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Mississippi Cattlemen's Association
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State vs Ole Miss
 
Fans attending Saturday's baseball game in Starkville enjoyed great samples in the Beef Council tent in right field.
Beef Day at Dudy Noble Field is part of the Beef Council's advertising program. |
And the winner is...
Eighty-nine year old James Darnell's name was drawn to win the Dixie National grand champion steer.
Mr. Darnell said he just bought the ticket to help MCA and wanted to give the steer to his Newton County Cattlemen's Association.
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Over a Ton of Steak
Lowndes County cattlemen served 3,000 ribeye steak dinners in their 22nd annual steak sale.
60 members and their spouses worked Friday and Saturday to raise funds for the scholarship program and other projects. |
Health & Fitness Expo
Consumers attending Saturday's SuperTalk Health & Fitness Expo were entertained with cooking demonstrations by the Beef Council and CattleWomen's Association.
The Trade Mart display offered nutrition information pointing out the health benefits of beef and highlighting the 29 lean cuts.
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Johne's Disease Newsletter
Johne's Disease is a growing problem in many herds yet it often goes undetected and is misdiagnosed, causing serious loses in production. State Johne's Coordinator Dr. Bob Warren forwarded the linked Spring Newsletter. |
Update from the Beef Checkoff
We want to continue to keep you updated on the confirmed case of BSE in California. As of press time, the latest developments are as follows. Late Thursday night, USDA announced more information about the history and age of the animal. According to USDA, the animal in question was 10 years and 7 months old and came from a dairy farm in Tulare County, Calif.
The animal was humanely euthanized after it developed lameness and became recumbent. USDA re-iterated in its announcement that this animal was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, did not enter food supply channels, and at no time presented any risk to human health. USDA is continuing its epidemiological investigation and will provide additional information as it is available.
As of press time, media coverage had significantly decreased. We continue to conduct media interviews and work with the media to include factual information, including The San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press TV. Additionally, K-USA 9 in Denver featured Dr. Mandy Carr, Ph.D., Executive Director, Beef Safety Research, re-iterating that beef is safe. The BSEInfo.org website continues to be a source of information on BSE.
On Tuesday, traffic on BSEinfo.org increased by 1,254% to 1,666 views, with more than 1,500 of these being new visitors who had never been to BSEinfo.org before.
The @BSEInfo Twitter handle we have secured is continuing to push out accurate information.
We encourage you to use the talking points and various resources available on BSEInfo.org, including a new USDA fact sheet on this particular BSE case.
USDA also has a BSE "Information Center" page, where they are continuing to post new information re-assuring the public that meat and milk are safe.
We also have a new Twitter handle, @BeefFacts that will be used for overall issues response moving forward. |
Corn Prices Surge on Export Sales
According to The Wall Street Journal, corn prices jumped 4.6 percent after the federal government reported the sixth-largest export sale ever for the grain, which analysts believe is headed for China.
The sale, the latest indication of the Chinese appetite for U.S. corn, coincided with analysts' expectations in recent weeks that China would make a large purchase from the U.S. to help replenish its reserves. China's state-owned grain-stockpiling enterprise, China Grain Reserves Corp., said in March that it would continue to import corn this year if it found a need or if doing so would be profitable.
As China's middle class expands, the country is using more corn as feed for livestock to produce meat and in food products like sweeteners. But the confirmation of a big sale renewed concerns that Chinese demand could stretch already-tight U.S. inventories of corn, pushing prices above their trading range of the past two weeks. Corn for May delivery rose 29 cents, to settle at $6.53 a bushel Friday at the Chicago Board of Trade.
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Ag Secretary Warns of Delay
USA Today reports that U.S. lawmakers risk slowing or even stopping the torrid economic growth in rural America if Congress fails to pass a farm bill this year, the head of the Agriculture Department said Friday.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview he understands lawmakers are saddled with a bevy of challenges that could make passing a farm bill difficult, including the need to balance the interests of different geographic regions and commodities. But he added that should not be enough to deter Congress from acting in order to keep the momentum going in agriculture.
"If it does not get done then we are left without programs to support farmers and ranchers, and we create a great deal of uncertainty, which no doubt will impact and effect decisions throughout the supply chain that will compromise the enormous progress we've seen recently," the former Iowa governor said. "Why would you not want to get this done when things are going as well as they are going?"
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Stop by the Co-op in these cities for this month's MCA discount.
Monroe County Co-op
Aberdeen
Panola County Co-op
Batesville
Rankin County Co-op
Brandon
Madison County Co-op
Canton
Amite County Co-op
Liberty
George County Co-op
Lucedale
Magee Co-op
Magee
Lauderdale County
Farm Supply
Meridian
Oktibbeha County Co-op
Starkville
Clay County Co-op
West Point
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Market Notes
April 27, 2012
Dr. John Michael Riley
Cash Cattle:
Cash cattle prices this week were lower compared to last week. One can only assume that the news of a dairy cow with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) on Tuesday was not how feeders wanted to start the week off. Despite the unfavorable start markets faired well as the week progressed compared to the three previous cases confirmed in the U.S.
On Thursday, sales in the Southern Plains were called at $119/cwt in the Texas Panhandle and $119-$120/cwt in Kansas. Nebraska live and dressed trade was reported at $121.50/cwt and $194/cwt, respectively, on Friday. Feeder steers and heifers in Oklahoma City were called steady. Stockers were steady to $2/cwt higher. OKC sales on Monday and Tuesday which was before the news broke of the cow with BSE. This was most likely a blessing given, what appears to be, a short shelf life of this potentially damaging story. Mississippi feeders finished the week steady as did cull cows and bulls. Collective sales in Mississippi on Monday and Tuesday were called steady, while sales on Wednesday and Thrusday were called mixed to lower.
Futures:
Live cattle futures were rocked on Tuesday with news of a dairy cow in California testing positive for BSE. The news sent live cattle futures limit lower ($3/cwt) on all 2012 contracts; however 2013 contracts did not fall as hard. Live futures rebounded about $1/cwt on Wednesday as it appeared that the negative news would not have detrimental ramifications on trade or domestic demand. Thursday markets were lower as exports cooled (these data were for the week ended April 19, thus not involving impacts of the BSE case).
Feeder futures were hit with a double whammy as live cattle futures were lower and corn futures were higher.
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Calendar
April
30 Grenada CCA May
1 Greene CCA
1 Pike CCA
8 Attala CCA
10 Yalobusha CCA
12 Stone/Pearl River
Field Day
17 Webster CCA
17 Lincoln CCA
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