Livestock
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This is the title of an article published this week by AgWeb on some research currently underway to understand beef production vulnerability to changes in climate over time. A team headed by Dr. Dan Devlin, an agronomy professor at Kansas State, is working on a five-year project to monitor beef cattle’s response to environmental factors…
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A recent article on Craftsmanship.net describes the work that is being done by California ranchers to improve carbon storage in the soil of his pastures using judicious application of compost to the land. This has often been discussed but no carefully calibrated studies to determine the effectiveness of the treatment have been performed. If the…
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The strong storm that has affected the northeastern US this week has caused minimal problems for most dairy farmers in that region. Forecasts of the storm ahead of time allowed milk producers and haulers to reroute their trucks around the areas with the worst hazards, and the few dairies that experienced power problems had generators…
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Growing Georgia posted a recent article from an Ohio State University expert discussing the extra nutritional needs of cattle and other livestock in colder weather. While we don’t have as frigid weather as other parts of the US here in the Southeast, it is still good to be reminded of ways to keep our animals…
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Dairy farmers in New Zealand are facing serious consequences of water shortages that can be traced to the developing El Nino. These water shortages have led to tighter restrictions on water use and have also reduced the availability of cheap energy from hydroelectric dams due to restrictions on how much water can be released. The…
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Mother Jones reprinted a story from Slate this week on the contribution of burning yak dung to climate change in the Himalayas. Traditionally, Tibetans have burned dried yak dung to keep their houses warm during the long harsh winter. However, the burning fuel creates a lot of indoor air pollution as well emits a lot…
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AL.com published a story two days ago describing the problems poultry farmers had last winter with poor availability of propane. This is the fuel of choice for many poultry farmers for heating their poultry houses, which are sometimes as long as two football fields in length. This resulted in particularly high costs last year, since…