Documenting livestock death losses under the LIP
The 2008 Farm Bill created five new disaster programs, one of which is LIP (Livestock Indemnity Program). LIP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers who have incurred livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality, on or after Jan. 1, 2008, and before Oct. 1, 2011. Losses because of adverse weather, as determined by the secretary during the calendar year, including blizzards, disease, extreme cold, extreme heat, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires, are eligible for LIP. more

TBC-sponsored Firehouse Grill-Off heats up Houston
Beef was the star of the first annual Firehouse Beef Grill-Off at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where teams of firefighters participated in friendly competition and put their grilling skills to the test. The competition, sponsored by the Texas Beef Council (TBC), pitted teams of firefighters from Houston Fire-Rescue stations 17, 18, 20, 73 and Homeland Security against one another to grill the best steak. more

AgriLife Extension offers four farm bill programs in May
Texas AgriLife Extension Service will conduct four farm bill programs in May designed to familiarize producers with the entire Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, more commonly known as the 2008 Farm Bill. All of the programs start at 9 a.m. and conclude at noon. more

Texas crop, weather, 4-29-09
As bad as the drought is in some areas, count your blessings: Wildfire can make it worse. Ask Justin Hansard, Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for Montague County, where wildfire recently swept through 45,000 acres, destroying numerous homes and devastating rangeland and pastures. As much as 1,000 miles of fencing also burned to the ground. "We had some relief; we had some rain that Sunday after," Hansard said. "Pastures are coming back, but we're still scared. We've got a lot of brown material out there, and we're still susceptible. We're still under a burn ban." Fencing remains one of the biggest issues, Hansard said. The best estimate is the replacement cost for all damaged or destroyed fencing will be about $10 million. more