How Should Congress Respond To The Cost-Price Squeeze In Agriculture?
The Farm Gate
Every farmer has felt the impact of the cost-price squeeze, and likewise has had a difficult time explaining it to his city cousins who ask challenging questions about tax-supported farm programs, the farm economy, and why farmers have so much trouble making money. They look at 2007 and 2008 commodity prices, assume every farmer is wealthy, and wonder why the dairy industry is in financial collapse.
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A New Partner in Animal Rights Battle
Advocates for Agriculture
Farm Bureau’s Center for Food and Animal Issues gets big donation from Farm Credit Services of Mid-America.
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s newly created Center for Food and Animal Issues received a significant boost recently thanks to a $100,000 donation approved by the Board of Directors for Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, a $15.5 billion agriculture lending cooperative serving over 85,500 farmers and rural residents.
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Identifying Sick or Injured Cattle
Mississippi State University
Proper and timely identification of sick or injured cattle helps minimize unnecessary treatment expense and preventable production losses. Accurately pulling cattle needing examination or treatment is difficult but essential in order to treat sick or injured cattle without unnecessarily spending money on or adding stress to healthy cattle. Sick calves can be identified in several ways. The most popular is rectal temperature and visual indications.
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Importance of managing and controlling coccidiosis in this year’s calf crop
Steve Paisley
Tri State Livestock News
This year’s precipitation patterns has left us with an abundance of grass and full reservoirs, but damp soils and full ponds may have also increased the chance for coccidiosis problems, even on range. In the last two weeks, I’ve received a handful of calls where calves, still on range with their mothers, are showing signs of coccidiosis.
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AVMA questions credibility of Pew Commission report regarding antimicrobial resistance
DVM NEWSMAGAZINE
Veterinary association urges Congress to look at other information sources when deliberating antibiotic resistance issues
Washington — AVMA is questioning the scientific validity of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production report released last year, urging Congress not to consider it when voting on the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA).
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Practicing for two
Geni Wren
Bovine Veterinarian
There is no doubt that the face of veterinarian medicine is changing, and bovine medicine is no exception with the increasing number of women entering food-animal practice. The American Association of Bovine Practitioners has only recently been collecting gender data on members, but its current information indicates that at least 13 percent of its U.S. members (and probably more) and at least 42 percemt of its student members are women.
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Q&A: Do you have any thoughts on mixing a by-product in with corn silage in a small bunker?
Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Science, Animal Science, University of Nebraska
A: We have not mixed distillers grains with corn silage at UNL. I know of producers that have done so with good results. One of the primary objectives would be to get a good pack so that you get things air tight so that the fermentation process is acomplished.
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Fly Control for the Beef Herd
B. C. Allison
North Carolina State University
The necessity for a fly control program for beef herds is inevitable and now is the time to plan your’s for this year. The two major species of flies that cause the most serious decreases in beef production and require the most control efforts are the horn fly and face fly. The horn fly alone is estimated to cause animal losses to the U.S. beef industry of $700 million.
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Toxicities when feeding sorghum, Sudan crops
Bob Larson
Angus Journal
As we move into late summer and early fall, cattle producers in many parts of the United States utilize warm-season cultivated forages such as Sudan grass, forage sorghums and sorghum/Sudan grass hybrids in their feeding programs. These forages are planted fairly late in the year and are drought-tolerant. In addition, they can be grazed until frost or even after frost if precautions are taken. However, two risks are possible when feeding or grazing these forages: nitrate toxicity and cyanide or prussic acid toxicity.
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Flavoring beef – Nebraska couple markets their own beef seasoning
Gayle Smith
The Fence Post
When Ben Mellor was put in charge of cooking 500 pounds of beef in a pit for Circle C Days at Cody, Neb., he took the job seriously.
Announcing to his wife, Pat, that he needed seasoning for the large quantity of meat, she promptly opened her seasoning cabinet and told him to have at it.
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Argentina May Import Beef First Time as Herds Die
Matthew Craze
Bloomberg
Argentina, the biggest beef- consuming nation, may resort to imports for the first time within two years as a drought kills cattle and export controls prompt ranchers to quit the business.
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Project tests high-altitude bull performance
Jane Moorman
Silver City Sun-News
The majestic high-altitude, grass-filled meadows coupled with elite genetics representing the beef industry’s top sires has positioned the Valles Caldera National Preserve to become a unique performance testing center for high-altitude bulls.
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Could Viruses Promote Health?
Thebeefsite.com
Could viruses be good for you? Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have shown that enzymes from bacteria-infecting viruses known as phages could have beneficial applications for human and animal health.
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Lawyers, factory workers, dentist: future farmers?
Washington Post
They are lawyers, factory workers, insurance adjusters, even an accountant and a dentist. All share the same dream: They want to farm.
And all have applied to a special Iowa program that tries to link aspiring farmers with seasoned landowners who are looking toward retirement – or just planning for the future.
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Breed’s lean meat appeals to customers seeking healthy foods
Aaron Aupperlee
Kalamazoo Gazette
Phyllis and Gary Rogers have no steaks left. When a new supply arrives this week from the butcher, they expect it to go just as fast.
The couple’s Highland beef business is booming.
"When you get something that’s good for you and tastes good too, you’ve got it all," said Phyllis Rogers, who, with Gary, started Rogers Land & Cattle Co.
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