Chicago | Reuters — The new U.S. tax law is poised to drive more control over the nation’s grain supply to farmer-owned co-operatives, provoking concern among ethanol producers and privately run grain handlers that they could be squeezed out of the competition to buy crops. Until now, the co-operatives, private companies and publicly traded firms […] Read more
Major U.S. grain firms fear harm from new tax law
Tyson to test new method to stun chickens
Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods will test a new way to render chickens unconscious before slaughter, the company said Wednesday, in the latest sign that heightened concerns about animal welfare are affecting U.S. meat processors. Within the next year, Tyson, the biggest U.S. chicken company, will launch a pilot program at two processing plants […] Read more
Millions of chickens reported dead in Hurricane Matthew floods
Chicago | Reuters — Flooding from Hurricane Matthew has killed up to five million poultry birds in North Carolina, most of them chickens, the state’s top environmental official said Wednesday. Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, also told Reuters that some pits that hold hog waste on farms […] Read more
Cargill stops using human antibiotic against disease in turkeys
Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. meat processor Cargill has stopped using an important antibiotic for people to prevent disease in turkeys, the company said Tuesday, the latest food maker to drop the drug amid concerns about the impact on human medicine. Cargill has not used the drug, gentamicin, to prevent disease in turkeys that supply […] Read more
U.S. deploys new bird flu plan to protect humans, poultry
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farm and health officials are racing to assess the threat that a type of bird flu never before seen in the country poses to humans and poultry, employing emergency plans drawn up in the wake of a devastating outbreak in birds last year. The federal government sprang into action on […] Read more
U.S. finds first avian flu in poultry since June
Chicago | Reuters –– An Indiana turkey flock has been infected with a deadly type of bird flu in the first new case of the disease in U.S. poultry since June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday. The flock in Dubois County, Indiana, was infected with a highly pathogenic (“high-path”) strain of H7N8, […] Read more
‘Noah’s Ark’ rescue mission for endangered poultry
Rare breed hatchery sends chicks as far away as Brazil
Reuters — Less than 24 hours after a deadly infection of bird flu was confirmed at a turkey farm north of Des Moines, Iowa, Bud Wood packed about 3,500 rare baby chicks into boxes and put them in the back of a truck. With the delicate birds just hours old, the president of Murray McMurray […] Read more
U.S. cattle deaths linked to Zilmax far exceed maker’s reports, study finds
Reuters — The number of U.S. cattle deaths that may be linked to the Merck and Co. feed additive Zilmax are much higher than the figures reported by the drug company to the federal government, according to a research study published Wednesday. The findings by researchers from Texas Tech University and Kansas State University show […] Read more
Lost hooves, dead cattle before Merck halted Zilmax sales
The U.S. beef industry’s dependence on the muscle-building drug Zilmax began unraveling here, on a sweltering summer day, in the dusty cattle pens outside a Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in southeastern Washington state. As cattle trailers that had traveled up to four hours in 95 F (35 C) heat began to unload, 15 heifers and steers […] Read more
Zilmax halt fuels demand for rival cattle feed product
Merck’s decision to suspend sales of its Zilmax cattle feed additive has caused such a surge in demand for rival Eli Lilly’s Optaflexx that Lilly is telling some new customers it cannot immediately supply them, customers told Reuters. Zilmax became the focus of attention in the livestock industry after Tyson Foods saidn Aug. 7 it […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
