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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.