CHARM - Dean Frances Coleman is shown receiving one of the 26 bound volumes of Cattle Business in Mississippi magazine from the MCA officers. The magazines, dating back to 1979, will be added to the Consortium for the History of Agriculture and Rural Mississippi (CHARM) collection at the Mississippi State University Library. CHARM chronicles the history of the state’s agriculture, forestry, and rural life.

 Star Junior Awards – Entries are being accepted until December 18th for the junior and senior Star Junior Awards. Winner in the senior category will receive $500 and the junior receives $100 with a plaque for each. Contact LeAnne (601-613-9611) for entry details. 

BCIA Sale - The Mississippi Beef Cattle Improvement Association recently wrapped up another successful Fall Bull Sale with 35 performance-backed bulls from breeders across the state averaging $1708. The auction, held at Hinds Community College, also featured interactive video bidding sites in Verona and Batesville.
Mississippi BCIA looks forward to another successful bull sale on March 6, 2008 as the new Spring BCIA Bull Sale and Hinds Community College Bull Test Sale partnership begins. If you are interested in nominating bulls to the Spring BCIA Bull Sale, nomination forms must be completed and received in the BCIA office by January 10, 2008.  Bull sale rules, nomination forms, and other information on Mississippi BCIA are available on the BCIA website at: http://msucares.com/livestock/beef/mbcia/ or by contacting your local Extension office.

Happy Thanksgiving!

$1000 Scholarship – The winner of this year’s Mississippi Beef Ambassador Contest will receive a $500 cash award, expense-paid trip to the national contest in Oklahoma City, and a $1000 college scholarship.  Second place will receive a $500 scholarship.  The competition will be held on February 3rd.  For details and an entry form, contact the MCA office.

Juniors Express Yourself - MJCA wants your original design that will be used on t-shirts for a fundraiser during the Dixie National. The contest is open to any MJCA member and there will be cash prizes awarded to the top three designs. On a plain white sheet of paper draw a 4-color design incorporating MJCA and agriculture. Mail it in to the MCA office by December 14th. Make sure that your name, address, age, and home telephone is on the back. Good Luck!

Cattle Market Notes, Friday, November 16, 2007, Dr. John Anderson, Mississippi State University Last week’s 5-Area average live steer price came out to $92.00 – a few cents higher than the prior week. Prices in the North were reported from $92 to $94 on a live basis and from $145 to $147 on a dressed basis – up about $2 for that region in both cases.  In the South, prices were reported from $92.50 to $93.50 live – basically steady with last week.  This week’s cattle slaughter is estimated at 644,000 head compared to 637,000 a week ago and 660,000 a year ago. 
Calf prices looked pretty uneven this week.  At Oklahoma City, feeder steer prices were steady to $1 higher.  Feeder heifer prices were steady.  Stocker steer and heifer prices were steady to $2 lower, except on steers under 500 pounds, which were noted to be $2 to $4 higher.  At Arkansas auctions this week, prices on all classes were called mostly steady to $2 higher, with instances of $5 higher on lighter weights. 
At Mississippi auctions this week, steer prices were steady, and heifer prices were $1 higher.  Steer prices at Mississippi auctions this week were reported as follows: 250-300 pounds, $125-$130; 300-400 pounds, $115-$125; 400-500 pounds, $105-$115; 500-600 pounds, $95-$105; 600-700 pounds, $85-$95; 700-800 pounds, $80-$85.  Slaughter cow prices were $1 lower this week.  For the week: breakers, not reported; boners, $38-$44;
lean (850-1,200 pounds), $35-$40.
Live Cattle futures moved mostly sideways this week.  Spread trading, especially mid-week, put pressure on the April contract, pushing it modestly lower for the week, while supporting the nearby December contract.  On Friday, most contracts were down sharply in early trading on word that some Texas cattle had changed hands at lower prices.  With the development of a steady cash market a bit later in the day, futures recovered to post mostly small losses.
Live Cattle futures closing prices on Friday (with change from last Friday’s close in parentheses) were as follows: December $95.30 (-0.20); February $97.90 (-0.42); April $98.92 (-1.12); June $93.72 (-0.65); August $93.97 (-0.35).
Feeder cattle futures did a good bit of bouncing around this week, mostly reacting to a pretty volatile corn market.  For the week, contracts through Aug 08 were up, with more nearby contracts up the most.  Feeder Cattle futures closing prices on Friday (with change from last Friday’s close in parentheses): January $109.12 (+1.10); March $109.75 (+1.08); April $111.00 (+0.50); May $112.22 (+0.37).
December Corn closed on Friday at $3.79 ½, down 7 ¼ cents from last week’s close.  Soybean futures continue to soar, with all contracts putting in new contract highs this week.  The July 2008 contract topped $11 on Friday.  The market is closely eyeing the ever-tightening soybean balance sheet and responding with very high prices.  This makes a meaningful break in corn prices look pretty unlikely for the time being.  January beans closed on Friday at $10.77 ¾, up 21 ¾ cents from last Friday’s close.  Dr. Anderson’s complete report can be accessed from www.mscattlemen.org

Congress Adjourned - Little progress is expected on the Farm Bill until early 2008 even though they will reconvene in two week.  A Senate cloture motion failed on Friday that would have limited debate on the bill and hasten a final vote on the Senate floor. 
Nearly 400 amendments have been drafted. This number of amendments would clearly sink the legislation unless the Majority Leader and Minority Leader reach agreement on how to limit and structure the debate. In the 2002 Farm Bill Senate debate, cloture votes failed three times before such an agreement could be reached and debate could finally continue.

Bush Serves Japanese Prime Minister Beef - The White House served beef at a lunch for visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in Washington on Friday as a way to further U.S. efforts to nudge Japan toward fully opening its markets to U.S. beef products.
"I think we're going to serve the Prime Minister — I hope we serve him some good U.S. beef, which is a good way to bring up the subject of beef," Bush said in remarks before the media after the two leaders met on a broad range of issues.
"We hope we're able to have the Japanese market fully open to all U.S. beef and beef products, consistent with international guidelines," said Bush.
The prime minister, however, was noncommittal.
"There was a reference to beef. I hope that — well, we are addressing the beef issue on the basis of scientific findings. We are still in the process of our bilateral meetings," Fukuda said in remarks translated on the White House Web site. from meatingplace.com

U.S. Beef Airs Complaints - U.S. beef exporters on Thursday aired their grievances to the International Trade Commission, which is investigating the financial fallout from South Korea's trade barriers on U.S. beef.
At a hearing called by the commission, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said those barriers were costing the industry billions. With a fully open Seoul market, it contended, U.S. beef exports would have totaled $1.53 billion this year, Yonhap News reported.
"Constrained by Korea's beef ban, the United States lost estimated exports of 1.453 million metric tons valued at $4.8 billion from 2004 to 2007," NCBA said, adding that the industry suffered additional losses by virtue of retaining domestic beef that could have been sold overseas. from meatingplace.com

Philippines Allows Complete Market Access For U.S. Beef - Acting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner announced Nov. 16 that the Philippines has fully complied with international trade standards regarding beef and beef products by allowing complete market access for U.S. beef and beef products of all ages.
"The Philippines has set the standard for other Asian nations, and we will continue to press for full market access throughout the Pacific Rim," Conner said in a news statement.
Recent bilateral discussions between USDA and the Philippines' Department of Agriculture resulted in this market expansion and an agreement to allow for U.S. beef and beef products of all ages.
All beef, beef variety meat and processed beef products derived from cattle slaughtered on or after Nov. 16 are eligible for export to the Philippines. All federally inspected establishments are eligible to export to the Philippines and the AMS Export Verification program is no longer required.
Previously, imports of U.S. beef and beef products were restricted to boneless beef and beef variety meat from cattle less than 30 months of age. Under this new agreement, USDA estimates that U.S. beef exports to the Philippines in 2008 could potentially double the $6.3 million exported last year. from USMEF

Cattlemen Working to Prevent Harmful Farm Bill Amendments - If and when Farm Bill discussions continue on the Senate floor, America’s cattlemen are hopeful that the Senate will cast their votes against government interference in the marketplace and will work to maintain our free market system. 
Already part of the Senate bill, a ban on packer ownership threatens many of the marketing alliances cattlemen have worked hard to build.  Before the Senate completes their bill, further damaging amendments could be added.  These include: 

- The Enzi captive supply amendment, which would outlaw the ability for cattle producers to engage in confidential, one-on-one business deals with prospective buyers; require at least one blind bid; and limit the number of cattle within a contract. 
- The Grassley-Thune amendment, which would subject producers to even more oversight and regulation by establishing a full-time special counsel to prosecute the agricultural sector.
- The Harkin competitive injury amendment, which will base lawsuits under the Packers and Stockyards program on a matter of “fairness,” which is not defined. 
- The Domenici RFS amendment, which would mandate an increase of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) as part of the Farm Bill.

Contact Your Senators About These Harmful Amendments - Producers are encouraged to call, email, or write their Senators and urge them to oppose these amendments.  NCBA members can contact Elizabeth Bostdorff, NCBA’s manager of policy affiliate relations in NCBA’s Washington, D.C. office for more information on these Farm Bill issues and for assistance in contacting their Senators. 

Nevada Rancher Testifies On Impacts of Death Tax - The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on November 14th entitled “Federal Estate Tax: Uncertainty in Planning Under the Current Law.”  NCBA member and Tuscarora, Nevada rancher Dean Rhoads testified before the committee.  
Dean and his wife, Sharon, own and live on a ranch that was established by her parents in 1943.  “My mother-in-law died in 1976. My father-in-law paid a total estate tax of over $300,000. To do this he could not afford to keep the ranch where my wife and I and our two daughters lived.  Losing this ranch and our home was not only a personal blow, but it was devastating to our operation,” said Rhoads.  “When my father-in-law died in 1995, there was no more land left to sell if we wanted to survive in the ranching business. Based on the ranch’s value, the tax we owed, with interest added, was over $340,000. Therefore we have been paying $18,000 in estate taxes, plus interest, every year, which we are continuing to pay. We have had to borrow money to make these payments.”
“It is difficult, but we can deal with the variables of weather, drought, labor shortage, market conditions, and day-by-day business expenses such as the increasing price of fuel,” said Rhoads.  “But, if you continue to add the specter of the burden of this unfair tax - if we have to pay this much a third time as a family for one ranch - I do not have much optimism for our future.”
Under current law, the death Tax is completely repealed in 2010 only to revert back to a 55 percent rate and a $1 million exemption in 2011.  The uncertainty and burden of this situation is very problematic for cattle producers. 
“I believe that the estate tax, or death tax, is unjust from a philosophical and from a technical viewpoint,” said Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) Ranking Member of the Committee.  “From a philosophical perspective, I have always said that death should not be a taxable event. There is something fundamentally wrong when the government swoops in after a funeral to take a cut of what that person had worked their whole life for, and has already paid taxes on at least once.”

Canadian Rule II Takes Effect Monday - USDA’s final rule to amend the BSE minimal risk region rule (Minimal Risk Rule II, or MRRII) is due to take effect on today, November 19, 2007.  This rule expands upon the Canadian Minimal Risk Rule I released by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in January 2005.
APHIS published the final MRRII rule on September 18, 2007, entitled “Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Minimal Risk Regions; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived From Bovines,” which establishes import conditions for all cattle and bison, including those 30 months of age or older, and establishes the effective date of the Canadian ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban as March 1, 1999. 
Effective November 19, 2007, the following live ruminants may be imported into the United States from Canada:

- Bovines for immediate slaughter: Bovines born on or after March 1, 1999, may be imported if they are accompanied by an official Canadian health certificate which states they were born on or after March 1, 1999; have an official Canadian ear tag; and meet all of the other import health requirements.  They must be consigned directly in a sealed conveyance to a slaughtering establishment approved by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to receive bovines for immediate slaughter.  The list of plants approved to receive animals for immediate slaughter can be obtained by contacting the National Center for Import and Export (NCIE).

- Bovines for other than immediate slaughter: Bovines born on or after March 1, 1999, may be imported if they are accompanied by an official Canadian health certificate which states they were born on or after March 1, 1999; have a permanent “CAN” brand or tattoo; have an official Canadian ear tag; and meet all of the other import health requirements.

Economic Impact of Canadian Trade Expansion - In its economic analysis, USDA adjusted the annual estimate of older live cattle imports pertaining to the MRRII rule from 657,000 head to only 75,000 beginning in 2008. “Once this rule enters into effect, the primary result is expected to be additional imports of Canadian non-fed beef - rather than live cattle - which will replace lean beef imports from other countries such as New Zealand and Australia,” said Gregg Doud, NCBA chief economist.     
Doud and other industry economists do not expect this rule to vastly impact the U.S. cattle market, for the following reasons: 

- The age requirement in this rule will disqualify most Canadian beef cows from importation for lack of proper age documentation;    
- Transportation costs, the strength of the Canadian dollar, and a surplus of packing capacity in Canada are additional disincentives to live cattle imports;
- The extra Canadian packing capacity boosted Canadian cull cow and bull slaughter by 50 percent between 2004 and 2006 and has greatly reduced any backlog of cull cows in Canada;  
- Although the price of cull cows in Canada is currently about 20 percent less than it is in the United States, annual Canadian cull cow slaughter is only 13 percent of that in the United States. As a result, it is widely expected that Canadian cull cow prices will appreciate to U.S. levels almost immediately after this rule goes into effect; and   
- In the short term, analysts expect U.S. cull cow prices to dip slightly but still stay above 2006 levels.

“Because of a seven percent swing in the exchange rate during just the past 60 days, the biggest variable entering into play with this rule actually involves the movement of feeder cattle,” said Doud. “Even after a $100 per head transportation cost, feeder cattle movement into the United States, mainly from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, could be sizable because of what may be historic differences in the cost of adding a pound of gain in an Alberta feedlot (mid $0.90’s/lb. of gain) versus one in Nebraska (mid $0.60’s/lb of gain).”
“The implementation of this rule also sets the stage for normalization of beef and more importantly live/breeding cattle trade with Mexico, and this will have a positive impact for U.S. cattlemen. We’re also very mindful of the fact that our international trading partners are watching how we handle the resumption of trade with Canada (and Mexico) and will likely apply some of the same standards to resuming trade with us.”

Don't Miss NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen - On this week’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen, beginning at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 20th, we'll take a look at some of our favorite stories from Bayer Animal Health including a look at how to best prepare for and manage Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) on your operation.  Plus, producer questions on BRD will be answered by a veterinarian.
The show will be rebroadcast Wednesday at 3:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., and Saturdays at 9 a.m. Make sure YOU tune into NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen on channel RFD-TV. For more information or to check out past episodes, visit www.cattlementocattlemen.org.

Nov 19                   Claiborne/Jefferson/Warren CCA
Nov 19                   Tate CCA
Nov 20                   Adams/Wilkinson/Franklin CCA
Nov 27                   Nutrition Shortcourse, Distance Ed Sites
Nov 27                   White Sands Field Day
Dec 1                      Tanner Farms Sale, Shuqualak
Dec 6                      Lafayette CCA
Dec 6                      Lauderdale CCA

Mississippi Cattlemen's Association
680 Monroe Street, Suite A
Jackson, MS 39202
(601) 354-8951
missca1@bellsouth.net