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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Cattle farmers see increase in prices

Cattle farmers see increase in prices

Connect Mid Missouri

Cattle farmers in Missouri said prices for their cattle are the highest they’ve been in years.

Eldon Cole, with University of Missouri Extension Center in Mount Vernon, said the cattle market began to improve earlier this year.

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It’s Your Responsibility To Fend Off FADs (Foreign Animal Diseases)

It’s Your Responsibility To Fend Off FADs (Foreign Animal Diseases)

Bovine Veterinarian

Anyone who has traveled overseas knows that returning to the United States is a mixed bag of experiences, especially when it comes to moving through customs. The effort, and the potential smoothness or hassles involved, depends largely on the agent that you happen to draw; how much the person likes or hate his or her job, whether the drive to work was easy, whether the person’s home life is trouble-free.

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Guarding Against Cattle Heat Stress

Guarding Against Cattle Heat Stress

BEEF Magazine

“Shirt-sleeve temperature (ambient) for cattle with any kind of hair coat is about 55° F.,” says Dee Griffin, feedlot production management veterinarian at the Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center. He was discussing heat stress at the recent International Beef Cattle Welfare Symposium hosted by Kansas State University.

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Parker’s Ranch of Hawaii

Parker’s Ranch of Hawaii

Examiner.com

Located on the northern shore of the Big Island of Hawaii around the town of Waimea/Kamuela is the Parker Ranch.  Over 135,000 acres encompass the ranch which is located between the mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

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Farm Gate Is Best Defense Against Foreign Animal Disease

Farm Gate Is Best Defense Against Foreign Animal Disease

Thebeefsite.com

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the farm gate remains the best line of defense for livestock producers to protect their operations from becoming infected by foreign animal disease, according to Bruce Cochrane.

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Preventing pasture bloat

Preventing pasture bloat

Steve Paisley

Tri State Livestock News

After a slow, wet spring, warmer temperatures the last few weeks have lead to what seems to be a quick green-up on many pastures.

In addition to increased death loss, other consequences of bloat that reduce profitability of grazing enterprises include reduced weight gains, lower milk production, reduced feed efficiency, increased labor costs and added treatment costs.

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In New York, Local Meat Is Easier to Find

In New York, Local Meat Is Easier to Find

KIM SEVERSON

New York Times

SO what does a cook have to do to get a Scottish Highland certified organic grass-fed steak in this town?

Well, not that much, it turns out.

From the smallest Greenmarkets in Manhattan to the convenient cardboard boxes of Fresh Direct home delivery, boutique meat from animals raised on local fields seems to be everywhere.

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Set Aside Some Pasture Forages And Watch Profitability Grow

Set Aside Some Pasture Forages And Watch Profitability Grow

Chris Clayton

DTN

A typical year for Jim Lavender used to mean feeding 400 to 600 rolls of hay. Today the Moundville, Ala., producer is looking at a 90% reduction in hay feeding, cutting back to just 40 to 60 rolls.

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