Livestock
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A new scientific study described in a recent article in Scientific American looked at the impacts of raising livestock in a hot climate. The research determined that hogs raised in hot conditions gained less weight and muscle, reducing the amount of meat produced. At the same time, fertility goes down, reducing the number of piglets…
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With all the rain we’ve had in the Southeast, you may have missed the tremendous floods that were occurring in Wisconsin this summer. Dairy farmers there are suffering from the impacts of all that flooding, including contaminated or moldy feed. The State of Wisconsin issued a warning to their farmers about keeping an eye out…
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As you can imagine, there have been many stories in the news about the impacts of Hurricane Florence’s winds, storm surge and rainfall on agriculture. Here are some of the ones I have found interesting. Tough to be a farmer under such extreme conditions! Much more to come as flood levels continue to rise. It…
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The New York Times posted an article yesterday which described some of the different hazardous sites in the path of Hurricane Florence, including superfund sites, coal ash ponds and hog farms. A lot of these are now under attack from Florence’s winds, rain and floods. Spillage from the sites could contaminate a wide area and…
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Pig farmers are rushing to get ready for the landfall of Hurricane Florence, currently expected to hit the NC coast sometime late Thursday or early on Friday. The heaviest rainfall from the storm is expected to hit eastern North Carolina, a center of hog production in the Southeast. Previous storms like Floyd in 1999 and…
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Drovers’ Newsletter posted a story about the impacts of droughts around the world in recent weeks on cattle production. Farmers are handling the water shortages differently in different places. For example, in Switzerland they are bringing in water by helicopter to deal with the worst drought since 1921. In other places farmers are culling cattle…
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Dairy Herd Management discussed the importance of keeping dairy cattle cool in a recent newsletter article here. Comfortable cows produce more milk and raise stronger, more productive calves. The article discusses ways to help provide cooler enclosures for cattle to reduce the effects of heat stress and how cooler cows are happier cows.