ALAINA MOUSEL
Area sheep producers are knocking at the door of garnering $2 per pound for finished lambs. According to USDA’s Weekly National Lamb Market Summary on March 18, shorn South Dakota lambs weighing 130 pounds (lbs.) traded at $195 per hundredweight (cwt.), while their wooled counterparts weighing between 140-170 lbs. traded $177-$199/cwt.
TERRY K. HUTCHENS
More producers are generating extra income through slaughter kid programs. Many producers purchasing goats by the head, feed them for 60 to 90 days and sell by the pound. Suffice it to say, it would be an ideal world if all these kids were purchased off farms, but in the real world you will find the type of goat that can, “make money” is often what you find at a stockyard. These goats are lightweight, weighing 30 to 35 lbs; thin; just weaned; incredibly stressed; and are subject to any number of disease problems.
JEAN CASPERS-SIMMET
GRAFTON, Iowa —As Environmental Protection Agency regulations cut sulfur and nitrogen oxides emissions, it means changes to agricultural equipment and the fuels, oils and lubricants that keep farm machinery operating.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Federal officials looking to head off livestock disease outbreaks are drafting regulations that would require farmers to identify animals that move across state lines.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal officials on Monday gave their preliminary support to a plan to kill gray wolves in western Montana that have preyed on big game herds along the Idaho border.
PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Whether producers use a computer or paper and pencil, good records are the key to profits in the livestock industry, says Dr. David Fernandez, Cooperative Extension Program livestock specialist at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB).
SUSAN SCHOENIAN
The Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test will be accepting nominations for the 2011 test from April 1 until May 15. Goat breeders from any state may nominate up to five goats to the test. There is a $20 nomination fee for each goat.
ADAM IRISH
These days, lawmakers are talking a lot about cutting budgets but not much about cutting carbon emissions. With spring around the corner, soon it will be time for cutting grass. President Obama could address all three concerns by bringing sheep to the grounds of the White House and National Mall.
TERRY K. HUTCHENS
Scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of sheep and goats. It is among a number of diseases classified as transmissible spongiform encephelopathies (TSE). Infected flocks that contain a high percentage of susceptible animals can experience significant production losses. Over a period of several years the number of infected animals increases, and the age of onset of clinical signs decreases making these flocks economically unviable.
ANN ALLEN
AKRON, Ind. — Hoosier agribusinesses are keeping a sharp eye on northern Japan, where a devastating earthquake and tsunami that swept thousands of people to their deaths were followed by a damaged nuclear reactor.
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