Livestock
Local Food Security: Challenges and Opportunity
“If the world is saved it will be saved because the people living in it have a new vision.” –Daniel Quinn No one wants to admit that the food supply we depend on could ever be in jeopardy, or that food prices are not as stable as they once were. We want to take comfort and security in the fact that our grocery store shelves and markets are always stocked with the foods we love, and that year after year, we spend only a small percent of our income on food. A picture is beginning to emerge into mainstream consciousness that could shatter this comfort and security, however. It can be seen in films like Food Inc., recently nominated for an Academy Award, which details the grotesque and completely unsustainable practices of our modern agriculture industry. It can be seen in television specials highlighting the same issues, like David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things two part series on “Corporate Agriculture” and “Alternative Agriculture”. Canadian historian and international affairs writer...
Local Food Security: Challenges and Opportunity
“If the world is saved it will be saved because the people living in it have a new vision.” –Daniel Quinn No one wants to admit that the food supply we depend on could ever be in jeopardy, or that food prices are not as stable as they once were. We want to take...
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Curated Content From Around the Web
Goat Kidding Tips – And an Idea for Timing Births That Works No Matter What You Raise
Back in 1998, when I was two years into my research project looking at the best ways to manage goats to build firebreaks and manage vegetation, a fellow Utah State University researcher gave me 35 does because he was done with his own research. To my project partner and I it seemed like the next natural step was to grow our herd even more. We had a nice barn for kidding, and figured that if the babies were born in February, they’d be big enough to head to the field with their moms when grazing season came around. So that fall we bought a Boer buck at the Utah State Fair to breed to our does. He was chosen for his affordable price, and for his long legs and heavy body which we hoped would give us long-legged, fat, brush eaters. Kathy and Kids When we started, this is what…
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Just Grow This 1 THING to be More Self Sufficient.
French farmers block access to Bordeaux port
Farmers up pressure on French government 22 November 2024 1 minute read A group of protesting farmers on Thursday sought to block operations at the port of Bordeaux in southwestern France, as a new bout of agricultural anger intensified in Europe's largest crop-producing country, Reuters reported. Farmers in their tractors blocked all of the access roads to the port, which links the city to the Atlantic via the Garonne river, Jose Perez, a local labour representative from the Coordination Rurale union told Reuters. "We will stay here because we still don't have answers (from the government)", Perez said. For many farmers, the port, which also includes a grains terminal, stands for what they call unfair competition from foreign producers who aren't subject to the same regulation. A push by the European Union to wrap up long-running trade negotiations with Latin American countries has rekindled anger in France, where farmers were…
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Brazil chicken exports decline in October
Volume and revenue still higher than previous Octobers 22 November 2024 1 minute read Prices for all categories of animals in Brazil have been increasing for three months, according to a recent market report from Cepea. The combination of corn price rises in the domestic market and low quotations for the live chicken in November have been pressing down the purchase power of chicken producers in São Paulo to the lowest levels since April/23. In spite of the relative stability, players surveyed by Cepea say that some agents accepted smaller values for live chicken, aiming to flow the production. Brazilian shipments of chicken meat dropped between September and October. In spite of that, both the amount exported and the revenue obtained last month are the highest of the Secex series (since 1997), considering the months of October.
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How Do Animals Choose What to Eat? Part 1 – Mother Knows Best
Learning about how animals choose what to eat and where to live, and that it doesn’t work the way we thought it did, has completely changed my life. In fact, it’s why you’re reading On Pasture today. I think it can change your life too. So, over the coming months, I’ll be sharing a short course in what researchers have found, and how you can use it to grow more forage, graze more successfully, and be more profitable. Here’s Part 1. We are so used to considering forage type, nutrition and quantity as we try to improve animal health and increase weight gain, we sometimes overlook how an animal’s interactions with it’s mother and peers affect what and how it eats. Since what a young animal learns has life-long consequences, knowing more about this process can help us be more successful managers. A young animal learns what kind of things…
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Dutch poultry ordered indoors due to bird flu
Avian influenza reported on Monday 21 November 2024 1 minute read The Dutch government on Wednesday ordered poultry farmers to confine their birds indoors following the detection of an avian influenza outbreak on Monday, reported Reuters. It did not specify how long this measure would be implemented. Bird flu is spreading more rapidly in the EU this season compared to a milder outbreak in 2023, sparking concerns of a repeat of past crises that killed tens of millions of poultry and raising fears of potential human transmission.
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BRF to acquire processed foods factory in China
The factory cost $43 million 21 November 2024 1 minute read Brazilian pork and chicken processor BRF said on Wednesday that it has signed a binding agreement to acquire a processed foods factory in China's Henan province for $43 million, reported Reuters. BRF said in a securities filing it will invest approximately $36 million in expanding the plant and added that it expects the factory to start operating under BRF management in the first quarter of 2025. According to BRF, the investments are expected to double the factory's capacity to 60,000 metric tonnes per year from 30,000 metric tonnes currently. Built in 2013, the plant has two food processing lines. "The investment represents a significant opportunity to expand the customer base and boost the company's sales," BRF said in a statement, adding that it grants "direct access to the Chinese market, one of the world's largest protein consuming markets." BRF…
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Brazil chicken exports grow in volume, revenue in October
Accumulated growth in volumes reaches 2% this year 21 November 2024 2 minute read Surveys by the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) show that Brazilian chicken meat exports increased by 15.4% in October, according to a press release from the association. In total, 463.5 thousand tons were shipped in the tenth month of this year, compared to 401.7 thousand tons in the same period last year. The increase in revenue was even more significant, reaching 25%, with US$ 904.4 million recorded in October of this year, compared to US$ 723.5 million in the same month of 2023. Between January and October, chicken meat exports accumulated an increase of 2%, with 4.38 million tons in 2024, against 4.29 million tons in 2023. The accumulated revenue in the period reached US$ 8.177 billion, a balance 1.5% lower compared to the previous year, with US$ 8.301 billion. In the analysis by destination, China (the…
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The Cheapest Way to Produce the Best Egg
The Arbuckles raise beef cows, free range pigs, turkey, fryer chickens and laying hens on their 50-acre Singing Prairie farm in northeast Missouri. They sell their meat on farm and wholesale their eggs to grocery stores and restaurants in the area. Just like all of us, John and Holly Arbuckle wanted to know what to feed their chickens that would get them the best egg for the least amount of money. So they applied for a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant and in 2013 they ran an experiment to see what the answer was. Their goal, as John describes it was “…to find out if laying hens would be able to make up for the under supply of nutrition lacking in sprouted wheat by foraging for insects in a rotationally grazed cow pasture environment. The reasons for that one goal were myriad. IF hens can lay competitively well while consuming sprouted wheat and pasture…
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