cattle
Majority of US House opposes new EPA water rule
Some 231 U.S. representatives, including 18 committee chairmen, signed a letter asking the Obama administration to withdraw a proposed rule on federal jurisdiction over waterways, says Drovers CattleNetwork.
More signs that producers are rebuilding cattle herds
Ranchers and feeders are sending fewer beef heifers to slaughter, "likely a result of producers retaining some extra heifers for breeding purposes," said the USDA's Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook report, citing "further signs of cow-herd rebuilding."
Alberta farm had two of Canada’s mad cow cases
Canada's latest case of mad cow disease, reported on Feb. 13, was born on the same farm in Alberta as an animal afflicted with the brain-wasting disease in 2010, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Goat, the other red meat
Sustained high prices for beef are leading to creative changes to restaurant menus - such as the addition of goat meat, "an alternative, and normally budget-friendly, option to beef," reports Reuters.
More cattle and hogs to ease meat squeeze
U.S. cattle, hog and poultry producers are expanding production, the government said in forecasting a sharp 3-percent increase in per-capita meat consumption this year. In its monthly WASDE report, the Agriculture Department raised its forecast of meat production by more than 1 billion pounds for this year. It estimated that the average American would consume 208.5 pounds of beef, pork and poultry in 2015, the equivalent of 9 ounces a day.
A three-year process to get a $2 beef checkoff
A cattle industry leader spelled out a three-year timeline that ends with a doubling of the current $1-per-head beef checkoff. Scott George, past president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, provided the timeline during a session at the...
Cattle herds may expand for the rest of this decade
The upturn in U.S. cattle numbers "is likely to continue for multiple years," writes Chris Hurt of Purdue in an analysis of the USDA's semi-annual Cattle inventory report.
First increase in U.S. cattle inventory in eight years
The U.S. cattle inventory is up for the first time since 2007, an indication of the long-awaited turn-around in herd numbers. In its semi-annual Cattle report, USDA said there were 89.8 million cattle and calves in the country on Jan 1, up 1 percent from the previous year.
A roadblock for livestock drug that boosts weight
Efforts by drugmaker Merck to re-introduce its growth-promoting drug Zilmax to the market are "stuck in a kind of veterinary purgatory," says the NPR blog The Salt.
Wind carries antibiotics and bacteria from feedlots
Researchers at Texas Tech "found evidence of antibiotics, feedlot-derived bacteria and DNA sequences that encode for antibiotic resistance" in air samples taken near cattle feedlots in the southern High Plains, says Feedstuffs.
Recession slowed cattle imports, not labeling rules-Report
The slow economic recovery from recession is to blame for a downturn in U.S. cattle imports, not the requirement to put labels on meat packages that list where cattle, hogs and chickens were born, raised and slaughtered, says a study by an Auburn U economist.
The beef about the checkoff
David Pfrang and Jim Dobbins, who live in the rolling hills of northeastern Kansas, are "two farmers raising an few cattle and a lot of Cain," says Harvest Public Media in a deep dive into the politics of the beef checkoff program.
Grassland prices on the rise, cropland to plateau
With cattle prices at record highs, grassland prices are a good bet to rise in the coming year, the head of a farm management company tells DTN.
At a Colorado abbey, llamas guard the cattle
"At the Abbey of St. Walburga, cattle, water buffalo and llamas graze on grass under the watchful eye of Benedictine nuns," says a Harvest Public Media story about nuns and livestock near the Colorado-Wyoming border.
Cereal, baked goods prices flat in 2014, pork to ease in ’15
Prices for cereal, flour and bakery items will finish the year unchanged from 2013, an indirect effect of record wheat crops worldwide, according to government forecasts, and pork prices will fall by 15 percent in the new year after soaring this year. "Many items in the center aisles of grocery stores/supermarkets have seen lower than average inflation or even deflation year-over-year," said USDA in its food price report.
Beef prices, already at record highs, to rise more in 2015
Grocery store prices for beef are at record highs and the government says they will rise again in the new year, although not as sharply as this year.
“I’d like to cock him one”
Sixty years after the Double T dairy farm went into business in California's Central Valley, owner Tony Azevedo sold his cattle, partly due to unrelenting drought and partly out of frustration over disagreements with his son on transfer of the business to a new generation.
Inventory of cattle in U.S. feedlots makes rare upturn
There were 10.6 million head of cattle in U.S. feedlots being fattened for slaughter on Nov 1, up slightly from this point a year ago, says USDA. Feedstuffs says it is the first time since August 2012 the monthly tally was higher than the year-earlier figure.