#how does heat stress affect livestock

[farmerstrend]

Heat Stress and its effect on farm animals

Heat stress result in increase in the blood volume and a decline in red blood count. However, longtime heat stress at moderate level leads to haemo-concentration as a result of heat loss. Heat loss also creates an acid surplus due to formation of lactate, metabolic or respiratory acidiosis which may exhaust the bicarbonate buffer system of the blood resulting in a fall of Pᴴ. The increase in…

[bigcountryrecycling]

How Does Climate Change Affect Agriculture?

Introduction

Climate change isn't just a buzzword; it's a reality that's affecting every corner of our planet. From melting ice caps to rising sea levels, its impacts are wide-reaching and profound. One area where climate change is making a significant mark is agriculture, the backbone of human civilization. This article dives into how climate change affects agriculture.

The Link Between Climate Change and Agriculture

Climate change significantly impacts agriculture by altering temperature patterns, precipitation levels, and the frequency of extreme weather events. These changes can disrupt growing seasons, reduce crop yields, and threaten food security. Higher temperatures can lead to heat stress for crops and livestock, while shifting precipitation patterns may cause droughts or floods, affecting water availability for irrigation. Additionally, increased CO2 levels can impact plant growth and nutrient content. These effects necessitate adaptive strategies in farming practices to maintain productivity and ensure sustainable food production in the face of a changing climate.

How Climate Change Affects Agriculture

Heightened Food Insecurity

Heightened food insecurity refers to a significant increase in the number of people who lack reliable access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food necessary for an active and healthy life. This situation is often caused by a combination of factors including economic downturns, political instability, climate change, and natural disasters, which disrupt food production and distribution systems. As a result, affected populations may experience malnutrition, stunted growth, and a higher incidence of diseases, exacerbating poverty and hindering social and economic development. Addressing heightened food insecurity requires coordinated efforts from governments, international organizations, and local communities to ensure sustainable food systems and equitable access to resources.

Land Degradation and Water Scarcity

Changes in rainfall patterns, deforestation, and overgrazing have severe and often irreversible effects on agriculture. Farmers are struggling to keep their animals healthy in increasingly dry and extreme conditions. The lack of water and rising temperatures make it harder for crops to thrive, and soil is turning to dust. The land is gradually becoming less productive and more susceptible to future shocks such as drought. As a result, competition and conflict over resources are intensifying as farmers vie for arable land and access to clean water.

Reduced Yield

Farmers are experiencing unprecedented losses, with predictions suggesting global food yields could drop by up to 30% by 2050 if they can't adapt to climate change. These disruptions extend beyond just the farming community, impacting the entire agricultural sector by driving up food prices and reducing global food availability.

Increased Poverty

Climate change has a direct impact on farmers' livelihoods, leading to loss of crops, livestock, and income. Farmers in the most vulnerable regions of the world often live on the brink of poverty, and this risk is increasing as climate change accelerates.

Migration and Displacement

Climate change impacts agriculture by either destroying farms or creating such challenging environmental conditions that farming becomes untenable. Each year, an increasing number of farming families are compelled to abandon their land and livelihoods in search of alternative work opportunities. In 2021, extreme weather events displaced over 23 million people worldwide.

Moreover, in the world's most vulnerable nations, climate change exacerbates conflicts and intensifies competition over natural resources. These conflicts lead to community fragmentation, force farmers from their homes, and elevate unemployment rates.

The Future for Climate Change and Agriculture

The future of climate change poses significant challenges and opportunities for agriculture. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events can lead to reduced crop yields, soil degradation, and the proliferation of pests and diseases. However, advancements in agricultural technology, such as drought-resistant crops, precision farming, and sustainable practices, offer potential solutions to mitigate these impacts. Effective adaptation strategies, international cooperation, and policy support will be crucial in ensuring food security and promoting resilient agricultural systems in the face of a changing climate.

Reducing How Climate Change Affects Agriculture

Reducing how climate change affects agriculture involves implementing adaptive strategies and mitigation measures. These include developing drought-resistant crops, improving water management through efficient irrigation techniques, promoting agroforestry to enhance soil fertility and biodiversity, adopting sustainable farming practices like organic farming and conservation tillage, and investing in climate-resilient infrastructure. Additionally, educating farmers on climate-smart agricultural practices and enhancing early warning systems for extreme weather events are crucial. These efforts aim to build resilience in agricultural systems, minimize greenhouse gas emissions from farming activities, and ensure food security in the face of climate variability and change.

Conclusion

Climate change poses significant challenges to agriculture, impacting crop yields, water availability, and soil health. As temperatures rise and weather patterns become more erratic, farmers face increased risks from droughts, floods, and pests, threatening food security worldwide. Amidst these challenges, initiatives like Big Country Recycling play a crucial role in mitigating environmental impact. By promoting sustainable practices and recycling solutions, Big Country Recycling not only reduces waste but also supports agricultural resilience. Through innovative recycling programs and community engagement, they contribute to a greener future, ensuring that agriculture can adapt and thrive despite climate challenges. Join Big Country Recycling today to help safeguard our agricultural heritage for generations to come.  Recycling is a sustainable practice. If you have any scrap and unused metal such as Copper or Aluminum and you are looking for a good Copper Recycling or Aluminum recycling services, please contact Big Country Recycling. Contact them today to learn more about their Recycling Services or to get a quote for your materials. Or call +1 325-949-5865.

Source: https://metalrecyclingsanangelotx.weebly.com/blog/how-does-climate-change-affect-agriculture

[waterfiltergurus]

Unveiling the Environmental Consequences of Wasting Water

We all know that saving water has a few money-saving benefits. But have you ever thought about the environmental reasons behind the importance of saving water? What are the environmental consequences when we waste water? We've discussed everything you should know in this guide. 📌 Key Takeaways: Wasting water impacts the environment by: - Depleting our fresh water resources - Increasing energy consumption - Disrupting habitats - Putting stress on ecosystems - Affecting food production - Contributing to climate change - Giving rise to tension and conflict 🚿 What Is Wasting Water? Wasting water is any activity that involves the unnecessary use of water. Some of the examples of water waste are: - Leaving the shower running for a long time before getting in - Leaving your faucets running while washing dishes or hands, or brushing your teeth - Leaks in your plumbing system - Doing laundry loads that are only half-full - Using high-flow showerheads and faucets rather than water-saving alternatives Even if you're not actively going out of your way to waste water, you probably aren't trying to save water, either. 🔎 How Does Wasting Water Impact The Environment? So, from an environmental perspective, why is wasting water a problem? Here are 7 important reasons that explain how wasting water impacts the environment: Depletes Resources Our freshwater supply is finite (meaning it's not unlimited). Wasting household water limits and depletes our essential resources, making them less available for ecosystems, agriculture, and future generations of the human population. Increases Energy Consumption Treating and distributing fresh water is an energy-intensive process. When we needlessly waste water, the energy expended in treating, pumping, and heating that water is also wasted. This leads to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and increased processing costs. Disrupts Habitats Using and wasting water excessively may lead to lead to reduced water availability in your local natural ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes, and wetlands. This disruption may harm aquatic habitats, affecting the plants and animals that depend on these water bodies for survival. Puts Stress On Ecosystems Following on from the above point, wasted water means that hundreds, even thousands, more gallons of water than necessary are used in a community. This excessive water use contributes to lower water levels in rivers and streams, disrupting aquatic ecosystems and reducing water quality. The result? Harm to aquatic life, disturbance of their ecosystems, and negative effects on biodiversity. Affects Food Production We often forget that humans aren't the only living beings that rely on the world's water to survive. Overusing water in household settings means that less water can be used for farming and agricultural purposes, including watering crops and feeding animals (many livestock species rely on clean water). Contributes To Climate Change Fresh water requires treatment to make it suitable for drinking, and wastewater must also be processed after use. When human consumption of water is excessive, water treatment processes must be used more heavily, resulting in an increase in emissions - something that impacts air quality and carbon footprint, contributing to earth's rising temperatures and carbon dioxide buildup. Gives Rise To Tension & Conflict As our water supplies become scarcer due to waste, we're facing difficult questions about what might happen if they run dry. Eventually, a lack of resources could lead to conflicts and exacerbate social and economic inequalities. Conflicts aren't usually handled gracefully, and the environmental effects of protests and wars are also worth considering. 🤔 Should We Care About Saving Water? Hopefully, now you've read the points in this article, you do care about saving water. Avoiding overusing household water means that you can save money - but more than that, it means you're helping to conserve the earth's most precious resource. Yes, it's true that we're very small fish compared to the giant corporations and manufacturing facilities that routinely waste hundreds of gallons of water. But, cliché as it sounds, when enough people get together, they can make a big difference. And even if you find it difficult to conserve water for the sake of the environment or your carbon footprint, it's worth at least reducing your water consumption for the financial benefits. Wasting water wastes money - and as the cost of everything continues to rise, nobody wants that. So start thinking about how to save water at home today - whether that's taking baths instead of showers, switching to high-efficiency appliances, or simply being mindful not to leave the faucet running. Related Readings: - Eco-Friendly Living: Tips for Conserving Well Water at Home - How Much Water Does the Average Person Consume Daily? - Water Pollution Awareness: Types, Causes, Effects, and Ways to Stop It 📑 Final Word The reality is that humans need water to survive. If we don't take water conservation seriously today, we're painting a gloomy picture for future generations. So take steps to conserve water at home to help your community avoid facing challenges associated with water supply. It's much easier to save water now than to deal with the effects of poor water conservation practices in decades to come. Read the full article

[frenchpuppycormier]

Prom Night!

(ao3)

word count: 2k

rating: T

Shoutout to @krdnvrs for being my number one fan and cheerleader on all of my random ideas, and for listening to me complain. Another thanks to @red-cape-morgana for being my glorified cheerleader ;)

They were in Midvale, working a case, when it happened.

Somehow Lex managed to lace the water supply with kryptonite, the team got wind of it, and so they went to investigate.

Lena, now an integral part of the team, tagged along.

Alex, J’onn, Brainy, and Nia went first to make sure everyone was safe and that the kryptonite wouldn’t harm anyone, while also checking to see what kind of kryptonite it was and how it would affect Kara.

Kara and Lena are staying back at the town line. Waiting patiently. Some more than others.

“Will you please stop pacing? You’re stressing me out,” Lena rubs at her temples.

Kara stops mid-step, skidding on the loose gravel, and sighs. “I’m sorry. I’m just really anxious right now, and I’m scared of what they might find. I mean, what if—Eliza lives here! I can’t just—

“Hey,” Lena interrupts by placing both hands on Kara’s forearms. “It’ll be fine. Eliza isn’t even here. She’s out of town, remember?”

Kara lets out a deep breath and nods.

“Can I—Kara, can I give you a hug?” she asks, timidly. Lena won’t openly admit it, but Kara’s the only one she openly and freely gives hugs to. Anyone else and it’s touch and go.

Kara smiles, “Duh! You don’t even have to ask, you know that.” She wrangles her arms out from Lena’s hands and wraps her own around the CEO’s shoulders, burying her face in raven hair.

Lena grips her hands tightly around the hero’s back and inhales deeply, the sweet smell of honey and lavender from the blonde's shampoo, and the hint of earth which makes Kara, Kara.

The moment was quickly disrupted by a chirping in Kara’s ear. She steps back slightly so one arm is still resting on Lena’s shoulders while the other presses the comm. “Alex?”

Lena is moderately perturbed at Alex in this moment, but doesn’t let it show. Instead, she loosens her grip and slides her hands to rest on Kara’s hips, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

“You guys should head into town,” Alex supplies.

“What is it?” Kara asks while absentmindedly playing with Lena’s hair.

“Everything’s fine, but you’re gonna wanna see this for yourself.”

Kara frowns. “Okay, we’ll be there shortly.” She clears her throat and Lena eyes her warily.

“So?” Lena steps back and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“Alex says she has something to show us,” Kara replies. “So,” she moved her arms in a swooping gesture, “Ready to go?”

Lena shakes her head. “No. We are not flying there.”

“Suit yourself,” Kara laughs and begins to take off. Lena stops her with a hand on the wrist before she can. “Change your mind?”

“Just promise to go slow,” Lena huffs, giving Kara permission to scoop her up bridal style.

“Yes, ma’am,” she smirks.

___

“Blue kryptonite?”

Alex nods.

“What is his endgame?”

Alex puffs her cheeks up and releases hot air. “It seems he wants to get rid of your powers. And apparently he thought starting here would be the best course of action, knowing you grew up here and you’d come this way. Fool proof plan, really.” A sudden serious look clouds over her. "And I have a feeling this is only the first step in his nefarious plans."

Kara groans, "Well, is everyone okay at least?" She puts her hands on her hips, in the classic hero pose.

"As far as we know, it doesn't have any negative effects on humans. In fact, we think it does the opposite."

"Of course!" Lena interjects from her spot. She's stayed quiet and let the sisters discuss things, until now she remembers information that could help.

"Lena?" Kara raises her eyebrows in question.

"When Lex was researching ways to hurt Superman, he discovered blue kryptonite," she rolls her eyes. "Blue kryptonite can drastically improve the health of any non-Kryptonian organism, such as livestock, crops, and humans. Continual consumption of blue kryptonite-irradiated water puts humans in a perfect state of health. I'm almost positive he's been drinking the stuff for years."

"Well, fuck," Alex huffs.

Lena shakes her head. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It doesn't make him super-powered or anything. Actually, now that I think about it, the blue rock makes humans more prone to mental irregularities. If that's the case, it would explain a lot."

"Is there a way to counteract it?" Kara asks.

Lena sighs. "If I'm hypothesizing correctly, I'd bet my life on lead getting the job done."

Kara nods and looks to Alex. "Okay. You got all the rock bagged up then?" Alex nods. "How long until the water supply is back to normal?"

"A week? Maybe two. Just don't go drinking the water at mom's house, got it?"

"I'll stick to bottled," Kara smirks.

___

As they’re flying to Eliza's later that night, Kara notices her old high school is bustling with people and everyone is gussied up. She gasps loudly in Lena’s ear. “Lena, look!”

“What?”

“It’s prom night!” she slows down and finds a spot behind some bushes for cover. Once grounded she practically beams. “Let’s break in!"

Lena guffaws.

Kara stares at her with a gleaming twinkle in her eyes.

“Are you serious?” She asks incredulously.

Kara nods furiously like a bobble head. “Yeah, totally! I remember you telling me once how you never went to prom, and then I promised you if the opportunity ever arises I’d take you myself. And I'd dance with you.”

“You said no such thing,” Lena states, highly amused.

“Okay, well," Kara visibly flusters, "Maybe I never said that part out loud, but I still thought it in my head. And...I mean it.”

“Kara, that’s very sweet, but look at us,” she gestures between them, “I’m dressed like I’m ready for a board meeting, and you,” she glances around to make sure no one can see or hear them and whispers, “You’re Supergirl.”

Kara looks down and pouts, “Oh. Right.” It doesn’t keep her down for long though, because she speeds away and comes back in a dress before Lena can even blink.

“Wow. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Lena chuckles. “You didn’t think to grab anything for me?”

The hero frowns while looking Lena up and down with an intense gaze, causing Lena to feel immensely self-conscious. With a finger to her chin Kara says, “I think you look perfect. You’re basically wearing a suit, anyway, just one that probably costs more than anyone in that building can afford.”

Lena raises her eyebrows haughtily.

“Shall we?” Kara holds out her arm.

Lena rolls her eyes fondly, before relaxing, and hooks her arm through the blonde’s. “Alright, MacGyver, how are we doing this?”

“Easy,” Kara shrugs. “I’ll just open the door to the gym with my super strength, and sneak in the back. Piece of cake.”

“Famous last words.”

___

“Ha! Told you we could do it!” Kara exclaims as they make their way through the gym, where fairy lights are strewn about everywhere, and the ceiling is decorated with cheesy cotton drapes. Surprisingly, no one even notices the two women, and if they do they don’t care.

“The night is still young,” Lena points out.

“Oh quit being a downer,” Kara teases. As they find a secluded spot in the corner, a slow song starts to play. The lights cast a glow on Lena making her seem ethereal, and Kara gapes in awe.

"You look beautiful, Lena."

"I could say the same for you," she blushes.

“May I have this dance?” Kara playfully bends forward with one hand outstretched.

“You’re such a goober,” Lena laughs and takes her hand.

They slow dance for a while, the heat between them hanging in the air. As soon as Kara thinks about asking Lena the question that's been niggling her for the past few months, she notices a man poking around in the corner of her eye. He makes eye contact with her and begins making his way toward them. Kara panics.

“There’s a man coming our way. What do we do? He’s probably gonna kick us out!”

“Shit, I don’t know! This was your idea!” Lena hisses.

Kara thinks fast and makes a decision. A decision she never thought would happen, here in Midvale, in her high school gymnasium of all places. A decision that will inevitably change their lives forever.

“Do you trust me?”

“With my life,” Lena answers immediately, with a wistful smile plastered on her face.

Kara nods and takes a moment to compose herself. Just a tiny moment. Because they’re kind of running out of time here. Before she can second-guess herself, she takes Lena’s face in her hands and kisses her.

She kisses her like her life depends on it. She’s waited for this moment for so long and it’s finally here. At a high school prom she wasn't even invited to. The thought makes her want to laugh. But she can't, because she's kissing Lena. And Lena is kissing her back with just as much ferocity! It’s funny, she never imagined she’d be back here, years later, with the prettiest woman in the universe at her side, yet that’s what was in the cards for her.

When what feels like minutes of absolute heaven go by, Kara pulls back slightly, breathing heavy. She slowly opens her eyes and whispers, “Do you think it worked?”

“Excuse me?”

The voice startles them from their little bubble and makes the women jump apart in surprise.

"Gosh, you scared the crap outta me," Kara shudders, clutching at her heart. She gathers her wits and when she sees the man, realization slowly dawns on her. "Kenny?"

The man, presumably Kenny, frowns. "I'm sorry, do we know each other?"

"It's Kara. Kara Danvers!" she smiles with hesitancy. The gears in Kenny's head start turning and he puts his hands on his head in utter bewilderment.

"Kara!"

Being the tactile person she is, Kara envelops him in a bone crushing hug. When they pull back she asks, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the principal," he replies bashfully. Kenny smirks and tilts his head. "What are you doing here?"

Kara blushes a deep red and clears her throat. "Um, well...I'm just visiting, actually." She adjusts her glasses awkwardly. "You know, see how everyone's doing since I left..."

"And who's this?" Kenny asks, peering behind her, effectively cutting off the inevitable ramble about to happen.

The blonde swallows. "Oh geez, where are my manners?" she bonks herself on the head and turns to Lena. Kara gently pushes her forward by the small of her back, and rests her hand there. "Lena, this is my friend Kenny from high school. Kenny, this is my....Lena..."

Lena chuckles and holds out her hand. “Lena Luthor. Nice to meet you.” His grip is firm when they shake hands.

“Pleasure’s all mine,” he replies.

Kara grins after seeing her former (dead?) best friend meet her current best friend (maybe more?) chat with one another.

She explains why they’re there and that they essentially snuck in.

“I won’t tell a soul. You have my word,” Kenny winks at them. “Keep in touch, yeah?” Kara nods enthusiastically, and gives him one last hug before departing to the other end of the gym, where he sees a student spiking the punch bowl.

"So..." Lena starts, "That's the Kenny you told me about?"

Lena notices Kara's eyes crinkle and one corner of her mouth lifts up, in that cute way it does when she's thinking deeply about something. "Yeah. He died though, in my timeline." She frowns, and her eyes dart around the floor like the cracks and scratches have all the answers. "This whole universe...reset...thing is mind-boggling."

Lena reaches up and rubs softly at Kara's little crinkle with the pad of her thumb. When it disappears, she drops her hand and plays with the blonde's fingers instead. "Nothing's ever easy in our lives, is it?"

Kara hums an affirmation in response.

"You can tell me about it, if you'd like," Lena offers.

"That'd be nice," Kara smiles, then like a flip of a switch she's throwing her a flirty smirk. "But not right now," she joins their other hands together and pushes them forward and back, as if they're on the cusp of telling each other exciting news.

"No?" Lena plays along.

"Nope," she raises their hands up so Lena's rest on her shoulders, and Kara pulls her forward by the waist. "I was kinda hoping we could talk about that kiss."

"Mhmm, I was wondering if you were gonna bring that up," she inches closer so her forehead touches Kara's, and she encircles her arms around her neck, the distance between them practically nonexistent.

"I should've asked," she connects her hands on the other woman's back.

Lena shakes her head, the action causing their noses to bump. "You never have to ask to kiss me." Before Kara can properly respond, Lena connects their lips together again, shutting her up in the best way possible.

They still have a lot of things to figure out, a lot of demons to fight-both literally and figuratively-but Lena relishes in the thought that at least she has Kara.

At least they're doing it together.

After all, it is their life motto: stronger together.

[inklingowl]

O.o elaborate on the alpaca tags

So fair warning, the depressed alpaca story is not a happy one. TW animal illness and death.

Back when I was in college, my friend and I got summer jobs at a horse farm in the Catskill mountains. It was a small but lovely little farm expertly tended by the owner. In addition to the 20 or so horses there were two alpacas on the farm co-owned between the barn owner and her sister in law. The sister in law initially wanted them for their fiber, both selling it and using it herself. Since there was already a farm in the family, it was easy enough to obtain a stall and pasture space. Alpacas couldn’t be that much different then horses anyway, right? They’re both herd animals, they each have four legs, they eat hay, just treat them basically the same, easy peasy. Unfortunately, over the course of that summer everyone on the farm got a crash course in just how not true that assumption was.

As the days passed my friend and I started to be concerned that the local sheep/alpaca shearing guy still hadn’t made it out to free our fuzzy friends from their wool coats. Daytime temps weren’t too terrible yet but we were well into June at this point and it was only going to get hotter. Not wanting the poor things to get heat stroke we offered to shear them ourselves. After all, we’d body clipped horses before and already owned large animal grade electric clippers. It’s the same basic concept, what could go wrong? The alpacas were clearly unhappy about us invading their personal bubbles with noisy clippers but other than some concerned humming they just laid down and let us do whatever we wanted to them. We went slow and gave them frequent breaks- which is what you do with horses to minimize their stress. I now know that this is NOT what you’re supposed to do with alpacas. It’s more beneficial for them to make the process as quick as possible in order to limit the total amount of time they are stressed. After a few hours the job was done and we went to bed satisfied that we had helped make them more comfortable.

The next morning it was apparent that something was very wrong. The alpacas couldn’t stand, kept falling over out of their kush position, and kept bending their heads backwards to stare up at the ceiling. The large animal vet was immediately called out. After examining them, he explained that their symptoms matched a meningeal worm infestation. White tailed deer are the intended host for meningeal worms but they can also infect other ruminants such as alpacas. These worms can cause spinal and brain lesions that cause neurological affects similar to human polio. The vet believed that the stress of shearing the day before may have also stressed the parasites and sped up the neurological damage which is why it appeared seemingly overnight. One of the alpacas ended up being euthanized a few days later, as his neurologic issues were severe enough that he did not respond to treatment. The second alpaca responded better and was up and walking, rather wobbily but walking, after a day or two of medication.

My friend and I felt horrible and responsible for what happened so we became determined to nurse the remaining alpaca, Remy, back to health. We took him for walks around the farm multiple times a day to try to build back up his muscle strength and coordination. Shearing him had also reviled a rash on his belly, similar to a diaper rash, from the excess fleece holding urine too close to his skin. To treat this we had to wash the affected area and apply ointment daily. He hated this and objected with a combination of glares and deliberately laying down whenever we tried to wash/medicate his belly. We ended up having to devise a sling system of soft ropes under his abdomen which were then tied to the wall to keep him standing during this daily procedure. It was an utterly ridiculous set up but it worked, while simultaneously earning us yet more dirty looks from Remy. 

As much as he frequently got irritated with us he also seemed to get upset whenever we walked past his stall and didn’t take him out. It became increasingly apparent that he did not want to be left alone and would rather tag along with us whenever he could. We started spending a lot of time on alpaca husbandry web sites trying to figure out how to improve the quality of life for our sad little wobbily muppet friend. Turns out, alpacas are so bonded to their herd mates that you should never under any circumstances keep just one. They should always be kept in a group, minimum two, three or more is better. If kept alone they will often get so stressed they will die.

Naturally we took this information to the barn owner and told her it was in Remy’s best interest to either rehome him to a farm with other alpacas or to buy him a friend. At this point the barn owner was feeling pretty out of her depth with caring for this poor little train wreck of a creature and she was willing to find him a new home. Remy’s co-owner however wanted to keep him. They’d already invested a lot of money between the initial purchase price of two animals and all the repeat vet visits. Not to mention they already lost one of them, she didn’t want to go through all that just to lose custody of the second alpaca as well. The one thing they both did agree on was that they couldn’t afford to spend a couple thousand dollars to buy a replacement to be Remy’s companion.

As the summer progressed we started to feel hope, Remy did in fact improve. His rash cleared up, and he got strong enough that he was able to be turned out in a pasture with two of the oldest and most gentle horses on the property- whom he pointedly ignored. He’d come tottering up to the fence whenever we walked by though. We were still his surrogate herd. Unfortunately as we feared, his improved health did not last.

My friend and I went out of town one weekend and when we returned we were told that Remy had bloated when we were gone and the vet had been called out yet again. Bloat is a type of gas colic and it can be fatal. The vet recommended a mixture of dish soap and baking soda be syringe fed into him to help counteract the bloat. I still am unsure exactly what this does digestive chemistry wise, but I’m told it’s an old treatment for gas colic in ruminants. All I know is Remy hated it. It was the only time I ever saw him spit at people. He recovered but bloated yet again just a few weeks later, once again when my friend and I were out of town for the weekend. By this point the barn owner was noticing a pattern. In addition to him bloating whenever his preferred humans missed a day of visiting him, when he was found bloating he was always laying upside down on a slope in the pasture- head pointing downhill and feet pointing uphill. It was unclear if he was laying in that position due to discomfort and pain or if laying in that position is what was triggering his bloat episodes. Either way, he would make no effort to right himself. It was like he would just give up on life and lay down to die.

I know that it seems like I'm just anthropomorphizing by implying that he might have been intentionally trying to end his own life but it really seemed like that's what was happening. Remy was a very sensitive and dramatic individual, which as far as I can tell is a pretty standard personality for alpacas. Combine that with what we read about them frequently dying of stress when kept alone and you can see how we could come to that conclusion.

My friend and I started to get very concerned as the summer came to a close and we packed up to move back to college 3 hours away. We'd gotten very attached to our depressed alpaca charge, and felt responsible for his wellbeing. Unfortunately he wasn't ours and thus we couldn't just take him with us. We once again pleaded the case of either getting him a friend or rehoming him and hoped at the very least he'd bond with another human or horse in our absence. Alas, within a month of us leaving, he bloated yet again and didn't pull through that time.

So yeah, not a happy story. The moral of it is to do lots of research before getting an animal, routinely deworm your livestock, and accept that sometimes it's in the best interest of the animal to find a new home. It doesn't matter if you would lose a financial or emotional investment, part of being a responsible pet owner is acknowledging when you can't give them what they need and finding someone else who can.

[socialanimalwelfare]

How to keep your pets comfortable during summer

Due to climate change, the weather has changed a lot these days. With the festival of Holi, the temperature has increased completely. Due to the sudden change in the weather, it is natural to change the care and routine of the animals. In view of the change in the weather, we should take care of some things in taking care of the animals so that the animals can be saved from the rapid changes in the environmental temperature. It is noteworthy that due to the rapid change in the environmental temperature, the health, reproduction, nutrition etc. of the animals are affected, due to which the animal products and their quality also deteriorate.

All animals have a certain somatic temperature range that they prefer to maintain. In dairy cows, this desired temperature is maintained as long as the ambient temperature remains in the range of 28-30 °C. Higher than this temperature can create a stressful situation for them. Due to the extreme temperature, the efficiency of the animals decreases, and the risk of many diseases to the animal also increases. Along with external heat, anabolic heat also generates physical heat. As milk production and animal feed increase, so does the amount of anabolic heat.

 Pet Care: Signs of an Animal Suffering from Heat Stress

 Due to thermal stress, the respiratory rate of animals increases from 10-30 to 30-60 times per minute.

Animals gasp and saliva is seen pouring out of their mouths.

The pH of the blood decreases due to the lack of bicarbonates and ions in the animal's body.

During thermal stress, the body temperature of animals rises from 102.5 °C to 103 °F.

Thermal stress also negatively affects the development of the mammary glands. Its effect is visible in the ensuing lactation.

Cows affected by thermal stress also find it difficult to perform sedation. During thermal stress, the duration of estrus is shortened and there is an imbalance in the secretion of reproductive hormones, mainly the estrogen hormone (which affects estrus behavior).

In a high-temperature environment, the cows often remain silent, and the incidence of colds increases. Even if the item is detected, many times the animal is unable to conceive due to high body temperature.

Increased thermal stress has an adverse effect on fertilization which can also damage the embryo and the bodyweight of calves born at normal temperature has been found to be less.

How to protect the animal from thermal stress?

During the summer season, the cows require special care for their better health and to keep the production level stable. Thermal stress can be reduced by lowering the animal's ambient temperature.

 Information about animals: for this, we should take these measures and for more information, we can reach Animal Welfare Society Dharuhera.

Animals should be kept in the shade. Find well-designed animal sheds. With this, the effect of heat can be reduced by 30-50 percent.

Build a shady shed for livestock with a ceiling height of 12 to 14 feet.

Cover the shed properly with stubble so that the heat of the environment reaches at least the animals standing below.

The structure of the shed should be in the east-west position so that in the month of May-June, minimum sunlight comes in and in the month of December, the animal gets some more sunlight.

Apart from this, adopt other methods to give rest to the animal-like fountains, coolers, mist fans, water tanks, bathing arrangements, etc.

Use available materials such as jute or sack curtains to protect against heat in the animal shelter.

 Make these changes in the diet of animals

Along with the external environment, it is very important to balance the internal environment of the animal's body so that the balance of ions and acid, and base remains in the animal's body. For this, we have to change the diet given to the animals.

Give the animal a regular fiber diet so that more saliva can be secreted.

Use a resistive solution or buffer.

Mineral elements such as sodium 5% and potassium 1.25 to 1.5% can also be fed in the diet.

In summer, the yield of green fodder decreases, to meet the shortage, soak dry straw and mix grain and mineral mixture in it.

The grain content should not exceed 55-60 percent of the gross dry matter intake.

To meet the energy requirement of animals in summer, feed high-energy diets which do not increase the internal anabolic heat. For this, give a high-fat diet (up to 6 percent only). By feeding such food there is no increase in body temperature and respiration rate also remains normal.

In summer, arrange fresh and clean water for the animals at all times. If you want more information about animal care please visit Animal Welfare Society Rewari.

[peacefulheartfarm]

What I Love About Homesteading

Today I want to talk about what I love about homesteading. Quite a few of the previous podcasts have contained lots of information about animal predator issues we have been having. I know it has been a real downer. As for me, it has definitely been a downer and I want to do this podcast to bring a balanced perspective and more positive outlook on our life here on the homestead. We don’t always have such a bad time of it. In fact, what I love about homesteading is a much better representation of what it is like for us most of the time.

Let me take a brief minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I can’t thank you all enough. I appreciate you all so much. And I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week. We have big news.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

The greatest thing is finally happening. If all goes well over the next few days, we will have a new dog on the homestead.

Sheep and Goats

We had yet another attack on our sheep. This time it was dogs. The tracks left behind were definitely from dogs. At least two. I’m not going to give the details this time, but we are down to four animals. The flock ram, a yearling and two breeding ewes. Thank God for the imminent arrival of a livestock guardian dog.

We can now rebuild our sheep flock and start a new goat herd. The most stressful thing about the whole situation is that we could not rebuild the flock or introduce the new goat breed we are adding to the homestead. I wanted to get back to normal flock size but we simply could not risk bringing new animals onto the homestead that would simply be killed by stray dogs. They are still out there. Yesterday we found dog tracks down in the very creek bed where the previous destruction occurred. It had rained hard the day before. These tracks were fresh yesterday. I’m so grateful that we have finally found a dog. Let me tell you a little bit about him.

Mack the Catalonian Sheep Dog

Mack was rehomed from a family that sold all of their sheep and therefore he no longer had a job. He was born and raised in the pasture with livestock, which is what we were looking for in a guardian dog. The lady from which we are getting him has had him for just a few months. She began having a bit of an issue with him going to visit the neighbors while she was not there during the daylight hours. At night he protected his animals.

Wandering is Not Good

As she does not live on that farmland where he was housed, he began seeking company elsewhere. She expected him to stay with the animals all the time. It seems that while she was only a few miles away, he still needed to know a human was around and sought out the neighbors to fill that role. We are hoping that because we are here all the time, he will be comfortable knowing we are always around and that he will be diligent about staying with the sheep. We shall see. It has been many, many years since either of us has had a dog. I, for one, am looking forward to this new adventure. I hope Mack will be happy with us and with his new flock of sheep.

Adding the goats later will be an interesting exercise in introducing new animals to Mack. I’m sure I’ll be regaling stories of the ups and downs of livestock guardian dog ownership. Stay tuned.

Cows

We are still waiting on Violet to come into heat. Does it seem like to you that we are always “waiting on Violet” for something? I know it seems like it to me. We are pretty confident that all of the other girls are gestating a new calf. Will Violet get with the program? Only time will tell. She needs to conceive in the next few weeks or we end up in the same situation again. We have just a few weeks to meet our schedule of having her pregnant and due for delivery no later than the last week of April.

Quail

New quail babies will hatch in a few days. I have 84 eggs in there. I’m not sure what is going to happen this time. A couple of days ago we had a power outage. A tree fell on a line during a particularly heavy thunderstorm. We were out of power for several hours. This is not a problem during any time when the incubator is not running. After about an hour, we started the generator and plugged in the incubator. The temp was quite low and the humidity was really high due to the moisture from the rain. It stabilized quickly but I have no idea how this will affect the hatch rate.

I was going back and forth trying to decide between getting a battery big enough to jump start the car or one that would simply be enough for the cell phone and credit card reader. I need those two things working when I’m at the farmer’s market. This power outage clarified that decision.

HALO Bolt

There is a product called Halo Bolt and there are several different models. It comes with a small set of jumper cables, a couple of USB connections and even a place to attach a small device with an AC plug. It costs just under $100 dollars.

On the other hand, I can get a small charging device without the AC outlet and jumper cable capability for about 20 bucks. I was leaning in that direction. I just got a new car battery and don’t expect to have to use the jumper cables for quite a few years. But the experience of being without power for the incubator has convinced me to invest in the more expensive unit.

Let’s Get One and Test It Out

We cranked up the generator. But that was overkill for one little incubator. The more practical solution would be to be able to plug it into that battery for a little while. At least I think that will work. It is designed for charging a tablet or laptop, but I believe you can plug in any AC cord and run the device. We shall see. I’ll give it a try and let you know how it turns out. These are the kinds of things for which everyone needs to be prepared. You simply never know when the power is going to be out. For you it might be that you need to be able to charge your cell phone. For us, it’s going to be keeping the incubator running for those quail eggs.

Garden

I have three 5-gallon buckets of green beans in the cooler. We picked them Sunday evening. Tomorrow I’ll be packaging them up for the farmer’s market. They look beautiful. I’m so glad we got this great harvest. In the next few weeks, the Mexican bean beetles will come out and take over the plants. We don’t use any pesticides on our garden, not even the organic ones. We pick them off or squish them. But using this method ensures that eventually the bugs will win. Planting extra and making sure the plants are healthy and not a magnet to bugs are my two strategies for pest control and reaping a decent harvest.

There are small tomatoes all over the place out there. That’s going to be another great crop to harvest in the very near future.

Orchard

In the orchard, the blackberries are all that is left to pick. Scott cleaned out the wild blackberries that have thorns so it is easy for me to pick the remaining blackberries. We still have quite a few that are red and not yet ripe. I have a couple of gallons in the freezer right now. My plan for those is to steam the juice out of them and make seedless blackberry jelly.

I don’t know what happened to the apples. We had several trees that had apples for the first time ever but those apples disappeared. I suspect the deer that briefly invaded the orchard area is the culprit there. There is always next year.

I was hoping to see the strawberries bloom again. They are supposed to be everbearing. The deer ate all of the green leaves a while back, but they have grown back and the plants look great. Still waiting on those blooms and more strawberries.

Creamery

Still nothing going on here. It may be another couple of weeks before anything gets going again in the creamery. Scott is so busy with the high summer tasks of keeping the fields and orchards cut. Repairing fences takes up him time and so on. He has three or four more fields to mow and then maybe he can get back on the creamery tasks. You never know though. Some other tasks may come up. We shall see. Let’s talk about what I love about homesteading.

What I Love About Homesteading

I’m just going to run through a list of things that came up when I thought about what I love about homesteading. They are not in any particular order.

Setting my own schedule

The first thing that I love is that I’m in charge of when I get up and go to work. I say this with some ambiguity. It’s not like I can sleep until noon on any given day. In fact, there are still chores that need to be done on a regular basis, usually at a particular time. But as I have chosen to make those chores part of my life, I’m still in charge. I’m free to change the routine at any time. It might involve changing what animals we house here, but I certainly have that option.

Daily Planning Meetings

Another thing that is an absolute delight is having daily meetings with Scott about what we are going to do on any given day. It is a continuation of the hours and hours that we spent dreaming about what we were going to do once we were living here all the time, no longer working for someone else. We still dream together on a daily basis.

Making cheese

Once a week I make cheese. I love making cheese. It is a peaceful occupation. Sometimes it requires a bit of heavy lifting and that makes me tired, but in the end, I get these wonderful masterpieces of cheese on which to gaze. The entire process is still so amazing to experience, even though I’ve done it hundreds of times. To see liquid milk turn into a solid wheel or two or three of cheese is still awesome to see.

Gardening

Gardening without having to work it in around other things, well for the most part. This is like saying I set my schedule. There are sometimes when I need to do things in the garden but I also need to make cheese or go to the bank or clean the bathroom and so on. So, I do end up working it in around other things. But what I don’t have to do is try to work it in after a day at the office or in a limited time frame on the weekend. I have the whole week to figure out where I am going to fit in the gardening.

Perhaps this sounds too simple. But we spent years and years driving back and forth from Virginia to South Carolina for work. I had all day Saturday and Sunday until 6 pm to get all of the gardening done as well as laundry and cleaning and on and on. The garden was always overrun with weeds. It was not really that fun. Now it is a joy. And of course it is hard work when it is 85 or 90 degrees out, but it is a good work out. And if I don’t get it all done in one day, I have other days in which to work out when to get out there and water, weed, and pick veggies.  

Experiencing the Seasons

Experiencing each of the seasons up close and personal is part of our everyday life. The gardens brought that to mind. In the past, we experienced spring, summer, fall and winter as changes in temperature. Perhaps whether it snowed or rained was the most important aspect of the season but daily activities remained pretty much the same. Get up, go to work, come home, watch a little TV, go to bed and then do it all over again.

Now, each season brings us a change in what we do on the homestead. There is a lot of activity associated with spring, summer and fall. But each activity is different. In general, spring time is for planting, summer for weeding and watering and the fall is all about the harvest and preserving the harvest. Some of that happens all along the way, but in general, this is how I think about my life. The primary focus in the spring is getting the planting done. The primary focus in the summer is weeding and water, though there is a lot of harvesting happening as well. It just moves around a lot from one plant to the next to the next. In the fall, it is all about getting everything in and preserved for later use.

And I never thought I would say this, but I love the winter now. It is a time to slow down, take stock of what worked and what needs to be changed in the next season. I used to hate winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder is something I have struggled with most of my life. As the winter season wore on, I would get more and more inactive and more and more depressed. Recently, in the last few years, I’ve changed my diet, eliminating most carbohydrates. My moods stabilized. Now I experience the winter with joy. I still slow down. That’s why winter is useful. It is a time to rest up and revitalize the roots so the organism is strong and bursting with energy in the spring. I’m having a great experience with that deep revitalization in the winter. And I’m ready to get up and go when spring arrives.

Losing Track of the Day and Hour

Not knowing what day of the week it is or what time of day it is can be a little disconcerting. But I really only have to think about it once or twice a day. In the morning I determine what day it is and what I need to accomplish for the coming days. Things like getting ready for the farmer’s market or doing a podcast or newsletter. These things are done on specific days so I need to be ready for that. Otherwise, I check my list of things to do and get going on the first item. In the evening there is a bit of reflection on what to prepare for the next day. One of the farmer’s markets requires me to get up at 5:15 am and the other 6:00 am. Other days of the week, the alarm goes off at 6 but we may or may not get up immediately. We have some leeway on those days. But market days, we pop up and get going as soon as the alarm sounds.  

New Life

The new births that happen in the spring. I never get tired of the new births. It is stressful for me, as I’ve said before. But I wouldn’t trade that joy of new birth for anything in the world.

Tours for Kids

Sharing our homestead with kids that come to visit. They love it so much. I watched a group of 8 kids just a few days ago which they explored the quail. They delighted in watching these quirky birds. They didn’t just look at them and say, “Oh they are cute.” No, they watched and watched and watched them. They looked into each section of the cages. They opened the cage doors and looked for eggs. It was so beautiful to see.

Clean Eating

Another thing I love about the homestead is cooking with ingredients that I raised myself. I know the exact contents of everything I eat. I either raised it myself, purchased or bartered for it from another farm or homestead, or I purchased a single ingredient item in the store. This was the first and most important reason that we started our dream of living the homestead life. I get so tired of reading the labels on foods in the grocery store and seeing all kinds of things that I cannot even pronounce. There are so many fillers and everything has sugar or wheat or gluten added. Even the meats now are injected with flavoring and fillers to bulk up the product. The label says something like, “contains 10% of something or other” to maintain freshness or enhance flavor or whatever. That’s 10% of the meat that is something that did not originate with the animal. I’m so glad those days are past.

Spending Time in the Kitchen

I get to spend lots of time in the kitchen storing food and being food self-reliant. When working for someone else, time in the kitchen was a dreadful activity. I wanted to eat out as much as possible. Who wants to cook after working all day? I’m ready to sit down and let someone else do the work. Of course, I was eating a lot of really bad stuff. Chinese take out was a favorite. There is a lot of sugar in that stuff. So that is all in the past. I spend time in the kitchen when I choose. Sometimes I make a meal that will last for days. In the intervening days, I might be making jam or canning pickled peppers. Canning is another task that I used to dread when I worked for other people. It was something I had to do and I had to do it right away in a limited time frame on Saturday or Sunday. It was stressful. Now there is still stress to get the harvest processed but the window of time has expanded. I have every day, seven days a week to plan for the next harvest and canning session.  

Long Term Dreaming/Planning Sessions

Long term planning of the next step in our journey or modifying the previous plan is just as wonderful now as it was when we were just dreaming. We spent years dreaming about what we were going to do once we lived full time on our homestead. We wanted to do everything. We soon found out that we had to pick and choose what to do. There are simply not enough hours in the day to do all of which we dreamed. But the dreaming and planning is so much fun. And it continues. There is always something new to be added, changed or deleted from our homestead.

Daily Communion with God

And the final thing I want to say about what I love about homesteading is just getting up and going outside and communing with God. Living the homestead lifestyle makes it effortless. While all the work is going on and on and on, seemingly endless, there is always time to just stop and listen to the birds, feel the sunshine and soft breeze, and to watch God’s creations grazing in the fields, the children playing and the amazing plants growing and changing each day as they blossom and produce their fruits. We are truly blessed.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. I may have rambled a bit here and there but I hope you enjoyed the uplifting ideas I talked about. Let me know what your dreams are and how you are progressing toward them. It doesn’t have to be the homestead life. We are all unique in our hopes and desires. Please share your dreams with me. I’d love to hear your story. Send me an email. Let me know what’s beautiful in your life.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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Check out this episode!

[bluecheeseisnotahappycheese]

Y’all need to consider this

When the temperatures change and a fish store gets a shipment in there’s a good chance that cold water has affected the health of the livestock. No matter how many heat packs and styrofoam boxes are involved there is going to be some ich. Also late shipments can cause further stress to animals leading to a higher likelihood of disease.

WE ARE NOT NEGLECTING OUR LIVESTOCK

WE KNOW WHAT ICH LOOKS LIKE

WE ARE TREATING THE AFFECTED SYSTEM

MY HOSPITAL SYSTEMS ARE FULL OF THE MOST AFFECTED

IT BOTHERS ME TO SEE IT TOO

Its like customers think we don’t care??? I work here because I love fish dude and I keep Fish myself. Seeing the animals infected with it bothers me WAY MORE than it bothers you, because I’m in charge of making sure they’re healthy and happy and ALSO it affects my reputation. Your snide comments about how I don’t know how to do my job not only does nothing to help but also hurts my fucking feelings. I’m an actual fish hobbyist who is working hard to keep thousands of Fish healthy.

Also? If someone points at a Fish and wants to purchase it and it has ich or ANY signs of not wanting to eat or possible illness I will NOT sell it to you.

[ezatluba]

Holstein cows feeding at a dairy farm in Merced, California. 

How Eating Seaweed Can Help Cows to Belch Less Methane

Emissions from the world’s nearly 1.5 billion cattle are a major source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Now, researchers in California and elsewhere are experimenting with seaweed as a dietary additive for cows that can dramatically cut their methane production.

BY JUDITH LEWIS MERNIT 

JULY 2, 2018

The spring morning temperature in landlocked northern California warns of an incipient scorcher, but the small herd of piebald dairy cows that live here are too curious to care. Upon the approach of an unfamiliar human, they canter out of their barn into the already punishing sun, nosing each other aside to angle their heads over the fence. Some are black-and-white, others brown; all sport a pair of numbered yellow ear tags. Some are more assertive than others. One manages to stretch her long neck out far enough to lick the entire length of my forearm.

“That’s Ginger,” explains their keeper, 27-year-old Breanna Roque. A graduate student in animal science at the University of California, Davis, Roque monitors everything from the animals’ food rations to the somatic cells in their milk — indicators of inflammation or stress. “The interns named her. She’s our superstar.”

Ginger is one of 12 Holstein cows participating in an experiment being conducted by Roque’s animal science professor, Ermias Kebreab, into reducing methane emissions from livestock by supplementing their diets with a specific type of seaweed. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with roughly 30 times more short-term, heat-trapping power than carbon dioxide. In California alone, 1.8 million dairy cows, together with a smaller number of beef cattle, emit 11.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year — as much as 2.5 million cars.

In the U.S., domestic livestock contribute 36 percent of the methane humans cause to be put into the atmosphere.

The enormity of those numbers, in part, motivated California lawmakers to pass a law to reduce methane emissions and other short-lived “climate pollutants” by 40 percent below 2013 levels by 2030. The California Air Resources Board subsequently ordered a majority of the reductions in the new law to come from the dairy industry. Other cuts will come from diverting organic waste from landfills and eliminating fugitive emissions associated with oil and gas operations.

The UC Davis study will contribute to a global store of knowledge on how to limit the methane produced by “enteric fermentation” — the digestive process in a ruminant’s upper stomach chamber, or rumen, where microbes predigest fiber and starch, releasing gases when they belch and exhale. It’s “one of a handful of options in various stages of development that seem to have the potential to reduce [enteric] methane by 30 percent or more,” says Ryan McCarthy, science advisor to the Air Resources Board.

Kebreab’s experiments with seaweed additives to cattle feed have now surpassed that 30-percent figure, with one type of seaweed slashing enteric methane by more than 50 percent. In the fight to slow climate change, such reductions are no small matter: In the United States alone, domestic livestock — including cattle, sheep, goats, and buffalo — contribute 36 percent of the methane humans cause to be put into the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Scientist Ermias Kebreab has studied how to reduce cow methane emissions for more than a decade.

Researchers worldwide are working on the livestock methane problem. In the past, scientists have tried mixing microbes from the low-methane-producing kangaroo forestomach into bovine gut microbes, selectively breeding less gassy cows. Researchers have also tried vaccinating to suppress “methanogens” — the bacteria that turn carbon and hydrogen into methane in the rumen. (That last idea was a little like trying to develop a flu vaccine that would work every year, in every corner of the world. “There were too many different methanogens,” Kebreab says. “We couldn’t calibrate it for all of them.” )

Feed additives have shown more promise. Three years ago, Alexander Hristov, a researcher at Penn State University, achieved a 30 percent reduction in enteric methane by salting ruminant feed with a substance called 3-nitrooxypropanol, or 3NOP (the substance is currently awaiting FDA approval). Kebreab believes seaweed might prove to be an even better solution. A native of Eritrea who came to the U.S. after working in the United Kingdom and Canada, the 45-year-old researcher has been working on the problem for 15 years. “It’s taken up pretty much my whole career,” he says.

In the research barn at UC Davis, Roque opens a large foil bag to reveal fistfuls of dried algae the color of old bricks: Asparagopsis, still off-gassing the ocean — fish and sulfur with bright notes of iodine. Interns have ground up the clumps and poured them into orange buckets. Roque puts on latex gloves to blend the dried seaweed with molasses to produce a shiny, viscous slop that the cows evidently find delicious. Palatability is key: One study in the UK that added curry to feed in a simulated cow rumen looked promising until the real-life cows refused to eat the curry.

“They’re pretty picky eaters,” Roque says. Foraging animals have to sort nourishment from potential poisons in the pasture. “If they run across something unfamiliar, they’ll avoid it.”

Farmers in ancient Greece and 18th-century Iceland deliberately grazed their cows on beaches.

Four of the cows eat a mixture of alfalfa and hay, heavily spiked with the seaweed-molasses mixture. Four more will eat the same feed, with less seaweed added in. The rest are the control group — they’ll eat plain feed, without any additives at all. Roque spent nearly two weeks training the cows in how to access their own specific feeding berths, affixing each one with a transponder that allows the cow to open an electronic door to her individual trough. Not all the cows are down with the program. One, large, black-masked Holstein repeatedly shoves her smaller, more compliant neighbor aside from the open door of her berth. The smaller cow obliges every time. Roque raps the bolder cow on the nose, and it withdraws, but not for long.

“They’re eating the exact same thing,” Roque says, a bit exasperated. In the paddock as in the pasture, “the grass really is always greener.”

When they finish eating, they’re enticed by the drop of a “cow cookie” to visit a compartment where an instrument, much like a breathalyzer, analyzes their emissions. “They hear it drop and come over,” Roque says. “We try to get each of them there three times a day.” Each cow wears a ring on its ear that transmits an identification code along with its breath analysis to a database. Roque and Kebreab can view the results on their computers and smartphones.

The results have exceeded everyone’s expectations, including Kebreab’s. His three-month study of Ginger and her cohort found that spiking cows’ ordinary rations with one kind of marine macroalgae in particular, Asparagopsis, reduces enteric methane by 58 percent. More than other seaweeds, Asparagopsis contains compounds that inhibit the production of methane, or CH4, and interrupt the process by which carbon and hydrogen bind together.

“We did not expect these numbers in the doses we used,” Kebreab says. Milk production held steady or increased. A panel of tasters detected no differences among the different cows’ milk.

There’s nothing novel about cows eating seaweed, notes Joan Salwen, an environmental science fellow at Stanford University who introduced UC Davis scientists to the seaweed solution, and formed a nonprofit, Elm Innovations, to help focus and fund research.  “Cows eat what’s available,” she says. In California, they eat almond hulls; in Georgia, they eat cottonseeds. Documented evidence attests to farmers in ancient Greece and 18th-century Iceland deliberately grazing their cows on beaches.

It was, in fact, an ordinary farmer who hit upon the idea of supplementing cows’ feed with seaweed — not for the climate, but simply for his animals’ overall health. On the shores of Prince Edward Island in Canada, Joe Dorgan observed that his beach-paddocked cows got pregnant faster and produced more milk than his inland pastured cows. When he retired from dairy farming in 2011, he launched a new business, North Atlantic Organics, to make “stormtoss shoreweed” from Prince Edward Island available to inland farmers who graze their cows during seasons of scanty forage.

Because it appears to promote milk production, the seaweed cure might catch on in other dairy states.

When Dorgan wanted data to market his product, he approached an environmental scientist named Rob Kinley, who was then at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. In 2014, Kinley and his colleague Alan Fredeen analyzed different varieties of seaweed that washed up on beaches, mixed in vitro with rumen microbiota, for their nutritional value and health impacts on ruminants. But being environmental scientists, Kinley says, “‘what if?’ possibilities are always in our peripheral vision.” With an interest in how all livestock feeds affect enteric methane, they measured their samples for methane production as well.

Kinley discovered in his laboratory tests that seaweeds could reduce methane production by as much as 16 percent. “That was the spark to deepen the search for more potent seaweeds,” he says.

By this time, Kinley had moved to Australia, where he went to work at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). In partnership with James Cook University and Meat and Livestock Australia, Kinley began screening different seaweeds for their impact on methane emissions from ruminant livestock. That process revealed Asparagopsis as the anti-methanogenic seaweed of choice. But Kinley is quick to warn that it does not grow in abundance all over the planet. If it breaks out as a global solution to enteric methane, it will need to be farmed.

Which is not, Kinley argues, a bad thing. Seaweed cultivation takes up excess nitrogen and dissolved carbon dioxide from ocean waters; cultivating it could create new economies in impoverished regions. Researchers still need to figure out how that would work. “There is no depth of knowledge in cultivation of Asparagopsis using any method,” says Kinley.

Ground-up Asparagopsis, a type of seaweed, which can reduce cow methane emissions up to 50 percent when added to feed.  

“As far as we know,” says Salwen, “this supplement, if it proves out in all animal testing, could be offered in all livestock production systems that we know about.” Pasture-raised cows that eat primarily grass could have the supplement added to their water or to their salt licks.

Even though the California dairy industry at large fought hard against what farmers initially considered onerous regulation, at least some dairy farmers are tentatively enthusiastic about seaweed additives. “Methane is an indication of an inefficiency in the animal’s digestion,” says Jonathan Reinbold, sustainability program manager for Organic Valley, a cooperative of more than 1,800 dairy farmers, including 35 in California. “If you can increase the digestion efficiency of a cow by 5 percent you could remove 5 percent of the land you use for production for cows. It can go back to fallow or be used to grow other kinds of food.”

And because it also appears to promote milk production, the seaweed cure might catch on in other dairy states without many climate regulations. The California Air Resources Board’s McCarthy sees a future for seaweed boosting dairy production in developing countries. Reinbold imagines it spreading across his company’s U.S. cooperative.

“If the benefits are real and make sense financially, why wouldn’t we have the entire cooperative of 1,800 dairy farmers using it?” Reinbold says. “We certainly hope that’s the case.”

[juniperpublishers-jdvs]

Dairy Cow Welfare, Heat Stress and Climate Change- Juniper Publishers

To know more about  journal of veterinary science impact factor: https://juniperpublishers.com/jdvs/index.php To know more about Open Access journals Publishers: Juniper Publishers

Abstract

There has been widespread concern in the media regarding the impact that livestock have on global warming, particularly with methane from ruminants noted as a potent greenhouse gas. Less public debate has occurred however, on the potentially negative impact that global warming will have, indeed is having, on livestock welfare. Here we will first briefly discuss the effect of livestock husbandry on climate change before moving to a more detailed discussion of the effect that a warmer climate is likely to have, again is currently having, on the physiology and welfare of cattle across the world. Finally, we will briefly discuss measures that can be taken to reduce the impact of temperature increase on dairy cattle.

Introduction

Recent research has estimated that while cattle provide just 18% of the world’s dietary calories and 37% of protein, they use a huge proportion (83%) of agricultural land and produce 60% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions [1]. Understandably, given these figures, most public concern regarding cattle and climate change has focussed on the animals as an important causative agent with broadcast media highlighting the problem [2]. Public understanding of the impact of global warming on cattle welfare is significantly less, although some newspapers have noted the problem [3]. The effects of heat stress on beef and dairy cattle have been recognised by the farming industry for some time but the link with increasing ambient temperature is only recently being highlighted. Here we look at the effects of heat stress on cattle and the impact that global warming will have, indeed is already having, on cattle welfare.

Heat Stress and the Lactating Cow

The lactating dairy cow already has an increased internal temperature through her milk production (Figure 1). Heat production through metabolic functions is estimated to account for around a third of the energy intake of a 600kg cow producing 40kg of milk daily with a far level of 4% [4]. A study comparing cows that were non-lactating, or at low (18.5kg/d) or high (31.6 kg/d) milk yield showed that low and high yielding cows generated 27 and 48% more heat than nonlactating cows even though they had a lower body weight [5]. Whilst in cold environments dissipation of such body heat is not a problem, during periods of elevated ambient temperature, heat loss can be a significant problem for dairy cattle. The limiting factor for cattle at peak lactation is energy intake and a common management practice is to increase energy density of the diet by decreasing forage and giving a mixed ration with a high energy density. A side effect of feeding such a high energy ration is that of increased heat production; Reynolds and colleagues showed that heat production for heifers ingesting 4 and 7kg dry matter per day was around 40 and 56MJ/d respectively [6].

The irony, if we are aiming to increase dietary intake in cattle living on the metabolic knife edge of maximum productivity, is that heat stress leads to reduced feed intake, decreased activity and increase in peripheral blood flow to aid perspiration [7] while decreasing portal blood flow taking nutrients from the intestines to the liver [8]. Lough’s 1990 paper also showed a reduced vascular supply to the mammary gland in times of heat stress, reducing milk production. Other effects of heat stress on lactation include a decline in plasma somatotrophin and triiodothyronine and thyroxine [9]. Heat stress alters blood acid-base balance, since panting animals lose carbon dioxide and thus have a respiratory alkalosis [10]. Compensation for this involves increased renal excretion of bicarbonate in times of heat stress, leading to a paradoxical metabolic acidosis during the cooler hours of nighttime. This in turn leads to a loss of bicarbonate buffering capacity which can be critical if cattle are being fed high grain rations. To add to the cow’s electrolyte compromise, potassium loss through increased sweating can lead to hypokalaemia [11].

What impact do these metabolic changes in heat stress have on the affective status of the animal? As far back as 1968 Collins and Weiner suggested that acute heat stress had emotional effects on dairy cattle [12] and subsequent work confirmed that heatstressed cattle have higher cortisol levels than animals kept in cooler environments [13]. Animals with a reduce dry matter intake during heat stress are not only physiological stressed, losing body weight, but also emotionally affected by hunger [14]. We know that cattle given a limited grazing period have higher plasma levels of ghrelin, the ‘hunger hormone’ [15] and it is reasonable to assume that cattle reducing their dietary intake through heat stress will experience the same endocrinologic and affective state. Thirst too is a classic response to heat stress and providing adequate water is essential [16] with chilled drinking water alleviating both thermal issues and thirst [17,18]. Stermer’s research [17] was undertaken more than thirty years ago and yet it must be asked how many farms are providing chilled water for their dairy cattle in times of heat stress. Such information is difficult to access, but this author’s impression is that few are.

What influence does heat stress have on lameness and pain in dairy cattle? Heat-stressed cattle increase their standing time to allow greater body surface area to be exposed to the air for heat loss by convection. Lying time is reduced by 30% with higher ambient temperatures [19] and increased periods of standing have been suggested as a significant risk factor for lameness which is already a substantial cause of pain in a sizeable proportion of dairy cattle [20]. It has been suggested that the conflict between whether to stand up and increase cooling or to lie and relieve pain form lameness might be a significant factor in frustration in dairy cattle, a potentially important affective influence on their welfare [21]. Leg stomping, weight repositioning and butting, potential behavioural indicators of frustration, have been noted in cattle deprived of the opportunity to lie [22] and it would be a valuable exercise to assess the prevalence of such behaviours in heat stressed cattle as compared with the same animals in cooler environments.

Heat stress also reduces fertility in cattle. While results of research on the effect of heat stress on reproductive endocrine status have been varied, plasma luteinising hormone pulses have been shown to be of lower amplitude and frequency in periods of high ambient temperature [23] and plasma oestradiol concentrations are lowered by heat stress in dairy cows. Plasma progesterone levels are influenced by food intake and hepatic metabolism as well as luteal function, so the influence of heat stress on progesterone production is complex, but effects of heat stress on this hormone will affect the survival of an implanting fetus in the uterine wall as well as oocyte formation with deleterious effects on oocyte maturation and embryonic death.

Opportunities to Alleviate These Issues

Ambient temperature increases are to be expected in the future, so one must ask what measures can be put in place to manage heat stress in cattle. A personal experience might be worth noting here. On a visit to the Department of Veterinary Medicine in the University of Khartoum, Sudan I was at first horrified to see Holstein Friesian cattle, imported from Holland, kept in the elevated temperatures of this African country. Inspection of the farms however showed the use of large water misting fans to cool the cattle (Figure 2). This together with adequate provision of shade allowed the cattle to live comfortably. Indeed, the human inhabitants of Khartoum have borrowed that technology and now use water-cooling fans in up-market restaurants in the city! It is not only equatorial Africa which is using such technology in the livestock industry. American and Australian dairy farms are now also using fan assisted cooling and sprinklers more and more [24]. With an estimated reduction in lactation of up to 35% in midlactating heat-stressed cows it has been suggested that the US dairy industry is losing between $900 and $1500 million annually [25]. Clearly reducing heat stress is not only a welfare issue, but also a commercial imperative.

To know more about  journal of veterinary science impact factor: https://juniperpublishers.com/jdvs/index.php

To know more about Open Access journals Publishers: Juniper Publishers

[dixiechikdigger]

10 BAD THINGS about Eating MEAT

10 BAD THINGS ABOUT EATING MEAT RELATED BOOK Plant-Based Diet For Dummies By Marni Wasserman There is no doubt that eating meat creates health concerns not only for consumers but also for the environment and (of course) the farmed animals, and it’s unfortunate that people overlook so many of these problems. Animals are taken advantage of, the environment suffers, and ultimately you suffer, as well. MEAT PRODUCTION WASTES NATURAL RESOURCES The world is a diverse place that offers many natural resources. The meat industry places extreme stress on natural resources, causing extreme reduction and depletion: Water Land Food Energy MEAT ISN’T AS RICH IN NUTRIENTS AS PLANTS An animal-based diet isn’t as diverse in terms of nutrients as a plant-based diet is. You pretty much get two main macronutrients — protein and fat — with essentially no vitamins or minerals, and no fiber. What most people don’t know is that the body needs vitamins and minerals to digest and assimilate protein efficiently. Bodies also need fiber to help push things through and assimilate nutrients. Meat intake can build up in the body and slow things down, causing you to feel tired and undernourished. Going plant-based ensures that your body at least gets the nutritional baseline it requires to thrive on a day-to-day basis. ANIMALS ARE FED POOR-QUALITY FEED Most conventionally raised animals are fed bottom-of-the-barrel feed that isn’t in any way natural to them. This not only leaves animals unsatisfied on many levels but also affects their biological makeup. Many are starved of the nutrients they require to be healthy because they’re fed an unnatural diet. This affects not only their well-being but ultimately the well-being of meat consumers. The foods these animals eat aren’t part of their native diet. MEAT IS ACIDIC Meat is one of the major acidic foods in the standard North American diet. It’s difficult for the body to break down and digest and requires extra work from the kidneys. As a result, it produces too much acid in the body. Too much acid not only weakens the body’s immune defenses, which increases risks for infections, but also contributes to chronic diseases. The other consideration to look at is the quality of meat that a majority of people eat: often it’s fried, overcooked, and not eaten alongside green vegetables. This not only creates acidity in the body but also does nothing to help neutralize it. Choosing to eat more plants throughout the day can help balance this ratio. MEAT IS LOADED WITH TOXINS Animals are sponges that soak up toxicity. Because a majority of their biological makeup is fat, their bodies can accumulate an excessive amount of toxins. So, when the animals eat a toxic diet, these toxins get carried with them for life, and they end up in the food you eat. The sea life that swims in polluted oceans and waterways has incredibly absorbent skin and fat, which is why fish and other seafood are often tainted with mercury and other heavy metals. MEAT IS HIGH IN SATURATED FAT It’s one of the things we hear a lot these days: “Be mindful of the amount of saturated fat you eat!” Unfortunately, many people get confused about the sources of this unhealthy fat and don’t realize that a majority of it is from animals. Saturated fat is healthy for the living animal, but the human body can’t break it down in a way that is healthy. Eating the amount of saturated fat from animals that most people do can lead to major health problems. Additionally, many people are eating fried meats, fatty cuts, and skin, with no care for leaner options — all of which contribute to plaque buildup, heart disease, and other diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. EATING MEAT CAN INCREASE YOUR RISK FOR CANCER AND OSTEOPOROSIS In addition to causing heart disease, excess meat consumption leads to other health-degrading conditions, such as osteoporosis and even cancer. The excess protein — despite what people may think — isn’t good for the body. Also, the accumulation of meat can lead to more fatty deposits in the body, which become plaque deposits, and they can start to calcify and affect many of our tissues and bones, causing long-term diseases like heart disease. EATING MEAT IMPACTS CLIMATE CHANGE The impact that meat consumption continues to have on climate change is quite intense. Although most people wouldn’t associate the two, here’s a bit of the picture: To keep up with the demand for meat, cows are fed an incredible amount of food, which produces waste. This waste gives off methane gases, which contribute to ozone depletion by trapping heat in the atmosphere. Manufacturing one calorie from animal protein requires 11 times as much fossil fuel input as producing a calorie from plant protein. Why is this bad? Burning fossil fuels (such as oil and gasoline) releases carbon dioxide, the primary gas responsible for climate change. EATING MEAT IS CRUEL As a result of the increase in demand for meat, factory farms (large, industrialized farms on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost) are on the rise. Very little care is taken for the animals’ welfare. They’re given antibiotics to combat the infections they get from living in such close quarters and growth hormones to increase their size and weight in an unnaturally short period of time (and both of these things eventually wind up in your food). THE MEAT INDUSTRY IS GETTING WORSE The more control mankind has had over food, the worse it has gotten. This is apparent with packaged foods but especially with animal-based foods. Obviously, an increased demand for meat has strained the supply chain. To put enough meat on the shelves at inexpensive prices, farmers have put into place often-unsustainable practices. This can mean manipulating the environments in which animals are raised, which can lead to contamination of the animal feed, the soil, the land, and ultimately the meat on your plate. It’s no wonder that every couple of years you hear about some bacteria, such as salmonella or E. coli, that has found its way into the food supply. PROMOTED STORIES FROM AROUND THE WEB Ellen’s Crazy Transformation – You’ll Never Believe This! www.popnewsdeluxe.com The key drivers behind crude oil prices Viva Energy Their Last Moments: Powerful Images Snapped Before Tragedy Struck (Pics) Click Popping You will not want to switch off your computer. Build your city! Elvenar Arming Yourself with Knowledge Before Refinancing Your Home realestate.com.au How to wake every morning with luminous skin She is, Sarah Jane These Rarely Seen Historical Photos are Pretty Unnerving Starfluff After Seeing These Photos You Will Believe In Time Travel Mozo Travel Recommended by FOOD & DRINKSPECIAL DIETSPLANT BASED DIETPLANT-BASED DIET FOR DUMMIES PLANT-BASED DIET FOR DUMMIES Plant-Based Diet For Dummies MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK Author: Marni Wasserman

[alternativehealthhouse]

You Can Manipulate Your Metabolism To Lose Weight. Here's How

Weight loss is more complicated today than it used to be. The simple equation of using more energy than you consume is now one layer of the larger picture, which now includes hormones, stress, and toxins.

Thankfully, metabolism is a process—not a thing—that responds to inputs. These tips from Haylie Pomroy’s book, The Fast Metabolism Diet: Eat More Food & Lose More Weight, will show you how to manipulate your metabolism to prime your body to finally shed excess weight.

1. Understand the relationship between toxins and weight gain.

We are asking more of our bodies than at any other time in the history of civilization. We ask them to live on food that is of a much lower quality than ever, thanks to all the chemical additives, preservatives, and processing. We pump ourselves full of sugar and artificial sweeteners, hormone-riddled dairy products, and foods like wheat and corn and soy that are so genetically modified, it’s a wonder we can even digest them. We live in a world with depleted soil, polluted air, and water teeming with environmental chemicals. We eat and drink from plastic containers that leach even more chemicals into our foods and drinks. And we live with great amounts of often crushing, overwhelming stress.

2. Stop dieting. You’ll gain more weight every time.

The foods you eat and the lifestyle you choose should create energy and strength for you, not fatigue, obesity, sickness, desperation, or self-loathing. Yet once you’ve slowed down your metabolism, study after study has demonstrated that the metabolic rate does not easily return to normal, even after resuming a normal diet.

When you starve yourself, your body adjusts to subsist on a smaller number of calories by slowing down your metabolism. That means that whenever you go off your diet, you’re likely to gain weight with a vengeance. Your body is just trying to save you from future famine.

3. Train your body to stop making toxins.

When you are under tremendous stress, your body excretes crisis hormones signaling it to store fat and burn muscle. When you are overloaded with chemicals, pesticides, and pollutants, the body creates new fat cells to house these toxins, so you don’t become poisoned and sick. And when you consume food that is devoid of nutrients or contains artificial dyes, flavorings, and sweeteners, the body does its best to survive these foreign substances by slowing down the metabolism and minimizing the damage to the body’s system as a whole. The very world we live in puts us all at risk for a slow metabolism

4. Make friends with food by using it as a tool.

We’re about to change all that. It’s time to move beyond blame and regret and self-loathing and into the future. This is the paradigm shift your body needs, and it will create a new, healthier version of you. The new you views food as a tool to repair damage and restore health. The new you loves fruits and grains and protein and healthy fats. The new you knows how the body reacts to specific foods and strategic eating, and the new you has all of the resources to get the weight off and keep it off for good.

If food has been your enemy in the past, that’s all over. Now, we’re stepping into your future, where food is your medicine. Even if you’re 10 to 20 pounds overweight, you need this medicine. You need to learn how to unwind stress, unlock fat, and unleash your metabolism.

5. Treat your metabolism like an ongoing process, not an object.

Specifically, the metabolic process consists of chemical reactions that occur in the cells of all living organisms to sustain life. It’s the change or transformation of food into either heat and fuel or substance (muscle, fat, blood, bone). At any given moment, your metabolism is either burning, storing, or building.

You have a metabolism because you are alive, and life requires energy. We all need energy to survive—to breathe, move, think, and react—and the only way to acquire this energy is from the consumption and metabolism, or transformation, of food. Profound! We need fuel, and we need substance. A healthy metabolism and a functional metabolism allow us to have just the perfect amount of energy available, an appropriate amount of reserve energy stored and ready for use, and a strong and stable structure (the body).

6. Manipulate your metabolism with the right combinations of good food and movement.

Remember, your metabolism is your body’s system for dealing with the energy you take in through food. The metabolism shuttles that energy into different directions according to what you eat and what you do. The beauty of your metabolism is that it can be manipulated, because how you eat and move and live affects how much of your food is stored as fat, how much is used as energy, and how much is devoted to building the structure that is your body.

This manipulation is what I learned about when I studied animal science. The animal science industry uses this knowledge of energy, storage, and structure to create livestock that is ideally proportioned for use as food, to the tune of billions of dollars of profit.

7. Live by this rule: Your body is a product of the environment you make for it.

The metabolism can also get you into trouble because you can inadvertently manipulate it to create a body you don’t want. Dieting, nutrient-void foods, and living with too much stress slow down your metabolism when it should be sped up. When you gain weight, feel blah, even get sick with a chronic disease, those are all coping mechanisms your body creates in response to your actions or environment, like the frogs that grow three legs in polluted swamps. Your butt or your belly could be protruding because of the very environmental, emotional, and biochemical ecosystem in which it is dwelling.

Source: mindbodygreen.com

You Can Manipulate Your Metabolism To Lose Weight. Here’s How was originally published on Health Tips 365

[hudsonespie]

Study: Australian Sheep Face Dangerous Heat Stress on Export Ships

It’s been almost three years since thousands of Australian sheep died during a voyage from Australia to the Middle East. My group’s new research provides insight into the heat stress faced by sheep exported in recent years and casts further doubt on the industry’s future.

We found sheep experienced heat stress on more than half of voyages to the hottest port in the Middle East, Doha, over three summers from 2016 to 2018.

This is the first time the extent of heat stress in live sheep exports from Australia has been quantified, and the findings do not bode well. A federal government ban on exports during the Northern Hemisphere summer is already hurting the industry. And COVID-19 looks likely to affect the annual Hajj pilgrimage and Eid al-Adha religious holiday, when our sheep meat is in high demand.

The future of Australia’s live sheep export industry appears bleak. Sheep farmers would be wise to seriously explore alternatives.

Severe heat stress exposed

Australia to the Middle East is one of the world’s longest sea transport routes of live sheep for slaughter, usually taking about 20 days.

The welfare risk to sheep from heat stress is highest on voyages departing Australia in our winter, and arriving in the Persian Gulf in the Northern Hemisphere summer.

In April 2018, whistleblowers released video footage filmed the previous year showing shocking live export conditions on the Awassi Express ship. More than 2,400 sheep died on the voyage from Fremantle to the Middle East.

The footage triggered public outrage. As part of its response, the federal agriculture department established a committee, of which I was a member, to assess the heat risk facing sheep exports to the Middle East.

The committee recommended measures to ensure sheep experienced heat stress on fewer than 2% of voyages. Subsequent research by my group would reveal just how far the industry is from that target.

Alarming findings

The federal government granted us access to temperature and mortality data from 14 voyages from Australia to the Middle East in May to December, between 2016 and 2018.

We wanted to know at what temperatures the welfare of the sheep began to be affected by heat stress.

To determine this, we analysed so-called “wet bulb temperatures” on the sheep decks. This measures not just air temperature but water vapour, which affects the levels of heat stress actually experienced at a particular temperature.

Wet bulb temperatures typically increased from 20? to 30? during the 14 voyages in the Northern Hemisphere summer. Ten out of 14 ships stopped at Doha in Qatar, the hottest of the four Gulf ports. There, daily maximum wet bulb temperatures from July to September exceed 27.5? half the time, at which point heat stress in sheep increases.

The wet bulb temperatures at Doha exceeded 32.2? 2% of the time, at which point sheep deaths are more common.

Ships docking at Doha sit in the sun for about a day and a half while some sheep are unloaded, exposing those left on board to high temperatures.

The ban is not enough

The federal government recently banned sheep exports to the Middle East between June 1 and September 14 this year, due to heat stress risks. Shipments to Doha are banned from May 22 until September 22.

The government has argued that a longer ban would have too great an impact on the industry. But our results show mortality increases during voyages from September to November, compared with May. This suggests more sheep will die as a result of the shorter ban.

The government introduced other measures this year to try to improve sheep welfare on ships.

First, it will require temperature data to be recorded at two sheep pens per deck. However my group has shown this does not produce representative results.

Second, sheep can be unloaded at no more than two ports. But our results suggest that it is not the number of ports that influenced sheep deaths, but whether sheep were kept in hot conditions on board at Doha.

The COVID-19 pandemic has struck a further blow to sheep welfare. The federal government requires that animal welfare audits are conducted at holding facilities in the destination countries. But quarantine requirements have made these checks difficult.

It’s also worth remembering that heat stress is not the only challenge sheep face en route to the Middle East. They usually have very little space and likely get stressed by ship motion.

A double whammy

The Australian live sheep export trade has declined from about 7 million per year in the late 1980s to about 1 million per year now.

Australia has recently been unable to meet the Middle East’s demand for sheep meat – a problem the industry blames partly on the export ban. Middle East buyers are increasingly turning to the horn of Africa, Europe and Asia.

Compounding this, COVID-19 looks set to force the cancellation of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia culminating in Eid al-Adha – a sheep-eating festival usually celebrated by millions of Muslims.

The double whammy will particularly hurt Western Australia, which in 2019 handled 97% of sheep leaving Australian ports.

If the festival is not cancelled, Australian sheep may be sent early to be stockpiled alive in the Middle East, to avoid the export ban. This would leave them exposed to the high temperatures the Australian government has sought to protect them from on ships.

Looking ahead

Some Western Australian sheep farmers have seen the writing on the wall. In the short term, some are turning to alternative livestock, such as prime lamb or beef cattle for domestic consumption or export as carcasses. This has the added benefit of keeping processing jobs in Australia.

In the long term, farmers would do well to look at the rising popularity of vegetarianism and veganism, and the threat to conventional meat production posed by “clean” meat grown in labs.

Some sheep grazing has already been replaced by cropping, and this is likely to increase in future.

There is no quick fix to the problems facing live sheep exports from Australia. The sooner we shift our economic reliance to more humane alternatives, the better.

Clive Phillips is Professor of Animal Welfare at the Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, The University of Queensland.

This article appears courtesy of The Conversation and may be found in its original form here.   

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/study-australian-sheep-face-dangerous-heat-stress-on-export-ships via http://www.rssmix.com/

[sandovalenst1000]

Food and the Realities Behind How We Use Our Oceans

Stemming from the world’s seemingly ever growing population, analysts also trace increased stress on the world’s food supply and production in comparison to today to be even greater, with the demand for food projected to increase by 60% by 2050 to feed a world population of 9 billion people (Breene, 2016). However due to decreasing biodiversity and struggling sustainable agriculture alongside other valuable food markets, today’s processes for feeding our world are no longer able to be continued for long term success as a society. Currently, projections display that, for the same food yield markets produce today, only half of the world’s population in 2050 can be fed (Breene, 2016), leading many to be living in hunger, or chronic undernutrition. Chronic undernutrition is defined as when an individual is living in a state where they “cannot grow or buy enough food to meet their basic energy needs” (Miller, 2018, p. 285), despite most people living in low income situations only having access to high-carbohydrate vegetarian foods or cheap sugary processed foods, like wheat or corn, and living in chronic malnutrition. Chronic malnutrition leads to many developmental problems for children that last into a lifetime, such as blindness from vitamin A deficiency (Miller, 2018, p. 286), and a total of at least 27 million children affected by deficiencies in the core nutrients of vitamin A, zinc, iron, and iodine. Poverty is ultimately the root of undernutrition and malnutrition, which does not allow human beings the ability to afford nutritious food to sustain basic needs, and leads to lack of food security.

With agriculture accounting for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of freshwater withdrawals (Breene, 2016), energy and resource use must be taken into account, leading to a larger shift from industrialized agriculture to organic agriculture. Organic agriculture reduces the use of synthetic materials in farming, prevents soil erosion, uses crop rotation, utilizes biological means to sustain crops, does not use genetically modified seeds, increases renewable energy usage, reduces fossil fuel use, produces less air & water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, supports local economics, and uses no growth hormones for livestock (Miller, 2018, p. 289). In the United States, 13,000 farms are USDA-certified organic and, while these products tend to cost more from the utilization of more labor, consumers have shown an increase in buying organic products. Due to an increased consumption in meat and fish products, factory farms and fish farming are used to meet the consumer demand, leading to usage of growth hormones and unnatural feeding habits. In response, increased support of organic products and farming has emerged from consumers as they find out about how their food is being produced to meet mass demand. However, organic production can cause surface and groundwater pollution and increased erosion from practices necessary for organic farming. Despite some of the possible negatives of organic farming, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Benefits of organic farming include building organic matter (fungi) in soil, reducing water pollution, reducing erosion, using less energy, being more tolerant to weeds, more likely to survive in drought, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, being more profitable, and being able to match conventional yields (Miller, 2018, p. 313).

When thinking of biodiversity loss, many only think about the earth’s natural biodiversity, but due to consumer demand, the genetic variety of agriculture has decreased, which is referred to as agrobiodiversity (Miller, 2018, p. 298). In the United States agricultural market, 97% of the food plant varieties available in the 1940s do not exist anymore (Miller, 2018, p. 298), with many foods projected to produce from only one or two varieties in the near future.

In regards to biodiversity, aquatic biodiversity is found most in coral reefs, estuaries, and near coastal regions, in addition to ocean bottoms, due a variety of producers, habitats, and food sources. Aquatic biodiversity gives our earth the economic ability of fishing & tourism, protein and seafood for human nutrition, provides natural barriers to natural disasters, and oceans generate oxygen & absorb excess heat & carbon dioxide. Aquatic biodiversity is suffering from habitat disruption, invasive species, and pollution from human actions. Specifically, shallow, warm-water coral reefs are the home to about 25% of the world’s fish species (Miller, 2018, p. 255), but are under great threat from warming and the acidification of oceans from greenhouse gas emissions through coral bleaching, which is a process caused by rapidly warming ocean waters that strips colorful algae from shallow tropical corals and leaves white coral, weakening or killing corals (Miller, 2018, p. 255). Ocean acidification additionally is killing off the base of marine food webs, the phytoplankton, which will begin to have a greater effect on the larger ecosystem as well. In terms of invasive species, species such as the lionfish or Asian carp put extra pressure on native species for competition in territory and food, usually not faring well for native species, due to invasive species having limited or no predators in their new ecosystem. Human pollution has caused oxygen-depleted zones in coastal regions worldwide, increasing algal blooms and reducing oxygen access for organisms (Miller, 2018, pp. 258-259), in addition to microplastics, partially decomposed plastic, and toxic chemicals harming animals.

Fishing, while considered a natural and historically-significant way of using our ocean, is now harming the earth’s aquatic ecosystem through overfishing and fishing practices, such as purse-seine fishing and drift-net fishing. For example, drift-catch fishing utilizes large nets up to 50 feet deep and 40 miles long that kill bycatch, or unwanted fish, but additionally kill other marine mammals and sea turtles and stresses organisms that rely on decomposing bycatch for nutrients (Miller, 2018, p. 261). Human activities frequently kill marine animals that were not intended, such as sharks or sea turtles, while some markets find those animals appealing. Through regulations and laws, fishing as a commercial practice is more regulated and is turning towards supporting sustainably produced seafood, in addition to sustainably farmed seafood from aquaculture. In the United States, fisheries are held up to National Standard guidelines from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from the Magnuson-Stevenson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which was passed to prevent overfishing, replenish overfished species, provide sustainable seafood, and promote benefits associated with sustainable fishing practices (NOAA Fisheries).

Additionally, wetlands are also being protected, typically by zoning laws in the United States and by requiring federal permits to fill wetlands more than 3 acres (Miller, 2018, p. 273). Currently, mitigation banking is practiced, which is a policy that allows destruction of existing wetlands as long as an equal or greater area of the same type of wetland is created, enhanced, or restored (Miller, 2018, p. 273), despite created wetlands proven to not provide the ecological services required of them to be functional. Protecting areas such as wetlands and oceans are difficult due to many actions having an unknown effect on biodiversity, in addition to most ocean areas being outside of any federal jurisdiction and known as open-waters. Federally implemented actions have typically shown improvement on protecting targeted biodiversity and ecosystems.

Word Count: 1166/1100

Question: How has sustainable fishing proven to affect consumer demands and mindsets on seafood consumption?

Bibliography

Breene, Keith. “Food Security and Why It Matters.” World Economic Forum, January 18, 2016. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/food-security-and-why-it-matters/.

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. 19th ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2018.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Laws & Policies.” NOAA. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Accessed March 23, 2020. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/laws-policies.

[wildlyhardphilosopher-blog]

Dog Training Calgary | Unique Solutions

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Most, K. (1954). Training Dogs, (J. Cleugh, Trans.), New York: Dogwise Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-929242-00-X To check availability of Urban Clicks & Tricks course in Carindale click here.  To enrol in Urban Clicks & Tricks course… read more Explore RSPCA NSW’s facilities, see our annual report and policies, and view our job vacancies. Replacement White Cards Feedback On Our Website Behavioural problem? Contact us Seniors All dogs must be up to date with C5 vaccinations All dogs become conditioned never to eliminate in their dens. From two to four months of age, most pups pick up on the concept of housebreaking quite easily since it is part of their natural programming. ABC Open · 7 April 2018 Agriculture Victoria Strategy Heat Stress Remember, puppy training does not have to be harsh. With so many different training methods available, choose one that best suits you and your puppy. If it doesn’t work, just try another one. KID 1: The program sort of aims to develop confidence in the little puppies and get them used to socialising with people. This clip was talking about high school kids training Labradors to be grown up into strong guard dogs and they are trained 2 days a week and the puppies are trained for 8 weeks. They train by doing obstacle courses. Search for an organisation or service: Dog Obedience School – Tranmere Livestock Search Horticulture Shimmer : Click here to access our library of Training and Behaviour information Absolutely no harsh dog training methods used Upcoming Classes List Currently flea and worm treated Choke collar (slip collar or check collar) Book Now Upcoming Classes and Workshops This story was interesting because it showed the process that some guide dogs go through. Our Next Classes We value your feedback FREE Puppy EBook Adoption – Rabbits Please contact us if you have any questions. – Dean Rodgers Four Paws K9 Training. Low cost Pet Insurance Dog Age Calculator Debunking Dominance Myth Mikaela Dean Set up his private den. He needs “a room of his own.” From the earliest possible moment give your pup or dog his own, private sleeping place that’s not used by anyone else in the family, or another pet. He’ll benefit from short periods left alone in the comfort and safety of his den. Reward him if he remains relaxed and quiet. His den, which is often a crate, will also be a valuable tool for housetraining. Latest Appeals Lesson Time: 1 hr per wk The SMART PAWS program is lifestyle and obedience training classes for all pet dogs from 14 weeks of age and their humans. For puppies 8 – 20 weeks old, check out our Puppy Training options. Drives For Lives Lead By Example Search this site Cost: $150 Port Augusta Vet | Ceduna Vet | Equine Vet | Pet Boarding | Dog Grooming | Pet Vaccinations | Behavioural Training Halters, Bits & Bridles Puppy Class © 2018 Boroondara Dog Training. All Rights Reserved. Urban Classes Ground Rules Diagnosing your dog Drives For Lives Wikipedia store Supply Chain Transparency Phone I can’t believe that these small puppy Labradors are going to become big and strong guide dogs. They will help many people who need it. I think this is a amazing thing that high school teenagers can actually choose this as a selective subject. Thanks BTN you’ve done it again 🙂 Livestock Dogs are instinctual Taylored Live export Visit to the veterinarian Bandogs Bay dogs Bird dogs Bulldogs Catch dogs Companion dogs Crossbred dogs Curs Dogos Eskimo dogs Feral dogs Fighting dogs Guard dogs Gun dogs Hairless dogs Herding dogs Hounds Hunting dogs Lap dogs Livestock guardian dogs Mongrels Mountain dogs Molossers Meat dogs Pinschers Pit bulls Pointers Purebred dogs Retrievers Setters Scenthounds Sighthounds Sled dogs Schnauzers Spaniels Spitz Street dogs Terriers Turnspit dogs Village dogs Water dogs Wild dogs Wolfdogs Remote electric shock collar Links Need to get your puppy or dog’s vaccinations, flea and worming up to date? Visit PETstock VET. It is not compulsory to attend Orientation prior to Puppy Preschool or Undergrad Puppy classes but highly recommended. Policy and planning > Sign up Advanced Trade Courses Our Locations Posts Deaf, or hearing or speech impaired? We provide owners with a range of quality products, along with expert advice each Sunday morning.

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fbq('track', 'ViewContent', content_ids: 'dogtraining.dknol', ); find your local trainer now! Message * personalised training Careers with Dogs Come Fish Show all Zayn : TV specials 8 – 18 weeks old Delta Institute Code of Ethics Level 5 Boxer Apprenticeship overview Provide exercise, discipline, affection Petbarn Menu Login facebook Lucky Dog Post WWII[edit] Find a store How To Toilet Train A Puppy Accessibility Website designed and developed by Hinterland Digital Training Emergency Management login Don’t have a Blue Dog Account? Many thanks Allison and Barbara, When you enrol and pay for training with Urban Dog Training you receive the following benefits INSTANTLY: i really like what they are doing to the dogs because the dogs are going to help a lot of people in the future and that is really good Croydon You don’t need to be the ‘top dog’ Tanvir : 2017 Membership Renewal Form Basic Animal First Aid Youth and Community programs Quiz Guide to finding a good training class Our drop-in playgroups are a perfect complement to your vet’s puppy preschool class, particularly for owners looking forward to an adult dog who is comfortable, relaxed, and on her best manners around people and other dogs. Plus we guarantee puppy playgroup will be the best 30 minutes of your week – what could be better than a room full of puppies playing? Guided by a professional dog trainer, your pup learns her social P’s and Q’s while burning off excess energy in play – which means a better night’s sleep for you. Blue Dog Training User Login Southern Districts Kennel & Obedience Dog Club Adopting a New Pet Mat or towel Canine Good Citizen™ Life Skills Course Media Feeding The Basics Club House and Canteen We are Dog Behaviour Specialists Prong collar (pinch collar) absence of aggression. Connect with Us Demonstration Team Urban Reactive Dog Course No-pull harness The no-pull harness is worn on the body of the animal. The no-pull harness differs significantly from the standard harness since it makes it harder for the dog to pull because it distributes energy over the dog’s back and shoulders. Like the head collar, the no-pull harness does not teach the dog not to pull, it only makes it harder for the dog to pull. Contact page View our Classes Quality & Standards Media library Measurement, Transformations, Time Community Partnerships & Support ‘A Perfect Spot’ Dog Training ^ Jump up to: a b c Bihm, Elson M.; J. Arthur Gillaspy, Jr. (1 June 2012). “Marian Breland Bailey (1920–2001)”. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. The Central Arkansas Library System. Retrieved 30 November 2012. Register here In addition to excelling at pet dog training, we also pride ourselves on being friendly, welcoming and approachable. Our Melbourne dog school trainers are available to discuss any dog training or dog behaviour issues you wish and will listen patiently to everything you have to say. You are also guaranteed to speak directly to a dog trainer every time you call us. Jump up ^ Millan 2010, p. 33. July 25, 2017 Stand Care and welfare Snarling and Snapping Proofing all behaviours SEE MORE or order at office@barkbusters.com.au Aggressive about things or places 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Puppy School (Part 1) – 8-16 weeks Our philosophy Dog Training 08088 | Best Online Resources Available Here Dog Training 08088 | Best Solutions Available Here Dog Training 08088 | Best Tips & Methods Available Here Legal | Sitemap

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How you can Inform If a Pet Is a Boy or a Lady

Bodily variations between female and male canines are each slighter and fewer apparent than these between other forms of home pets or livestock. Distinguishing between a female and male turkey, for instance, tends to be fairly straightforward, particularly as soon as they attain maturity. Variations in dimension and plumage between these birds are clear and placing. The male turkey is way bigger, extra colourful, and has a extra dramatic look. Amongst canines, common top and weight of females and males does differ, however the distinction is often only some inches within the first case, and will be as little as 10 kilos within the latter. After we’re speaking about new child child puppies, the variations are inconsequential. All new child child puppies are tremendous tiny. Questioning find out how to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady? Let’s examine.

Why does differentiating intercourse in puppies matter?

Stumped on find out how to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady? The stomach and rear finish are the factors to look at most rigorously in figuring out a pet’s intercourse. Pictures by Soraluk Chonvanich / Shutterstock.

Even when canines are absolutely matured, telling a male from a feminine canine will be troublesome. What number of instances have you ever, as a canine proprietor, handed somebody on the road or on the park and heard some variation of, “What a fantastic canine! Might I pet her?” And what number of instances have you ever gently corrected, “Really, he’s a boy!” I make that mistake on a regular basis with different individuals’s canines, and folks make it on a regular basis with mine.

In the event you’ve just lately had or are getting ready to welcome a litter of puppies, and persons are asking to undertake one, they might have a selected intercourse of pet in thoughts. So, you might be questioning find out how to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady. Some persons are specific about male or feminine puppies. Maybe they’ve had higher experiences with one intercourse of canine over one other. Causes will be troublesome to parse, and not possible to know or predict. If each you and the events are affected person, issues will turn into clearer by the point they’re able to be weaned.

Can urination habits assist inform if a pet is a boy or a lady?

Some may huff on the very query, assuming that the stereotypical photographs of absolutely grown canine urination habits — squatting for lady canines and the leg elevate of boy canines — will make the excellence clear sufficient. In child puppies, nevertheless, one should keep in mind that as puppies’ hindquarters develop and mature, puppies of each sexes squat. The positions that puppies take don’t diverge for some time after whelping.

Certainly, female and male puppies might assume equivalent positions for as much as two months. Puppies don’t apply unbiased bowel and bladder evacuation of their first couple of weeks of life. Nor, for the primary few weeks, do puppies have adequate power and stability of their hindquarters to make urinating actions distinguishable. Male puppies might not absolutely undertake the wonted leg elevate till round their fourth month; for some male puppies, it might not turn into routine till they’re almost six months previous.

So, find out how to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady:

Don’t take a new child pet away from his mom for various minutes. Pictures by kukiatB/Thinkstock.

Nonetheless stumped on find out how to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady? There may be, actually, a strategy to discern the distinction between feminine and male puppies. Be cautious and affected person, although. The connection between new child puppies and their moms will be tenuous. Taking a child pet from a mom for various minutes within the first a number of weeks after whelping can disturb their bonding. A mom canine might turn into cautious of a pet who spends an excessive amount of time away from her and the remainder of the litter.

Principally, male puppies will be distinguished by two small, raised round marks on their bellies. Individuals typically ask the place a canine’s stomach button is situated. In contrast to in people, the spot the place the umbilical twine was hooked up to a canine disappears, therapeutic over in a short time. It’s proper beneath the bottom of the rib cage. About an inch previous that, there might be one other small round spot. That is the place the penis will emerge.

Feminine puppies can have solely the stomach button mark, with the remainder of their tiny little bellies naked. A cautious examination of a feminine pet’s rear finish, from the bottom of the tail to the beginning of the decrease stomach, will reveal two openings. The anus, in fact, might be simply beneath the tail, and the vulva is a small, leaf-shaped construction situated virtually precisely between the legs.

At all times train endurance and warning when making an attempt to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady

To place it most easily, one of the best motion for find out how to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady is to study a pet’s rear finish, proper beneath the tail. Feminine newborns can have two factors, male puppies just one. It’s best to be affected person and train nice warning. In a pet’s first few weeks, assist a child pet with a heat towel, flip her over rigorously, and just for a few minutes at most. Return the pet to her mom and litter instantly after checking.

Child puppies start studying from their moms the second they’re born. Dealing with new child puppies too typically earlier than three to 4 weeks of age dangers alienating the pet from the mom, which can’t solely trigger stress, but additionally trauma to newborns. For the sake of satisfying curiosity alone, on no account do you have to poke or prod at new child puppies as a strategy to inform if a pet is a boy or a lady.

Thumbnail: Pictures by Picture Supply Pink / Thinkstock. 

This piece was initially revealed in 2014. 

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