Baxter Black, DVM: PIGS; LITTLE SQUEALERS
I worked for a big cattle company in the northwest and we kept “cookhouse pigs” for the crew. Every spring 30 or so little weaner pigs were brought from the sale barn and put in our pig facility, a long steel Quonset hut.
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Debate Continues Over Antibiotic Use in Cattle
Stephen B. Blezinger, Ph.D., PAS
Cattle Today
Part 1
Livestock producers have fed antibiotics to promote growth to food animals for years. Over recent years, scientists have raised concerns that, in conjunction with the excessive use of antibiotics in humans, the use of sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics in food animals could lead to serious health risks for people.
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Are Strong Land Values Helping or Hurting the Cattle Industry?
Victoria G. Myers
Progressive Farmer
Pasture prices went up last year in seven of the top 10 states for beef cows, leaving many in the industry to wonder just how big of a factor land values may be in the slow response to calls for herd expansion.
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Taking a stand
John Crabtree
Review Messenger
On Friday, August 27, USDA and the Justice Department will conduct an historic workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado on competition and antitrust in livestock markets (see http://www.cfra.org/competition). Two issues confronting family farming and ranching throughout rural America, especially in the Midwest, Great Plains and Intermountain West, should emerge as priorities that day.
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What informs you?
Steve Suther
The Fence Post
Take another look at your cattle. Get out your records and take a deeper look. You think they’re the right kind, but you may have plans to “improve” them through breeding and management.
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Earth needs more from less
Rod Smith
Feedstuffs Foodlink
The world’s growing population will need increasingly more food, including meat, but it must be produced from fewer resources using intensification and technology.
Multiplying the world’s population by its consumption of food does not equal a healthy planet — the multiplication result is not balanceable or sustainable, according to Dr. Jason Clay, senior vice president at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
"We need to use less to produce more … to restore the planet," he said in remarks to the Cattle Industry Summer Conference last month in Denver, Colo.
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The Beef Market – From The Ground Up
Bob French
KBTX
“We’ve got demand that has finally turned the corner after two years of going through this global economic chaos. We’re up about 5%, year to date.”
Randy Blach is CEO of a cattle consulting and marketing company.
“We wish we were keeping a few more cows and starting to expand the herd, but that hasn’t happened yet.”
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Checkoff Aims To Help Producers Safeguard Their Industry
CBB
One of the weapons used when attacking the beef industry is the term “factory farming,” used to paint a picture of animal suffering, excessive antibiotic and hormone use, food safety concerns and environmental damage.
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What Killed My Cow?
Dr. Ken McMillan
DTN
I think they were struck by lightning, but how can I tell for sure it was not some disease?
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Shutting down ‘big food’ is not the answer
News-Leader
Ashton Lewis
Opinions are interesting to follow and watch flip and flop like fads. In recent years it has become pretty fashionable to throw stones at big food companies. Americans are fat because of big food companies. Big food companies have low pay wages and hire illegal residents.
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The Beef Blog 