World Cattle News:

[mikey]

 Brazil is pushing for a larger share of the Asian meat market by discounting prices for the region. Last year Singapore imported beef and farm products, to the value of USD 285 million from Brazil who supplied 46% of the 12,932 tonnes on beef imported by Singapore in 2007. This year exports from Brazil have already past the figure of 2007 and exports to Singapore are expected to reach USD 500 million by 2010.

[mikey]

 
Indonesia opens market to Brazilian beef
[7 January 2009] Indonesia plans to allow Brazilian meat imports in an effort to lower domestic meat prices. Agriculture Minister Anton Aprijantono explained that importing more meat would allow for classification of meat into different grades and price categories. Currently there is only one classification for all beef. With more meat in the market, the better cuts can be pitched at mid-high income consumers. 
 
 
 

[mikey]

Australia ships more beef to Asia
[16 January 2009] Australian beef exports to Southeast Asia and China reached a 11-year high in 2008 with a total shipped weight of 96,607 tonnes. This represented a growth of 29% according to Meat and Livestock Australia. Frozen beef registered their highest volume since 1997 at 85,937 tonnes, while chilled exports set a calendar year record of 10,670 tonnes. Main recipients of the shipments were Indonesia (33,018 tonnes) and Singapore (8061 tonnes), followed by a strong recovery in trade with Malaysia (6183 tonnes), The Philippines (14,143 tonnes), Hong Kong (3231 tonnes) and China (2682 tonnes).

[mikey]

Happy cows produce more milk 29 Jan 2009
Researchers at Newcastle University in the UK found that cattle that are named and treated with a "more personal touch" can increase milk yields by up to 280 litres a year.
The study, by the university's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, involved 516 farmers across the UK. Published in the journal Anthrozoos, the study found farmers who named their cows gained a higher yield than the 54% that did not give their cattle names.


Dairy farmer Dennis Gibb, who co-owns Eachwick Red House Farm outside Newcastle with his brother Richard, said he believed treating every cow as an individual was "vitally important". "They aren't just our livelihood, they're part of the family," he said. "We love our cows here at Eachwick and every one of them has a name. "Collectively we refer to them as 'our ladies' but we know every one of them and each one has her own personality."


Dr Catherine Douglas, who led the research, said: "What our study shows is what many good, caring farmers have long since believed. "Our data suggests that, on the whole, UK dairy farmers regard their cows as intelligent beings capable of experiencing a range of emotions. "Placing more importance on knowing the individual animals and calling them by name can, at no extra cost to the farmer, also significantly increase milk production."


 

[mikey]

Extra two litres of milk with balanced diet 30 Jan 2009
Dairy farmers could boost the output from their cows by as much as two litres per day by increasing the energy density of their diets, says Dr Donald Lawson, of animal feed supplement specialists, Ufac (UK) Ltd.
He points out that many types of forage are of poor quality and have lower energy density values this season and, with first-cut silages in short supply, second or even third cuts are now being fed to dairy cows, which has further reduced the average energy value of forage being fed.Target values for freshly-calved cows, should be 12.0-12.5 MJ/kg DM to maintain milk yield, good body condition and fertility.

"Adding more concentrates is generally seen as the simplest way to increase energy density when forage ME levels are low, but it’s important not to reduce forage below a safe level of 45-50 per cent on a dry matter basis," said Dr Lawson. "As an example, if the dry matter intake is 22 kg, then forage should be at a minimum of 9.9 kg DM or 49.5 kg fresh weight if silage has a dry matter of 20 per cent. If we go below the safe level then rumen function will be compromised and acidosis may result," he warned.

It is important, he says, to ensure that the concentrate portion of the diet has a high enough energy level to meet the energy density demands within the constraints of the safe forage level. This can be achieved by using a concentrated energy supplement, such as Ufac’s Dynalac. Formulated from a special blend of oils, it has a slow release system to ensure that the oil safely reaches the rumen and small intestine.

Depending on the diet it should be added at 0.36 to 0.70 kg to achieve the target energy density. For example, with an average forage ME of 10.8 from a combination of first-cut and second-cut silage, and wholecrop wheat, and a concentrate portion with an ME of 13.0 it should be fed at the rate of 0.45 kg per cow per day to give an energy density of 12.25 MJ.

"We have already seen responses of 1.5-2.0 litres per day from increasing energy density this winter. With milk quotas no longer restricting production this provides useful prospect of increasing boosting returns over the winter period," he said. Dr Lawson has calculated that, with milk sold at 25 p per litre, allowing for the cost of the product and the materials it replaces, the extra 2 litres production of milk per day could increase returns per month by £10.70 (€11.90) per cow or £2,140 (€2,379) per month for a 200-cow herd for the remainder of the winter.

Related news:
Happy cows produce more milk

[mikey]

Drop in US beef exports to S. Korea
[6 February 2009] US beef exports to South Korea slipped for the second consecutive month in December on safety concerns and lower demand caused by unfavourable exchange rates.  Imports of U.S. beef fell 20.6% from November to December, to 4,933 tonnes. That followed a 20.1% drop in November from October. Import value declined by 21.1% to USD 28.5 million in December, following a 19.5% decline from October to November

[mikey]

NO MATTER the respective market preferences and the varying recipes for preparing corned beef, though, it is traditionally supposed to be nothing more than cured beef. Here’s a bit of trivia: corned beef has nothing to do with corn, “corning” being a method of curing and preserving beef in a mixture of “corns” or grains of salt and nitrite. According to the DA’s Animal Product Development Center (APDC), nitrite is what gives corned beef its bright red color. It is also what prevents the growth of microbes. Training handouts provided by the APDC state that “sodium nitrite is poisonous in high concentrations” and can be carcinogenic; hence, nitrite is supposed to be used only in minute quantities.
Pinoys love beef, especially in cans, but the local animal industry can barely meet the demand.
Where local and imported brands differ, however, is in the origins of the beef that is corned. Imported brands use cattle beef from South America or Australia. Local ones use buffalo meat, the kind imported frozen from India, which is much cheaper than those sourced from buffalo raisers in the country or anywhere else in the world.

Veterinary quarantine certificates (VQCs) issued by the Department of Agriculture for the importation of meat and meat products show that meat processors have been importing boneless buffalo meat or meat trimmings from India in large quantities over the years. Aside from RFM Food Corporation, parent company of Swifts Food Inc, meat processing companies importing frozen buffalo meat from India include the Pacific Meat Company, which produces the highly popular Argentina as well as the 555 corned beef; Purefoods, the food subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation; Foodsphere Inc, makers of CDO corned beef; as well as the smaller meat processors like Pampanga’s Best and Mekeni Foods.

“Talagang we source it from India,” says Almendrala, who laments that the local buffalo or cattle industry simply cannot meet the demands of meat processors for huge volumes and cheaper prices, that are in turn meant to satisfy consumer demands for reasonably priced corned beef.

Data from the Department of Science and Technology and the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics show that the importation of buffalo meat started in 1993 during the term of then President Fidel Ramos who opened the country’s doors to trade liberalization. That year, just a little over 400 metric tons was imported. By 2000, buffalo meat importation had grown to nearly 40,000 metric tons, some 1,000-percent growth in just seven years.

Importers buy Indian buffalo for about P50 per kilo, transportation and importation costs included. Compare that with P80 per kilo of local carabao beef or carabeef, or P190 to P270 per kilo of cattle beef. The Philippines, after all, has just about three million heads of water buffalo, most of which are traditionally used as draft or work animals. India has a surfeit of buffalo — some 98 million heads, which Indians, many of them vegetarian, tap mostly for milk and not for meat.

Dr. Libertado Cruz, executive director of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, was part of the DA team that went to India in 1993 and 1994 to assess the impact Indian buffalo imports would have on the local market. He recalls, “We said that if we do not allow the importation of buffalo meat into the Philippines to meet the increased consumption of meat, particularly beef, there will come a time when we will source it locally. Our breeding base is not sufficient to meet that growing requirement. So we might be breeding carabaos or water buffalos and the market might be taking more than the breeders can produce. And we don’t like that to happen.”

IN 1993, the Agriculture Department allowed buffalo meat importations, but only for the meat processing industry. There were other conditions attached to the importation: it should be free of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), it should be deboned and deglanded, the bones and glands being where the virus germinates, and the meat should be chilled. Chilling removes any trace of virus, if ever, and the curing and processing of the meat further ensures this.

DA rules specify that only meat processors can import Indian buffalo meat. “The importers are the only ones given import permits,” Cruz explains. “If you’re not a processor, there’s no way you can import meat, because the assumption is, if you’re not a processor and you import meat, where are you going to use it? So you are going to sell that in the open market.”

In the Agriculture Department, it is the National Meat Inspection Service and the Bureau of Animal Industry that checks on whether the amount of meat imported by processing companies tallies with their requirement and the capacity of their processing facilities. Ideally, they are supposed to import only enough for their requirements.

But there have been instances when imported Indian buffalo meat hoofed its way into wet markets in Metro Manila. In 2004, the Anti-Smuggling Task Force of the Department of Agriculture conducted raids on wet markets and confiscated, in one wet market alone, a hundred kilos of buffalo meat imported from India. Hog raisers also believe that cheap imported buffalo meat is driving consumers away from pork and may be killing the local hog industry.

All these have made the issue of buffalo meat importation a touchy issue in agriculture sector. It also reveals how the local cattle and carabao industries are ill-equipped to meet the demands of Filipino consumers for beef, even as some livestock growers grouse that India has not been declared free of FMD, and that importing from a country not yet free of FMD will make it difficult for the government to get Luzon off the FMD blacklist.

But this barrage of issues is no match against the single strongest argument for importation that meat processing companies and importers have used so far: consumers are entitled to beef at the lowest prices, no matter that it happens to be buffalo meat imported from India, and no matter that it may eventually get lost in a watery dish called Pinoy corned beef.

[nemo]

The carabeef industry will not prosper in the Philippines if they just allow imports to meet the demand... It is a short term solution.

[mikey]

Thursday, February 12, 2009Print This Page
Outbreak in Shanghai
CHINA - Foot-and-mouth disease was found in eastern China's Shanghai, said the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday.


On Feb. 3, 41 milch cow developed the symptom of foot-and-mouth disease in the Wusi cattle farm in Fengxian district on the outskirts of Shanghai, while the disease was confirmed by national lab on Wednesday.

Emergency measures were taken and some 440 cows in the cattle farm were culled.

No outbreak of the disease has been discovered outside the cattle farm yet.

[mikey]

Monday, February 23, 2009Print This Page
Chinese Regime Covers Up Outbreak
CHINA - A foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in central China led to the slaughter of over 12,000 dairy cattle at the end of 2008.


While quietly sending military troops to kill and burry the cattle, Chinese authorities have not reveal the outbreak to the public.

The outbreak occurred in the outskirt of Wuhan City of Hubei Province. Local residents said on that New Year’s eve the authorities sent in armed troops and enlisted large digging machines to dig a pit 20 to 25 feet deep to dump in infected cattle. Soldiers shot the infected animals, doused them with gasoline and burned the bodies.

Finally, the cattle corpses were sprinkled with lime and antiseptic lotions before being buried. The whole process lasted several days and nights.

[mikey]

Pushing organic beef to Asia
[30 March 2009] OBE Beef, one of Australia's largest organic beef brands has established an office in Beijing, China. The company cited growing organic meat consumption in parts of Asia for this move and said they see growing potential   in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines and China.

[mikey]

10 April 2009] Canada is considering filing a trade action against South Korea over their lack of response to Canada's requests to reopen Seoul's market to Canadian beef. South Korea banned Canadian beef in May 2003 following a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta.Both nations last discussed the issue in November. However, talks were disrupted by another BSE case that surfaced after those talks had resumed.

[mikey]

Korea will destroy 161 tonnes of condensed beef stock from China as they were contaminated with clenbluterol, a toxic substance that causes rapid pulse and stomach and heart-related disorders. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Korea said tests confirmed that 34 out of 62 shipments were contaminated with clenbuterol at 0.2-7.7 parts per billion. Although these levels that are not enough to pose health risks in orginary adults and children, the ministry said it needed to stop importing and selling of the product to investigate on how clenbuterol got into it.

[mikey]

Tuesday, April 07, 2009Print This Page
DA Bans Cattle Imports from Egypt
PHILIPPINES - The Department of Agriculture on Tuesday temporarily banned imports of cattle and other animals susceptible to the foot-and-mouth disease from Egypt as part of the continuing government drive to keep the Philippines safe from FMD.


DA Secretary Arthur Yap said the ban includes the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of Veterinary Quarantine Clearance (VQC) to import livestock from Egypt. He also directed DA veterinary quarantine officers and inspectors to stop and confiscate all such commodities and by products originating from this North African country.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that strikes cloven-hoofed animals.

Yap said the ban was in keeping with the Department's campaign to obtain a formal declaration from the Office International des Epizooties confirming the Philippines as an FMD-free country. "A global declaration of the country's FMD-free status will help Filipino hog producers penetrate the export market and make the Philippines a viable site for halal food production," Yap said.

The Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or World Animal Health Organization earlier announced two separate outbreaks of FMD in Egypt. The FMD outbreaks with serotypes A and O were reported in a dairy cattle farm and in cattle and buffaloes in Menea, Elkamh, Ahs Sharqiyah, and Damanhour, Al Buhayrah.

The Philippine agriculture department has also imposed a temporary ban on imports of cattle and other FMD-susceptible animals from Lebanon, China and Taiwan after the OIE had confirmed outbreaks of the disease in these areas.

[mikey]

Tuesday, April 28, 2009Print This Page
China Reports New FMD Outbreak
CHINA - The Chinese veterinary authorities have reported two new cases of Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) - in cattle - to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).


The veterinary authority in China sent an Immediate Notification dated 25 April to the OIE, describing two new outbreaks of FMD.

Both the outbreaks were in cattle and started on 20 April. The first was in Dongjiang village, near Hengyang in Hunan Province. The second was at Mazong, near Zunyi in Guizhou Province. In total, there were 131 cases among 241 susceptible animals. Two cattle died and the rest were destroyed.

The last occurrence of FMD in China was in November 2008.