TONIGHT'S federal budget has delivered a new $99.4 million Farm Household Allowance as part of the National Drought Program Reform.

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IT was another tri-coloured ribbon day for Days Whiteface stud at Bordertown which came close to winning grand champion Poll Hereford bull for the second year in a row at the 48th Merial Eprinex Herefords Australia National Show & Sale at Wodonga, Victoria, last week.

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Good lines of cattle were penned this week with quality lines holding firm in price, while the secondary lines of cattle found more traction with buyers and improved in price.

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THE annual Reiland Angus autumn bull sale held up quite well for the Lucas family, Tumut, considering the season had turned for the worst and most other sales have been below the $5450 average they recorded last week

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Patchy rainfall across several states was welcome over the past week, although totals were still too small to significantly bolster the recent faltering cattle market, with the rain having only a minor impact. With the window for pasture growth in southern Australia rapidly closing, producers will be very closely evaluating their carrying capacity over the winter months, with every dry week that passes by accentuating the supply pressures coming out of Queensland.

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BRANDING – everybody talks about it, but how do you do it effectively? The key to Australian Agricultural Company’s (AACo) success, according to general manager marketing Jason Strong, is the overarching message – and underlying AACo brand – presented across the company’s various beef brands.

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A new alliance between two major airlines is tipped to benefit Australian beef exporters.

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Indonesia has had no shortage of scandals in its decade-long fight against endemic corruption, mostly involving middle-aged politicians, suspicious bank accounts, handoffs of briefcases in hotel elevators, or boxes of cash in the trunk of a car in a dark parking garage.

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AGRICULTURE Minister John McVeigh is calling on feedlotters, backgrounders and grass fatteners to rally behind those affected by bovine Johne’s disease (BJD).

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PREMIUMS of as much as 40c/kg are being offered by meat processors as they attempt to source beef for the European Union.

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The potential co-product value for a Japanese steer (average 331kg cwt) during April increased 7% year-on-year, averaging $206.04/head, with strong demand for hides, and meat and bone meal, buoying prices (Kurrajong Meat Technology – April co-products monitor).

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NORTHERN cattle producers have urged Prime Minister Julia Gillard to provide more tailored assistance to help resolve their current financial crisis, caused largely by Labor’s snap suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia almost two years ago.

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AUSTRALIA'S largest live cattle exporter and one of the country's biggest landholders, Consolidated Pastoral, has taken a $34 million hit on the value of its property portfolio, tipping total property writedowns for the industry's top cattle companies to more than $100 million in the last few months.

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Graziers in northern Australia are shooting their cattle because they can't feed or sell them.

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IT'S a popular idea, but Australia's potential as a "food bowl for Asia" needs to be subjected to some careful reality checks say those studying the nation's food production options.

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LAWRAL Park Prime SAMM has undergone a rapid expansion in the past few months by capitalising on the dispersal of two highly regarded studs.

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Eastern states goat slaughter as reported by MLA’s NLRS so far in May has begun to increase. The first week in May saw levels start to ramp up from the end of April and as the dry weather progresses. This week’s slaughter levels were 3% higher week-on-week.

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Australian beef export to the EU hit their highest April volume since 1998, as strong grainfed shipments combined with a surge in grassfed supplies to drive volumes. April beef exports totalled 1,621 tonnes swt, a 13% increase year-on-year. Grainfed exports reached 774 tonnes swt,

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Eastern states lamb supply as reported by MLA’s National Livestock Reporting Service decreased 14% week-on-week, as all states yarded fewer consignments. Light rain throughout most of the eastern states and the tighter supply helped to push prices higher this week.

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National lamb supply as reported by MLA’s National Livestock Reporting Service decreased 20% week-on-week, but when compared to the corresponding period last year remains 7% higher.

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GLOBAL provider of advanced equipment and systems for the further processing industry, Marel, has launched a new robotic system for Intelligent Portion Loading, or IPL.

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NATIONAL bodies representing the sheep and goat supply chains are calling for the continuation of the current mob based tracing scheme under the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS).

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Australian beef and veal exports totalled 85,332 tonnes swt during April, taking shipments for the first ten months of the 2012-13 fiscal year to 822,882 tonnes swt, up 6% year-on-year and putting the financial year total on track to possibly exceed one million tonnes swt for the first time on record.

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The strong demand for organic beef and the quantity of conventional cattle on the market at present has increased the gulf in prices between the two products.

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PRIMEAG Australia's privatisation process hit a snag this week as the company advised the market that offers for the remaining $90 million worth of rural land and water assets were "materially below book value".

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The bottom line is that quality cattle are holding up well on price but the poor condition cattle have plunged

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Butchers reported relatively strong beef and lamb sales for the month of April, despite being slightly weaker year-on-year, according to MLA’s butcher survey carried out by Millward Brown.

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National lamb yardings as reported by MLA’s National Livestock reporting Service decreased 24% so far this week. NSW lamb supply is 10% lower, while Victorian yardings have eased 24%. SA and WA throughput halved, as widespread rain at Muchea saw numbers contract.

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Numbers sightly lifted at this month’s Narromine store sale, with the lack of rain an ongoing factor. Despite larger year-on-year supply, yardings have followed the yearly trend and tightened leading into winter. There was only a fair selection of first cross ewes yarded, although there was some good quality Merino and Merino Dohne cross ewes penned. Store lamb quality was mixed and there were just two pens of young wethers. There was a small buying crowd on hand, with support coming from local districts and processors, combined with buyers from Cootamundra, Walgett and Wagga Wagga.

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AUSTRALIAN woolgrowers recently visited the first Argentine property to buy sheep from Australia, 86 years ago.

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THE Australian Agricultural Company has sold a 19,404ha (48,000 acre) portion of its Goonoo aggregation at Comet on the Central Highlands. A statement issued by AACo to the ASX this morning says the land has sold for $23 million.

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The RSPCA has backed an investigation into the deaths of 46 heifers at a state government research station.

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Demand for lean ground beef and other grilling products generally picks up through late spring in the US, but there has been very little in the way of increasing demand for beef so far this year. Due to currency shifts this week, in A$ terms, prices were in fact slightly stronger, with 90CL beef down 5.5US¢, to 184.5US¢/lb CIF, or in A$ terms, were up 1.8A¢, to 384.8A¢/kg FAS – albeit, due currency movements, rather than strengthening demand.

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EXTREME green lobby group WWF has attacked Queensland farmers in a YouTube video protesting changes to the controversial Vegetation Management Act.

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Brazil's JBS SA will continue to push toward a goal of reducing the company's ratio between net debt and earnings to below 3x by year's end

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JBS SA (JBSS3), the world’s biggest beef producer, is counting on steak-hungry consumers in Japan and other Asian nations to help propel total exports past $10 billion for the first time this year.

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JBS SA has agreed to purchase a pork slaughterhouse and nearly half a million swine in Rio Grande do Sul state, through its Brazilian poultry subsidiary JBS Aves, from local competitor BRF for BRL200 million (US$99.8 million), the companies reported Tuesday through Brazil's Securities Commission (CVM).

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JBS SA (JBSS3), the world’s largest beef producer, said first-quarter profit almost doubled after a weakening Brazilian currency helped it boost exports. The shares jumped.

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In its latest quarterly report, Marfrig reports an increase in net revenue of 28 per cent for the period compared to the same quarter of 2012. The company announced the closure of four poultry plants at Seara Brasil and two Marfrig Beef plants in Argentina as well as a restructuring of the feedlot structure in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

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Trial is set to begin the case of a Canadian food company that says it's owed more than $600,000 from a North Dakota hog farming operation.

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Federal food inspectors have allowed a beef slaughter and cutting plant in Ontario's Niagara region to resume operating after a temporary suspension.

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What’s in a label? In the case of Canada’s export of cattle and hogs, constrained by the impact of U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL), about $1-billion in potential retaliation.

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New Zealand’s meat exports are being blocked at the border into China with authorities apparently rejecting them because of a name change on an export certificate.

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Earlier today, CEJA President Joris Baecke presented Commissioner Dacian Cioloş, COMAGRI Chair Paolo de Castro and President of the Agricultural Council Simon Coveney with the outcome of CEJA’s celebrated Future Food Farmers campaign in the form of three keys.

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The European Commission has approved 22 programmes to promote agricultural products in the European Union and in third countries.

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WELTEC BIOPOWER aprovecha y construye una planta de 1,8 MW

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Government fodder schemes to help sustain starving cattle during the summer heat have not materialised resulting in pregnant cattle being sent for slaughter in Karnataka.

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Datos Professional Solutions based in Co. Armagh, Ireland, have developed Season over the last 21 years. Season is a software package which has been designed for the Food Industry and enhanced for the Meat & Seafood Sectors. Their Season Office and Factory packages have recently been implemented to Ballycotton Seafood.

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Horse meat scandal can make us stronger - ABP

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One of Ireland’s largest local development companies has hit out at Government plans to give local authorities control of community-led programmes, such as LEADER.

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The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) can be mobilised when a region experiences a disaster with serious, lasting repercussions on living conditions and economic stability.

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Farmers must lodge applications for the new Beef Data Programme (BDP) within the next fortnight.

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Remember the Angel Dust, the greatest ever concoction to boost growth rates in cattle?

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Japanese food-makers are increasingly seeking halal certification for their products, with the global Islamic population forecast to grow from 1.6 billion at present to more than 2 billion by 2030.

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Northern Ireland is now aiming to follow the example of Scandinavian and Central European nations in eradicating BVD, Bovine Viral Diarrhoea.

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Marel Stork Poultry Processing shifts intelligence from human to machine. Further upgrading their existing breast cap filleting system AMF-BX with four updates, being the 
semi-automated loader, rest meat harvester, FlexControl and new product holders.

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Chinese officials are yet to explain exactly why they are blocking meat from entering the country.

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NEW Zealand meat exports to China are at a standstill as the government tries to sort out problems that are holding up consignments.

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Labour says the Government's explanation of why New Zealand meat is being blocked from entering China is "contradictory", creating suspicion that there is something else behind the issue.

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Online Auction Modern Abattoir, Meat Processing and Packaging Facility

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United Auctions is Scotland's leading livestock auctioneers and procurement specialists. We operate a network of auction marts throughout Scotland including Stirling, Huntly, Lairg, Dalmally, Tiree, Islay, South Uist and an area office and lairage facility at Oban.

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The Scottish red meat industry has made its presence keenly felt in Hong Kong this week at HOFEX, the largest food and hospitality trade show in Asia-Pacific.

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Sheep producers have been slow to commit to using performance recording as a method of improving their financial returns but one of the enthusiasts for using breeding figures yesterday claimed that there could be a bonus of around £1,000 per ram from doing so.

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A RETIRED Edinburgh University professor has been trampled to death by a rampaging herd of cows while out walking his dog.

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THERE was unanimous support for only one issue yesterday at the EU Agricultural Council yesterday and that was a need to have all the main bones of the next common agricultural policy (CAP) settled by the end of June when the Irish will lose the council presidency.

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An Orkney farming family are delighted their cattle were chosen as the source of the Scotch Beef served at the Diner des Grands Chefs, one of the most prestigious gatherings of top chefs in the world.

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Tesco buying Scottish chickens

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The company that gave America the Bacon Sundae opened with a big splash in South Africa – but no bacon.

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Veterinary Medicines Directorate Grants Provisional Marketing Authorisation to MSD Animal Health For First Vaccine Targeting Schmallenberg Virus

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Big brands are embracing a new sustainability initiative which will imaginatively engage previously disinterested UK consumers… by not mentioning the ‘S’ word. The ‘UK Dream’ challenge is to make a sustainable lifestyle sexy and aspirational. (1) There is evidence of a shift in mindset among corporates in favour of this approach. M&S, Unilever, Mars and Rapanui were among the founder attendees at the first UK Dream workshop.

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What about Bovine TB taking 3,000 cattle a month and nothing is done yet we are farting around over a handfull of bloody sheep.

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The Cattle Information Service (CIS) is making available a new tool for producers in the management of the reproduction cycle. Using IDEXX technology, CIS will offer a milk pregnancy confirmation test to aid producers in improving and managing successful reproductive programs.

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Agrantec, the British agri-food supply chain management service company, today announced the launch of a new version of “Farmango”, the cloud based management system for beef farmers. Farmango can be used on smartphones, tablet computers, such as Apple’s iPad ™, and personal computers.

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FRIMA has appointed Graham Kille to head its UK operations. Graham is a familiar face in the foodservice market, having worked for Rational UK for the last 11 years covering many different roles, most recently as a regional sales director.

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The NFU is getting behind a series of Host-a-Roast events being held across the country to celebrate Great British Beef Week and to raise money for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI).

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The Guild of Fine Food, established in 1995 and organisers of the Great Taste Awards and the World Cheese Awards has moved to a new HQ in Gillingham, Dorset.

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Rumenco has launched a new ruminant livestock summer pasture supplement to help cattle and sheep producers combat the anticipated and well-reported challenges of the 2013 grazing season.

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A new British Charolais centre record of 31,000gns was set at Carlisle at the society’s annual spring show and sale on Saturday 11 May, where a strong commercial demand took the average for 93 bulls sold to £5,116.21.

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Marel, pioneers of intelligent portion loading, have produced an all new high performance IPL Robot that can be configured to virtually any application in the protein sector.

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The best of the old with something new is the best way to describe two new publications, the Pig Pocketbook 2013 and the BPEX Yearbook 2012/13.

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As temperatures begin to rise and blowflies become more of a nuisance to sheep, the National Sheep Association (NSA) urges farmers throughout the UK to use a new online tool to keep abreast of the regions affected and report any problems on their own farms.

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Rumenco New 4 In 1 Grazing Supplement

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Food packaging expert Sirane has welcomed a pledge to significantly cut household food waste – and vowed to continue its work to find solutions that will help.

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The Beef Shorthorn Society has teamed up with Morrisons to search for the UK’s leading suckler herd which has £1,500 at stake.

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The reputation of the KellyBronze turkey for flavour is enhanced by the latest accolade for the product, gaining the Taste of Excellence Award at the Pig & Poultry Marketing Awards at the London Marriott County Hall by the River Thames.

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Over 7000 Thousand people are expected to attend NSA North Sheep 2013, the National Sheep Association’s [NSA] northern biennial one day event being held Wednesday 5th June.

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2011 is the most recent year for statistics on the growth of the organic industry worldwide, but here's an update.

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Bones star Emily Deschanel is encouraging moms to boycott cows' milk and embrace a vegan diet to show compassion for cattle.

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke May 7 at an International Agriculture and Food Security Briefing sponsored by Farmers Feeding the World, a Farm Journal Foundation Initiative, and the Senate Hunger Caucus.

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Cattle slaughter and beef production in the US during the first quarter of 2013 was down on the same time last year, with lower volumes in February and March more than offsetting a relatively high January (US Department of Agriculture).

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Last Friday McDonald's confirmed it was dropping one of its most expensive menu items, the Angus Third Pounder burger, which has been a mainstay of the chain since its introduction in 2009.

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In an effort spearheaded by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and bankrolled by the Koch brothers and other corporate sponsors, state legislatures in most major agricultural states are being beset this year with so-called "ag-gag" bills -- repressive and misguided legislation that proposes to make it a crime to photograph or videotape operations at factory farms where animals are being raised.

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In a study comparing Salmonella and Campylobacter prevalence and concentrations on pasture-raised broilers processed on-farm, in a small USDA-approved slaughter facility and in a mobile processing unit, a high proportion of the carcases was found to be contaminated.

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Only a fraction of the nation's corn crops are in the ground, which is a significant change from last year. Planting continues but snow, rain, and storms remain an on going challenge for farmers. For example, only about 3% of the Nebraska's corn crop had been planted by Sunday, according to the Nebraska office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. This is significantly down from 40% last year and the five-year average of 26%. This week crop specialists at UNL and neighboring universites in the Corn Belt offer recommendations and a review of historical data that show planting date often is not the key factor to yield response.

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Last Friday’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) for May from USDA indicate new crop production and 2014 carryout levels are largely in line with pre-report expectations. Only the soybean crop (raised 1.2%) was more than 1% different from the average trade guess. Corn, wheat and soybean carryout stocks (i.e., remaining at the end of the marketing year) for 2014 were all above the midpoints of their respective ranges, but not by enough to have large impacts on prices for now.

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Even if grilling season demand lifts beef prices this summer, high cattle costs will make it hard for JBS’ U.S. beef business to reach its full-year margin target, a Deutsche Bank analyst said following the company’s first-quarter earnings report.

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Federal prosecutors secretly obtained two months' worth of telephone records of Associated Press journalists in what the news agency described Monday as a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”

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Wendy won't be serving you breakfast, but Ronald might offer it all day.

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A bipartisan group of Senators today introduced new legislation that would take a closer look at the use of drugs in food-producing animals and help to improve the ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to study the use of antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals.

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Tyson Foods Inc. unveiled plans to introduce new products in 2013 as a significant part of its growth strategy.

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PETA recently issued a press release indicating they would begin to use remote controlled drone aircraft, like the one pictured here, to begin spying on and harassing hunters. Do you think a 12 gauge with a load of T-shot could take one of these rigs down?

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Philadelphia-based Aramark, the nation's largest food service company, has won a top award from an animal welfare group for its commitment to improve conditions for animals in its supply chain.

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Operating income of Seaboard Corp.’s Pork segment in the first quarter ended March 30 totaled $32,264,000, down 39 percent from $52,873,000 in the same period a year ago. Seaboard said the decrease was primarily a result of lower prices for pork products and higher feed costs, partially offset by a one-time credit of $11.3 million.

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Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) today announced the release of its 2012 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report, available online at www.hormelfoods.com/csr. This is the company’s sixth full report, which includes information on the company’s second set of environmental goals that span from 2012 - 2020 using 2011 as a benchmark. The report is self-declared Application Level B as confirmed by the Global Reporting Initiative.

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National Hog Farmer has been following the developing story behind the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) multiple disclosures to anti-agriculture activist organizations of thousands of records including the personal information of agriculture producers.

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The useless bastards at PETA should realise road accidents do happen

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Last summer a hedge fund trader told me he wasn't sure there was real money to be made trading grain. It didn't make sense to me then -- how could a smart speculator not make a few pennies during the great short-supply run-up? He argued down days cancelled the up days and a few other things along that line, but I'm starting to realize the full picture is much more complicated.

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Wal-Mart Stores here has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and an affiliated group, charging disorderly conduct in Los Angeles-area protests late last year.

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