Hay Needed
Drought conditions persist in much of the West and several Mississippi cattlemen have offered hay to fellow producers in the effected areas. Contact MCA for help in coordinating donations. The Greene County Cattlemen's Association and Greene County FFA have a goal of 1000 rolls to donate by October 1. Anyone with excess hay for sale should list it in the Mississippi Hay Directory or Mississippi Market Bulletin.
The Texas Department of Agriculture Hay and Grazing Hotline is a service to the agricultural industry to help in locate forage and hay supplies.
Producers with hay to sell or donate can list their location and quantity at the TDA website. There are restrictions on noxious weeds and a fire ant quarantine is some Texas counties.
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NAP Deadline September 30
Producers who want to purchase FY 2012 coverage through the Noninsurable Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) must complete the application by September 30 date for the crop to be covered. Other programs could be impacted by the purchase of NAP coverage or the lack thereof.
Forage for hay or grazing are eligible. Grasses include Bahia, ryegrass, Bermuda, oats, millet planted for forage and wheat used for hay or grazing.
NAP provides financial assistance to eligible producers when natural disasters cause catastrophic loss of yield or prevented planting of a covered crop.
In the event of a natural disaster, NAP covers the amount of loss greater than 50 percent of the expected production based on the approved yield and reported acreage.
For more information, call your local FSA office.
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Welcome!
We welcome Dr. Brandi Bourg, the new stocker cattle Extension specialist in the Animal and Dairy Sciences Department at Mississippi State.
A Louisiana native, Dr. Bourg recently graduated from Texas A&M.
Jacob Megehee wasted no time in signing Brandi up as a new MCA member.
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BCIA Nominations Close This Week
Nomination close this week for bulls and heifers in the November 10th BCIA Sale at Hinds Community College.
For the first time, the Mississippi BCIA will include select replacement heifers in its fall sale.
Producers interested in consigning cattle can go to the BCIA online site or contact Dr. Jane Parish, 662-325-7466 for details.
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Angus Field Day
 
Beef Angus breeders, commercial producers and juniors enjoyed Saturday's field day at 7L Farms in Stone County.
Contest activities included judging meats and cattle as well as a weight guessing competition followed by an excellent lineup of speakers.
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BCIA Newsletter
The September 2011 issue of the Mississippi Beef Cattle Improvement Association newsletter is now available online.
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25 Years of Beef Checkoff Success
The $1-per-head national beef checkoff is wrapping up its first 25 years of serving as a catalyst to spur strong beef sales worldwide. Today, beef is the No. 1 selling protein in restaurants, in particular, and in the United States, in general, with consumer spending on beef totaling $73.4 million in 2010. And more than 85 percent of consumers know the industry's "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" slogan, currently serving as the base of the Beef Checkoff Program.
Catch up on highlights from each program area, through a six-part series in progress and available in the newsroom on MyBeefCheckoff.com, and help celebrate 25 years of beef checkoff success.
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Beef Exports on Track for Record Year
July was another very strong month for U.S. beef exports, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).Sales are on pace to set new export value records in 2011 and to eclipse the $5 billion mark for the first time ever.
Beef exports set a new value record in July of $513.1 million, on a volume of 120,424 metric tons. For the first seven months of the year, exports totaled 741,275 metric tons valued at nearly $3.1 billion - an increase of 26 percent in volume and 40 percent in value over last year's pace. July exports equated to 16.3 percent of total U.S. production with a value of $236.88 per head of fed slaughter. This compared to 12 percent and $159.34 per head last July. For the year, beef exports equated to 14.2 percent of production with a value of $198.67 per head of fed slaughter. One metric ton = 2,204.622 pounds.
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| Disagreement on FTAs
Republican sources on Capitol Hill anticipate the votes will eventually be there to pass the Panama, South Korea and Colombia deals, but acknowledge that it will not be easy.
The trio of trade deals is a rare area of agreement between Obama and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill. Many on the left have been disappointed with Obama's trade agenda, especially after he vowed on the presidential campaign trail to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
That promise has been unfulfilled, and union groups and Democrats are gearing up for a major battle over trade, most notably on Colombia.
Meanwhile, a fair amount of House GOP lawmakers from the Midwest, Northeast and southern regions are not sold yet - some of them from the historic class of 2010.
In March, more than 60 freshmen GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Obama advocating the speedy consideration of the free trade deals.
But nearly 20 House GOP freshmen refrained from signing it, including Representative Steven Palazzo.
When contacted by The Hill on their positions on the trade deals, the collective consensus was "undecided."
Historically trade deals have divided parties along regional lines, but these deals, South Korea in particular, could cause problems for more Republicans, according to a source well-connected with the lobbying effort to defeat the trade deals.
"The textile industry is strongly against [the South Korean deal]...There are a bunch of Republicans who typically vote for trade agreements, who will be voting against this agreement - some are not freshmen, some are senior members," the source said.
And anti-trade interest groups are poised to pounce on then-GOP candidates who ran against "more NAFTAs," but who may fold to leadership pressure to vote for the free trade deals.
Over the past few days, House and Senate GOP leaders have implored President Obama to send the deals to Congress as soon as possible - an indication of their confidence that the votes are in place to pass the long-stalled measures. from thehill.com
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Market Notes
Dr. John Michael Riley
September 9, 2011
Cash Cattle:
Cash fed cattle were higher this week. Texas live cattle traded at $117-$118/cwt and Kansas live cattle were at $118. Live and dressed cash prices in Nebraska were called at $118/cwt and $187/cwt, respectively. Oklahoma City did not have a sale on Monday but did open on Tuesday but no prices were reported. Mississippi auction markets for feeder steers and heifers were called $1-$2/cwt higher, while bulls and cows were steady.
Futures:
Live cattle futures ended higher with nearby contracts closing the week higher than deferred. Macro economic conditions provided no support to close the week out but improved cash prices along with a drop in input prices did help push futures prices higher earlier in the week.
Feeder futures were higher for all contracts with more distant months receiving the larger premium. The drop in corn futures prices along with the continuing expectation that feeder calf availability will dwindle further helped bolster prices.
The corn crop rated good and excellent marched lower again this week but the question on every corn/livestock person's mind is: 'What will corn yield be?'. The monthly Crop Report will be released Monday which provide the answer to that question and early expectations are looking for 148.8 bushels per acre. This would be down from the August estimate of 153 bu/ac. If realized, U.S. corn production could fall to approximately 12.5 billion bushels, which would not be ideal for all users of the commodity. Still, despite these bullish factors, corn futures were lower this week by about 20-25 cents per bushel. Most of the impact of the reduced national yield has likely been priced into the corn market and the stronger U.S. dollar value should keep export opportunities quieted, which has been a strong point for all agricultural products - beef included.
Beef:
Wholesale beef prices were lower on the week. Choice boxed beef finished at $180.25/cwt and Select ended the week at $171.07/cwt. This puts the Choice-to-Select spread at $9.18/cwt, which has been widening for the past four weeks and is the highest of 2011. The wider spread is due to the fact that Select prices have deteriorated at a faster clip than Choice prices over the past three weeks.
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Calendar
September 13 Webster CCA 15 Lee CCA 20 Noxubee CCA area members invited 22 Greene CCA October 5 - 16 State Fair 20 Hinds CCA
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SAVE THE DATE
Learn at Lunch Each Tuesday and Thursday during September, producers may attend the Beef Cattle Genetics Learn at Lunch sessions.
This week's program, "Improving Female Genetics" airs tomorrow at noon. To attend a session, please contact your local Extension office in advance to make arrangements to connect through a local site on the Extension interactive video system.
Have high speed internet? View it live from your home computer.
These free noontime educational sessions are sponsored by the MS and AL Beef Cattle Improvement Associations.
Click here for details.
MS Fed Beef
Conference October 21, MSU White Sand Field Day
October 27, Poplarville AI School October 27-29, MSU
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Mississippi
citizens spend $1,060,126,199
annually
on beef.
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