Veterinarians say many producers across the Prairies experienced higher than normal calf deaths this year, pointing to the long winter, a vitamin shortage and poor forage quality as the main culprits.While prairie- and province-wide data is unavailable, some veterinarians saw calf deaths range anywhere from normal to 10 percent. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted illegally in 2015 when it denied Endangered Species Act protection for a distinct population of bi-state sage grouse in California and Nevada, a federal judge ruled. U.S. [node:read-more:link]
A university farm policy specialist says the House defeat of the farm bill may have residual effects on getting farm legislation passed. The future of farm policy depends on lawmakers working together, said Jonathan Coppess, at the University of Illinois.“What’s going on is troubling beyond the defeat of Friday,” Coppess told Brownfield Ag News, referring to the day the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
A growing number of Seneca Valley virus (SVV) outbreaks wastes the time and money of people who investigate suspected foreign animal-disease outbreaks, reported Fabio Vannucci, DVM, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota.SVV clinically mimics foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). As a result, an outbreak of SVV must be treated like a foreign animal disease until the government can rule out FMD.The FMD diagnostics take up the time of laboratories, veterinarians and state officials. Because it looks like FMD, it is very scary for the industry and public. [node:read-more:link]
Along stretches of farmland on South Lincoln Avenue in Lebanon, you will notice yard signs with bright orange letters that read, "Save Our Local Dairy Farms." Alisha Risser owns one of those farms.Seventeen years ago, Risser and her husband started a contract with Swiss Premium, a brand of the national distributor Dean Foods. [node:read-more:link]
When the agriculture and food industries depict overly cute and happy images of farm animals, it gives consumers unrealistic visions of how animals for food production should be raised. As the American public increasingly becomes further removed from the farm, expectations of livestock and poultry production increasingly become more unrealistic. However, the agriculture and food industries are partly to blame for those inaccurate perceptions, said Frank Mitloehner, PhD, professor and air quality and extension specialist, University of California-Davis (UC-Davis). [node:read-more:link]
Cargill has teamed with the Nature Conservancy and Nestlé Purina to launch a three-year water project to improve the sustainability of the beef supply chain, the company and the organization said in a joint news release. The project is aimed at reducing the environmental impact of row crop irrigation in Nebraska, as more than 50 percent of water used in U.S. [node:read-more:link]
In a series of recent articles, we show that farmers' use of implement dealer financing has increased substantially since 2003 (farmdoc daily May 9, 2018). Implement dealers currently provide nearly one-third of the agricultural sector's long-term non-real estate debt. We also found that implement dealer financing is more common for smaller farms. Some industry observers have expressed concern that implement dealer financing may lead to increases in financial risk for participating farms. [node:read-more:link]
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is proposing amending the federal meat inspection regulationsto remove a redundant requirement for slaughter establishments to clean hog carcasses before incising. Facilities are now required to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system that identifies potential biological, chemical or physical hazards, and the controls to prevent those hazards at specific points in the process. [node:read-more:link]
The most commonly consumed vitamin and mineral supplements provide no consistent health benefit or harm, suggests a new study led by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto. [node:read-more:link]
