The U.S. beef industry’s dependence on the muscle-building drug Zilmax began unraveling here, on a sweltering summer day, in the dusty cattle pens outside a Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in southeastern Washington state. As cattle trailers that had traveled up to four hours in 95 F (35 C) heat began to unload, 15 heifers and steers […] Read more
Lost hooves, dead cattle before Merck halted Zilmax sales
U.S. farm kids have mixed views on Zilmax
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters / For more than a century, ranchers and their kids have paraded cattle around the dusty show ring at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, in a rite of passage that is part farm economics, part rural theatre. Today, with U.S. auction prices for champion cattle topping $300,000 a head and hefty scholarship […] Read more
U.S. universities monitor pig virus during gov’t shutdown
As the federal government shutdown stretches into its second week, veterinary labs at U.S. universities are stepping into a data gap to collect information and publish updates about an outbreak of a swine virus deadly to young pigs, according to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. The University of Minnesota’s diagnostic lab staff last week […] Read more
Oklahoma winds may spread deadly swine virus
Since June, when PEDv first hit, workers have quarantined the area, scrubbed vehicles and sprayed buildings with antiseptic
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters / On the windswept prairies of the Oklahoma Panhandle, the hog barns of Prestage Farms are lined up like military barracks. The 20,000-sow operation near the Texas border stands at the front lines of a months-long battle to contain a virus that has already killed some 1.3 million hogs in the United States. Since […] Read moreU.S. hog report does little to calm PEDv fears
U.S. data showing a surprisingly large late-summer hog herd has done little to quell fears in rural America that a virus deadly to baby piglets could spread. The U.S. livestock industry was anxiously awaiting Friday’s release of the Agriculture Department’s quarterly hogs and pigs report on the nation’s swine inventory over the past three months, […] Read more
Activist fund lines up rival buyers for pork giant Smithfield
Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP said it is working with investors interested in paying “substantially” more for Smithfield Foods than the price China’s Shuanghui International Holdings had agreed to. Starboard, a New York-based fund that holds a 5.7 per cent stake in Smithfield, said in a letter to the company’s shareholders on Tuesday that […] Read more
Zilmax halt fuels demand for rival cattle feed product
Merck’s decision to suspend sales of its Zilmax cattle feed additive has caused such a surge in demand for rival Eli Lilly’s Optaflexx that Lilly is telling some new customers it cannot immediately supply them, customers told Reuters. Zilmax became the focus of attention in the livestock industry after Tyson Foods saidn Aug. 7 it […] Read more
Merck rolls out new training program for Zilmax customers
As questions about the health effects of Merck’s Zilmax feed additive intensified in North America’s beef industry, the pharmaceuticals giant on Tuesday unveiled a program to retrain and certify beef producers in administering the weight-adding drug to cattle. The news comes a week after Tyson Foods declared it would stop accepting beef from Zilmax-fed cattle […] Read more
Merck to study cattle industry use of Zilmax
In the wake of mounting questions over its popular growth feed additive for cattle, Merck’s animal health unit said it is launching a five-step plan to reach out to cattle packers and suppliers in the next 30 days to address questions concerns over Zilmax. Among other steps, the New Jersey-based Merck Animal Health said it […] Read more
U.S. slaughterhouse workers, truckers fuel deadly piglet virus spread
Questionable hygiene practices among meat processing plant employees, freight truck drivers and others who work at hog slaughter houses are aiding in the spread of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus across the United States, according to research conducted by the University of Illinois staff. PEDv is spread most commonly by pigs ingesting contaminated feces. The virus, […] Read more
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