Articles Tagged with ''cattle''

The Western drought that stretches through much of the Great Plains is pushing cattle ranchers and dairy farmers to the breaking point – and sometimes past it – as producers scramble to feed their animals.

It can be costly and time-consuming for ranchers to keep their cattle inside the pasture using just traditional and electric fencing, but researchers are looking into a possible virtual solution.

In this opinion piece, Colin Woodall with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association discusses how U.S. cattle producers are committed to building a sustainable legacy.

The Agriculture Department is increasing the amount of assistance available to drought-stricken cattle producers by adding coverage for feed transportation costs to the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish Program.

Farmers' financial earnings are expected to increase this year, but fewer government payments and increased production costs will likely offset higher cash receipts, USDA's Economic Research Service said Thursday in its Farm Sector Income forecast.

Livestock haulers will be exempt from hours-of-service requirements until late November, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Tuesday.

Congress should be careful to avoid overbuilding processing capacity and instituting prescriptive marketing requirements as it studies its response to a pair of turbulent years in the beef industry, witnesses told a House Agriculture subcommittee Wednesday morning.

A wide-ranging executive order that President Joe Biden signed Friday seeks to address consolidation throughout the economy and includes a special focus on actions the Department of Agriculture could take to address the meat industry and antitrust enforcement.

States in the West and the High Plains are currently facing what Brad Rippey, a USDA meteorologist in the Office of the Chief Economist, calls the “most expansive” drought the U.S. has seen since 2012 and 2013.

The nation’s largest beef producer group outlined its top near-term policy goals in a letter to lawmakers Tuesday that calls for reauthorization of the mandatory livestock price reporting system with at least one new provision to help producers with marketplace leverage.