Farms beset by spies

Farms beset by spies

Holly Zachariah

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Dave Thorbahn knows his business is a target. Some of his 184 employees already have been offered cash to videotape what goes on inside his barns.

Who offered them the money or why, Thorbahn can’t say. It could have been someone looking for trade secrets, but he suspects otherwise. He wonders whether it was someone working for an animal-rights organization that wanted a peek inside Select Sires, a bull-semen facility with 1,791 bulls in 57 barns in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

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U.S. Dairy Group Plans Another Herd Buyout

U.S. Dairy Group Plans Another Herd Buyout

Flexnews

The private dairy group Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) said this week it will conduct its 10th herd retirement program.

It said producers can enroll from now until June 25 in the buyout program designed to reduce milk production and bolster milk prices.

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The post-mortem exam

The post-mortem exam

Dave Barz, DVM

Tri State Livestock News

With the Memorial Day holiday, summer has officially arrived. Most of us have received adequate rain to assure at least one good cutting of hay and a great start to the breeding season. Now is the perfect time to reflect on your calving season and plan for next year. One very important procedure to diagnose problems and plan prevention programs is the necropsy, or post-mortem exam.

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U.S. Beef Exports Will Rise 10% This Year, JBS’s Batista Says

U.S. Beef Exports Will Rise 10% This Year, JBS’s Batista Says

Business Week

Jeff Wilson

U.S. beef exports will rise 10 percent this year, said Wesley Batista, the chief executive officer of JBS Swift & Co., the U.S. unit of the world’s largest beef producer.

“JBS beef exports will increase 30 percent and the U.S. industry will export 10 percent” more beef this year than last year, Batista said today at an agricultural symposium in Kansas City sponsored by the Federal Reserve. “We are seeing an improvement in demand in emerging economies.”

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Storms claim lives, cause severe damage to homes, farms

Storms claim lives, cause severe damage to homes, farms

Chris Kick

Farm and Dairy

Allen Gahler, organizational director for Ohio Farm Bureau in Wood County, said he and neighbors assisted a farm family with cleanup after the storm destroyed their house, all of their buildings, grain bins, tractors and other equipment.

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Kentucky’s Ag Commissioner Calls for Disaster Declaration

Kentucky’s Ag Commissioner Calls for Disaster Declaration

WBKO

Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner is asking Governor Steve Beshear to seek a disaster declaration for cattle deaths.

Commissioner Richie Farmer says cattle are dying from a weather-related condition called Primary Ruminal Tympany also known as frothy bloat.

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Demonstrations part of Beef Cattle Short Course in August

Demonstrations part of Beef Cattle Short Course in August

AgriLife News

From brush control on the ranch to cuts of beef sold to the consumer, the 2010 Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course will provide a number of beef cattle-production demonstrations Aug. 2-4 in College Station.

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service sponsors the three-day program, which will be held on the Texas A&M University campus.

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