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As cattle numbers drop, livestock auction barns close

Texas lost nearly two livestock auction markets a year over the past four decades, according to a study by Texas A&M economists.

Researcher eyes insects as livestock feed source

A Duke University fellow, Philip Taylor, is experimenting with the black soldier fly as an alternative to fishmeal or soybeans to provide protein in livestock feed, reports Earth Island Journal, describing Taylor's efforts to find the ideal artificial light to encourage flies to reproduce.

In farm state, urbanites wary of livestock farms

City dwellers are more likely than rural residents to regard livestock operations as environmentally harmful and to have concerns about impacts on water quality, say Purdue researchers who surveyed 797 Indiana adults during July 2014.

Fewer cattle in feedlots will keep beef supply tight

Cattle producers are keeping their stock on pasture, a signal that beef supplies will remain tight this year.

Heavy losses of livestock and stored grain in Nepal

Farmers lost a large portion of their livestock in the six districts of Nepal hit the hardest by earthquakes earlier this year, and half of the farming households lost nearly all of their stored crops of rice, corn, wheat and millet, says the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Encyclical discusses benefits, risks of agro biotech

In his encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis devotes a section to genetic modification (GM) of crops and livestock. "The risks involved are not always due to the techniques used, but rather to their improper or excessive application," says the pope.

House sends export inspection, livestock price bills to Senate

In less than half an hour, the House passed on voice votes bills to reauthorize the Grain Standards Act and the mandatory livestock price reporting program, each with significant modifications to prevent disruption of service. The bills now go to the Senate. The Grain Standards bill would require the USDA to step in immediately if there is an interruption of inspection of grain at export terminals, either by dispatching federal inspectors or inspectors from state agencies empowered to conduct the work.

Lawmakers consider relaxing Nebraska “packer ban” for hogs

A bill in the Nebraska legislature would exempt hogs from the 15-year-old state ban on ownership of livestock by meatpackers other than immediately before slaughter, says Fortune.

Is North Dakota’s “ham and cheese” farm exemption too big?

The largest farm group in North Dakota will decide next week whether to seek a statewide referendum against the so-called ham-and-cheese exemptions to a state law against corporate farming, says the Associated Press.

FDA finalizes veterinary-feed directive at antibiotic forum

Obama administration officials announced a final version of the FDA's veterinary-feed directive at a Forum on Antibiotics Stewardship at the White House today. The rule, an update of a 2000 directive, was proposed in December 2013 as the agency began steps to require veterinary approval for use of medically important antibiotics to treat or prevent disease in food animals. The FDA is halfway through a voluntary phase-out of the use of medically important antimicrobials as growth promotants in livestock.

Antibiotic use in livestock to rise by 67 percent by 2030

Livestock farmers around the world will use nearly 106,000 tonnes of antibiotics by 2030, an increase of 67 percent in two decades, a team of scientists estimated.

Bill makes livestock price reporting an essential U.S. service

The House Agriculture Committee voted to elevate the USDA's reports on livestock sales prices to an essential federal service that would stay in operation even if there is another government shut-down. The designation was written into a bill to extend the life of the mandatory livestock price-reporting law for cattle, hogs and sheep to Sept. 30, 2020.

Sharp drop in poultry exports due to bird flu, stronger dollar

U.S. poultry exports will fall by 8.5 percent this year under the pressure of avian influenza and the stronger dollar, says the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook. Two major importers of U.S. poultry meat, China and South Korea, have restricted shipments as a precaution against spread of bird flu. The two Asian countries bought 5.5 percent of U.S. poultry exports last year. Their bans reduced U.S. sales by 25.5 million pounds in February, when bird flu was not as widespread as now.

Seven groups call for a doubling of $1 a year beef checkoff

Seven national groups announced support for doubling the beef checkoff to $2 a head. The process would begin with passage by Congress of a bill allowing the $2 checkoff and would be followed within a year by a referendum among beef producers and importers whether to increase the checkoff, which as been $1 a head since 1986. Proponents say the $2 checkoff would offset the effects of inflation and the shrinkage in U.S. cattle numbers.

Medically important antibiotics – bulk of sales for livestock

Some 14.8 billion kilograms of antibiotics were sold or distributed for use in food animals in 2013 and six of every 10 kg were classified as medically important antimicrobials, said the FDA. The government aims to reduce that ratio to maintain the efficacy of antibiotics to treat human illness. The agency launched a three-year drive in 2014 to end the use of antibiotics as a growth promotant. "This summary report reflects sales and distribution information from the year prior" to the campaign, the FDA said.

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."

Limited value from antibiotics to boost livestock growth

The advantage of using antibiotics as a growth promotant in food animals has shrunk to a tiny margin, say two Princeton University researchers who surveyed recent papers on performance in hogs and poultry. From 1950 through 1985, studies showed decidedly higher daily weight gain with sub-therapeutic use of antimicrobials, from 4 percent in slaughter hogs to 16 percent in "starter" pigs.

New US agro-defense lab gets $300 million for construction

The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility, for research into some of the most feared livestock diseases, was allotted $300 million as part of congressional approval of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Second recall of raw milk in California because of bird flu

California state agriculture officials ordered the recall of raw milk from a dairy farm in the Central Valley after tests found bird flu virus in a sample from the farm's bulk tank. The state Department of Food and Agriculture warned against consumption of milk from Valley Milk Simply Bottled on the grounds that it "may lead to infection with this rare, emerging flu virus." No illnesses were reported.

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