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Peel Foresees Another Great Year For Herd Rebuilding

The recent rains has reduced the effects of drought and helped the grassland recover across much of Oklahoma and Texas. That bodes well for cattle producers looking to increase their herd numbers. Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel said this rain is exactly what cattle producers needed.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty significant effect, as we go forward,” Peel said. “The issue for the last several years in the beef industry has been sort of what we had to do, as opposed to what we wanted to do.”

In the last month, the southern plains areas that had the worst drought in that region have received significant amounts of rain. That’s going to allow for herd expansion. Some of these areas have been in drought for so long and will need additional time to recover. Peel thinks this is going to stimulate expansion for the foreseeable future.

“I think we are going to see fairly aggressive expansion pace here in 2015 as we go forward,” Peel said.

As producers began to expand their cattle herd a year ago, there was a big drop in cow culling. Peel said last year cow culling was down nearly 18 percent and is down about 17 percent since the start this year.

“It was hard to imagine at the beginning of the year, we could see another year of that kind of decrease year over year, so far we’re doing it,” Peel said.
 

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U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan | Made by Producers for Producers

Video: U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan | Made by Producers for Producers

Join Jill Brokaw, a third-generation pig farmer and staff member of the National Pork Board, as she dives into the vital role of the US Swine Health Improvement Plan, also known as US SHIP. The program establishes a national playbook of standards for monitoring African swine fever and classical swine fever.

Why Should Pork Producers Care? If a disease breaks out, officials will establish a control area to help contain the disease. This plan is designed to mitigate risk and demonstrate freedom of disease at the site level. The goal is to support business continuity outside of the control area in case of an outbreak.

How Will the Pork Industry Use US SHIP? US SHIP uses already existing programs to support the standards for biosecurity, traceability and disease surveillance.

Biosecurity: This plan uses your completed Secure Pork Supply plan to demonstrate compliance with the biosecurity program standards and shows your ability to reduce the risk of disease introduction.

Traceability: AgView can be used to demonstrate compliance with the traceability standards and the ability to electronically provide State and Federal agencies the traceability information they need to determine where disease is and isn’t.

Disease Surveillance: The Certified Swine Sampler Collector Program helps expand the number of people certified to take samples. In the event of a large-scale foreign animal disease outbreak, we will need a trained group of sample collectors to help animal health officials find where the disease is present. This is to help you demonstrate freedom of disease and support the permitted movement of animals.

Getting Started with US SHIP:

1. Enroll in U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan

2. Share 30 days of movement data

3. Have a completed Secure Pork Supply Plan

4. Become U.S. SHIP certified

5. Maintain communication with your state

Takeaway: U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan helps safeguard animal health. Together, we're creating a sustainable future for pork production in the United States and taking steps to strengthen the business of U.S. pork producers everywhere