Calves

New Legislation Could Protect Livestock Producers, Tackle Rising Costs

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 21:58:19 GMT

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced the Protecting Interstate Commerce for Livestock Producers Act to protect farmers from costly regulations – made in other states – that will hurt their business and drive-up costs for consumers.

“Missouri’s livestock producers keep food on the table across America and they shouldn’t be burdened by costly laws – made by other states – that disrupt interstate commerce, drive-up costs, and impose crippling regulations,” Sen. Hawley said in a release. “This law is a commonsense solution to protect family farms from going bankrupt and consumers from shouldering higher costs at the grocery store.”

California voters passed Proposition 12 that bans the sale of pork, eggs and calves for veal that were not produced with certain space requirements. It is estimated that California accounts for 13% of all pork consumption in the U.S., Hawley’s office said in a release. Hawley doesn’t believe that farmers across the country should have to comply with California’s preferred requirements to access the California market.

To ensure that no state can mandate animal welfare standards in another state, Sen. Hawley’s Protecting Interstate Commerce for Livestock Producers Act does the following:

Preempts states and local governments from regulating the raising, production, and importation of livestock or livestock-derived goods from another state or local government
Allows states to regulate the importation of livestock in the event of animal disease
Protects farmers from states implementing laws that are preempted by this bill.

View full bill text here.

New Jersey Law To Impact Housing and Care of Breeding Pigs and Veal Calves

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 20:23:18 GMT

Legislation in the state of New Jersey, signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy, now requires the State Board of Agriculture and the Department of Agriculture to “adopt rules and regulations concerning the confinement, care and treatment of breeding pigs and calves raised for veal,” says a recent release .

Similar to California’s Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3, the bill “prohibits confinement in an enclosure that impacts a breeding pig and calf’s ability to freely move in certain ways and properly groom itself and that limits visual contact with other calves,” explains the release.

Following Gov. Murphy’s signing on July 26, the release notes rules and regulations must be adopted within 180 days as penalties will be established for violators.

However, some exceptions to the rules and regulations, announced by the State Board and the Department, have been included in the bill.

These exceptions, as listed by the state of New Jersey, include:
1. Medical research
2. Examination, testing or veterinary treatment that is supervised by a licensed veterinarian, either in person or via a telemedicine appointment
3. Transportation
4. State or county fair exhibitions, 4-H programs or similar temporary exhibitions
5. Humane slaughter in accordance with applicable laws and regulations
6. Confinement of a breeding pig during the 14-day period prior to the expected date of the breeding pig giving birth or on any day when the breeding pig is nursing piglets

“The humane treatment of domestic livestock has long been a major priority for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and we endorse legislation that supports those rules while ensuring the farmers’ right to raise livestock,” said New Jersey Department of Agriculture Assistant Secretary Joe Atchison III, in the release.

Primary sponsors of the bill (A-1970/S-1298), Senators Nick Scutari and Vin Gopal, respectively, were able to pass the legislation in the state Senate in June 2023, while Assembly members Raj Makherji, Daniel Benson and Carol Murphy successfully passed the bill through the state Assembly in May 2023.

The legislation is part of an extensive coalition co-led by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, according to a HSUS release.

Read More:
Massachusetts Question 3: What’s Next for Pork Producers

The Real Facts About Prop 12 Implementation Modification

Cattle Outlook Optimistic for 2022

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 16:00:54 GMT

Optimism is building in cattle country that 2022 will finally deliver a long-anticipated bull market for cattle. Ranchers and cattle feeders saw markets turn higher in the final weeks of 2021, and while many of the challenges facing the industry last year will continue, most analysts suggest improving prices are a trend that will continue beyond this year.

“Demand for beef, both domestically and in our exports markets, was strong throughout 2021 and will continue,” says John Nalivka, Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore. “With declining cattle numbers, we’re seeing things fall into place for better cattle markets the next couple of years.”

Market-ready supplies of fed cattle have tightened and packers are actively chasing cattle for the first time in many months. In general, cattle prices are higher now compared to a year ago and are expected to continue improving in 2022.

(Farm Journal)

Such sentiment is shared by industry analysts across the country who see robust demand continuing as the industry has worked through many of the pandemic-related challenges. CattleFax CEO Randy Blach said the cattle cycle should have seen a peak in 2020, but it was pushed back by pandemic-related slaughter bottlenecks.

“This has been a long, hard-fought battle,” Blach said. “Retail beef prices have gone up substantially and demand has been out of this world. Cattle prices just haven’t shared in that move up until now.”

Demand has been very strong for all proteins, including pork and poultry, he said.

“All the proteins have benefitted from this demand push that we’ve experienced.”

Demand may be good, but tightening supplies are the primary factor influencing analyst’s optimism.

“Cattle numbers are declining as low prices and drought have both led to herd liquidation over the past two years,” Nalivka says.

In fact, U.S. beef cow slaughter was 10% higher in 2021, and that followed a 3% increase from 2020.

“We saw the highest beef cow slaughter last year since the drought year of 2011,” Nalivka says. “From 2011 to 2013 the drought, beginning in the Southwest and moving to the Midwest, pushed the beef cow herd numbers in 2014 to its lowest point since 1952.”

With dairy cow slaughter up roughly 3% in 2021, total cow slaughter posted a 6% increase and the highest since 1996. With those slaughter numbers, Sterling Marketing projects the 2022 beef cow inventory to be 30.2 million, a reduction of roughly 1 million cows, or 3%.

Additionally, heifer slaughter in 2021 was the highest since 2011. Nalivka projects 2022 heifer slaughter to be 4% lower than 2021 and just marginally higher than during 2012.

“The higher beef cow and heifer slaughter numbers that we saw in 2021 mean reduced cattle numbers for 2022 and likely through 2024 are evident,” Nalivka says. My forecast for the January 1 total cattle inventory is 91.25 million, down 2% from the beginning of 2021, the lowest since 2015, and 475,000 more than the beginning 2012 cattle herd.”

A reduction of the breeding herd will translate into a reduction in cattle slaughter. Nalivka expects total slaughter to be down 2% in 2022 after the 3% increase found in 2021.

“I also expect carcass weights to decline this year as fed cattle numbers decline and feedlots are increasingly current with showlists and marketing cattle into a stronger market,” Nalivka said. “Assuming a 1% year-over-year drop in carcass weights, beef production in 2022 will be down 3%.”

Overall, Nalivka projects the total red meat and poultry supply, per capita, to decline about 0.5% to 220.7 pounds in 2022.

“Even if demand weakens somewhat, prices across the beef complex – including fed cattle, feeders and calves – will post notable gains during 2022,” Nalivka says. “That is further supported by global beef demand.”

In fact, beef export values soared last year and were expected to exceed $10 billion, according to USDA.

Beef exports reached 115,709 metric tons in October, up 7.5% from a year ago, while export value climbed 48% to $956.9 million – the second-highest total on record, behind August 2021. Through the first 10 months of the year, beef exports totaled 1.19 million metric tons, up 17% from a year ago. Export value increased 38% to $8.53 billion, surpassing the 2018 record ($8.33 billion) with two months to spare.

U.S. Meat Export Federation president and CEO Dan Halstrom acknowledged red meat exports face transportation challenges and rising input costs, yet he expected red meat exports would reach about $18 billion in 2021.

“While global demand is tremendous and we are cautiously optimistic about further growth in 2022, supply chain pressures are not easy to overcome and are a growing concern for exporters and their international customers,” Halstrom said.

Cattle Futures Gain on Signs of Higher Beef Demand

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:36:28 GMT

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Cattle futures gained for the sixth time in seven sessions on signs of increasing demand for beef in the U.S. as meatpacking plants process fewer animals. Hog prices declined to the lowest since November.

Wholesale beef on March 1 rose for the seventh straight session to the highest in five weeks, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. Meatpackers last week processed 534,000 head of cattle, down 2.6 percent from a week earlier. Pork prices fell 0.3 percent last week.

“The difference between the cattle and hog markets is that beef values are at the highest since January, so that puts support under the cattle,” Chad Henderson, an analyst at Prime Agricultural Consulting Inc. in Brookfield, Wisconsin, said in a telephone interview. “Pork-product movement has been relatively flat.”

Cattle futures for April delivery gained 0.1 percent to $1.30125 a pound at 11 a.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Last week, the price advanced 1.3 percent, the most since mid- December.

Feeder-cattle for May settlement rose 0.2 percent to $1.4765 a pound.

Hog futures for April settlement dropped 0.6 percent to 80.65 cents a pound. Earlier, the price touched 80.55 cents, the lowest for a most-active contract since Nov. 12. In February, the price tumbled 9.3 percent, the most since July.

--Editors: Patrick McKiernan, Thomas Galatola

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at tdreibus@bloomberg.net

Flinchbaugh Grades Trump on Ag

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:01:01 GMT

President Donald Trump’s performance for agriculture during his first six months in office is a mixed bag, according to Barry Flinchbaugh, professor emeritus, agricultural economics at Kansas State University. Flinchbaugh, an expert on agricultural policy who has contributed to the development of each farm bill since joining the KSU faculty in 1974, says Trump deserves an A for the appointment of Sonny Perdue as Secretary of Agriculture because of his intelligence and “he knows agriculture very well.”

Flinchbaugh, speaking at the Cattle Feeders Business Summit sponsored by Merck Animal Health in Denver, CO, said Perdue deserves credit for shaping the Trump administration’s view on issues such as trade and immigration.

“It would have been an absolute disaster to withdraw from NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement),” Flinchbaugh says. “The U.S., Mexico and Canada have all benefitted. NAFTA has resulted in a net job increase for the U.S., and Mexico and Canada are our top two customers. If we screw up NAFTA we run the risk of losing those customers to Brazil, Argentina and other countries.”

With Perdue’s influence, Flinchbaugh says the Trump policy shifted from abolish NAFTA to renegotiate. On the four top issues facing agriculture, Flinchbaugh assigned the following grades to President Trump: farm bill, B; trade, D; immigration, D; deregulation, A.

Read the full story on Drovers.com.

Massachusetts Voters Ban Gestation Crates, Battery Cages

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 05:02:44 GMT

Animal rights activists gained a foothold in Massachusetts during Tuesday’s election. Voters approved a measure banning the sale of products from animals raised using specific types of animal confinement systems. The new law will result in major transitions for farmers in the state.

Specific language of the Massachusetts measure says the new law will “prohibit Massachusetts farmers from raising egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and calves raised for veal in spaces that prevent the animals from lying down, standing up, fulling extending its limbs, or turning around freely.” A similar bill banning battery cages, gestation crates and veal calf pens passed in California in 2008.

Farmers will have some time to transition their facilities as the bill won’t be fulling implemented until 2022. Once the law takes effect, the state attorney general will be tasked with issuing regulations for enforcement including a $1,000 fine for each violation.

The bill was supported by both the Humane Society of the United States and Citizens for Farm Animal Protection who told voters the measure will lead to better animal care. Farmers and farm groups sought to explain the law would result in higher food prices but voters overwhelmingly supported the measure with more than 77% of voters supporting it.