Livestock
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Drovers Newsletter has a timely article this week on cattle heat stress and when it is too hot to work cattle, and especially calves, which are more susceptible to stress than full-grown animals. You can find it here along with links to sources of cattle heat stress maps (or go directly to the Cattle Comfort…
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The Northeast Climate Hub of the USDA has a new short guide to how dairy farmers are being impacted by changes in temperature and rainfall and what they can do to protect their herds and infrastructure. It is geared towards the Northeastern US but has good information for everyone. Read it at https://www.climatehubs.oce.usda.gov/hubs/northeast/topic/weather-and-climate-considerations-dairy.
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If you love to eat exotic food like I do, you might already know about the ultra-high quality hams that come from Spain. In contrast to Yorkshires which provide the bulk of American bacon, the pigs that Spanish hams come from are darker and leaner. The farmers in Spain finish them up on months of…
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There has been a wealth of stories related to climate and/or agriculture in the past few weeks. Here are a few that have caught my eye. I hope you will find one or more useful to you. Bloomberg Businessweek: The Fighting Has Begun Over Who Owns Land Drowned by Climate Change New Haven Register: One…
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If you follow the national Drought Monitor, you know that parts of Oklahoma are currently in D4 Exceptional Drought, the highest classification of drought there is. Because of this, things are tinder-dry, and there have been many wildfires which have affected cattle production in the area. Here is a story and scary video of one…
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The New York Times posted an interesting article on the changing nature of droughts in Kenya and other parts of Africa. According to trends over the last thirty years, droughts are becoming more frequent and are getting worse. This is impacting livestock producers there, who are having a more difficult time feeding and maintaining their…
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The Douglasville (GA) Patch has an interesting article about using goats as landscape tenders this week. You might have heard of cities using goats to clean up unwanted weeds in difficult terrain. In this case, the US Army Corps of Engineers is using a herd of 16 goats, known as the “Chew Crew”, to maintain…