NEWS

There was an almost 50-50 response to Progressive Cattleman’s most recent online poll, “Has your operation ever been affected by a natural disaster (flood, fire, hurricane, etc.)?”

The interagency battle between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration over cell-cultured meats grew somewhat clearer on Thursday.

Eddy Roberts, president of the International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA), announced that Dr. Darrell Wilkes will assume the role of executive vice president of the 70-year-old Brangus cattle breed registry.

The Jan. 1, 2019, inventory of all cattle and calves in the U.S. grew to 94.76 million, head, up 0.5 percent from one year ago. This puts the number of cattle in the country just slightly higher than 2009 levels after dropping to a low of 88.53 million head in 2014, with an increase of 6.23 million head in the last five years.

Only a few Progressive Cattleman readers’ operations were affected by the government shutdown earlier this year.