

2. BMC Veterinary Research is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of veterinary science and medicine, including the epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of medical conditions of domestic, companion, farm and wild animals, as well as the biomedical processes that underlie their health. BMC Veterinary Research (ISSN 1746-6148) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, CAS and Google Scholar.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.

CANADA: Ritz avoids listeria joke questions at agriculture debate
29. Sep.08
Globe and Mail
Bill Curry
Web Site
Ottawa -- Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz surfaced publicly Monday for the first time since his late-evening apology for what he described as “tasteless” jokes about the listeria outbreak that has now claimed 19 Canadian lives.

But after using an all-party agriculture debate to blame the previous Liberal government for compromising food safety, the minister bolted for a back door exit and avoided questions from reporters.
During the two-hour debate at Ottawa's Chateau Laurier, the minister avoided any direct references to the listeria outbreak or his controversial comments.

The embattled minister was attacked by his Liberal, NDP and Green critics for his government's handling of food safety.

“This should be a defining issue in this election,” said Liberal MP and agriculture critic Wayne Easter, who joined Mr. Ritz on stage at the debate sponsored by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Mr. Easter criticized the government over a “secret document” that surfaced this summer showing the government intends to transfer certain meat inspection responsibilities to industry as a way of saving money.

“The bottom line is this: Under Stephen Harper, he has a belief to get government basically out of governing; to download responsibility onto provinces in some cases, and download responsibility onto industry. That's why we have seen the listeriosis crisis, to a certain extent – Or that should be a shot across the bow not to go that way.”

Mr. Ritz, however, came prepared to fight back. He listed several examples where the previous Liberal government cut food safety programs and transferred inspection duties to industry.

“Let's talk about how we got to this situation,” Mr. Ritz began as the topic turned to food safety.
He then went on to list Liberal cuts to food safety from 1994 to 1996 that saw nearly 1,300 food safety positions eliminated and inspection responsibilities transferred to industry.

10 September 2008
JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Asia’s increasingly integrated economies are benefiting the region and the world, and Indonesia can play a major role in accelerating this trend, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda said.

He was speaking in Jakarta at a conference on regional integration in which he presented key findings from a new ADB flagship study - ‘Emerging Asian Regionalism: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity.
President Kuroda held bilateral talks with Indonesian officials including State Minister for National Development Planning and Chairman of Bappenas, Paskah Suzetta, and Central Bank Boediono, during which he discussed issues ranging from climate change and food prices, to local and global economic conditions. Indonesia is set to host the 42nd Annual Meeting of ADB on the island of Bali next year.
In his speech, President Kuroda said that Asia’s contribution to the global economy is growing faster than any other region in the world, driven by increasingly interlinked trade, investment, financial and services ties. “Asian integration is good for the countries involved, the region as a whole, and the world at large,” he said.

At the heart of the push for closer ties is the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) whose 10 member economies have a population of over half a billion people with a combined gross domestic product of almost $1.3 trillion in 2007.

Indonesia as a founding member of ASEAN, with the largest economy in the bloc, and its divergent cultures, religions and political systems can play a major role in the integration process, President Kuroda said. Jakarta is home to the ASEAN Secretariat.

For its part, ADB has established a funding facility for projects that support regional integration, and by 2020 it expects total lending for regional projects to account for at least 30% of its total operations. “ADB has been and will continue to be a trusted partner in the Asian integration process,” President Kuroda said.

In its ‘Emerging Asian Regionalism’ study, ADB sets out goals that Asia should aim to achieve by 2020. These include an integrated market free of restrictions on flows of goods, services and capital; deep and liquid financial markets; effective frameworks for coordinating macroeconomic and exchange rate policies; collective efforts to address social issues; the development of a consistent ‘Asian voice’ in global policy forums, and institutions to provide analytical and logistical support.

The study notes that integration is market-led, and looking ahead it will require greater policy cooperation among governments around the region, and the development of a stronger institutional framework.
Video on digester on a dairy farm

Aug. 27/2008 >> U.S. beef exports no longer chopped liver in Russia
by Tom Johnston on 8/27/2008

U.S. beef variety meats like liver have always been a big draw in Russia, but Russians have an increasing hankering for muscle cuts as the country's wealth and demand expands.

The most recent indication came from weekly export data provided by the Foreign Agricultural Service for January through Aug. 14 this year, showing Russia imported 10,788 metric tons of muscle cuts compared with just 416 metric tons in the same period in 2003.

Moreover, these exports excluded variety meats, such as liver, long Russia's favorite U.S. item — and the bulk of its beef imports. The U.S. Meat Export Federation's spring 2008 forecast for exports to Russia during 2008 was 6,500 metric tons of beef muscle cuts and 28,000 metric tons of variety meats, mostly livers.

But things are changing, with weekly export data indicating muscle cut volumes far exceeding that projection. Weekly volumes for livers were not available, although data shows that livers still account for the majority of U.S. beef exports to Russia.

"We know there are basically unprecedented volumes of muscle cuts going to Russia, we just don't know specifically how many top rounds, knuckles, et cetera make up the total," USMEF economist Erin Daley told Meatingplace.com, explaining that cut-specific data is not available.

"But we understand from communication with industry and our office in Moscow that Russia is buying a lot of round and chuck cuts as well as trimmings," Daley added. "Much of this imported beef is going into Russia's processing industry."

Beef production declining

With the help of the pork and poultry industries, Russian meat production increased 13.4 percent to 1.6 million metric tons from January to July of 2008. But beef production in Russia has been declining, Daley notes.

She also explained that U.S. beef cuts have been priced competitively with beef imports from South America and Australia. "U.S. beef prices have benefited from the relatively weak dollar, but tight global beef supplies have also helped to narrow the gap between U.S. prices and the other major suppliers."

US Culling activity increases
Dairy-cow slaughter rose last month according to last Friday's USDA "Livestock Slaughter" report. In July, 209,000 dairy cows were culled. That's 28,000 more than were culled in June and 29,000 more than were culled in July 2007. For more information, go to: www.dairyherd.com.

Us Class I price retreats again
According to USDA's announcement last Friday, the Class I milk price for September 2008 is $17.65. That's down 82 cents from August and down $4.26 from September 2007 when the Class I price was $21.91.

Groups say milk-pricing system is broken
The National Family Farm Coalition and International Dairy Foods Association are calling on USDA to overhaul the milk-pricing system. Both sides agree that the system is broken, but for different reasons. For instance, milk producers say the increased deduction for cheese and other manufacturing products slated to begin on Sept. 1 is too high, but processors say it isn't high enough. For more information, click here.

Emergency hearing for milk price increase

Aug. 19, 2008 >> "Slick" Gene Helps Cattle Beat The Heat

Pinpointing the chromosomal location of the "slick" gene identified by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists could help breeders develop cattle with shorter, slick hair that helps keep them cool in the subtropical heat.

In central Florida, excessive summer heat can take its toll on cattle, leading to reduced milk production from dairy cattle and higher death rates among beef cattle. But the discovery of the slick gene by scientists at the ARS Subtropical Agricultural Research Station (STARS) in Brooksville, Fla., should help deal with these heat-related issues.

Breeders could move the gene into other economically important breeds, such as Holstein or Angus, to improve their heat tolerance. The black-and-white Holstein is the world=s top-producing dairy animal. The typical Holstein herd produces more than 21,000 pounds of milk, 775 pounds of butterfat and 683 pounds of protein per year.

Angus is the most popular beef breed in the United States, with more than 550,000 Angus cattle registered. They are hardy, undemanding and adaptable, and have a high carcass yield of marbled meat--the amount of intramuscular fat that gives the meat its marble pattern appearance, a highly sought trait in the meat industry.

Studies at Brooksville led by animal scientist Chad Chase have shown slick-haired animals to have internal temperatures about 1 degree Fahrenheit lower during the summer than other cattle with normal hair coats.

Mapping the genes location on the chromosome is the first step towards identifying the mutation responsible for the shorter, slick hair. Chase and his STARS team have found a strong association between at least two closely positioned markers on chromosome 20 and the slick-haired phenotype. Microsatellite markers were used in these studies.

These results suggest a role for marker-assisted selection to identify bulls that will produce only slick-haired progeny. Some Senepol bulls were tested using these markers, and the results indicated excellent potential for identifying bulls that will produce only slick-haired offspring. The same gene also appears to be responsible for the slick hair coat in Romosinuano cattle.

Read more about this and related animal studies in the August 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

SourceL RS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Aug. 8, 2008 >>  ONTARIO: Outlook Conference 2008
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Sarah Wilson
www.ontario.ca/outlook2008
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs invites you to join the 2008 Outlook Conference, taking place at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, Canada on November 13. Featuring world-renowned speakers and thought-provoking panel discussions, this year’s conference will focus on future directions and opportunities in the agri-food sector. Topics will range from economic and environmental challenges to future technologies and consumer trends.
Speakers include:
- Robert Vos – United Nations: Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
- Marion Nestle – New York University: Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health
- Kristian Borch – Technical University of Denmark: Senior Scientist, Department of Management Engineering
- Tima Bansal – Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario: Director of the Centre for Building Sustainable Value
- Molly Anderson – Wallace Center: Project Manager, and Consultant. Coordinating Lead Author on the North America/Europe section of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development
- Ronald Wright – author of A Short History of Progress
Please visit www.ontario.ca/outlook2008 for more information and to register now.

Aug. 5, 2008 >> Here's the beef: Identifying DNA markers and traits
Agricultural Research Service, USDA;      Laura McGinnis
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are using a new tool to find relationships between DNA markers and economically significant traits in cattle.
The new tool, called the Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip, is a glass slide containing thousands of DNA markers, some of which may be associated with important production traits such as disease resistance.
ARS researchers at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., and the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, are using the BeadChip to research bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Cattle can carry BRD without showing any symptoms, so infected animals can be difficult to identify. Tools like the BeadChip may facilitate identification of genetic markers for traits like BRD resistance.
Another project employing the BeadChip technology is a USMARC investigation into the influence of genetics on feed efficiency. Research leader Cal Ferrell, geneticist Mark Allan and their colleagues are identifying phenotypes--visible characteristics--that relate to post-weaning feed efficiency and lifetime productivity in beef cattle.
The researchers are also using the BeadChip to find relationships between DNA markers and phenotypes that can be used to enhance genetic selection and management in beef cattle. These studies could eventually allow researchers to develop tools that can be used to guide animal breeding selection and management decisions.
The BeadChip has research applications for both beef and dairy cattle. Design of the BeadChip was led by ARS researchers at Beltsville, Md., in collaboration with ARS scientists at Clay Center and colleagues from the University of Missouri and the University of Alberta in Canada. The chip is being used at all those locations and many others--in at least 23 locations in 11 countries.
Read more about the research in the August 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

July 25 (Bloomberg)  >> JBS Plans to Fund 4,000 Brazilian Feedlots to Speed Up Supply ; By Carlos Caminada and Flavia Lima

JBS SA, the world's biggest beef supplier, plans to finance as many as 4,000 Brazilian cattle producers to help them fatten calves faster in feedlots after supplies dwindled and prices surged. JBS aims to have as much as 350 million reais ($222 million) in outstanding loans by 2011, Jose Geraldo Dontal, the head of a new JBS finance unit, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The loans will fund investments in feedlots, he said.

In Brazil, where most cattle are raised grazing in pastures, cattle prices jumped 80 percent in the past two years after so many heifers were slaughtered that the number of calves sent to abattoirs diminished. Loans from JBS will hasten the renewal of supplies because calves grow to slaughter weight four times faster in feedlots than by grazing in fields, Dontal said. ``By financing feedlots, we'll shorten the fattening time,'' said Dontal, who is chief executive officer of JBS Banco, the company's newly created banking unit, in Sao Paulo. He said the company expects to lend 100 million reais in the first year.

JBS will target its biggest cattle suppliers, which account for about 80 percent of its needs. The producers, which often have difficulty obtaining loans from banks, will be able to repay the debt with cattle, Dontal said. Brazilian ranchers usually confine cattle for three months so the animals will gain about 5 arrobas (165 pounds) and reach slaughter weight of 18 to 19 arrobas (285 kilograms), Dontal said. It takes a year of grazing for a typical calf to gain that much, he said. JBS expects about 60 percent of its cattle suppliers to be using feedlots in two years, up from about 40 percent today.

In the U.S., feedlots buy animals that weigh 500 to 800 pounds and fatten them on corn for about four to six months, until they weigh about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) and are sold to slaughterhouses.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos Caminada in Sao Paulo at ccaminada1@bloomberg.net; Flavia Lima in Sao Paulo at Flima1@bloomberg.net.

July 24, 2008  >>  Ag firms harvest revenue growth as Dairy Farmers of America Inc. topped the top 150 private companies list with revenue of $11.1 billion in 2007, up from $7.5 billion the year before. The Kansas City-based dairy cooperative’s record revenue came, in no small part, from surging milk prices.

DFA members received an average price of $19.38 per hundredweight — literally 100 pounds of milk — last year. That’s up $6.30 a hundredweight from 2006. The cooperative said it had record operating revenue in 2007 but recorded a net loss of $109.3 million because of one-time, non-cash charges associated with the closing of two cheese plants. "As we’re looking in 2008, it's tight," said David Darr, vice president of sustainability and public affairs for DFA. Darr said dairy farmers are working hard to keep pace with rising prices for inputs, such as feed corn, necessary to produce milk."The truth is they need milk prices to be at the levels they are right now because the cost structure is so high," he said.

July 22, 2008  >>  "CLAL.IT Consulting" posts this "Dairy Industry Analysis & Price Comparison Analysis" between crude oil prices and whole milk powder and cheddar, and other pricing factors within and around the Dairy Sector of Western & Eastern Europe:  Web site

CLAL is a Consultancy firm in the dairy sector. In particular, it is a team of professionals operating in market analysis, communication and data processing relating to the dairy sector.
Angelo Rossi is the team coordinator.

• Consultancy
• Business Opportunities
• Information on the dairy market (editorials, graphs, ...) in Italy and Europe (Germany, France, Slovakia, Hungary, ...) and on the dairy products (i.e. milk, butter, cheese, ...)
• The choice of language, the use of figures and image
  (to avoid noisy transmission i.e unreliable messages and inconsistency)
• Agricultural Trade Associations
• Milk Co-operatives and Industries
• Food processing Industries
• Consortia for the protection of PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) products
• Medium and Large scale Distribution (both national and international)
• Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture
• Staff working in Governmental Agricultural Departments
• Staff in charge of Agricultural Policy in Embassies
• The media

July 1, 2008 >>  Quick Updates 
World Dairy Summit – Mexico  http://www.wds2008mexico.com/

EU dairy outlook defies supply and nutrition challenges http://foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?id=86196
ISTP Canada announces 10 Joint Science and Technology Initiatives Between Canadian and Indian Companies Valued at More than $17 Million.      Note: "Rapid Diagnostics to improve Animal Health" In addition, is there an opportunity for CLGA members do engage in joint research with India - funded under this program and supportive of market development? http://www.istpcanada.ca/NewsEvents/PressReleases/India_Announcement.html

Developing world to become food commodity hub
By Jess Halliday
15-June-2008 - Global agriculture and trade for most commodities are set to centre on developing countries in the next ten years - a prediction that gives weight to food industry strategies to build a presence in emerging markets.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) made the forecast in its annual Agricultural Outlook for 2008 to 2018, which was released yesterday, in partnership with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

As food companies are extending their operations into developing countries, with China, India and Russia being amongst the favourites. While the rationale is to be closer to markets where consumer spending powder will likely mushroom, bringing with it a major shift in eating habits, companies are also likely to find themselves closer to raw material sources.

The outlook says the "the epicenter of global agriculture will more from the OECD countries, towards developing countries" in the next ten years. OECD countries include much of Western Europe, as well as the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Turkey Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Japan, Korea and Mexico.

Both consumption and production are growing faster in developing countries than in developed countries, for all commodities except wheat.

The outlook covers cereals, oilseed, sugar, meats, milk and dairy produce.

"By 2017, these countries are expected to dominate production and consumption of most commodities, with the exception of coarse grains, cheese, and skim-milk powder," it says.

The organizations say that, of developing countries, China and India will remain the growth leaders, in parallel with GDP growth as they become more integrated into global markets.

Demand for agricultural commodities is linked directly to population, and the fastest population growth is expected in Africa, with annual average growth of over 2 per cent.

In Europe, on the other hand, population is expected to stabilize.

The report expects there to be parallel shifts in trade, with developing countries importing more - but other developing and emerging countries are capturing an every larger share of the potential this offers to trade partners.

Grains

Following recent weather factors that have had a fierce impact on harvest, Australia is expected to resume its position of being the second biggest wheat exporter after the US.

Ukraine is also expected to increase its exports to coarse grains.

Demand for wheat will be fueled by South and East Asia, Nigeria and Egypt.

China is cited as a clear exception, since diets are shifting towards processed foods in keeping with income rises.

Trade-wise, Saudi Arabia recently opted to phase out subsidies for wheat, and exports are therefore expected to increase.

Beside this the outlook says it projects expanding exports from OECD countries, but "most of the growth in import demand will be satisfied through larger shipments from emerging and developing countries, particularly Ukraine and Argentina."

Rice

Rice production is expected to increase by around 10 per cent over the outlook period, mainly due to larger crops from Asian and South Asian countries.

However this looks to be a result of increased productivity, as rice growing area is set to decrease as land dedicated to rice growing comes under pressure from competition from other crops and uses.

Developed countries (EU and Japan) are also likely to plant less.

Rice will become even more important in the African diet, with per capita consumption to rise from 22 to 24kg over ten years.

Global rice trade will fall, says the outlook, as there is more self-sufficiency amongst producing countries.

Oilseed

Oilseed demand is driven largely by livestock production, since livestock are fed protein meal derived from oilseed. Biofuels are also a major factor in demand.

Oilseed consumption in developing countries will increase by some 50 per cent by 2017, compared to 2005-7 baseline. China and its livestock sector will account for around half of this growth, the outlook says.

The EU is likely to remain the biggest importer, but imports will fall somewhat as more of the protein meal used comes from domestically produced and crushed oilseeds - rapeseed meal in particular.

After the EU, China will become the second biggest oilseed importer, preferring, as it does, to crush seeds locally so as to benefit from the value-added potential of the resulting oils. However crushing industry will grow at a lower rate than in the previous decade because of falling consumption growth.

Argentina is said to be in a position to consolidate its position as a region hub for oilseed crushing.

Brazil is expected to increase its share of exports from 30 to 40 per cent over the decade.

Sugar

Brazil is anticipated to remain the world centre for sugar and ethanol production, and to be the centre for setting sugar prices.

In the EU, in the wake of sugar reform, production will decrease and imports rise - perhaps to a level where it becomes the world's biggest importer. Imports are to come, preferentially, from less developed countries.

Developing countries are accounting for almost all of the production and consumption increase, because of population increases and new ability to buy luxury foods as incomes increase.

Meat

Overall, meat production is expected to increase by an average of 2 per cent, but with great differences between regions.

In OECD countries it is expected to increase by half a per cent, but in non-OECD countries by around 2.5 per cent per year.

Investment, capacity, infrastructure improvements and new production methods are spurring growth, especially in China, Brazil and Argentina.

The US, Canada, Argentina, Australia and Brazil will remain dominant, as trade recovers from damaging disease outbreaks.

In terms of meat consumption, again developing countries are driving growth. They are said to account for a massive 80 per cent of growth increase, with Asia and the Pacific a major force.

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May 31, 2008 >> Milk strike spreads across Europe
30.05.2008 - 09:27 CET | By Leigh Phillips
A strike by dairy farmers in Germany is spreading across the European Union, with counterparts in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France joining in to put pressure on European supermarkets and corner stores.

The German farmers launched their industrial action on Tuesday (26 May) in protest at the low price they are paid by supermarkets.

The country's main dairy federation, the Association of German Dairy Farmers (BDM), said it expects shelves to begin to empty from late Thursday (29 May), with 95 percent of the group's members participating, according to Agence France Presse.

Instead of delivering milk to market, the farmers are pouring it on their fields or feeding it to calves, with German supermarkets reporting panic-buying by members of the public concerned over what to pour over muesli or spread on their toast.

Farmers across Europe have joined in the strike, with the Austrian dairy union calling on its members to cut supplies to dairies in half. Some 60 percent of Dutch farmers are fertilizing their fields with milk and manure.

Swiss producers have also pronounced in favour of the milk strike, with deliveries down sharply. "If the farmers don't defend themselves now, then when?" said Martin Haab, president of Big-M, the Swiss milk producers association, according to TSR.

Meanwhile in France, farmers have said they will use tractors to blockade dairies that attempt to send milk to Germany to make up for the shortfall

The farmers are demanding they be paid 43 cents a litre, instead of the current 28-34 cents a litre. Recent price hikes in petrol and feed have diminished their earnings at the same time as supermarkets have pushed milk prices down, they claim.

Although operating costs have climbed by eight percent in the last six months, the farmers' payments for milk has dropped by 30 percent over the same period.

US beef imports set to resume in South Korea but finding it in stores may prove difficult
30.may.08
International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Web Site
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea was cited as saying it will start allowing American beef back into the country, defying weeks of public protests and fulfilling a pledge made to the United States, but will anyone be willing — or even able — to buy it?
Amid daily street demonstrations involving thousands of people, major supermarkets said Friday they have no immediate plans to sell U.S. beef despite expectations shipments will start passing inspections next week.
Protesters have been taking to the streets of central Seoul for weeks, calling for the government to scrap its agreement with Washington to resume imports, suspended for most of the past 4 1/2 years over fears of mad cow disease.
The government said Thursday it would go ahead with the plan after delaying its implementation for weeks. Hours later nearly 10,000 protesters marched to denounce the move.
Lotte Mart, a major discount department store and supermarket chain, cited the national mood for foregoing sales, stating, "We cannot ignore public sentiment."
Protesters claim the government is ignoring their worries about safety and accuse President Lee Myung-bak of being arrogant toward his own people while kowtowing to the United States.
The government has repeatedly said there is absolutely no reason to fear U.S. beef and that it has been deemed safe to consume by the Paris-based Organization for Animal Health.

76th Annual General Session of the International Committee of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
25 – 30 May 2008  

Paris, May 30 2008 - Approximately 600 participants representing the 172 OIE Member Countries and Territories, intergovernmental (FAO, WHO, World Bank, WTO etc.), regional and national organizations took part in the 76 th Annual General Session of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)

The Session was honoured by the presence of high-ranking authorities, including numerous Ministers of OIE Members.

Official OIE sanitary status recognition of Members

The International Committee approved the 2008 list of countries or zones that had applied for an official OIE recognition of their sanitary status concerning one or several of four priority diseases: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), foot and mouth disease, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and rinderpest.

"Applications are studied following a very democratic process that involves renowned international experts, the elected members of the OIE Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases and finally, possibility for all 172 Members Delegates to put all propositions in question," OIE Director General Dr Bernard Vallat reminded the members of the International Committee.

This year the OIE recognized a record number of sanitary statuses on BSE. Following the recognition of 30 Members this week, the OIE now recognizes 41 Members as having a "controlled risk" or a "negligible risk" status..

The OIE is the sole world organization to grant an official status on freedom from specified animal diseases including BSE.

Five Members or zones of Members were newly recognized as free of FMD with or without vaccination.

The OIE granted 13 new national free statuses on rinderpest. The organization reiterated the objective, shared with the FAO, to declare the world free of rinderpest in the short term.

Food security

The International Committee stressed the strong link existing between the fight against hunger around the world and the fight against animal diseases in particular developing countries and consequently between food security and animal health. A specific resolution was adopted.

The International Committee also reemphasized the importance of the OIE mandate relating to food safety at the production level.

More commitment from OIE Reference Laboratories and Members to the OFFLU network

Delegates adopted a resolution requiring Members reporting outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza to rapidly share biological material and data with the international scientific community. Members are encouraged to use the OIE/FAO OFFLU network as a way of generating and disseminating this information, thus allowing the early preparation of human vaccines.

The Session further insisted that it is mandatory for all OIE Reference Laboratories to gather, process, analyze and disseminate epidemiological data concerning the disease they are responsible for.

Global animal disease notification

The worldwide zoo sanitary situation, covering around 100 terrestrial and aquatic animal diseases, was examined in detail.

The Session highlighted that notification of disease outbreaks from Members has dramatically improved since the launch of the new online system WAHIS in 2006. To the benefit of the world epidemiological situation, Members assimilated the system and it meets all expectations regarding the swiftness, number and quality of notification reports.

The WAHID database now captures all the information provided by WAHIS and makes it accessible to everybody worldwide.

Improving of national Veterinary Services, expanding OIE scientific network and diagnostic kits certification

Evaluation missions using the Performance of Veterinary Services tool (PVS) were reported on during the meeting. The missions were so far conducted in 54 Members with the support of several international donors in order to improve animal health management worldwide.

The international Committee accredited the application of five new Collaborating Centres and eight Reference Laboratories, bringing the OIE global network of scientific expertise to a number of 208 worldwide. This network provides OIE Members all updated animal disease control methods permanently.

The International Committee noted that the interest in the OIE Twining Initiative concept of laboratories is growing from both developed countries and, in-transition and developing countries which can use this path to access the OIE network of excellence.

The Session validated the BioChek Avian Influenza Antibody and Prionics® Check Western (BSE) diagnostic kits . Both will be included to the official OIE assays register listed in the OIE Manual 2008.

Nanotechnologies are now subject to OIE standards, guidelines with an addition to the chapter on biotechnology of the OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals : "Nanotechnologies in diagnosis and vaccine development".

Additions to the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes

Consistent with the framework of its usual standard-setting activities the Committee updated and adopted new international standards, aimed at providing better safeguards for the sanitary safety of world trade, as well as guidelines to better implement surveillance of animal diseases and zoonoses worldwide.

Significant standards were also adopted in the field of animal welfare, including a new scientific definition of animal welfare and new guidelines for aquatic animals.

Agreements

Cooperation agreements were adopted with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the International Air Transport Association ( IATA), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMOU).

Also, the OIE signed an agreement with the International Poultry Council (IPC) and with t he International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS), the last covering further collaboration on common issues of interest related to the welfare of animals used for scientific research.

Technical items

Two technical items were presented and debated during the Session and gave rise to Resolutions passed by the International Committee.

- Participation of small farmers in animal health programs.

The role of small farmers in the surveillance and early detection of animal diseases is crucial. They must be trained so they can act as key partners of Veterinary Services.

- Implication of private standards in international trade of animals and animal products:

Delegates also tackled the problem of animal health and animal welfare standards established unilaterally by private companies without direct involvement of governments.

Discussions emphasized again that the World Trade Organization, under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards, formally mandates the OIE as the reference organization responsible for establishing international standards relating to animal diseases, including zoonoses.

April 22, 2008 - Food Crisis Is Depicted As 'Silent Tsunami'
Sharp Price Hikes Leave Many Millions in Hunger
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 23, 2008; A01

LONDON, April 22 -- More than 100 million people are being driven deeper into poverty by a "silent tsunami" of sharply rising food prices, which have sparked riots around the world and threaten U.N.-backed feeding programs for 20 million children, the top U.N. food official said Tuesday.

"This is the new face of hunger -- the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), said at a London news conference. "The world's misery index is rising."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, hosting Sheeran and other private and government experts at his 10 Downing Street offices, said the growing food crisis has pushed prices to their highest levels since 1945 and rivals the current global financial turmoil as a threat to world stability.

"Hunger is a moral challenge to each one of us as global citizens, but it is also a threat to the political and economic stability of poor nations around the world," Brown said, adding that 25,000 people a day are dying of conditions linked to hunger.

"With one child dying every five seconds from hunger-related causes, the time to act is now," Brown said, pledging $60 million in emergency aid to help the WFP feed the poor in Africa and Asia, where in some nations the prices of many food staples have doubled in the past six months.

Brown said the "vast" food crisis was threatening to reverse years of progress to create stronger middle classes around the world and lift millions of people out of poverty.

Prices for basic food supplies such as rice, wheat and corn have skyrocketed in recent months, driven by a complex set of factors including sharply rising fuel prices, droughts in key food-producing countries, ballooning demand in emerging nations such as China and India, and the diversion of some crops to produce biofuels.

Sheeran noted that the United States, which she said provides half of the world's food assistance, has pledged $200 million in emergency food aid and that Congress was considering an additional appropriation.

Holding up the kind of plastic cup that the WFP uses to feed millions of children, Sheeran told reporters that the price of a metric ton of rice in parts of Asia had risen from $460 to $1,000 in less than two months.

"People are simply being priced out of food markets," she said. The WFP has budgeted $2.9 billion this year -- all from donor nations -- to conduct its feeding programs around the world, including large efforts in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and other nations that could not otherwise feed themselves.

Sheeran said soaring prices mean that the WFP needs an additional $755 million to meet its needs. That "food gap" jumped from $500 million just two months ago as prices keep rising, she said.

"We hope we have reached a plateau, but this is a rapidly evolving situation," she said, adding that the WFP was urgently seeking contributions to make up the difference as the situation becomes more dire in poor countries such as Bangladesh and Afghanistan that are heavily dependent on imported food.

Sheeran said the WFP's main focus was on the "ultra-poor," those who earn less than 50 cents a day. She said rising food prices meant millions of people earning less than $2 a day were giving up health care and education. Those living on less than $1 a day were giving up meat and vegetables, and those living on less than 50 cents were facing increasingly desperate hunger.

Hunger and anger have led to violence recently in Haiti, where food riots this month resulted in several deaths, as well as Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia and Senegal. Argentina's attempt to control rising prices led to a strike by producers.

The WFP is already being forced to cut back on school feeding programs that serve 20 million children, Sheeran said. Without more emergency funding, she said, a feeding program in Cambodia would be eliminated and programs in places such as Kenya and Tajikistan would be cut in half.

"These are heartbreaking decisions to have to make," Sheeran said. "We need all the help we can get from the governments of the world who can afford to do so."

Sheeran said rising fuel and fertilizer prices were adding to the misery. She said she recently returned from a trip to Kenya's Rift Valley, where the cost of fertilizer has climbed 135 percent since December.

That increase, along with rising prices for seed and diesel, led farmers to plant only one-third the crops they planted last year -- a pattern being repeated around the world, she said.

"Farmers have no access to credit, so when prices go up, they can't afford to plant," she said, urging governments, particularly in developing nations, to invest more in programs to support domestic agriculture.

"I think much of the world is waking up to the fact that food doesn't spontaneously show up on grocery store shelves," she said.

In some parts of the world, Sheeran said, the WFP needs to provide food to people who have none. In other countries, she said, food is plentiful but prices have risen so much that people cannot afford it. She said the WFP is considering programs in those countries to provide cash assistance or emergency food vouchers.

Food experts have said such programs could help lower domestic food prices without hurting local farmers -- the kind of balance Sheeran said WFP officials are trying to strike as they deal with a crisis that has different faces in different parts of the world.

The increasing use of crops to produce biofuels has been criticized as contributing to food shortages. While Britain and the European Union have called for greater use of biofuels, Brown said Tuesday that "we need to look closely at the impact on food prices and the environment."

"If our U.K. review shows that we need to change our approach, we will also push for change in E.U. biofuels targets," he said.

For example, under a national agriculture development plan approved by the government in 2005, Viet Nam will, by 2010, have 35-40 million pigs, some 6.7 million bulls and cows, and 2.8-3 million buffaloes. Russia and other countries are developing similar Ag Development Projects on a National scale.

April 5, 2008
IFCN Dairy Research Centre releases its findings and Hypothesis for 2007 & results from it's 2007 Dairy Conference held in November of 2007. In short, the IFCN indicates that dairy farms will become larger and perhaps reach a normal size of 2,000 cows per farm unit. Today's Super dairies are small in numbers and will increase and change the face of how we milk cows; as today there is 152 million dairy farms with an average of 2.4 cows. Click here for the IFCN Workshop Presentation.

This is similar to the Agro Exports, greg Nolan model of Beef Production Models of 10 maternal beef farms feeding one centrally located Feedlot farm; as we see the World's demand for food increase and large production farms being designed and put into operation; these sophisticated Agri Production models will become the norm. Please contact Agro Exports Office, to find how we can assist you in understanding the Production models available for your production farms.

March 26, 27 & 28 2008
"Canadian National Holstein Show & Sale" hosted by the HAC ( http://www.holstein.ca/ ) in London, Ontario in the Heart of the Canadian Dairy Industry.

More updates & News next week HAC site, click here for the 2008 National Holstein Convention & AGM. (

Program:

Wednesday, March 26
4:30 pm - Purina Showmanship (4-H), Western Fair Agriplex
6:30 pm - National Convention Sale , Western Fair Agriplex

Thursday, March 27
Ontario Spring Discovery Show, Western Fair Agriplex
Alternate Tour
Evening - President's Reception

Friday, March 28
All Day - Farm Tours / Holstein Canada National Office Tour
Evening - Master Breeder Awards Banquet

Saturday, March 29
10am-2pm - Annual General Meeting of Members & Guest Speaker
Proposals of Amendment to the By-Laws
Evening - Grand Finale Banquet

For more information, contact
Liz Jones
RR #5, Ingersoll , ON NSC 3J8
              519-424-3450, 519-424-3453 (fax)
lizjones@execulink.com

March 25, 2008
Leachman Cattle of Colorado held their 5 th annual Spring bull sale on March 25 th
Bull sale averages:

• 252 Black Stabilizers @ $3,458
• 103 Black Angus @ $3,521
• 31 Red Stabilizers @ $3,621
• 44 Red Angus @ $2,847
• 30 Charolais @ $2,858
• 460 Bulls overall @ $3,386

A record number of volume bull buyers came from across the western states including Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Nevada, and Montana.  Large, profit oriented commercial ranches invested in genetics to make their operations more profitable.  Active bidding came from the stands, the internet, sight unseen, and via the bidders conference call.

The high selling bull was Leachman Ramses G054T, Lot 277, for $14,000:  50% Semen share purchased by the syndicate of breeders:  Summitcrest Farms, OH; 7L Farms, MS; Jorgenson Angus, SD; Green Garden Angus, KS; and ABS Global.  Additional 10% semen share purchased by Tehama Angus, CA and Colorado State University, CO.  He was a high feed efficiency bull as determined by individual feeding records and our Feed Efficiency EPDs.  He is a son of CSU Ram Time out of a Retail Product daughter.  He recorded 88 BW, 788 AWW, 1295 AYW, 5.8% IMF, 13.2 " REA, -3.2 Residual Feed Intake, 5.8 F/G index, and a -.49 Feed Efficiency EPD. 

Congrats to Lee, Lisa, and Graham Leachman, Dallas & Mary Horton, all the staff at LCoC and the Horton Test Center, our industry supporters, and our valuable customers for making this one of their best bull sales ever!

March 20, 2008
Lee Leachman forwards his idealisms for Profitable Beef cattle selections. We post it here to assist our contacts in developing End Goals in Beef Production, which, surprising enough, is not necessarily driven by Input Costs must exceed Output Costs. Our idealisms here at Agro Exports are driven by "Genetics that Generate Profits" and we believe in 'Production Technologies" that start with Genetics that can meet the expected End Goals. We welcome your Angus Genetic enquiries. Click here for Lee's slide show. (Click to View Slide Show ) He can be contacted at the below contact info.

Lee Leachman, Manager
• Leachman Cattle of Colorado
• 5100 ECR 70 Wellington, CO 80549
• PH: (970) 568-3983
• FX: (970) 568-3988
• MB: (970) 219-8519
• www.leachman.com

March 18, 2008
Eastern European dairy outgrowing Western rivals, as recorded growth predictions for Eastern European Dairy operations, including Russian processor, outpace the West. Looking at milk imports as local supply cannot meet planned expansion.

Check out this web page from Decision News Media, for full details.