March 29, 2024

Cattle get tagged: Indiana beef industry outlook

INDIANAPOLIS — As the first month of 2020 wraps up, Joe Moore, executive vice president for the Indiana Beef Cattle Association and the Indiana Beef Council, shared some of the events the association has planned for the year, as well as how the Hoosier beef industry is looking for the year.

Moore said that during the IBCA annual conference Jan. 25, experts were scheduled to speak on a variety of subjects, ranging from low-stress cattle handling to sustainability in the cattle industry.

Moore said Jayson Lusk, a Purdue University distinguished professor and head of the agricultural economics department, was scheduled to speak on the U.S. food supply and how the beef cattle industry fits into it.

Besides the convention, Moore said the IBCA also is working to help Hoosier beef cattle producers make sure their animals have premise identification tags.

“About 80% or more of cattle in Indiana are tagged,” he said, adding that premise ID tags assist with disease prevention and help to prevent a massive disease outbreak.

Moore said that although much of Indiana’s beef cattle population is tagged, not all farmers in other states have ID tags in their herds.

He said that ranchers in states such as Montana that have thousands of acres of land and cattle, which they may not see very often, don’t believe the tags are necessary.

“That’s what makes it challenging, because not everyone is on the same page,” said Moore, adding that beef farmers have different views on the need for premise ID tags.

Moore said another issue the premise ID program faces is how expensive the tags are and how it’s cheaper for a farmer with a small cattle operation to tag their animals versus a rancher that has close to 30,000 head.

He said the association also is planning to have another beef cattle field day this summer because the one last year was very well attended.