Farms.com Home  › News

Agriculture This Week: Will cows become the scapegoat for climate change?

When you have been involved with fairs and exhibitions as long as I have -- roughly 20 years showing stock and now roughly 35 as a journalist -- you have seen a lot of beef on the hoof.

I was reminded of that this past week as I attended the Yorkton Regional 4-H Show that was part of the local summer fair.

There is always something nostalgic for me in attending livestock shows. I was not a 4-H member as a youth but I was in the show ring at age five, so I have an appreciation for the work associated with exhibiting stock, and with the exhilaration of a red ribbon, and the disappointment when your animal does not catch the judge’s eye.

But, this year the show generated a different feeling, one where I found myself wondering what the fate of such shows may be, and in fact what will the fate of cattle production be.

Click here to see more...

Trending Video

Season 7, Episode 4: Using Data to Better Manage PRRSV

Video: Season 7, Episode 4: Using Data to Better Manage PRRSV

PRRS continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing pork producers, but each outbreak can also provide valuable information about herd recovery, losses and the management decisions that follow.In this episode, Dr. Ana Paula Serafini Poeta Silva, a research scientist at Iowa State University, discusses the PRRS Outbreak Management Program, or POMP, and what researchers have learned from a database containing information from more than 700 breeding-herd outbreaks. She explains how POMP uses data from individual outbreaks to establish benchmarks producers can use to better understand what to expect during recovery, including potential losses and the time it may take for a herd to return to baseline production. The conversation also explores how PRRS management has evolved, including the role of live virus inoculation and modified-live vaccines.