Weekly livestock news: March 11, 2024

Texas wildfires: a race to save animals

Texas A&M’s Veterinary Emergency Team originally arrived in Canadian, Texas, with a mission of aiding the search dogs that were sent with the university-sponsored search and rescue team to look for people injured or stranded by the fires. They bandaged the dogs’ feet with special wraps that kept them from getting burned but would still allow them to feel the ground for balance. But the next day, state officials called and asked for any veterinarians still available to help treat the large numbers of struggling livestock across the region. Dr. Deb Zoran, who leads the team, had roughly two dozen people deployed at any one time and had treated about 180 animals, mostly cattle, since the fire began. State officials estimated thousands of livestock and at least two people have been killed by the fire, The New York Times reports.

Texas wildfires likely won’t affect overall cattle, beef prices: Texas A&M economist

While the Texas wildfires have caused significant cattle losses for individual ranchers, they likely won’t affect beef cattle markets or consumers, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. AgriLife Extension economist David Anderson said it may be weeks before cattle loss estimates are available, but he expects the impact of the fires to be localized. He noted that individual losses could mount quickly for producers in the fire’s path, particularly considering cattle values and the cost of infrastructure like fencing. Cattle prices continue to trend upward and set all-time records, a pattern Anderson expects will continue into 2025 because the U.S. and Texas herds have shrunk in recent years due to drought. Spring calving season is underway, which means the wildfire could have erased the value of a productive cow and future value of any calf lost, Anderson said. Feedstuffs reports.

Combined U.S. and Canada livestock numbers lower than a year ago, officials say

Combined U.S. and Canadian cattle, hog and sheep herds have gotten smaller as producers worry about profitability and increased export competition, Brownfield Ag News reports. In a joint report from the USDA and Statistics Canada, the combined hog herd at the end of December 2023 was slightly lower than the year before, with a modest increase in the United States canceled out by a 1% decline in Canada. Except for U.S. market hogs and Canada’s pig crop, the major categories were below the previous year’s levels. Combined cattle, sheep and lamb inventories at the start of 2024 were 2% lower with all major categories under a year ago.

Iowa House gives early support to bill prohibiting imitation meat products from using terms associated with butchered meat

Legislation that would forbid food processors from labeling imitation meat products with words associated with butchered meat received early support in the Iowa House, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. Senate File 2391 would establish fines for businesses that manufacture, package and label foods for sale in stores when their products lead to consumer confusion about whether the products contain meat from livestock. Violations can incur fines of up to $10,000. The bill, previously approved by the Senate, says “misbranded” meat products include those derived from plants, insects or cultivated meat that are labeled with words such as cow, chicken, meat, beef, broiler, drumstick and wing, among others. There are exceptions for labels that also contain “a conspicuous and prominent qualifying term” such as fake, imitation or vegetarian.

Cattle industry association applauds SEC decision lifting some greenhouse gas reporting requirements

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association supported a decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that omits the requirement for large publicly traded companies to release greenhouse gas emissions data from private companies in their supply chain. The SEC in 2022 proposed a rule to require publicly traded companies to release data on their direct (Scope 1), energy and electricity (Scope 2) and supply chain (Scope 3) greenhouse gas emissions. NCBA took issue with the Scope 3 requirement, which it said would hurt individual producers and raise data privacy concerns. “With industrywide emissions data already available from the EPA and the USDA Life Cycle Assessments, forcing individual farms and ranches to calculate and report emissions creates a costly and unnecessary burden,” said NCBA chief counsel Mary-Thomas Hart.

How can hog farmers reduce load out biosecurity risks?

If a person can get into the barn, so can a virus. It’s one of the many biosecurity dangers that can arise at load out. “The load out should be seen as a high-risk event,” said Dr. Julia Keenliside at the Manitoba Swine Seminar. Although there isn’t sufficient research to be certain, there are reasons to believe disease-carrying dust, mud, manure and snow on the backs of trucks can be transferred into barns at the load out, according to industry expert Dr. Blaine Tully. The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network has compiled a study and a tips sheet about load out biosecurity. Beyond improving basic biosafety protocols, producers can look to more fundamental improvements, such as barn design. A simple device, like a metal bar high enough to let the pigs under but still block people, can effectively stop unsafe human traffic. Manitoba Co-operator reports.