Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced USDA's estimate of the prevalence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States.

The estimate of BSE prevalence in the United States is based on data gathered from not only the enhanced surveillance effort that has been underway since June 2004, but also from surveillance conducted in the United States for the 5 years prior. USDA experts used two different methods, the BSurvE Prevalence B method and the Bayesian birth-cohort method, to analyze the prevalence of BSE based on all of the surveillance data.

Source: USDA, April 28, 2006
Source URL: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?
contentidonly=true&contentid=2006/04/0143.xml

Increased ethanol production in Iowa and other Corn Belt states has led some to believe that the Midwest will no longer need to export any of its corn to other states or other countries. Farmer-advocates of more ethanol see such a future as making them free from reliance on unpredictable export markets, free from reliance on aging Mississippi River locks and dams, and free from worrying about the impacts of trade agreements and foreign competition. But such a future would not make the Corn Belt free of the need to export distillers grains, an ethanol by-product.

The best use of this by-product is as feed for dairy and beef cattle. But Iowa has large numbers of hogs and poultry, not cattle. Without some resolution of this mismatch, most distillers grains from Iowa will continue to be dried and shipped to other states.

Source: Iowa State University/ Iowa Ag Review/ Bruce A. Babcock and Chad E. Hart, Spring 2006
Source URL: http://www.card.iastate.edu/iowa_ag_review/spring_06/article2.aspx

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You’ve been in and out of the field for the past several weeks trying to get fertilizer and pre-emergent herbicides on and some seed in the ground and you have totally ignored your marketing plan. Dad always said there was a “tractor seat” bounce, but has it occurred? We’ll visit with some of our trusted advisors around the Midwest and catch up on what is happening in the corn market. (We’ll let beans go until tomorrow.)

Source: Farmgate/ Stu Ellis/ University of Illinois, May 1, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmgate.uiuc.edu/archive/2006/05/lets_update_you.html

You’ve been in and out of the field for the past several weeks implementing your fertility and herbicide programs as well as planting some corn; but you have totally ignored your marketing plan. Have we lost a pricing opportunity, if there was one for the bean market? We’ll call upon the Extension Marketing Specialists in the Three-I states for their perspective about the bean market. (We covered corn yesterday.)

Source: Farmgate/ Stu Ellis/ University of Illinois, May 2, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmgate.uiuc.edu/archive/2006/05/lets_update_you_1.html

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The aim of the present study was to study the effect of milking cows 4 times daily on free fatty acids (FFA) in the milk compared with milking twice daily.

The results are of importance for further understanding the mechanisms behind the increased content of FFA that is frequently observed in automatic milking systems.

Source: Impact of milking frequencies on the level of free fatty acids in milk, fat globule size, and fatty acid composition. Journal of Dairy Science 89 (3): 1004-1009, 2006. Wiking, L.; Nielsen, J.H.; Bavius, A.K.; Edvardsson, A.; SvennerstenSjaunja, K.

To examine the ability of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis to infect bovine epithelial cells in vitro, Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) epithelial cells were exposed to M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

Microarray analysis of intracellular M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis RNA indicates the increased transcription of genes which might be associated with an invasive phenotype.

Source: The Ability of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis To Enter Bovine Epithelial Cells Is Influenced by Preexposure to a Hyperosmolar Environment and Intracellular Passage in Bovine Mammary Epithelial Cells. Infection and Immunity, May 2006, p. 2849-2855, Vol. 74, No. 5. Dilip Patel, Lia Danelishvili, Yoshitaka Yamazaki, Marta Alonso, et al.

Given the difficulty of applying gene knockout technology to species other than mice, we decided to explore the utility of RNA interference (RNAi) in silencing the expression of genes in livestock.

Our results provide strong evidence that the approach described here will be useful in producing transgenic livestock conferring potential disease resistance and provide an effective strategy for suppressing gene expression in a variety of large-animal models.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. April 4, 2006. Vol. 103, no. 14. pp. 5285-5290. Michael C. Golding, Charles R. Long, Michelle A. Carmell, Gregory J. Hannon, et al.

The rising price of energy is putting a strain on many dairy businesses. Several recent studies targeting energy use in production facilities and farms identified steps dairy producers can take to save energy and help keep their businesses strong. Many measures, such as milk plate pre-coolers, can pay for themselves in just a few years.

Source: Michigan State University/ Michigan Dairy Review/ David I. Johnson, April 2006
Source URL: http://www.msu.edu/user/mdr/archives/mdrvol11no2.pdf