TheDairySite Newsletter - 8 January 2010

TheDairySite Weekly Newsletter

Friday 8th January 2010

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Early Warning System Developed for Bluetongue

Scientists at the Institute for Animal Health in Pirbright in the UK, the UK Met Office and the Jersey State Veterinary Service and the Jersey Meteorological Department, are working together on an early-warning system to help defend cattle against the spread of bluetongue.

The team is fusing meteorological data with ecological information to anticipate when disease carrying midges are likely to be carried on the wind from the continent to the UK and Channel Islands.

In Northern Ireland, the agriculture minister Michelle Glidernew has warned farmers of the risk of importing bluetongue into the country from mainland Europe.

In South Korea, the veterinary services have reported the first outbreak of foot and mouth disease, in a dairy herd. All 185 cattle in the herd have been destroyed.

The latest milk price report from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK shows that farm gate prices in November were 24.49 pence per litre.

The report says from May to July 2009 the weighted average price was affected by Dairy Farmers of Britain going into receivership. This resulted in some producers not receiving any payment for milk supplied in May 2009 and a reduced payment for milk supplied in June and July 2009, slightly lowering the average UK milk price.

Chris Harris

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 6 new features this week:

Controlling Mastitis In The Herd
The UK dairy herd has been seeing increasing incidence of environmental mastitis, while incidents of contagious mastitis have been decreasing, writes TheCattleSite senior editor Chris Harris.

Optimising Feeding Programmes
Richard O' Kellems from the Animal Science Department, Brigham Young University in the US looks at optimising dairy feeding programmes to improve yields and herd health.

Understanding Bovine Respiratory Disease
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a complex infectious disease and one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in stocker and feedlot operations. Daniel Scruggs, veterinarian with Pfizer Animal Health, looks at what contributes to BRD and provides advise to help producers minimise its impact on businesses.

Dehorning Of Calves
Neil Anderson, a lead veterinarian with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture looks at the benefits and practice of disbudding and dehorning of calves.

Russian Federation - Livestock and Products Annual Report
Pork production is expected is rise in 2010, with imports are flat, while beef output is predicted to be lower than 2009 and increased imports, according to Morgan Haas and Mikhail Maksimenko in the latest GAIN report from USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Meat consumption will likely fall.

China - Livestock And Products Annual Report
The Livestock and Products Annual report for China by the USDA Food and Agricultural Service (FAS) predicts that beef production will continue to fall in 2010 due to low returns.

Company News

VIV India: Providing Knowledge, Sharing Visions
INDIA - The theme of the opening conference of VIV India 2010 will be 'Food security'. VIV India takes place in Bangalore on 1 to 3 February 2010.

Global Dairy Cattle Industry News