Viewpoint: Targeting Ag Youth Brings Out the Worst in Animal-Rights Activism
Animal-rights activists get worse every year, calling our children who participate in FFA or 4H livestock exhibitions “murders,” “slave owners,” and some things too extreme to print. The first time I encountered this type of extremist activism was when I read a Protect the Harvest blog post responding to PETA2’s hit piece called “FFA is Lame AF.” Lovely. PETA2 is PETA’s Youth Education Program (basically, propaganda for youth).
In PETA’s “FFA is Lame AF” post, the activists accuse the National FFA Organization of not upholding its Code of Ethics because of the youth group’s support of animal agriculture. So, because the FFA promotes a keystone element of agriculture (livestock), PETA wants to see them go by the wayside or eliminate the animal agriculture elements in the FFA.
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Producers Can Now Hay, Graze & Chop Cover Crops Anytime
Agricultural producers with crop insurance can hay, graze or chop cover crops for silage, haylage, or baleage at any time and still receive 100 percent of the prevented planting payment. Previously, cover crops could only be hayed, grazed or chopped after November 1, otherwise the prevented planting payment was reduced by 65 percent.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) added this flexibility as part of a broader effort to encourage producers to use cover crops, an important conservation and good farming practice. Cover crops are especially important on fields prevented from planting as they help reduce soil erosion and boost soil health.
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China's Hog Herd Has Almost Recovered From African Swine Fever
China’s hog population rose 24% in the year through May and has now almost fully recovered from the recent resurgence in African swine fever, according to the country’s agriculture ministry.
Herd sizes are close to normal for this time of year, Xin Guochang, an official at the ministry’s animal husbandry bureau, said in an interview on state television. Meanwhile, around 3.5 million of low-productivity breeding sows were culled in the first five months of the year, he said, which should lead to an improvement in herd fertility.
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40 Escaped Cows Stampede through L.A. Neighborhood
We have seen it before: A group of cows escape from their fence and block a county highway. However in a rarer sight, one Los Angeles County neighborhood had a group of cows running through their streets last night after escaping from a nearby slaughterhouse.
In Pico Rivera, California, police reported that a group of 40 cows were on the loose and asked the public to avoid the area around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night. (Reports called them “cows,” but we’re not sure if authorities knew for sure that they were cows or were using that term more generically for bovines.) Police said they believe the cows escaped from the near by packing plant after a gate was accidently left open.
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McNeese Cowboy Named Steer Wrestling Champion
McNeese State University junior Gavin Soileau, Bunkie, was crowned the champion steer wrestler Saturday night at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. This is Soileau’s first year competing in the CNFR.
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How Four Big Companies Control The U.S. Beef Industry
U.S. lawmakers are seeking increased oversight of the beef sector as concerns about anticompetitive behavior increase after the pandemic and a cyberattack on a major meat company, JBS USA.
Agriculture officials are meanwhile pushing for more processing capacity and ranchers are opening new slaughterhouses after plant shutdowns highlighted the industry’s reliance on large facilities run by four main processors.
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