livestock industry
Livestock industry halfway to victory on N.C. nuisance bill
The North Carolina state House voted, 74-40, to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a bill limiting the liability of large livestock farms when they are sued for noxious odors or runoff, said the Port City Daily. "Only time will tell how this legislation plays out...the bill must still pass in (the) Senate before it becomes law."
Organic farmers ask USDA to issue livestock rule without further delay
The Trump administration's 60-day freeze on new federal regulations snagged the animal-welfare rule for organic farmers that was issued two days before the end of the Obama era. Some 334 organic livestock producers wrote Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to ask that the rule become effective on May 19, the end of the 60-day review period. Groups representing conventional agriculture have urged USDA to kill the organic rule.
Usually a late-summer headache, vomitoxin is found in stored corn
The vomitoxin fungus, which sickens livestock, is being found in corn sent to processors in the Midwest this spring, says Reuters. So far, discoveries are concentrated in Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and parts of Michigan and the scope of the problem is not fully known.
USDA calls meetings on potential updates to livestock trace-back rule
Four years after it issued a regulation on animal disease traceability, the USDA will hold seven regional meetings across the country to see how it's working and to discuss "potential next steps." The regulation put states and tribes in charge of developing trace-back systems and ended years of opposition to proposals for a federal database of livestock movement and ownership.
GAO: Large gaps in U.S. rules restricting antibiotic use in livestock
At the start of this year, the FDA shut off the use of medically important antibiotics to speed up weight gain in cattle, hogs and poultry as part of a government-wide drive to maintain the efficacy of antimicrobials in treating disease in humans. The Government Accountability Office says, "[O]versight gaps still exist" that could allow long-term use of medicine in the name of disease prevention, weakening the limitations on the drugs.
USDA delays fair-play rule for livestock marketing until April 22
In line with the regulatory freeze announced when President Trump took office, the USDA said it was delaying for 60 days, until April 22, the implementation of a new fair-play rule that makes it easier for livestock producers to prove unfair treatment at the hands of packers and processors. The largest cattle, hog and broiler chicken groups say the rule, issued in mid-December after being blocked for years by Congress, is the Obama administration's revenge on farmers for voting for Trump.
A freeze on regulations before Trump team settles in at USDA
Within hours of taking office, the Trump administration put a freeze on federal regulations that could include the fair-play rules on livestock marketing issued last month and animal-welfare rules for organic farms issued last week. The new administration will have its first full workday of control at USDA today, with Sam Clovis, a senior adviser during the presidential campaign, as the top Trump official until the Senate confirms Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary.
Conventional agriculture wants to overturn organic livestock rule
The National Pork Producers Council, representing conventional agriculture, called on Congress and the incoming Trump administration to overturn a new USDA animal-welfare rule for organic farms, a small part of U.S. food production. House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway said he hoped Trump officials "will immediately withdraw this rule but stand ready with my colleagues on the Hill to roll back the regulation if necessary."
A threat to livestock, New World screwworm found in southern Florida
Federal and state officials are watching for further signs of New World screwworm, a maggot that kills animals by feeding on their flesh, after the pest was found in wounds on a stray dog near Homestead, in Miami-Dade County in southern Florida. "This is the first confirmed case on Florida's mainland," said USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Forty years later, FDA finally restricts use of antibiotics in livestock
Forty years after it first made the attempt, the U.S. government has instituted controls on some antibiotics used in meat animals to prevent the emergence of resistant bacteria that threaten human health.
In worrisome trend, FDA says animal-antibiotic use still rising
The amount of antibiotics sold for use in food animals in the United States rose 1 percent in 2015, and has been rising since the government started counting, according to a report released by the Food and Drug Administration. In a worrisome finding, the FDA said the majority of the livestock drugs sold were “medically important” to human health and were bought over the counter rather than prescribed by a veterinarian.
Weeks from departure, Obama team revamps fair-play rules in livestock marketing
As quickly as the Obama administration unveiled a package of rules meant to make it easier for livestock producers to prove unfair treatment at the hands of processors and packers, the largest cattle and hog groups called on the incoming Trump administration to blunt their impact.
Yellowstone bison herd will be culled 16 percent
One of the largest cullings in a decade is planned for the bison herd at Yellowstone National Park, says Reuters. Plans call for animals that stray outside the park boundaries to be targets for hunters and for the animals to be herded to tribal land for slaughter.
Canadian ranchers fear bankruptcy in tuberculosis outbreak
The government has quarantined three dozen farms and thousands of cattle in western Canada as it investigates an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis, a bacterial disease that can be transmitted to people. Ranchers appealed to the House of Commons for compensation for the quarantine or permission to sell the cattle, which are ready for marketing.
Drought deepens in South and Northeast during warm fall
Parts of Alabama and Georgia have seen no rain in two months as drought expands in the South, the Northeast and the Great Plains, said the weekly Drought Monitor. "The dryness in the Southeast dates back to the beginning of the year, which has dried soils and brought stream flows to record lows."
Green groups call flooded North Carolina barns an ‘unnecessary risk’
Hurricane Matthew flooded 142 hog and poultry barns in eight counties in North Carolina, said two environmental groups, vivid proof of the "unnecessary risk" of building large livestock farms "in a low-lying area deluged annually by tropical storms."
Senate sends Obama bill to update livestock sales law
Before adjourning until mid-November, senators passed by voice vote and sent to the White House a bill to update the Packers and Stockyards Act, which oversees livestock sales, to cover electronic transactions, such as sales online. The House passed the bill, HR 5883, on Monday, also by voice vote.
How to get higher-value meat? Cloned cattle are one way.
Researchers at West Texas A&M say they got consistently high-grading meat from calves that were the offspring of cloned cattle, says U.S. Farm Report. Seven of the calves were slaughtered as a test of the research project last month and one of the carcasses was graded Prime, a grade given to less than 5 percent of carcasses, three graded High Choice and three were Average Choice.