In July, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a $7 million biodigester at Wisconsin's largest dairy farm, Rosendale Dairy, which has more than 8,000 cows. The digester, scheduled to be in operation by the end of the year, is being built in partnership with the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh; the UW – Oshkosh Foundation will own the biodigester.

According to the latest outlook by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2013-2022, meat production is forecast to increase predominantly in developing countries, which will account for approximately 80 percent of the additional output by 2022. However, world meat production growth is expected to only increase at 1.6 percent per year for the next decade, down from 2.3 percent per year during the previous decade. Looking at our South American neighbors, Brazilian beef production is forecast to increase 10.6 percent over the next decade, to 11 million metric tons (MT), with domestic consumption accounting for 85 percent of total production (66 pounds per person per year – average for the next decade).

Here's a great story from The Kansas City Star that shows how cattle rustling is still happening in beef production states - and how those suspects are being caught.

USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service released its monthly Cattle on Feed report this Friday (July 19). The report revealed that 10.368 million head of cattle are in feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or more on July 1, 2013. The inventory of cattle on feed was a decrease of 3.2 percent from July 1, 2012, but a slight increase of 1.1 percent from the five-year average from 2008 to 2012. Analysts were expecting a drop of 3.0 percent from 2012's inventory, so the reported number is in-line with those expectations and well within the range of expectations.

The beef industry is about to reverse a downward trend in numbers, but expansion is expected to start slowly. The number of beef animals has been in a downward spiral since 2007 due to drought which has ravaged pastures and due to high prices of corn, soybean meal, and forages. Now, prospects are brightening for a renewal of pastures and for a welcomed reduction in feed prices.

Farmer Terry L. Button of Rushville, New York, director of the National Hay Association (NHA), has received a U.S. Congregational appointment as director of the National Freight Advisory Committee (NFAC), a group that provides advice and recommendations on matters related to freight transportation in the U.S.

Identifying existing research that could help the dairy industry reduce methane emissions by dairy cattle is a major goal for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the Cow of the Future project. In order to develop effective mitigation practices, researchers need to identify the ruminal microbes involved in methane production and understand the substrates and biochemical pathways used to produce methane.

Few beef packing plants have been through the kind of turmoil that the former XL Foods packing facility in Brooks, Alberta has seen in the past year.

The American Angus Association, St. Joseph, Missouri, has hired Lee Trade Shows Inc. to produce and manage the trade show portion of their 2014 National Angus Convention and Trade Show. This first-time association event will take place Nov. 4, 5 and 6, 2014, at the KCI Expo Center.

The stocks and flows of feedlot cattle that make up the cattle on feed report have a relatively straightforward interpretation when the underlying mix of cattle (sex, weight and age distribution) is relatively constant, at least on a seasonal basis. For several months, changes in these animal demographics have made it much harder to interpret the cattle on feed report and anticipate the implications for future feedlot marketings and cattle slaughter.