One of the biggest things keeping vets out of rural practices is that for many of them, the idea of living in a rural area is not something they have any interest in doing. There's no Target, you have to drive to have a nightlife, and nowhere delivers (unless you're lucky and have a nearby pizza place). That subset of grads will never join a rural practice, no matter what. Of the vets left who may move to a rural area, the biggest barriers are often a financial one and a work-life associated one. [node:read-more:link]

Minnesota scientists say they could have a tool to detect a fatal neurodegenerative disease in deer within two years. But it will come at a cost.As the state fights to protect wild and captive deer from catching chronic wasting disease, veterinary scientists at the University of Minnesota expect to have a breakthrough prototype tool to detect the disease in 2021. And they asked lawmakers last week for $1.8 million to make that a reality. [node:read-more:link]

Emergency personnel would be able to treat and transport injured police dogs under a bill filed by a Cape Cod lawmaker. Sponsored by Centerville Republican Rep. Will Crocker, the legislation is dubbed “Nero’s Bill” in honor of Yarmouth Police Sgt. Sean Gannon’s canine.Nero was injured in the April 2018 shooting that killed Gannon, but, under current state law, could not be treated or transported by the Emergency Medical Service providers who responded, according to Crocker’s office. [node:read-more:link]

Chicken eggs are already important in clinical research and production — specialists currently use them to make vaccines. New research is now taking the eggs' potential even further by suggesting a new use for them, as repositories in which to grow specialized human proteins. [node:read-more:link]

The Baker-Polito Administration today awarded $300,000 in grants to 21 Massachusetts farms to install practices that improve food safety within their operations. The Agricultural Food Safety Improvement Program (AFSIP) is a competitive grant program that allows agricultural operations to complete food safety upgrades on their farms, enabling the operations to meet buyer demands, increase consumption of local food and protect public health by reducing food safety risks.  [node:read-more:link]

Government payments to farmers are forecast to hit their highest level in more than a decade because of the trade assistance being provided to producers this year, and the total could go even higher if Congress, as expected, authorizes a new round of disaster aid. The Trump administration's temporary Market Facilitation Program, launched last fall to compensate farmers for lost exports of soybeans and other crops due to retaliatory tariffs, will pay out $9.8 billion in fiscal 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office's latest projection of farm program costs. [node:read-more:link]

Log and lumber prices aren’t expected to be as volatile in 2019 as last year, but experts still aren’t bullish about the timber industry’s economic outlook. After hitting a record high of $564 last June, the price per thousand board feet of framing lumber dropped 40 percent by the end of the year, to $335, according to the Random Lengths market information service. The shift was brought on by tepid growth in housing starts, a strong supply of lumber and concerns about interest rates, among other factors that are likely to persist in 2019 [node:read-more:link]

The North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this week that would exempt riders of bicycles and horses from certain criminal offenses while riding.

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The government shutdown left a void in market data for the dairy industry, with no reports on milk production, stocks, prices, world supply and demand and exports. [node:read-more:link]

The Humane Society of the United States has endorsed letting vetted hound handlers pursue cougars to stay sharp for when the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife needs dogs to track a big cat menacing people or livestock. Senate Bill 5320 would heighten scrutiny of the handlers used by the state. In exchange, handlers who pass muster could take their dogs out and trail cougars under a training program overseen by Fish and Wildlife. [node:read-more:link]