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News and events for Maine Beef Producers from University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry, Maine Beef Producers Association and other agricultural organizations in Maine.
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Greetings!
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May 15 - 17 is the Northeast Livestock Expo in Windsor. The Maine Beef Producers Association will have a Pre-Conditioned Feeder Calf Sale at 11 am on Saturday, May 16th. Hope to see you there. Seven Days, a Vermont newspaper, published a great article titled "Life, death and afterlife of a Vermont Steer" by Alice Levitt showing the dignity and humane treatment farmers and beef processors treat the animals in their care. Click here for article. Ever wish you could be a better advocate for beef? The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has a Master of Beef Advocacy program that can help equip you to be a better spokesperson for beef. Click here for more information.Donna |
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- Spring Preconditioned Feeder Calf Sale - Looking for healthy calves to put out on your pastures this spring? The Maine Beef Producers are sponsoring another calf sale where animals have been weaned, castrated and received their vaccinations. click here for more
- Getting Rid of Bedstraw - Usually seen in less intensely managed fields, Bedstraw can take over a field and turn it white in mid summer. Start now to plan to eradicate it from your fields. click here for more
- Getting into beef production - Spring time brings out many folks thinking about starting a beef enterprise. There are many ways to "get into beef." Learn which one may be right for you. click here for more
- Grass Fed Small and Very Small Producer Certification Program - USDA will certify your beef as "Grass Fed" so you can make the claim on your label when selling to consumers. The cost is $108 for two years of certification. They also have a monthly report for price received for carcass and cuts of meat sold as grass fed. click here for more
Items of Interest
Featured Resources
Events & Announcements
Newsletter Subscription Information
Quick Links
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Spring Preconditioned Feeder Calf Sale
May 16th @ 11am
Sponsored by the Maine Beef Producers
Grass is starting to grow and backyard beef producers looking for beef calves to turn out on pasture this spring have an opportunity to buy healthy calves. The Maine Beef Producers Association (MBPA) is sponsoring a preconditioned feeder calf sale at the Northeast Livestock Expo on Saturday, May 16th at 11 am at the Windsor Fair Grounds, just off Route 32 in Windsor www.northeastlivestockexpo.com
Cow Calf producers have taken the time to precondition their calves for this sale. Preconditioning reduces the incidence of respiratory disease, enteritis and pinkeye by increasing the immunity of the calf in preparation of the stress of weaning and shipping. Dehornings and castrations are healed.
Some cow calf producers consigning animals to the sale have also signed affidavits attesting that their animals have been raised under the MBPA Natural Meats program protocol of never having received hormones, antibiotics, or feeds or feed supplements containing animal-by-products. And/or their animals are 100% grass (forage) fed, no grains, grain-by-products, grain crops, grain crop silages, or other prohibited feeds under the USDA grass fed guidelines have been fed. Click here for protocol, check in form and affidavit forms.
The MBPA are expecting about 100 calves weighing from 400 to 900 pounds to be sold at the May 16th sale at 11 am. If you are interested in buying a few or a lot of animals or have questions contact Sale Manager, Pete Dusoe at 207-416-5441 or pbdusoe@roadrunner.com
Sale is scheduled for 11 am on Saturday, May 16th.
Last year the MBPA held two pre-conditioned feeder calf sales in May and November. The chart shows the average price received for various weight classes of calves.
Prices ranged from $1.91 to $1.20 per pound for the spring sale and $1.94 to $1.62 per pound for the fall sale.
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 Getting Rid of Bedstraw
Smooth bedstraw is an invasive and opportunistic weed. Its present area of adaptation ranges from southern Canada to as far south as Georgia. Historically, smooth bedstraw is first found in fields that have been poorly managed hayfields with low fertility and high acidity (low pH), or pastures that have been continuously grazed or underutilized. As farm fields are either abandoned or less intensively managed, we see soils becoming acidic, with fertility dropping and smooth bedstraw proliferating. Smooth bedstraw tolerates low soil nitrogen and low pH better than our desired forage species. Lately, however, we have found smooth bedstraw to be invading better-managed stands of forages (long-term hayfields) and adapting to more variable environmental and soil conditions.
Getting Rid of Bedstraw:
- Manage your hayfield by testing the soil and keeping nutrients and pH at levels where grasses and legumes will thrive. Apply nutrients and lime as needed.
- Keep bedstraw plants from flowering, setting, and spreading seed, no matter which additional control option you use. If you manage hayfields, try to get the haycrop mowed before bedstraw sets seeds. This will help control the spread, give the grasses a more competitive edge, and also provide you with a better-quality crop. Be aware of a second flowering and seed-production period in August!
- Make sure to control the spread of seed. Mowers, balers, rakes, and tedders can carry substantial amounts of seed from infested fields to clean fields. Remove any source of seed from equipment when moving from field to field. Research is still inconclusive about the spread of bedstraw via manure applications.
- Tillage and rotation is very effective in killing perennial crowns and new seedlings that may develop. Consider a weed-controlling cover crop such as buckwheat or sorghum-sudangrass hybrids as part of your reseeding regime. Remember that a new seeding will need optimum management to keep smooth bedstraw from reinvading the field.
- If using an herbicide such as Crossbow, Milestone, or Forefront R&P, make sure you control the weed's seed rain during the season prior to application, and understand that all broadleaf plants, including desirable clovers or alfalfa, will also be killed. If you decide to use glyphosate to renovate a pasture and kill perennial crowns of bedstraw, controlling seed rain is also critically important. Glyphosate treatments are most effective in late-summer applications.
- Since bedstraw is so invasive, a neighborhood approach may be necessary to slow down the spread of this weed.
A well-managed, fertilized hayfield with a dense stand of perennial forages will be a good defense against invasion by smooth bedstraw. Click here for our UMaine publications "Controlling Smooth Bedstraw in Hayfields and pastures." |
 Getting into Beef Production
There are many aspects of beef production that a farm can focus on or some farms choose to get involved in all aspects of beef production. Penn State Extension has a number of factsheets that look at the different aspects of beef and dairy cattle production. If you are just thinking about starting in beef you need to decide what aspect of production fits your land, labor and financial resources. The factsheets discuss marketing, management, forage, feeding and risk as well as offering sample budgets. These factsheets focus on utilizing high energy feeds to produce a finished animal quickly. Some Maine farmers are opting for an all grass based diet for their finished animals. Be aware that grassfed beef takes a significant longer period of time the get to finished weight.
- Beef Background Production - Backgrounding is a beef production system that involves maximal use of pasture and forages from the time the calves are weaned until they are placed in a feedlot. An optimal backgrounding plan will induce up to 800 pounds of weight gain in your beef calves.
- Beef Cow-Calf Production - On average, about 2.2 years elapses between breeding and the age at which heifer calves may be harvested. Producers may retain these calves for herd expansion or sell them, along with steers, to feedlot operators. The beef cow-calf business is well adapted to small-scale and part-time farmers who have land suitable for pasture and hay production.
- Dairy - Beef Production - Production of high-quality dairy-beef is relatively new to the beef industry and depends almost entirely on Holstein bull calves. Until recently, most Holstein calves were sold for veal. However, the high-quality meat produced when these animals are fed high-energy diets and harvested at a young age (12 to 14 months) has become popular with consumers.
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 Grass Fed Small and Very Small Producer Certification Program
The USDA Grass Fed Program for Small and Very Small (SVS) Producers was designed as a verification tool for small and very small producers to certify that animals meet the requirements of the AMS Grass (Forage) Fed Marketing Claim Standard. For this program, USDA is targeting producers that market 49 cattle or less each year and lambs produced from 99 ewes or less. As part of USDA-wide efforts to create more opportunities for small-scale livestock producers, AMS designed a less costly application process for SVS producers, using the USDA Certified Grass-Fed claim as its first example.
Cost of the Service: The set fee for the review and approval is $108.00. Duration of the approval: Two year period Website Listing: One requirement of this program is that all approved producers must be listed on this website. The producer does have the option of what the listing includes but at a minimum that name of the location, ranch or farm and the approval date must be included. The grass-fed marketing claim standard requires that ruminant animals be fed only grass and forage, with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning. Animals certified under this program cannot be fed grain or grain byproducts and must have continuous access to pasture during the growing season. At this site they also have the latest National Grass Fed Beef monthly report which gives prices received for carcass and cuts of meat marketed at "Grass Fed."
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- University of Maine Analytical Lab and Soil Testing Service click here for website -They analyze soil, plant tissue, compost, manure, irrigation water, wood ash, fertilizers, organic residuals and other materials for nutrient content, organic matter, lead and other trace elements.
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Assembling Livestock Loads in Aroostook and Washington Counties
Livestock producers in Aroostook and Washington counties have challenges transporting their animals to harvest facilities. Smaller numbers of animals that are finished at varying times of the year can mean multiple trips to the processor to get their animals harvested and processed in a timely manner.
Maple Lane Farm in Charleston is willing to work with groups of farmers from these two counties to set up trucking "routes" for cattle, sheep, hogs and goats that need to be harvested. Transporting a full truckload of livestock is much more efficient and economical than individual farmers taking the time throughout the year to get their animals to the processor, but it does take some planning.
If you are interested in this transportation option contact Barry Higgins at 285-3591 or maplelandfarms@yahoo.com
- Stock Show University Grad Program in Maine! It is a two-day cattle educational program that is FREE for anyone to attend. It will be held at the Fryeburg Fairgrounds in Fryeburg, ME on May 30 - 31. Stock Show University Grad Programs are designed to provide each participant with a hands-on learning experience from the best professionals in the beef cattle show industry. Each participant is encouraged to bring their calf and all the equipment you would bring to a show and we provide professors that work one on one with each participant in a comprehensive hands-on program. Our Professors teach all the new industry techniques from feeding your show prospect all the way to show day preparation. Stock Show University is a completely free program offered to anyone who wants to learn more about their livestock project. To register for the Stock Show University Grad Program please visit the link below. Please register by May 24th. Callyn Hahn 1-800-475-5902 www.sullivansupply.com/ssu_clinic_schedule.html
- New Crowdfunding law that went into affect January 1, 2015 allows any business in Maine to raise money by selling a stake in their business to anyone willing to invest. Under the new law, Maine businesses can now sell debt and equity capital through Crowdfunding to anyone willing to purchase it, subject to certain restrictions.
- Update Hay and Straw Directory If you have excess or are in the position to sell hay or straw, consider using the Maine Hay and Straw Directory. It is free to use. More information is available online, or call Cooperative Extension 1.800.287.1426.
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Featured Resources
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Webinars:
Beef Webinars Part of Michigan Extension Series
This program is part of a 20-webinar Michigan State University Extension 2015 Beginning Farmer Webinar Series. A descriptive flyer and on-line registration and payment for any or all of the webinars is available at http://events.anr.msu.edu/beginningfarmerwebinars/ A registration fee of $10 per webinar, or $100 for all 20 webinars is required.
Publications:
Visit the UMaine Extension Cooperative Extension online Publications Catalog for beef information, such as:
- Testing Your Soil #2286 This fact sheet explains how and when to take a soil sample and what information a soil test can give homeowners, gardeners and farmers. Includes video for online viewing. 2 pages. © 1994, 2008 by University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Download it for free or buy a color copy. $0.50.
- Controlling Smooth Bedstraw in Hayfields and Pastures #2278.The perennial smooth bedstraw is a competitive, invasive species that can significantly reduce the yields of hayfields. This publication documents the findings of recent research trials in Maine that evaluated mechanical and chemical control methods, and discusses key management strategies. 6 pages. © 2008 by University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Download it for free or buy a color copy.
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Newsletter Subscription Information
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The Maine Beef Newsletter (MBN) is now received by over 575 readers, has been offered as an educational resource by University of Maine Cooperative Extension since 2011. As of January 1, 2015, the MBN will be transitioning to electronic-only delivery. There will still be three ways to receive the MBN from your local UMaine Extension:
1) Maine Beef Newsletter remains available online for free! You can sign up to receive the newsletter through your email or view the archived issues anytime at http://bit.ly/PPfarming If you currently do not have an email, you can get one for free from several email hosts. If you do not have a computer, community libraries have computers for you to use to access information on the Internet and to view your email.
2) Those with no email can opt to pay an annual subscription to receive the newsletters monthly for $15/year. More details on how to subscribe will be provided later this fall.
3) A third option is to come into the Piscataquis or Penobscot County Extension Office and pick up a free printed copy of the newsletter.
4) Maine Beef Producers Association members who do not have an email on file will receive a printed copy of the newsletter as a benefit of their membership.
We appreciate our readers referring others to the newsletter, and sharing it with your family and friends.
Thank you for your continued support of the MBN, providing valuable agricultural information from Extension for beef producers and those interested in the beef industry in Maine since 2011.
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Maine Beef Producers Association
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 Join the Maine Beef Producers Association
The Maine Beef Producers Association is accepting dues for the 2015 year. Annual dues are $35. for an extra $25 you can get a year subscription to County Folks. For more information on this organization and for membership application go to http://bit.ly/19oljzu
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Events & Announcements
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May 27, 2015 Beef-not from Steers: A Challenge for the FDA, Public Health Officials, Large Animal Veterinarians, Consumers, Packers, and Beef and Dairy Producers will be held at the Woodlands Inn and Resort, Wilkes-Barre, PA. The cost is $70. The room reservation deadline at the Woodlands Inn and Resort is April 26. Please request the MAC Dairy rate for either single ($115 + tax) or double ($125 + tax) occupancy. For more information or to register go to: http://www.ansc.umd.edu/extension/dairy-extension/mid-atlantic-consortium
- May 30 - 31, 2015 Stock Show University Grad Program in Maine! 9 am to 5 pm at Fryeburg Fairgrounds, Fryeburg, ME Free but must register by May 24th www.sullivansupply.com/ssa_clinic_schedule.html or call Callyn Hahn 1-800-475-5902.
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June 21, 2015 4H/Youth Beef Quality Assurance Training with Dr. Matt Rolleston, DVM, Cindy Kilgore, MDACF, and Donna Coffin, UMaine Extension at the Witter Farm, UMaine Orono. 9 am to 3 pm. Registration 8:30 am. Washable footwear is required; proper clothing strongly suggested; the afternoon session is outside in the barns. Farm tour available at 3 pm.
- July 26, 2015 Maine Open Farm Day - through the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Encouraging the general public to tour the farms that their food comes from.
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Mission
University of Maine Cooperative Extension is the major educational outreach program of the University of Maine with offices statewide. UMaine Extension provides Maine people with research-based educational programs to help them live fuller, more productive lives.
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Quick Links
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Local Weather Anytime
Many farming activities are driven by the weather. Our local National Weather Service in Caribou has meteorologists on staff 24 hours a day. They are willing to talk with you about rain predictions for your town. Give them a call at 492-0180. Or check out their online detailed maps at http://www.weather.gov/car/. |
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Contributors
Donna Coffin, Extension Educator
donna.coffin@maine.eduGoal
The goal of the Piscataquis & Penobscot Farming Newsletter is to provide timely information on the production and marketing of crops and livestock grown in central Maine.
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The University of Maine does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status and gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 North Stevens Hall, 207.581.1226.
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Photos unless otherwise indicated by Donna Coffin.
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