The Cattle Blog 2014

WITH farm-state members of Congress sounding the alarm over actions taken against small grain farms by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a top Department of Labor official said the intent, practice or policy of the agency...

While reading numerous articles about the beef industry, this one seemed rather interesting.  Curious as to what you think.The U.S. cattle industry needs to change the way it produces beef if it is to stay competitive in what has become a "ground beef nation,'' according to Don Close, an...

Easily excitable cattle can be dangerous to themselves and cattle-handling personnel. And according to a recent project conducted at North Dakota State University, they may also have lower quality carcasses than calmer cattle. The study, which was conducted from August 2013 to February 2014,...

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking public input on possible revisions to the U.S. Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef to adjust for recent improvements and trends in animal raising and feeding. AMS is also seeking input on a review of beef instrument grading. One driver is...

Consumers given a random list of 15 sources of information about meat and livestock rated USDA as the most trustworthy source and Chipotle Mexican Grill as the least trustworthy, according to the Oklahoma State University Food Demand Survey. Respondents rated both the Humane Society of the...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced new procedures that will allow the agency to trace contaminated ground beef back to its source more quickly, remove it from commerce, and find the root cause of the incident to prevent it from...

I think that the USDA does a great job in telling us what we may know, but just don't have the data to substantiate.  While I already provided you with a link to the 2012 Ag Census, there are additional data that I think is interesting especially since it concerns beef cow operations. ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published its fourth annual report summarizing the sales and distribution data of antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals....

During the 10thWorld Congress of Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Dr. BrianKinghorn of the University of New England gave a presentation on Mondayabout the potential impact genomic information could have on genetic change. The presentation addressed 4 major questions about what genomic...

I have been waiting for the 2012 Census of Ag.  There is always something interesting however here are the highlights.  *  The 2012 Census of Agriculture shows a nationwide drop in land devoted to agricultural production from 922 million acres in 2007 to less than 915 million acres...

Producers cannot seem to catch a break.  Drought for several years has hampered hay production.  Also the rains of spring last year hampered hay production.  Commodity prices have been high; although corn is down to around $4.25.  Now plants will begin to remove most of the oil...