Western Kansas Manufacturers Association, sponsor of the annual 3i Show, has announced this year's 3i SHOW Consumer Programs.  Mandy Pankratz, with the Dodge City Chamber of Commerce, worked closely with the programming committee co-chairs, Cassie Sanko of the Ford County Extension Office and Sergio Holguin of United Wireless, to develop programs providing information on topics about which requests are most often received by area extension offices.

Terry Mader, extension beef cattle specialist at the University of Nebraska, discusses how to help alleviate heat stress in cattle during the summer.

In recognition of the USDA's 150th Anniversary, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) launched an online historical timeline. The history provides important information about the advancement of agricultural statistics as well as the background of NASS itself.

Beef checkoff dollars continue to be invested in foreign marketing activities to build global demand for beef and maintain beef’s positive image. And although the export train has had a steeper hill to climb and export volume has slowed as compared to this time last year, the U.S. is still four percent above last year’s record value, and export value for every fed steer and heifer slaughter remains above $200.“Demand for U.S. beef remains very strong across the globe,” says Wesley Grau, chairman of the Cattleman’s Beef Board and cow/calf producer from Grady, New Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published in the Federal Register a comprehensive rule for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) on March 16, 2012. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) voiced support for the rule in comments submitted late Tues., March 15, which was the deadline for comments to be submitted. However, on March 21, 2012, the Federal Register posted a notice that the comment period has been reopened and extended until Thurs., June 14, 2012.

The beef industry may be stricken with its occasional three-alarm crises, be they in the form of pink slime, animal rights activists or the return of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, but the bones of every cattleman are steeled with fiery survival. Few other professions handle natural or fabricated challenges quite like the men and women in the beef industry, where “taking the bull by the horns” is more than a descriptive idiom, but a practical routine in ranch life. But as well equipped as today’s rancher may be for the daily grind, it’s more apparent each year that the industry’s future is at risk.

Are you looking for a new book to read on the topic of leadership? An Internet search on Amazon will find 83,270 matches when you search for “leadership books.”

The chief executive of Brazil’s JBS SA, the world’s biggest beef producer, said the company is on the verge of exiting Argentina. The reasons pivot largely around government restrictions and high labor costs. JBS’ Argentine subsidiary, Swift, has closed five of its six slaughterhouses in Argentina, the last one as recently as February. The remaining slaughterhouse in Rosario is the company’s largest in Argentina. “We’ve been leaving Argentina over time,” JBS Chief Executive Wesley Batista said in a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

Livestock platform scales are viewed as a luxury by some cattlemen, while others consider them a necessary piece of equipment.