Weekly livestock news: February 19, 2024

Researchers use gene editing to create calf resistant to bovine virus

USDA researchers, in cooperation with a team at the University of Nebraska, have used gene editing to produce a calf with reduced susceptibility to bovine viral diarrhea virus, Bovine Veterinarian reports. The researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology to replace six amino acids in the CD46 gene. This bovine gene is the site within the cell to which the BVD virus cleaves and gains entry to infect and replicate in a new host animal. Among the study results, cells from the kidney, lung, small intestine, esophagus, liver and heart from the edited fetus showed significantly lower susceptibility to BVDV in a laboratory setting, compared to the unedited fetus. In addition, the live tissue samples showed that the edited calf had a significant reduction in BVDV susceptibility in the three cell types tested—skin fibroblasts, lymphocytes and monocytes—compared to the unedited control calf.

Net farm income projected to fall 26% this year: USDA

Net farm income is forecast to fall 26% in 2024, from $155.9 billion in 2023 to $116.1 billion, according to the USDA. “It doesn’t seem to matter what commodity you’re producing or where you’re producing it, it’s going to be a down year relative to 2023,” USDA chief economist Seth Meyer said about the newly released USDA Economic Research Service 2024 Farm Sector Income Forecast. After income reached record highs in 2022, ERS forecasts it will continue to fall in 2024. From 2021-2023, U.S. farmers produced strong harvests and increased commodity stocks while the U.S. economy recovered more quickly and more robustly from COVID-19 than that of the global economy, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “As a result, while we have rebuilt the global supply, we are seeing a decreased demand for U.S. commodities and commodity prices are coming down,” Vilsack said. Feedstuffs has more.

Australia’s red meat exports surge as U.S. beef production falls

Australia’s red meat exports rocketed last year as a plunge in livestock prices made its products more competitive, Reuters reports. Shipments accelerated as the year went on, pushing exports of sheep meat to a record high and beef exports to their highest since 2019, trade data showed. Australia is one of the world’s biggest shippers of red meat. Its exports are likely to be even larger in 2024 thanks to low U.S. beef output and strong Chinese demand, said Matt Dalgleish at agricultural consultant Episode 3. The beef exports were worth $7.6 billion last year, the most ever recorded. Shipments of beef increased to China, South Korea and the United States, three out of four of Australia’s main export markets for the meat. For sheep meat, the biggest driver of the increase in exports was China.

U.S. SHIP aims to keep hogs safe from disease

North Dakota’s state veterinarian says programs like the U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan can help keep diseases such as brucellosis, swine influenza and African swine fever out of hog producers’ barns. U.S. SHIP works to establish a platform for safeguarding, improving and representing the health status of swine across participating farm sites, supply chains, states and regions. The plan aims to enhance all aspects of trade impacting disease preparedness among participating producers, slaughter facilities and a state by proactively establishing a system of operations and certification built upon well-defined program requirements for biosecurity, traceability and disease surveillance. It also aims to reduce the impact of recurring endemic diseases of high consequences through the sustainable advancement of sanitary standards. Additionally, it intends to provide U.S. pork industry participants experience in developing and participating in a program customized to meet their needs, according to Farm Progress.

Colorado and North Carolina poultry operations confirm first avian flu cases in more than a year

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza on two additional commercial poultry operations: one in Colorado and one in North Carolina. A commercial broiler breeder operation of 66,500 birds in Delta County, Colorado, is being depopulated after the virus was recently detected. This is the first large commercial operation in the state affected by the virus since December 2022. North Carolina also reported its first commercial case after nearly two years in a turkey operation of 32,500 birds in Lenoir County. The two operations bring the total number of birds affected by HPAI in the United States since February 2022 to 81.90 million birds. That said, detections in commercial poultry operations have dwindled over the past month after almost 20 million commercial poultry were depopulated from November to December 2023, Feedstuffs reports.

Ducks identified as source of H10N5 avian flu in woman’s death in China

The World Health Organization added more details to China’s recent report of a woman who died following a coinfection with H3N2 seasonal flu and H10N5 avian flu. This is the first known human illness involving H10N5, CIDRAP reports. The woman, in her sixties, worked as a farmer in Anhui province and had underlying health conditions. Investigators found she hadn’t been vaccinated against seasonal flu. She was exposed to live poultry a few days before her symptoms began when she bought a duck. Lab testing on duck meat from her refrigerator found H10N5 in seven samples. The woman didn’t have contact with pigs or other mammals.