Weekly livestock and equine news: March 28, 2022

More than a quarter of horse owners purchased painkillers from sources other than their veterinarian, survey shows

About 27% of horse owners in a recent survey by researchers at Washington State University reported buying painkillers from sources outside the veterinarian-client-patient relationship. The results from the survey of 389 U.S. horse owners, funded by Zoetis, were published in Equine Veterinary Journal. As of November 2021, 47 states require some type of veterinarian-client-patient relationship to exist before a veterinarian can prescribe drugs for an animal, according to the AVMA. In the survey, nearly 20% of respondents said they got pain relievers from a feed store; nearly 13% said they got them from online or mail-order catalogs; and 5% received them from a veterinarian who had never examined their animal. Dr. Deb Sellon, a Washington State University veterinarian who led the study, said that as more products become available on the internet and people become more comfortable purchasing online, more drugs are likely to be sold electronically.

Ivermectin didn’t reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations in largest trial to date

Ivermectin didn’t help reduce COVID-19 hospital admissions in the largest trial yet of the anti-parasitic’s effect on the coronavirus, The Wall Street Journal reports. The trial evaluated nearly 1,400 COVID-19 patients at risk of severe disease, showing that those who received ivermectin as a treatment didn’t fare better than those who received a placebo. “There was no indication that ivermectin is clinically useful,” said Edward Mills, one of the study’s lead researchers and a professor of health sciences at Canada’s McMaster University in Ontario. Mills planned to present the findings, which have been accepted for publication in a major peer-reviewed medical journal, at a public forum sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The research team is studying other drugs that could be repurposed to work against COVID-19, including fluvoxamine, which is commonly used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder and depression and has shown promise against the coronavirus.

With war, countries try to ensure food security, re-evaluate agriculture practices

The war in Ukraine is prompting countries in Europe and elsewhere to step up their food security precautions, Seeking Alpha reports. Hungary’s government can buy any grain planned for export; Moldova and Serbia have restricted sales of crops such as wheat and sugar; Bulgaria has allocated government funds to increase its national grains reserve; and France’s government is being pushed to stockpile grains due to fears that supplies could get depleted. “What’s going on in Ukraine is going to change our whole approach, and our view on the future of agriculture,” said European Union Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. The European Union is set to distribute 500 million euros ($550 million) to help farmers in member states and allow them to grow crops on fallow land, part of an effort to mitigate food price spikes and potential shortages due to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Ukraine war pushes milk prices higher

Milk prices are up on the expectation that a tight market will be hit by further disruption to fertilizer and feed supplies and inflationary pressures following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reports. Before the war, bad weather had already combined with higher gas prices and pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, putting pressure on milk producers in the five biggest exporting countries and leading to decreased production. Since the start of the war on February 24, prices of crucial products have increased. Anhydrous milk fat, a core dairy product, hit a record $7,111 per metric ton on March 15, according to the Global Dairy Trade index, which monitors New Zealand dairy prices. New Zealand-based Fronterra, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, said recently it was paying farmers 30% more for milk than it did a year ago and predicted the price would rise further.

Canadian Pacific resumes rail operations after reaching arbitration agreement

Canadian Pacific Railway resumed operations last week after it agreed to settle a labor dispute with union workers through arbitration, Reuters reports. The railroad said the agreement with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference ended the work stoppage that began early March 20, which had worried farm industry members in both Canada and the United States. “While arbitration is not the preferred method, we were able to negotiate terms and conditions that were in the best interest of our members,” said union spokesperson Dave Fulton. Farmers were especially worried about the shutdown, including cattle producers whose feed supplies had already been limited by drought.

Agriculture is critical to U.S. economy, but it requires better trade policy: report

Nearly 18% of the nation’s economy and 30% of American jobs are either directly or indirectly linked to the food and agriculture sectors, according to a new report released in conjunction with National Ag Day last week. Forty-three million jobs, including 21 million “direct jobs,” are related to the agriculture sector, with $2.3 trillion in total wages and $7.43 trillion in total food and industry economic impact, according to the report, which was spearheaded by the Corn Refiners Association and released in tandem with 29 other groups. The report shows that in the last decade, the United States has fallen behind global competitors in trade. Exports account for more than 20% of U.S. agriculture production volume, said John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association. “The U.S. should prioritize new tariff-reducing trade agreements that will benefit consumers and U.S. job opportunities by the U.S. resuming its lead in defining the terms of international trade,” Bode said. Feedstuffs has more.