To help reunite escaped farm animals with their owners more easily, the Sheriff’s Office is building a database of livestock owners throughout Lafourche Parish.
The Sheriff’s Office said it receives numerous calls a year about escaped livestock, Capt. Brennan Matherne said.
Read MoreWere it not for the foundation that 4-H provided to Avery Williamson as a youth, the NFL linebacker might not have found his way back to the family farm in Tennessee as an adult.
Williamson, a free-agent linebacker who has spent the bulk of his professional playing career since 2014 with the Titans, is a fourth-generation farmer. His great-grandfather started the family legacy in agriculture, and his grandfather had a dairy farm and grew crops such as corn and tomatoes. Williamson and his father focused on cattle production — specifically black angus.
Read MoreFor FFA members, getting hands-on experience is the best way to make industry connections. A great example of this type of opportunity is the annual Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show. The show brings producers and their families from across the country together for education, entertainment, and excitement. This year’s event, which will take place Aug. 10-12, in Nashville, Tennessee, also provides an opportunity for the industry’s youth to gather, learn, and share ideas.
Read MoreTwelve organizations representing farmers and companies who make the vast majority of America’s meat, poultry, and dairy, as well as animal feed and ingredients, today unveiled the Protein PACT for the People, Animals, and Climate of Tomorrow — the first joint initiative of its kind designed to accelerate momentum and verify progress toward global sustainable development goals across all animal protein sectors.
Read MoreAnimals, large and small, all have to see veterinarians, but according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the nation is seeing a vet shortage, even here in Louisiana.
“The pandemic made people more hyper-aware of what was going on with their animals, both large and small, and so the demand for veterinary care increased and it hadn’t maybe been there before,” said Associate Professor of Food Animal Health Maintenance, Clare Scully, MA, DVM, MS, DACT.
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture says rural parishes are some of the areas seeing the most shortages, they are also some of the areas that rely the most on livestock.
Read MoreToday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it intends to make significant investments to expand processing capacity and increase competition in meat and poultry processing to make agricultural markets more accessible, fair, competitive, and resilient for American farmers and ranchers.
This is one of several key steps that USDA will take to increase competition in agricultural markets, pursuant to President Biden’s Executive Order on promoting competition and as part of USDA efforts to build a more resilient supply chain and better food system. Together, USDA’s actions will help farmers, ranchers, farmworkers and consumers all get a fair shake.
Read MoreImagine ordering dinner at your favorite restaurant. You know what you want without hesitation: a perfectly marbled 8-ounce steak cooked medium rare. Just before you order, your date tells you they’ve read that cows cause climate change and that meat might be unhealthy. Suddenly, the Caesar salad seems like a better option.
Read MoreThis month we celebrated July 4, Independence Day and it gave us time to stop, pause and reflect on what we have in America; Freedom, Independence and Choices. As we enter into the last 6 months of 2021, let us in the cattle business focus on where we are today and where we want to be in the future.
Read MoreA Rapides Parish man was arrested for a third time on livestock theft related charges. The Special Rangers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) arrested Justin G. Thompson, 42, on behalf of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Livestock Brand Commission which had a warrant out for his arrest.
Read MoreAnimal-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.
Read More
