USDA is seeking public comment on how best to structure the voluntary country of origin labeling guidelines which it is required to develop under the 2002 Farm Bill. The bill requires the Department to issue the voluntary guidelines by September 30 so retailers can begin labeling beef, pork, lamb, fish, perishable agricultural commodities (fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables) and peanuts as to country of origin.

Retailers may voluntarily label covered commodities for country of origin for a two-year period beginning September 30. The mandatory COOL provisions then become effective on September 30, 2004.

The law does not apply to foodservice establishments such as restaurants, lunch rooms, cafeterias, food stands, bars, lounges or similar enterprises selling prepared food to the public.

USDA wants all comments submitted by August 9 and committed to make "draft" guidelines available to the public in late August, before they are finalized.

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During its summer meeting in Reno, Nev., the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board approved a $48 million checkoff budget for fiscal year 2003, which begins Oct. 1. The budget focuses on continuing to build demand for beef in the midst of current economic and beef-safety challenges.

Included in the budget is $26 million for promotion programs; $5.1 million for research; $5.55 million for consumer information programs; $1.98 million for industry information; $4.75 million for foreign marketing, and $1.8 million for producer communications. Another $210,000 will be devoted to program evaluation, while $125,000 will go toward program development, $230,000 will pay for program oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and $2.25 million, will cover administration costs. USDA must approve the budget before any money can be spent.

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According to the American Meat Institute, the Senate agriculture appropriations bill includes a $100,000 increase over last year’s funding level of $800,000 for hides and leather research at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, PA. The center is the only U.S. government facility that conducts research on hides and leather.

Stagnant funding levels for this activity over the past few years in the face of rising costs have forced resource reductions and threatened the long-term viability of the program, AMI contends. The research provides the hideskin and leather industry with cost-effective and environmentally safe tanning processes which enhance U.S. producers' competitiveness in world markets.

The bill must now be considered by the full Senate, most likely in September, and reconciled with the House agriculture appropriations bill.

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The Big Country Wheat Conference sponsored by Texas Cooperative Extension is set for Aug. 22 in the Abilene Civic Center. This year's theme is "Wheat Profitability — Is it Possible?"

Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. for the day-long program, which begins at 8 a.m. Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered.

The day's keynoter is State Rep. Rick Hardcastle of Vernon, who will speak at noon on agriculture and the legislature. The program opens with a price and crop outlook delivered by Dr. Mark Waller, Extension grain economist from College Station.

Other speakers will discuss topics that include wheat niche markets, bio-terrorism, the 2002 farm bill, and a variety of wheat management issues ranging from insects, Karnal bunt and other plant diseases to grazing and conservation tillage.

The conference is sponsored by the Extension offices in Taylor, Callahan, Shackelford, Jones, Nolan, and Fisher counties.

Pre-registration by Aug. 16 is $7.50 per person. Late registration is $15 per person. Both fees include lunch.

Further information is available from the Cooperative Extension office in Taylor County at (915) 672-6048 or any of the other Extension offices sponsoring the event.

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The Bush Administration has announced an aggressive proposal for reforming global agricultural trade rules. If accepted by U.S. trading partners in the ongoing global negotiations, the plan would phase out all export subsidies, tighten constraints on the ability of countries to provide trade-distorting support to their farmers, and sharply reduce tariffs on all agricultural products.

The plan also calls for a commitment from all countries to reach agreement on a firm date for eliminating all tariffs and trade distorting support. Under the U.S. market access proposal, all WTO members would reduce tariffs using a formula that would yield larger cuts for high tariffs than for low tariffs and result in no tariffs over 25 percent.

Administration officials say the formula would drop the global tariff for beef, for example, from the current average level of 85 percent to 15 percent. The U.S. maintains a tariff-rate quota for about 700,000 tons of beef. Imports over that amount on an annual basis now pay a duty of 26.4 percent. Under the U.S. proposal, the amount of the quota would grow 20 percent, about 140,000 tons, and the over-quota duty would drop to about 12 percent. Under the U.S. proposal on domestic support, subsidies would be categorized as either distorting (combining the current "amber" and "blue boxes") or non-trade distorting (the existing "green box"). Trade-distorting support would be capped at five percent of the value of agricultural production. This would result in a global reduction of more than $100 billion in allowed trade distorting domestic support. Non-trade distorting types of support would remain unlimited.

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Market conditions continue to be of high concern for cattle producers and are not going away in the immediate future. However, some bright spots are worthy of note, Cattle-Fax spokesman Mike Miller told Beef Board members during their summer meeting in Reno.

For one, Miller said, U.S. exports of beef have been "surprisingly high" in 2002, with exports to South Korea up about 250 percent and exports to Mexico increasing dramatically enough during the first half of the year to nearly make up for decreased exports to Japan after the discovery of BSE there in September 2001.

"Those two increases have virtually made up the loss to Japan, which itself is beginning to show signs of reversing," Miller said. Year-to-date, beef exports to Japan are down a "better-than-expected" 30 percent year-on-year, and are likely to end 2002 down about 20 percent to 25 percent, he said, adding that it will "probably take about three to four years, at least — with no other BSE cases — to get back" to the export levels of 1999-2000.

For 2002 in total, beef exports are expected to advance about four to five percent, Miller estimated. And while the volume of import growth is expected to outpace growth in exports during the next few years, he said it is important to keep in mind that the value of U.S. beef exports still remains about $1.3 billion ahead of the value of imports.

Miller also told Beef Board members that Cattle-Fax believes fed cattle prices may have bottomed out: "There is so much production out there (of beef and competing products) at a time of year when demand is typically lower anyway," he said. Producers are "still losing an awful lot on feed cattle, but indications are that we are about at our low for the year on fed cattle prices, (and) we hope to see some relief by fall."

Meanwhile, Miller said, the demand picture is positive: "We saw improvement in beef demand in the spring — and we have a pretty positive outlook about what beef demand is going to do for us going forward," he said. That's because consumer expenditures on beef and beef products continue to increase, despite weak prices, with total expenditures expected to reach a record $59 billion in 2002, up from about $57 billion in 2001.

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The Texas Department of Agriculture is seeking applications for its annual Family Land Heritage Program, which recognizes farms and ranches that have been in continuous operation by the same family for 100, 150 and 200 years. Since the program’s inception in 1974, almost 3700 farms and ranches have been recognized in 222 Texas counties.

Ranches and farms that quality will be honored during a March 2003 ceremony in Austin. Program applications are available through TDA, county judges and on TDA’s website at www.agr.state.tx.us.

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Val Verde County ranchman F.H. "Tuffy" Whitehead Jr. is this year’s recipient of the Fred T. Earwood Memorial Award, given by Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association. The award was presented at the organization’s 87th annual membership convention in Kerrville.

The son of Francis Harris and Winnie Lou Miers Whitehead, Tuffy was born in San Antonio and grew up on the Open A Ranch between Sonora and Loma Alta. He graduated from Del Rio High School, attended Principia College in Illinois for two years, Southern Methodist University for a year, and graduated from the University of Texas in 1959. He began ranching in 1959 with his father and grandfather, Robert Lee Miers.

When he married Carol Friend of Ozona in 1961, they moved to the Wagon Wheel Ranch four miles east of Comstock, Texas, where they raised their daughters, Clay and Amy. They have three grandchildren.

Active in area and community affairs, Whitehead has served on the Val Verde Soil Conservation Board, the Val Verde Lamb Show Committee, and has been on the board of directors of the Del Rio National bank since 1967. He served as president of the TSGRA from 1986 to 1987. In addition, he was instrumental in organizing and developing Ranchers’ Lamb of Texas Inc., a producer-owned lamb processing and fabricating plant in San Angelo which opened in 1997, and is a member of the board. He also serves as an advisory director on the board of South Texas Bank of Laredo.

The Earwood Award was established by the family and friends of the late Fred T. Earwood of Sonora in 1969 to honor persons whose loyalty and dedication to the sheep and goat industry, its people, its values and its reverence for the land and livestock exemplify that of the late Mr. Earwood.

Pat Jackson, a third generation Schleicher County ranchman, was elected president of TSGRA. Jackson has ranched with his father in Schleicher County since 1979, raising Rambouillet sheep, Angora and meat goats and Simbrah and Angus cattle.

George Sultemeier, Fort McKavett, was elected first vice president and H. "Chico" Denis III of Vancourt was elected second vice president.

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Meatingplace.com reports that global beverage conglomerate Diageo PLC has reportedly narrowed its list of potential Burger King acquisition contenders to two groups.

According to several media sources, including Dow Jones, the New York Post and London's The Independent, the field has come down to a consortium led by Burger King CEO John Dasburg, comprising Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Bain Capital and Texas Pacific. Dasburg's group is believed by analysts to have an edge over a rival proposal from Thomas H. Lee Partners.

Triarc Cos., owner of the Arby's fast-food chain, is said to have withdrawn from the bidding.

If Dasburg's group emerges as the leading bidder, final negotiations will begin for the 11,435-unit chain. Analysts expect the final price to be somewhere between $2 billion and $2.5 billion.

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Bob Torstenson, a New Mexico landowner who died of cancer, has left his entire 135,000-acre ranch to the Missoula, Mont.-based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Valued at more than $21.5 million, it is the largest bequest the foundation ever received.

Torstenson, 51, died in May. He was the retired owner of Duo-FAST in Rockford, Ill., a construction equipment manufacturer. He willed his entire Double H ranch in western New Mexico to the foundation, along with another $4 million to maintain and operate it in the future. The ranch is appraised at $17.5 million.

Steve Wagner, elk foundation spokesman, said the property would continue to be used for ranching but will also serve as a model for how grazing and crop production can be profitable, even though the land is managed for wildlife.

The longtime Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation member bought the ranch in 1999 after his retirement, and the family made extensive improvements of wildlife habitat, Ohlander said. Cattle were moved away from rivers and streams and Torstenson added a watering system that also benefited wildlife on the ranch.

The Double H ranch, located in arid high country about a two hours southwest of Albuquerque, is well known for its large-antlered bull elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope and a variety of bird species. The foundation is considering plans that include expanded hunting opportunities and exhibits for the public.

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Extension specialists from nine states are teaming up to provide a conference series this fall on maximizing forage resources and cow-calf profitability.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Northern IRM Working Group, in cooperation with the NC-225 Research Team, will conduct the four conferences to address cow-calf efficiency and grazing management. The sessions feature keynote presentations on evaluating production and economic changes within the cow-calf operation, drouth management strategies, managing year-round forage supplies, implementation of forage and herd management practices, and profit optimization of these beef systems practices.

Besides the keynote presentations, each seminar will also feature breakout sessions highlighting topics of local interest on grazing and cattle management and a producer panel. A meal is included at each session.

Keynote speakers for each of the four sessions are Don Adams, Dick Clark, Pat Reece and Terry Klopfenstein, all from the University of Nebraska, and Jim Gerrish from the University of Missouri. The time and locations of the four sessions are as follows:

Tuesday, November 19, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Best Western Doublewood Inn, Bismark, ND; Thursday, November 21, 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Chadron State College, Chadron, NE; Tuesday, December 3, 3 p.m.–9 p.m., The Mark of the Quad Cities, Moline, IL; Thursday, December 5, 3 p.m.–9 p.m., Ramada Inn, St. Joseph, MO.

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ProRodeo’s all-time career earnings leader, Joe Beaver, headlines the Class of 2002 that will be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame on Aug. 10 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Joining Beaver will be six other inductees, including two-time world bareback riding champion Clyde Vamvoras, 1970 world champion bull rider Gary Leffew, 1930 world calf roping champion Jake McClure, rodeo specialty act performers Jay Sisler and Quail Dobbs, and rodeo secretary and trick rider Edith Happy Connelly.

Vamvoras, McClure, Sisler and Connelly will be honored posthumously.

The Hall’s inductees are selected each year by a committee of former contestants, rodeo notables, PRCA officials and rodeo experts. Selection is based on contributions to the sport of professional rodeo. Since the Hall of Fame’s opening in 1979, 153 people and 22 animals have been inducted. More than 150 individuals are nominated each year, but only a few are selected.

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Cattle Buyer’s Weekly reports that National Farms has confirmed the sale of four Kansas feedlots to Chesapeake Energy, an Oklahoma City natural gas company. The deal is expected to close in August. Terms were not disclosed. The feedlots include S-Bar Ranch Feedlot, Sublette; Cattlemen’s, Turon; Pawnee Beefbuilders, Larned; and National Farms Feedlot, Parsons.

Total capacity at those four lots is 109,000 head, which will make Chesapeake among the industry’s top 25 cattle feeding operations.

A fifth lot, Old Santa Fe Feeders, Sublette, sold earlier this year to Bartlett Cattle Co. National still owns two other lots, Kan-Texas Feeders, Moscow, Kan.; and Farr Feeders, Greeley, Colo.

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HRM of Texas is hosting a field day at the David West Ranch south of Ozona on September 28. The field day will be about beginnings – the planning and monitoring that goes on at the very beginning of managing a ranch holistically.

The 11,000-acre ranch has been rested for 15 years. The field day begins at 9 a.m. and will run to 4 p.m.

Registration cost, which includes a meal and a copy of HRM’s "Early Warning Biological Monitoring" booklet, is $20 per person or $30 per couple. RSVPs are requested by Sept. 15 for meal planning purposes. Information requests and RSVPs should be directed to Joe and Peggy Maddox at (915) 392-2292, or Peggy Jones at (512) 858-2761.