Colombia has banned U.S. beef products from certain states, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and Reuters reported last week. Colombia imposed the ban after avian influenza was found in dairy cattle, although it has not been found in beef cattle. A USDA spokesman told The Hagstrom Report, “USDA continues to maintain its robust surveillance system that is designed to mitigate the spread of animal diseases, thereby protecting public health, and maintaining a safe food supply, including for meat, for domestic and international markets.” “USDA’s HPAI (highly path ..read more

The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Service issued a final rule on traceability of sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months of age or older, all dairy cattle, cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreation events, and cattle or bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions. The rule requires official eartags to be visually and electronically readable for official use for interstate movement of certain cattle and bison, and revises and clarifies certain record requirements related to cattle. USDA will continue to provide tags to producers free of charge to jumpstar ..read more

The Labor Department today announced that its final rule titled “Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States” will be published in the Federal Register on Monday. The rule applies to the thousands of H-2A visa holders who come to the United States to work on farms. The Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc (CDM) said it “welcomes this victory and applauds DOL’s efforts to strengthen protections for migrant agricultural workers.” “The final rule includes worker protections that migrant workers, CDM, and allied workers’ rights organiza ..read more

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced its final determination to declare salmonella an adulterant in raw breaded stuffed chicken products, Chicken Cordon Bleu or Chicken Kyiv when they exceed a specific threshold (1 colony forming unit (CFU) per gram or higher) for salmonella contamination. This final determination is part of FSIS’ broader efforts to reduce salmonella illnesses associated with the raw poultry supply in the United States. FSIS intends to address salmonella contamination in other raw poultry products later this year. “Under President Biden ..read more

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed a case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in dairy cows in northeast Colorado. This is the first case of avian influenza diagnosed in cattle in Colorado. HPAI detection in dairy cattle has occurred in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Michigan, North Carolina, Idaho, South Dakota and Ohio.  On Monday, April 22, 2024, the Colorado State Veterinarian’s office received a notification of a herd demonstrating clinical signs consistent with highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle. Samples submitted ..read more

February 21, 1942 – April 18, 2024 Arnold (Arnie) Naibauer, 82 of Eaton, CO (formerly of Merino/Sterling), passed away April 18, 2024. He was born February 21, 1942 in Greeley, CO, the son of David and Rosie (Weiss) Naibauer. He grew up in Briggsdale, CO, until the family moved to Merino/Sterling, CO when he was a teenager. Arnie graduated from Merino high school. On June 17, 1962 he married Karen May, they were married 61 years. Arnie kept many irons in the fire to bring home the bacon. He was a farmer & rancher on the family homestead in Merino/Sterling, traveled the country as a sales m ..read more

February 17, 1938 – April 19, 2024 Famuer Bruce Rasmussen Sr. (“Spike”), 86, of Longmont passed away peacefully on April 19th, 2024, in Longmont, Colorado. He was born on February 17, 1938, in Longmont to Elmer C. Rasmussen, Sr. and Sadie (Slinde) Rasmussen. Spike was the youngest of eight children and attended Pleasant View Ridge School. Spike graduated from Longmont High School in 1954, and then attended Mesa Junior College where he was an All-American guard for the Mesa Maverick’s football team. He graduated in 1957 and went back home to the family farm where he farmed with his father and b ..read more

The Bureau of Land Management revealed a final rule on April 18, which, among other changes, allows the approval of “restoration and mitigation” leases. Many federal land users are concerned about the possibility of this decision taking away grazing rights, timber rights and mineral rights for current users. The final rule clarifies and refines concepts first proposed in April 2023. The BLM provided a 90-day comment period on this rule, holding five public meetings and receiving over 200,000 comments, the vast majority of which supported the effort. In response to the substantive comments ..read more

For many farm and ranch families, bringing children or grandchildren into the operation is the ultimate goal. Successfully bringing additional family members into the operation may require some creativity as all parties need to maintain a viable standard of living. This series of articles will highlight ideas and tactics for bringing another family member into the operation. If this is the first article you are seeing in this series, I would encourage you to go back to the previous article for background and additional guidance.  The second tactic to transfer wealth between generations is ..read more

With U.S. hard red winter and hard white wheat moving into its crucial vegetative state, U.S. Wheat Associates and its state wheat commission member organizations have started weekly conference calls to share wheat condition reports. Overall, wheat in Central and Southern Plains entered 2024 in better condition than compared to the prior three years. Although recent weather has turned warm, windy, and dry, industry participants remain optimistic for the 2024 crop. The most recent 2024 USDA Crop Progress report rated 56% of the winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, up sign ..read more