Stay vigilant. Use proper handling practices, and be sure and euthanize downed animals as soon as possible. While the overwhelming majority of markets already employ humane handling practices, the news events of the last couple of days prove that it’s time for all markets to review their practices, with all employees. There are also reports the Humane Society of the U.S. has more employees out there, looking to film what they consider inhumane treatment. LMA furnished members with a wide variety of material Wednesday, and members with questions are urged to call LMA, 800-821-2048.

The CEO of Brazilian-based JBS told a Senate hearing Wednesday his company’s marketing strategy will require them to “compete intensely for the purchase of cattle.” Wesley Batista was testifying about his firm’s proposed acquisition of National Beef Co., Smithfield Beef Group and Smithfield’s cattle feeding operations. Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA wasn’t buying that idea, saying the deal would put many independent producers out of business.

There’s still no new farm bill, and both Houses of Congress have voted to extend current legislation until May 16. However, the threat of a Presidential veto still hangs over the measure.

Farm state Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Ia.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) defended the ethanol industry Wednesday, urging the Environmental Protection Agency not to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires the oil industry to use 9 billion gallons of ethanol this year. Critics want the ethanol requirement cut, saying the diversion of corn into ethanol is causing livestock feed and food prices to rise. “We strongly disagree with (that) assumption,” they wrote EPA administrator Stephen Johnson.

USDA announced Wednesday that Russia will begin accepting U.S. breeding cattle born on or after the U.S.’s 1997 ruminant to ruminant feed ban. “This decision opens up a new market to U.S. livestock producers,” which could end up being “a significant livestock market,” said USDA Secretary Ed Schafer.

STATEMENT BY LMA PRESIDENT JIM SANTOMASO, CONCERNING REPORTS THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE U.S. FOUND IMPROPER LIVESTOCK HANDLING AT SOME LIVESTOCK MARKETS

LMA shares everyone’s interest in promoting the proper care and handling of all livestock, at all stages of their life. Over the past several years, LMA has provided our market members with a variety of written and visual materials on appropriate handling.

The latest is “Focal Point: An Auction Market Beef Quality Assurance Guide,” produced by LMA in cooperation with the checkoff-funded Beef Quality Assurance Program. LMA provided free copies of this DVD to its member and non-member markets across the country. LMA is currently working on a comprehensive assessment/certification program on animal handling, for market owners and employees.

We immediately requested a meeting with HSUS officials when we learned of the materials they furnished to the Secretary of Agriculture. Apparently, HSUS is not interested in having a meeting to discuss their findings with us, since they scheduled a news conference for May 7, prior to responding to our request.

We intend to work immediately with the businesses where the improper handling reportedly occurred, as soon as they are specifically identified. We presume this will happen at the HSUS news conference, because they have not shared that information with us or the Secretary.

HSUS admitted, in their letter to Secretary Schafer, that those filming the reported mishandling observed and did nothing about animals in distress, sometimes for several hours. They did so rather than bringing the matter to the attention of the market operator, calling into question their genuine concern for animal welfare.

HSUS is clearly not supportive of the livestock and meat industry. Their advocacy of a meatless diet is well known, totally ignoring the work of the livestock and meat industry in providing wholesome, nutritious meat products to global consumers.

America’s 1,200 livestock marketing businesses annually handle an astounding number of livestock. In 2006, according to government figures, 35.6 million head of cattle and calves moved through those markets. The overwhelming majority of those markets practice appropriate handling of all livestock moving through their businesses – because proper handling is both a humane, and economic necessity.

More and more organizations are asking the government to reconsider federal mandates for ethanol production, saying the corn going into ethanol is a main reason livestock feed and food prices are rising. Last week, nineteen diverse groups signed a letter asking Congress to revisit the mandates. Those signing the letter included The American Meat Institute, World Wildlife Fund-U.S., the Hispanic Institute and the Environmental Working Group.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Monday signed legislation beefing up the state’s efforts to eradicate bovine tuberculosis from the state’s cattle and deer. As part of the plan, the state’s Bureau of Animal Health will increase livestock testing, tighten restrictions on animal movement and offer a “buy-out” option to livestock owners in the disease management zone, primarily in northwestern Minnesota. Additionally, the bill mandates a per-head assessment be collected on all cattle sales in the state between Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2009, to help fund the control activities. There was no further information immediately available on how the assessment will be collected.

Opposition party leaders in South Korea are stepping up pressure on the government to renegotiate the entire agreement with the U.S. that reopened the country to U.S. beef. The ruling party has said that would be impossible.

May 6, 2008
LMA meets with USDA undersecretary, general counsel on P&SA issues

The continuing need to bring the Packers and Stockyards Act and regulations into the 21st century was discussed by LMA members and staff with Bruce Knight, USDA undersecretary for marketing programs, and USDA General Counsel Mark Kesselman, during last week’s Washington, D.C., Fly-In.

Of particular concern to LMA is the inability of current bond requirements to make livestock sellers and markets whole, in the event of a buyer’s business failure. Knight indicated there’s ongoing interest by the agency into some type of financial protection fund.

This fund would provide a more reliable means to compensate sellers and markets, in the event of a buyer business failure, he said. LMA will continue to monitor this issue and USDA activity around it; however, it’s doubtful the idea will go very far during the waning days of the Bush administration.

By voice vote, conferees from the Senate Ag Committee working on the farm bill last week defeated an amendment that would have banned packer ownership of livestock. The Senators then adopted the House version of the farm bill, which did not include the ban. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who offered the amendment, said it is needed more than ever and vowed to keep fighting for the ban.

Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Ag Committee, said more work needs to be done on the mostly-completed farm bill, primarily in the area of payment limits for producers. Peterson said he doesn't favor limits, but instead believes payments should be matched to a farm's production. He does favor getting non-farmers out of the program.

Cargill said Sunday it will not rebuild the Boonville, Ark., meat processing plant destroyed by fire Easter Sunday morning. Instead, it will produce meat products at other Cargill facilities. Cargill officials said the building a new plant would take 22 months, much longer than the company originally estimated in the days after the fire.

Twelve U.S. Republican Senators Friday asked the Environmental Protection Agency in easing mandated requirements to blend more ethanol into the gasoline supply. The growing use of corn ethanol is blamed by many in agriculture for the rising cost of corn, which in turn is blamed for rising livestock feed and consumer food prices. An EPA spokesman said the agency will review waiver requests and respond according to law.

South Korea announced it will reopen its market to all U.S. beef May 15. That decision has resulted in severe criticism, by Korean political opponents and farm groups, of South Korea's new president.

The annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship, now in its 45th year, is steeped in tradition. This year’s contest will be held in South Dakota, and part of that tradition are the three world champions in the contest’s first decade that came from the Dakotas.
Read more on LMA Member InfoLink Press Releases.

**LMA’S TOLL-FREE NUMBER KNOCKED OUT BY STORMS*** Severe spring storms hit the Kansas City area Thursday night, knocking out LMA’s toll-free number, 800-821-2048. It is not known when it will be back in service, so members should use 816-891-0502 to reach the Association. Thanks.

The conference committee on the farm bill worked late Thursday night to come up with legislation that could be sent to President Bush. However, a spokesman for the President late Thursday night said the President will veto the measure, if it doesn’t have the reforms he wants. It was reported this morning that an amendment to the bill, to limit packer ownership of cattle, failed.

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing next Wednesday afternoon on “Concentration in Agriculture and an Examination of the JBS/Swift Acquisitions.” Most agriculture and livestock organizations have called for a review of the proposal by the Brazilian-owned JBS to acquire National Beef Packing, the Smithfield Beef Group, and Smithfield’s Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding.

Welcome, new members! Whittemore Auction Services, Hopkinsville, Ky.; Barnesville Livestock, LLC, Barnesville, Ohio.

USDA Secretary Ed Schafer has not taken a position on the meat industry’s proposed ban on processing cattle that are ambulatory upon arrival at a plant, go down and then pass a re-inspection and go to slaughter. He earlier said he was opposed to this ban, but an agency spokesman this week said Schafer is waiting for the results of an investigation and audit that are not expected until later this year.

As Congressional work on the new farm bill grinds on, the level of income a farmer could have and still receive commodity program payments “will be the last thing worked out” in the conference committee, said Tom Buis, president of National Farmers Union. The final bill is likely to include mandatory country of origin labeling. A ban on packer ownership of livestock is considered less likely, say some Washington observers, although Buis Wednesday said he thought that issue may still be unresolved.

May 1, 2008
R-CALF, OCM want state attorneys general to probe proposed JBS mergers

If Brazilian meat packing giant JBS is allowed to purchase three U.S. beef entities, “only three people – the head buyers employed by JBS, Tyson Foods and Cargill Meat Solutions – will make price decisions on over 80 percent of the slaughter-ready cattle each day,” R-CALF USA said Wednesday.

That’s why R-CALF, along with the Organization for Competitive Markets, wrote attorneys general in 13 cattle-producing states, asking them to investigate the competitive effects of the proposed JBS acquisition of National Beef Packing Co., Smithfield Beef Group and Smithfield’s Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding. Five Rivers is the largest feeding company in the world, R-CALF noted, with an estimated annual capacity of two million head.

The “primary focus of our concern,” the letters to the state officials say, is with the market for slaughter-ready cattle “sold in proximity to the major meatpackers, and the market for lighter-weight feeder cattle that are sold in relatively large quantities in every state of the Union.”

Reducing the number of major beef processors from five to three is likely to have adverse competitive effects on consumers as well, the letter says. It concludes, “We have witnessed packer merger approvals in the past and seen the destructive results on independent livestock producers, including the astounding 90 percent reduction in the number of U.S. hog producers.

“If no action is taken now to preserve competition in the cattle market, we will wish, in five years that our leaders had more forethought and vision. Competition is the best regulator and should be preserved.”

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board said Monday it will be asking more than 100 industry organizations for recommendations concerning the beef checkoff. Those recommendations will be included in the Board’s analysis of the checkoff, which has been requested by USDA. The CBB said it plans to complete its analysis and submit its report to USDA by Nov. 30. Chairman Dave Bateman emphasized that any recommendation to raise the $1/head checkoff would take both Congressional action and a producer referendum.

President Bush Tuesday sharply criticized the farm bill currently under consideration by Congress, calling it “massive” and “bloated,” adding it would do “little to solve the problem” of rising food prices. He also called for “reducing unnecessary subsidies,” saying the bill now before Congress will continue payments to millionaire farmers.

A day-long presentation on cattle handling will kick off the International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare, May 28-30 at Kansas State University in Manhattan. The Symposium will bring together an impressive list of international researchers, producers, veterinarians and government officials, addressing animal welfare related issues facing the industry. For more information, call the sponsoring group, the University’s Beef Cattle Institute, at 785-532-4844, or visit www.isbcw.beefcattleinstitute.org.

April 30, 2008
Report calls ‘factory farms’ a threat to humans, environment, animals

A 2 ½ year study into “industrial” farms, where large numbers of livestock are produced, says they pose a growing threat to humans, animals and the environment. The study was done by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit philanthropic organization, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The study said the threat comes because of pollution these farms cause, and their potential to spread disease.

One industry editor noted the report has a “cover that includes a farm worker wearing a respirator (which) does not suggest unbiased objectivity.” And Garrett Hawkins, national affairs director for the Missouri Farm Bureau, probably spoke for others in agriculture when he said the report went too far and would drive livestock production overseas.

“It makes one question how can American family farmers and ranchers compete in that type of environment if those regulations that they call for go into effect,” he said.

The 124-page report makes 23 recommendations in such areas as antibiotic use, the environment, animal welfare – and it calls for enforcing existing antitrust laws, as a way to deal with increasing concentration in the livestock industry. The full report can be seen at www.pcifap.org.

LMA “is fighting for horse owners’ rights and the well-being of horses,” is how the May issue of Horse & Rider magazine introduces an interview with Vice President Nancy Robinson. The article, titled “Consequences of the Slaughter Ban,” covers LMA’s efforts opposing legislative and judicial efforts to end horse slaughter in the U.S. Robinson also discusses why a proposed USDA regulation covering transporting horses “would create a regulatory nightmare for buyers, sellers and transporters of horses.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has entered the national debate over energy policy, calling on the federal government to reduce, by half, the mandate for producing ethanol from grain. In a letter to federal regulators, Perry blamed the diversion of corn to ethanol production for contributing to higher food prices, and skyrocketing feed prices for livestock producers. Cattle and pork producers were quick to support Perry, while corn producers did not.

The head of Tyson Foods, Inc., Dick Bond Monday called for Congress to reduce or drop a federal tax subsidy for ethanol, and end import tariffs on ethanol. Tyson has been hit by higher feed prices for its poultry, pork and beef processing business. Diverting corn to make ethanol “doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Milwaukee Brewers’ baseball team slugger Prince Fielder last season hit 50 home runs. In the off-season, he decided to become a vegetarian, eliminating meat and fish from his diet. This year, through the Brewers’ first 20 games, he has hit just one homer. The fans, according to AgCenter.com, “are outraged and frequent calls from the bleachers chide him to ‘get a steak.’”

Congressional negotiators last Friday reached a tentative agreement on a $280 billion farm bill. A final version should be on the way to President Bush soon, lawmakers said. Two-thirds of the bill’s resources go to nutrition programs, including an $861 million increase, partially paid for by slashing crop subsidies by $400 million, and trimming a farm disaster aid program. Negotiators were still working on the details of how much to limit federal subsidies to so-called “wealthy” farmers.

A variety of livestock and poultry groups are working to persuade the federal government to waive some of the mandates regarding the renewable fuel standard (RFS) for ethanol produced from corn. The RFS, they say, is driving up corn prices, since corn is currently the main ingredient in ethanol. And rising corn prices are devastating their industries, the groups claim.
...LMA member Jim Schwertner, Schwertner, Texas, is leading a petition drive to get an RFS waiver. Schwertner is concerned, not just about rising industry feed prices, but the effect of rising food prices on consumers.

Last Monday, Japan found one box of beef from a U.S. plant, out of a shipment of 700, that contained banned spinal column material. On Friday, the government said it was considering whether its current inspection system of U.S. beef is sufficient. Japan has already increased sampling tests on imported U.S. beef from one to 10 percent in the wake of the Monday incident. However, officials said they would not implement a blanket ban on all U.S. beef, although they have suspended imports from the California plant that shipped the banned material.