Reading Time: 2 minutes Got cows? On your cropland? Jay Fuhrer certainly hopes so. The soil health specialist believes cropland and large ruminants are a natural fit. He advocates turning animals out of the barn and onto the land whenever possible. “Soils, plants, and animals evolved together,” he said at the recent Dairy Farmers of Manitoba conference. “And we […] Read more
Cover crops ‘essential’ to in-field grazing
Producers need to more closely mimic nature to avoid long-term soil health issues, says USDA conservationist
Trump leaning toward Georgia ex-governor to lead USDA
Washington | Reuters — Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s leading candidate to run the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a senior Trump transition team official said on Monday. Perdue, a Democrat-turned-Republican who founded a grain and fertilizer business, served on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign. The official […] Read more
R-CALF’s USDA lawsuit takes aim at Canadian beef
Protectionist ranchers’ group says checkoffs promote ‘less safe and less wholesome’ imported beef
Reading Time: 3 minutes A group of cattle ranchers is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, claiming their checkoff dollars are being used to promote Canadian and other imported beef. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America — best known as R-CALF — also claims imported beef is “less safe and less wholesome.” But the lawsuit filed […] Read more
USDA sees bumper corn, soy crops despite floods
Washington | Reuters –– U.S. corn and soybean harvests were pegged above expectations this year as strong yields in areas west of the Mississippi River will make up for problems caused by excessive rains in eastern production states, the government said Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast the 2015-16 soybean harvest at 3.916 billion […] Read more
U.S. ag secretary orders update of agency’s animal welfare research strategy
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has directed agency staff to create and deliver an updated animal welfare strategy plan within 60 days, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters. The emailed memo from Chavonda Jacobs-Young, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, was sent to all Animal […] Read more
Iowa company develops vaccine for PEDv
Harrisvaccines working with USDA to obtain a conditional licence
Reading Time: 2 minutes An Iowa animal pharmaceutical company has shipped about 770,000 doses of a new vaccine that treats a deadly swine virus first detected in U.S. herds this year and has spread to 20 states, a company official said in an interview. Harrisvaccines, based in Ames, Iowa, developed the vaccine called “iPED” in August to fight porcine […] Read more
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