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Mammary stem cells challenge costly bovine disease
Mastitis is the most expensive disease in the dairy industry. Each clinical case can cost a dairy farmer more than $400 and damages both the cow’s future output as well as her comfort. Bovine mastitis is typically treated with antibiotics, but with the potential threat of antimicrobial resistance...Read more -
Ireland makes payments on calf investment scheme
Agriculture Minister Calleary announces that payments have commenced under the Calf Investment Scheme. The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr Dara Calleary TD, has announced that payments have now commenced under the Calf Investment Scheme. Commenting on the payments the Minister sa...Read more -
How Do I Get Started in Dairy Beef
With decreased crop profits and dairy profits, both dairy and grain farmers are looking for ways to increase income by sending feed stuffs off the farm on the hoof instead of in a hopper or tanker, writes Jason Hartschuh with The Ohio State University Extension. Many are questioning if one way to...Read more -
How covid-19 is affecting livestock prices
At the height of the recent coronavirus panic buying, Kantar data for the week ending 23 March showed a 45 percent increase in the amount of beef mince being sold. This means that over 60 percent of all beef sold through mainstream retailers was mince and other low value cuts. On the surface this...Read more -
Herding-cattle, wild buffalo from space
More than 1000 feral buffalo and unmanaged cattle roaming Northern Australia will be tagged and tracked as part a satellite herd-tracking program, announced today by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. Coinciding with National Reconciliation Week this week, the $4 million, 3.5 year projec...Read more -
Are top-priced genetics really worth it
In 2014, a Dorper ram, Bolt, made history when Mickey Phillips sold it to Martin Compion, who farms at Lonziekvlei in the Northern Cape’s Bushmanland, for R600 000. The purchase, which took place at the Upington National Dorper Sale, represents the highest price ever fetched by a Dorper, and one ...Read more -
Wool and maize perfect partners on marginal lands
Le Roux Fourie, who farms in the Brandfort district of the Free State, believes that the only way to produce more is by optimising resources to unlock their full value. In a summer cropping area, he says, the best way to achieve this is through a sheep component, specifically wool sheep. “Brandfo...Read more -
Success with premium free-range chickens
Having grown up on a maize and cattle farm in Viljoenskroon in the Free State, Lynne Griesel understands the work ethic required to make a success of farming. “It’s early mornings and late nights. Success comes with constant hard work, day in and day out. It’s not about working hard for just a se...Read more -
Dairy cows exposed to heavy metals worsen antibiotic-resistant pathogen crisis
Dairy cows, exposed for a few years to drinking water contaminated with heavy metals, carry more pathogens loaded with antimicrobial-resistance genes able to tolerate and survive various antibiotics. That’s the finding of a team of researchers that conducted a study of two dairy herds in Br...Read more -
Compliance, enforcement needed to curb brucellosis in KZN
he dramatic increase in the recorded cases of brucellosis (Brucella abortus) in cattle in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) since 2019 is a reflection of many livestock owners’ lack of compliance with legislation, combined with government’s failure to enforce this legislation. This was the view stated in the B...Read more -
Brucellosis in cattle
Brucellosis is a highly contagious, anthropo-zoonotic bacterial disease that is primarily present in animals but can be transmitted to humans. The disease is typically found in cattle, goats and sheep, but many wildlife species in South Africa have also tested positive. This is, however, only sig...Read more -
5 Cattle diseases that can kill your business
Farmers should aim for healthy and disease-free animals that are cost-effective and create prosperity on farms. “If your animals aren’t healthy, you cannot make money,” says Dr Jan du Preez, vet and managing director for the Institute for Dairy Technology. Diseases are prone to infect healthy ani...Read more -
Biosecurity in poultry.
Location, house design and construction Disease management is an important component for sustainability of poultry project. It is imperative that farmers should understand the most common means of transmitting animal diseases so that issue of biosecurity can be put in place. It is well known that...Read more -
Vaccinate your horse!
In 2019, there was considerable discussion on social media about vaccination against African horse sickness (AHS). For many years, until about 2015, owners were told to vaccinate between October and December, so immunity would be high in the horse sickness season, which was traditionally between ...Read more -
The fertility factor in mohair success
Paul Webber can look back on a memorable 2019 mohair season. He not only achieved the highest price of R621/kg for a bale of 24-micron good-style kid mohair in April, but ended up being awarded the Daidoh Trophy for the highest average price for a summer kid clip. Having won the same trophy in 20...Read more -
Poultry litter to biogas adding more value to farm waste
Smaller poultry businesses, comprising mainly broiler and egg producers and suppliers of day-old chicks, are helping address the need for job creation. But this growing industry has a problem: how to manage the environmental impact of ever-greater volumes of poultry litter. The premise of our res...Read more -
Feeding your sheep sorghum
Many communal farming areas have fallow maize lands that have not been used for years. This is not only a waste of space; it leads to the loss of valuable topsoil, which can silt up village dams. In many cases, communities do not replant their lands because the conditions are too dry for maize. A...Read more -
Choosing Afrikaners for extensive beef production
“The Afrikaner is a low-input animal with good-quality beef. Herein lies the real value of the breed,” says Jacquies Steenkamp, who registered his Derus Afrikaner Stud in 1996. Today, he runs 240 Afrikaner female animals, half of which are registered, in the Rouxville district in the southern Fre...Read more -
Why every farmer needs a dog
While I stood waiting outside the library for my mother to come and fetch me, a bakkie came speeding down the road, stopping in a cloud of dust in front of the vet’s office. A farmer got out and carefully lifted a heavy tangle of blankets from the back of the bakkie. There was a dog lying limply ...Read more -
The importance of having a breeding season
Having a breeding (and calving) season can optimise the reproductive performance of a breeding herd and the pre-wean growth rate of calves. This, in turn, can profoundly influence the profit margin of a beef cattle enterprise. The aim of a breeding season is to get the maximum number of female an...Read more -
Grave concern for condition of Namibia’s FMD-protection fence
A widespread outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Namibia could potentially wipe out the entire livestock production industry in that country. Therefore, the condition of Namibia’s veterinary cordon fence was a serious cause for concern. Following outbreaks of the disease in Kavango East a...Read more -
When performance fails to live up to breeding values
Using estimated breeding values (EBVs) is crucial in animal selection. Well-adapted, genetically superior animals perform better and are more efficient. Even though the environment plays a large role, it is the genetic value of a trait that determines the true potential of the animal. Some farmer...Read more -
Beat the heat! How to care for livestock in extreme weather
The South African Weather Service’s website states that if the maximum temperature in a particular area is expected to meet or exceed 5°C above the average maximum temperature of “the hottest month” for that area, and these conditions persist for three days or more, a heatwave may be declared. Th...Read more -
Fighting food fraud from farm to fork with a mobile ingredient tracing system
Savvy shoppers increasingly expect to know the origin of the food they eat, whether they shop at farmers’ markets or big-box major retailers. A prototype app proposed by researchers at the University of Tokyo aims to provide full transparency from farm to table along food supply chains and ...Read more
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