Featured Articles

  • Jan
    26
    USDA partners with National Urban League to improve nutrition


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    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to reaffirm the relationship between USDA and the National Urban League, a historic civil rights organization. The USDA and National Urban League will work collaboratively to promote nutrition and food security, increase access to healthy foods, and ensure equitable service delivery of USDA programs in underserved communities across the country.

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  • Jan
    26
    USDA Secretary announces improvements at USDA that will benefit farmers and ranchers


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    During the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF’s) annual convention, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced four new programs at USDA to benefit farmers and ranchers. Vilsack also discussed the next phases of the Emergency Relief Program and Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program, and the importance of the 2023 farm bill.

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  • Jan
    26
    USDA to expand ag exports


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    The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) has announced funding to more than 60 United States (U.S.) agriculture organizations to help expand export markets for U.S. farm and food products through the Market Access Program (MAP), and the Foreign Market Development (FMD). The total investment is $202.7 million.

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  • Jan
    26
    Virtual meeting held over cultivated meat


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    For the first time, The AgFood Future Center of Excellence (AGF) and the Agriculture Food Partnership (AFP) co-organized a virtual event where, regulatory experts from two of the largest potential markets for meat innovation, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA), met to discuss the regulatory approval process and prospects for cultivated meat in these two major markets.

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  • Jan
    26
    USDA undersecretary for food safety sworn in


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    At the beginning of the year, Jose Emilio Esteban, Ph.D. was sworn in to serve as the United States Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Food Safety. Esteban was previously confirmed by the Senate on the last day of the 177th congress.

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  • Jan
    26
    Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman not running for reelection


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    The United States Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow announced that she will not seek reelection in 2024 in Michigan. The agriculture panel’s top Democrat since 2011, Stabenow has a reputation as a tenacious negotiator willing to spend hours sounding out colleagues on their priorities. She holds the legacy as the first woman elected to the Senate in the state of Michigan.

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  • Jan
    24
    Interpretive Summary: Southern Section 2023 SERA 41 Symposium


    The 2023 SERA (Southern Extension /Research Multi-state Activity) 41 convened on the second day of the Southern Sectional Meeting to address the challenges that cow-calf producers face in today’s industry and the methods to improve adoption of existing technologies. Speakers, Drs. Matthew Poore, Vitor Mercadante, and Justin Rhinehart, spoke on topics related to pasture management, breeding and genetics, and herd management.

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  • Jan
    23
    ASAS Foundation - Celebrating 25 Years - January 23rd


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    Over the past 115 years, the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) has evolved into a multi-faceted organization, including establishing the ASAS Foundation 25 years ago as the philanthropic branch of ASAS. The Foundation enhances, advances, and supports ASAS’ mission and initiatives.

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  • Jan
    19
    ASAS Foundation – Celebrating 25 Years – January 16


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    Over the past 115 years, the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) has evolved into a multi-faceted organization, including establishing the ASAS Foundation 25 years ago as the philanthropic branch of ASAS. The Foundation enhances, advances, and supports ASAS’ mission and initiatives.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of light color and intensity on discrimination of red objects in broilers


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    Poultry are sensitive to red objects, such as comb and blood on the body surface, likely inducing injurious pecking in flocks. We built a wooden box to investigate the effects of light color (reddish and bluish) and intensity (5 and 50 lux) of background light on the discrimination of red objects in broilers.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Nonlinear model fitting analysis of feather growth and development curves in the embryonic stages of Jilin white geese (Anser cygnoides)


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    Feathers are an important external feature of poultry, and feather follicles are important appendages to the skin. Especially for geese, feather follicle development largely determines feather length and quality, which in turn affects feather-related economic traits.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Herd and animal factors affect the variability of total and differential somatic cell count in bovine milk


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    This study investigated factors affecting the variability of somatic cell traits in bovine milk. Animal had greater influence on somatic cell score (SCS) and differential somatic cell count (DSCC) compared to herd factors. Herds producing high average of daily milk energy were characterized by lower SCS and DSCC compared to the low average daily milk energy herds.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of injectable vitamin C at weaning and prior to transit on growth performance of early-weaned beef steers


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    Weaning and transit represent the primary stressors for beef calves in the United States and are responsible for increasing inflammation, suppressing the immune system, and decreasing antioxidant status. These adverse physiological responses to stressors may decrease growth and increase morbidity in beef calves. Vitamin C is the primary water-soluble antioxidant in plasma and when provided intramuscularly prior to the stress event, may be able to attenuate aspects of a stress response on growth and immune function.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Impact of different corn milling methods for high-moisture and dry corn on finishing cattle performance, carcass characteristics, and nutrient digestion


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    Two experiments tested how processing of corn grain for finishing cattle influences growth performance and nutrient digestion. Producers can use corn in dry or high-moisture form but normally use either a hammer mill or roller mill.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of increasing corn silage inclusion in finishing diets cattle with or without tylosin on performance and liver abscesses


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    Antibiotics are a very effective method to control liver abscesses for finishing cattle, which are thought to be due to high starch concentration and acidosis. Dietary roughage (forage) is used to control acidosis. As grain prices increase, feeding greater amounts of corn silage may be advantageous and silage can be an economical forage compared to other traditional forages like alfalfa.

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  • Jan
    19
    Interpretive Summary: Evaluation of growth performance, carcass characteristics, and methane and CO2 emissions of growing and finishing cattle raised in extensive or partial-intensive cow-calf production systems


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    There are many reasons (i.e. drought, limited perennial forage, calving) for using intensive or partially intensive production practices (e.g. drylotting or confinement) in a cow-calf enterprise. These practices may impact subsequent calf growth and feedlot performance. In addition, limited data are available comparing the environmental impacts (i.e., greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) from different cow-calf production systems.

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  • Jan
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of injectable vitamin E before or after transit on receiving phase growth performance, health, and blood parameters of beef steers


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    Cattle are transported multiple times throughout their lifespan due to the geographic distribution of the United States beef industry. However, transportation can elicit a variety of stressors that jeopardize cattle growth performance and health.

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  • Jan
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Growth performance, carcass characteristics, and fatty acid composition of Angus- and Wagyu-sired finishing cattle fed for a similar days on feed or body weight endpoint


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    Wagyu-sired steers and heifers (WA) from two different sires, selected for either growth (G) or marbling (M), and Angus-sired steers (AN) were fed for a similar days on feed (D) or to a similar final body weight (B) in two independent experiments. In experiment 1, Angus-sired steers were compared with Wagyu-sired steers and heifers when fed for a similar number of days on feed (DOF; WA-GD and WA-MD) and in experiment 2, AN were compared with Wagyu-sired steers and heifers at a similar final body weight (BW; WA-GB and WA-MB).

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  • Jan
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of inclusion of distillers grains with solubles and crude glycerin in beef cattle finishing diets on ruminal fermentation and fatty acid biohydrogenation


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    Inclusion of corn grain in cattle diets increases the dietary concentration of unsaturated fatty acids like linoleic acid. Ethanol co-products are most often made from corn grain in the United States and contain concentrated amounts of unsaturated fatty acids. Concerns with feeding ethanol co-products could arise for cattle producers because the increased unsaturated fat concentration of meat products can lead to shorter meat shelf life.

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  • Jan
    12
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of substitution of distillers grains and glycerin for steam–flaked corn in finishing cattle diets on growth performance and carcass characteristics


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    Livestock producers have an opportunity to improve sustainably through the utilization of co-products of the bio-fuel industry through cattle feeding. Crude glycerin, although less commonly fed compared to distillers grains, provides an opportunity for cattle feeders to increase the versatility of feed ingredient sources without compromising performance.

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