Administrator

What Memorial Day Is All About

I wanted to take just a quick moment and talk about “Memorial Day.” I know I might be preaching to the choir, but many people fail to realize that Memorial Day was originally set aside to exclusively honor the fallen soldiers of our great nation. In fact it was officially proclaimed on May 5th 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on May 30th 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873, hence Waterloo, NY was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May of 1966. Since then the traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished, as many Americans have now forgotten the meaning and traditions of this great day. To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed back in December of 2000, which asked that all American on Memorial Day at 3 p.m. local time, “Voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence for those who have sacrificed their life for our great country.” I now it doesn’t get much air time with the press, but I thought I would make mention of it in today’s letter. Having a grandfather who served in WWII and a father who served in Vietnam, I was taught at an early age to be thankful for the freedom I have and the sacrifices that have been made by others on my behalf. Though my father never wanted to talk about his time their or discuss the subject, my mother let me see the letters he had mailed her on various occasions…by what I read in a few letters I can only imagine. My father simply said there was no reason to discuss the war, he only hoped neither I or my children would ever have to experience anything like it. He was 18 when left and 22 when he came back home, I have to believe a forever changed man. Below I have included a partial list highlighting the estimated number of Americans killed and or wounded while defending our freedoms. Take a moment and think about how your family has or would be impacted if your child didn’t return home. It’s staggering when you think about how families have been torn apart or splintered. It’s even more insane when I see how some individuals and groups chose to disrespect the very freedoms their forefathers gave their lives for:
• 1775-1783 American Revolutionary War – 50,000 Wounded / 25,000 Dead
• 1812-1815 War of 1812 – 20,000 Wounded / 15,000 Dead
• 1846-1848 Mexican-American War – 17,500 Wounded / 13,300 Dead
• 1861-1865 Civil War – 1,300,000 Wounded / 750,000 Dead
• 1898 Spanish-American War – 6,000 Wounded / 2,500 Dead
• 1898-1913 Philippine American War […]

By Administrator|2015-05-22T11:20:46-05:00May 22nd, 2015|Articles|0 Comments

Avian Influenza and meat markets

The Avian Influenza outbreak continues to grow and leads to more questions about the impact on livestock and meat markets. USDA-APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) reports that the current toll is nearly 34 million birds depopulated. The majority of these are laying hens, followed by turkeys with relatively few broilers at this time. As a result, the biggest and most immediate impact for consumers is in egg markets, especially in the north central part of the country. The reduced supply of table eggs as well as breaking eggs used in food service will impact consumers directly and indirectly.

The direct impact of Avian Influenza on poultry meat supply is minimal and likely to remain that way. The current depopulation total of 33.8 million birds is 0.38 percent of the 2014 poultry slaughter total of 8.9 billion birds. As bad as it is, it is very unlikely that enough birds will be slaughtered to impact domestic poultry production significantly. Even for turkeys, which only represent 2.7 percent of total poultry slaughter, the current turkey depopulation represents less than 3 percent of 2014 U.S turkey slaughter. Both broiler and turkey production are still expected to surpass year ago totals unless the outbreak expands significantly.

While the direct loss of birds is unlikely to materially impact total poultry production, the impact on domestic consumption is more likely to be significant and is counterintuitive. The biggest impact of Avian Influenza on meat markets is the closure of poultry export markets. In 2014, 8.2 billion pounds of poultry were exported from the U.S., which is 18.2 percent of the 45 billion pounds of total poultry production. Both broiler and turkey exports, already struggling in 2015, are forecast to decrease even more in 2015 as result of the outbreak. Broiler exports are expected to be down roughly 9 percent, though the situation is very dynamic and the impact could get larger or smaller depending what happens in the coming weeks.

Decreased broiler exports will add to already expanding broiler production resulting in increased domestic consumption of broilers. The anticipated 5.2 percent year over year increase in broiler production, augmented with decreased broiler exports, is expected to push domestic broiler consumption up by roughly 6.5 percent. Increased broiler production will combine with an expected 6.7 year over year increase in pork production to push total 2015 U.S. meat and poultry production up by 3.5 percent despite a projected 1 to 2 percent year over year decrease in beef production. Per capita beef consumption may show a slight year over year increase in 2015 with increased beef imports and decreased beef exports. Total domestic red meat and poultry consumption is projected to increase by 4.2 percent compared to year ago levels.

By Administrator|2015-05-21T15:20:36-05:00May 21st, 2015|Newsletter|0 Comments

AFIA designs broadened biosecurity document

Release Date: 2015-05-19

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government asked animal agriculture industries to release guidelines to its manufacturing facilities regarding the protection of the nation’s agriculture assets. The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) developed the 2012 Bioterrorism Awareness Guidelines, which it recently redesigned as a broadened biosecurity document for the feed and ingredient manufacturing industries.

“During the last two years, AFIA discussed the development of a foreign animal disease risk model with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, formed a working group and reevaluated our 2012 bioterrorism guide,” said AFIA President and CEO Joel G. Newman.

“This is a tremendous resource for our members, and I greatly appreciate the leadership of this task force for developing a high-quality guidance document that will assist our members and the industry in the control of biological hazards. I especially appreciate the assistance of the associations that participated to provide insight and recommendations,” Newman added.

The working group — including scientists from the feed industry and representatives from the National Grain and Feed Association, National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council and National Renderers Association — rewrote the guide with a focus on protecting the feed industry’s assets and ensuring the latest science was considered in order to protect AFIA’s customers’ premises and animals from the spread of animal disease.

The document’s purpose is to provide feed and ingredient manufacturers with recommendations to develop a biosecurity plan to help control the potential spread of animal disease through the manufacturing, transport and use of feed and feed ingredients.

Each facility, location or business should develop a biosecurity plan based on the potential hazards and risks of occurrence within its processes. Procedures should be developed to ensure the plan is implemented and remains effective as situations change. The new guidance document focuses on the development of biosecurity practices for feed and ingredient manufacturers to control biological hazards that may contribute to the spread of animal disease.

“We greatly appreciate the dedication and support of the 14 members and organizations that provided insight and recommendations on updating this document,” said Dr. Henry Turlington, AFIA director of quality and manufacturing regulatory affairs. “We are confident the new guidance will help our industry deal with current animal diseases to become better prepared for the next animal health issue.”