APHIS Software Project Supporting Animal Disease Traceability
on Apr 03 in Industry News, NewsFrom APHIS: Animal disease traceability—knowing where diseased and at-risk animals are, where they’ve been, and when—is critical to ensuring a rapid response when animal disease events occur. An efficient and accurate animal disease traceability system helps reduce the number of animals involved in an investigation, reduces the time needed to respond, and decreases the cost to producers and the government.
The Veterinary Services Surveillance Collaboration Services (SCS) is a software project that supports the administration of the location identifiers defined in the Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) General Standards document. This link to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document is being provided to clarify the process for administering these location identification standards. See how the Final Rule for the Animal Disease Traceability standards is being supported through the use of this SCS software.
Identifying Johne’s Disease with Accuracy
on Apr 03 in Industry News, NewsIdentifying Johne’s Disease with Accuracy
By Sandra Avant
April 1, 2013
Detecting the costly, contagious Johne’s disease in cattle is now easier, thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
Johne’s disease, also known as Paratuberculosis, is estimated to cost the U.S. dairy industry more than $220 million each year. It also affects sheep, goats, deer and other animals, causing diarrhea, reduced feed intake, weight loss and sometimes death.
Microbiologist John Bannantine and his colleagues at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames, Iowa, discovered an antibody that’s 100 percent specific in detecting Johne’s disease. This is the first time a specific antibody that binds only to Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), the pathogen that causes the disease, has been discovered. A patent has been awarded to scientists for the antibody, which could greatly benefit the improvement of diagnostic tests that confirm the presence of MAP.
Previous efforts to detect Johne’s disease were hindered because all antibodies used to identify MAP strains also reacted to environmental mycobacteria, according to Bannantine, who works in NADC’s Infectious Bacterial Diseases Research Unit. Some of those antibodies also reacted to the disease pathogen responsible for bovine tuberculosis (TB) and caused false-positive results.
Other research, conducted by NADC microbiologist Judy Stabel, focused on ensuring that Johne’s disease vaccines do not cross-react with tests for bovine TB, a disease problem in states where wild deer infect cattle.
Stabel and her team vaccinated calves with an effective commercial Johne’s vaccine to test cross reactivity with TB tests. They took blood samples for a year and then measured immune and serological responses of calves using novel TB tests.
Scientists found no cross reactivity with the TB serology tests, demonstrating that animals could be vaccinated against Johne’s disease without interfering with bovine TB testing. Similar results were found with the skin test used to detect TB in cattle.
Read more about this research in the April 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is USDA’s chief intramural scientific research agency, and the research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.
Joint FDA and APHIS Meetings on New FDA Initiative on Use of Antibiotics in Food Animals
on Mar 14 in Industry News, Legislative, NewsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today a series of five meetings to provide the public with opportunities to discuss and provide critical feedback on the challenges faced by livestock producers and veterinarians as the FDA phases in veterinary oversight of the therapeutic use of certain medically important antimicrobials. The meetings are jointly sponsored by the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The FDA is seeking input as it moves forward to further develop and implement its strategy to promote the judicious use in food-producing animals of antibiotics that are important in treating humans. These meetings are intended to provide a forum to discuss potential challenges faced by animal producers in areas that may lack access to adequate veterinary services and to explore possible options for minimizing adverse impacts.
The FDA has worked with many stakeholder groups and the USDA to develop a strategy that it believes will be successful in reducing antimicrobial resistance while minimizing adverse impacts on animal health and disruption to the animal agricultural industry. The agency took the following steps toward implementing this strategy:
- Issuing a guidance for industry, entitled “Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food Producing Animals,” which establishes the framework for phasing out production uses (i.e., growth promotion and feed efficiency) of antimicrobials important in treating humans, and phasing in veterinary oversight of the remaining therapeutic uses of such drugs.
- Issuing a draft guidance that will assist drug companies seeking to voluntarily revise product labels to remove production uses and to voluntarily change the marketing status of these medically important antimicrobials to include veterinary oversight or supervision.
- Providing draft text for a proposed regulation intended to improve the efficiency of existing Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) requirements. VFD drugs are new animal drugs intended for use in or on animal feed which are limited to use under the professional supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
FDA acknowledges that the proposed change in the marketing status of certain antimicrobial drugs to require the involvement of a licensed veterinarian will have practical implications for animal producers and practicing veterinarians. Once the status of the product changes from OTC to Rx or VFD, producers will no longer be able to purchase the animal drug or medicated feed product directly from suppliers, unless the producer has a valid prescription or order from a licensed veterinarian. The impact of this change on producers may vary depending on the extent to which a given producer already has access to and utilizes veterinary services. This change also has potential impacts on practicing veterinarians depending on their practice (business) model.
The dates and locations for the meetings are:
- April 9, 2013, Bowling Green, Ken.
- April 23, 2013, Olympia, Wash.
- May 8, 2013, Fort Collins, Colo.
- May 21, 2013, Pierre, S.D.
- June 4, 2013, College Station, Texas
FDA will also seek public input and additional feedback through other forums, such as webinars, as it works collaboratively with the USDA, veterinary and producer organizations to address this important issue. Comments also may be made to the FDA Docket No. FDA-2012-N-1046 at any time.
Additional information on the meetings and agenda can be found at:
Goat new internet mascot
on Mar 13 in Industry News, NewsCats have held the position of “internet’s favourite animal” for perhaps too many years now. It was only a matter of time before another unwitting beast was inadvertently catapulted into memetic stardom, and it looks like goats have stepped up to the challenge, cloven hooves akimbo and ready for their share of the takings.
Interim Guidance on use of RFID implants in registered goats
on Mar 13 in Industry News, NewsProvided by USDA/APHIS
Issue:
It has come to our attention that there is confusion among some goat registries over what constitutes an ISO compliant implant. Apparently some registries are allowing the use of the AVID 10 digit implants.
Background:
The only allowed numbering system for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices per Code of Federal Regulations is an Animal Identification Number (AIN).
Animal identification number (AIN).A numbering system for the official identification of individual animals in the United States that provides a nationally unique identification number for each animal. The AIN consists of 15 digits, with the first 3 being the country code (840 for the United States or unique country code for any U.S. territory that has such a code and elects to use it in place of the 840 code). The alpha characters USA or the numeric code assigned to the manufacturer of the identification device by the International Committee on Animal Recording may be used as an alternative to the 840 or other prefix representing a U.S territory; however, only the AIN beginning with the 840 or other prefix representing a U.S. territory will be recognized as official for use on AIN tags applied to animals on or after March 11, 2015. The AIN beginning with the 840 prefix may not be applied to animals known to have been born outside the United States.
RFID implants are also addressed by VS Memo 557.13 and the corresponding producer information posted on the Eradicate Scrapie website (www.eradicatescrapie.org). These documents indicate that RFID must be ISO 11784 and 11785 compliant, i.e. consisting of 15 digits with a country or manufacturer code and with a frequency of 134.2 kHz.
Removal of non-complaint implants and application of compliant implants is impractical and stressful to the animal. Traceability can be maintained for non-compliant implants through the registration certificate with the implant number recorded and a reader that can read the implant number accompanying the animal as described in VS Memo 557.13. However, this method of providing traceability is less robust than using 840 implants issued through AINMS as is required for implants applied after March 11, 2015.
Resolution:
To minimize impacts on stakeholders, application of non-compliant implants will be allowed until March 11, 2014 as is allowed for horses in the ADT rule. Producers using these implants for official identification should be encouraged to switch to the 840 implants when their current supply is exhausted. Producers may only apply ISO compliant chips after March 11, 2014. Further, only approved 840 implants may be applied after March 11, 2015 as required by the ADT rule.
FDA Public Meetings for Food Animal Producers
on Mar 06 in Industry News, Legislative, Newshttp://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm342478.htm?source=govdelivery
FDA Announces Public Meetings with Food-Animal Producers and Veterinarians
Five meetings intended to discuss impact of antimicrobial resistance strategy in areas of the country that may lack access to adequate veterinary services
March 6, 2013
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today a series of five meetings to provide the public with opportunities to discuss and provide critical feedback on the challenges faced by livestock producers and veterinarians as FDA phases in veterinary oversight of the therapeutic use of certain medically important antimicrobials. FDA is seeking input as it moves forward to further develop and implement its strategy to promote the judicious use in food-producing animals of antibiotics that are important in treating humans. The meetings are intended to provide a forum to discuss potential challenges faced by animal producers in areas that may lack access to adequate veterinary services and to explore possible options for minimizing adverse impacts. The meetings are jointly sponsored by FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
FDA has worked with many stakeholder groups and USDA to develop a strategy that it believes will be successful in reducing antimicrobial resistance while minimizing adverse impacts on animal health and disruption to the animal agricultural industry. The agency took the following steps toward implementing this strategy:
- Issuing a guidance for industry, entitled “Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food Producing Animals,” which establishes the framework for phasing out production uses (i.e., growth promotion and feed efficiency) of antimicrobials important in treating humans, and phasing in veterinary oversight of the remaining therapeutic uses of such drugs.
- Issuing a draft guidance that will assist drug companies seeking to voluntarily revise product labels to remove production uses and to voluntarily change the marketing status of these medically important antimicrobials to include veterinary oversight or supervision.
- Providing draft text for a proposed regulation intended to improve the efficiency of existing Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) requirements. VFD drugs are new animal drugs intended for use in or on animal feed which are limited to use under the professional supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
FDA acknowledges that the proposed change in the marketing status of certain antimicrobial drugs to require the involvement of a licensed veterinarian will have practical implications for animal producers and practicing veterinarians. Once the status of the product changes from OTC to Rx or VFD, producers will no longer be able to purchase the animal drug or medicated feed product directly from suppliers, unless the producer has a valid prescription or order from a licensed veterinarian. The impact of this change on producers may vary depending on the extent to which a given producer already has access to and utilizes veterinary services. This change also has potential impacts on practicing veterinarians depending on their practice (business) model.
The dates and locations for the meetings are:
- April 9, 2013, in Bowling Green, Ken.
- April 23, 2013, in Olympia, Wash.
- May 8, 2013, in Fort Collins, Colo.
- May 21, 2013, in Pierre, S.D.
- June 4, 2013, in College Station, Texas
FDA will also seek public input and additional feedback through other forums, such as webinars, as it works collaboratively with USDA, veterinary and producer organizations to address this important issue. Comments also may be made to the FDA Docket No. FDA-2012-N-1046 at any time.
Additional information on the meetings and agenda can be found at:
Animal Agriculture Coalition Makes Recommendations For 2013 Farm Bill
on Mar 05 in AGF Activities, Industry News, Legislative, News, News ReleasesAnimal Agriculture Coalition Makes Recommendations For 2013 Farm Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 1, 2013) – The Animal Agriculture Coalition (AAC) on Feb. 28 submitted its recommendations for the farm bill to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.
“This past year Congress grappled to pass a farm bill that benefits all agriculture interests,” said Damon Wells, chairman of the Animal Agriculture Coalition. “It is critical that farm policy bolsters the long-term ability of U.S. animal agriculture to be competitive in the global marketplace and provides consumers around the world with safe, wholesome, affordable food that is produced in a sustainable manner. AAC’s recommendations will go a long way to achieving this objective.”
Congress needs to invest more resources on animal health, livestock, poultry, and aquaculture production, as well as in new animal products research. Expenditures for animal health are just 7 percent of those which are designated for human health research. Investment in animal health and production innovation for the world’s 25 billion chickens and turkeys, more than 1 billion cattle and sheep, 750 million pigs and goats, and more than 1 billion companion animals is grossly insufficient. To that end, the AAC believes that research and education productivity is hampered by insufficient funding for both the Agricultural Research Service and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture, Food and Research Institute. To help bolster research, AAC supports establishing a Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research to supplement the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s basic and applied research activities.
AAC recommends reauthorizing several existing programs, namely the Market Access Program, Foreign Market Development Program, the National Poultry Improvement Plan, the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank, the Animal Health and Disease Research Program, the Trichinae Certification Program, and the National Aquatic Health Plan. The Coalition supports new authorizations to develop, implement, and sustain veterinary services; a new program to support research on animal drug needs in minor species; as well as a sheep production and marketing grant to strengthen and enhance the production and marketing of sheep and sheep products. AAC also supports a pilot study to assess the nature and extent of damage caused by feral swine.
AAC recommends that Congress optimize surveillance and surge capacity of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network by increasing the authorized funding needed to support the network. Obsolete individual surveillance labs need to be modernized to bring about diagnostic capabilities to conduct surveillance of the U.S. livestock population for all major foreign animal diseases of concern on a species by species basis.
“It is necessary for Congress and the federal government to renew its commitment to animal agriculture research and extension programs that translate into an affordable, high-quality food supply for consumers, said Wells. “The AAC urges Congress to pass a comprehensive five-year farm bill this year, as the agriculture industry cannot weather another temporary extension.”
The Animal Agriculture Coalition is comprised of most major animal and animal-related commodity organizations as well as allied organizations representing veterinary medicine, animal science and various livestock sectors or animal agriculture interests in the United States. It looks forward to working with you to ensure that farm policy benefits all agriculture interests.
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|
AAC e-mail distribution list as of Feb. 27, 2013. Updates to the list should be emailed to GLuke@AVMA.org |
|
| AAC OFFICERS | CONTACTS (+ denotes primary contact) |
| Chair | Damon Wells, dwells@turkeyfed.org |
| Vice Chair | Gina Luke, gluke@avma.org |
| COMMODITY GROUPS
|
CONTACTS (+ denotes primary contact)
|
| American Dairy Goat Association | Linda Campbell, Linda@Khimaira.com |
| American Goat Federation | Linda Campbell, Linda@Khimaira.com |
| American Horse Council | +Adam Choate, achoate@horsecouncil.orgBen Pendergrass, bpendergrass@horsecouncil.org
James J. Hickey, jay@horsecouncil.org |
| American Meat Institute | +Betsy Booren, bbooren@meatami.comJim Hodges, jhodges@meatami.com |
| American Rabbit Breeders Association | +Eric Stewart, Eric@arba.net |
| American Sheep Industry Association | +Paul Rodgers, prodgers2@earthlink.netPeter Orwick, porwick@sheepusa.org
Fran Boyd, franboyd@meyersandassociates.com |
| American Veal Association | +Dale Bakke, info@realveal.com |
| National Chicken Council | +Ashley Peterson, apeterson@chickenusa.orgMary Colville, mcolville@chickenusa.org |
| National Livestock Producers Association | +Scott Stuart, scott.stuart@animalagriculture.org |
| National Milk Producers Federation | +Betsy Flores, Bflores@nmpf.orgDana Brooks, DBrooks@nmpf.org
Jamie Jonker, jjonker@nmpf.org |
| National Pork Board | +Paul Sundberg, Paul.Sundberg@porkboard.orgJennifer Koeman, jkoeman@pork.org |
| National Pork Producers Council | +Liz Wagstrom, WagstromL@nppc.orgTerry-Ann Paulo, Paulot@nppc.org
Audrey Adamson, adamsona@nppc.org Bobby Acord, bobbyacord@aol.com Chris Wall, wallc@nppc.org |
| National Turkey Federation | +Damon Wells, dwells@turkeyfed.orgJoel Brandenberger, jbrandenberger@turkeyfed.org
Leslee Oden, loden@turkeyfed.org Andrew Bailey, abailey@turkeyfed.org |
| R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America | +Bill Bullard, billbullard@r-calfusa.com |
| United Egg Producers | +Chad Gregory, chaduep@unitedegg.com |
| USPOULTRY U.S. Poultry & Egg Association | +Rafael Rivera, rrivera@uspoultry.orgJohn Starkey, jstarkey@uspoultry.org
Paul Pressley, ppressley@uspoultry.org |
| Western United Dairymen | +Charles Garrison, cgarrison@garrisongroup.com |
ALLIED ANIMAL AGRICULTURE GROUPS |
CONTACTS (+ denotes primary contact) |
| American Association of Avian Pathologists | +Gregg Cutler, gregg.j.cutler@gmail.comBob Bevans-Kerr, aaap@aaap.info |
| American Association of Bovine Practitioners | +Gatz Riddell, mgriddell@aabp.org |
| American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners | +Joan Bowen, joan.s.bowen@gmail.com |
| American Association of Swine Veterinarians | +Harry Snelson, snelson@aasv.orgTom Burkgren, burkgren@aasv.org |
| American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians | +Jim Kistler, jkistler@aavld.orgThomas McKenna, Thomas.McKenna@WVDL.wisc.edu
Tim Baszler, baszlert@vetmed.wsu.edu Barb Powers, Barb.Powers@ColoState.EDU Brad Mollet, brad.mollet@gmail.com |
| American Dairy Science Association | +Ken Olson, keolson@prodigy.netBarb Glen, bglenn@croplifeamerica.org
Ken McGuffey, kmcguffey1@netzero.net |
| American Farm Bureau | +Kelli Ludlum, kelli@fb.orgDale Moore, dalem@fb.org |
| American Feed Industry Association | +Richard Sellers, rsellers@afia.orgJill Homer Stewart, jhomer@poldir.com
Leah Wilkinson, LWilkinson@afia.org |
| American Society of Animal Science | +Ronnie Green, Rgreen2@unl.eduBrett Hess, brethess@uwyo.edu
Jerry C. Weigel, Geraldweigel49@yahoo.com |
| American Veterinary Medical Association | +Gina Luke, gluke@avma.orgAshley Morgan, amorgan@avma.org
Whitney Miller, wmiller@avma.org Kristi Henderson, khenderson@avma.org Christine Hoang, CHoang@avma.org Mark Lutschaunig, mlutschaunig@avma.org Chris Myrick, chris@cmgovernmentrelations.com |
| Animal Agriculture Alliance | +Kay Johnson Smith, kjohnson@animalagalliance.org |
| Animal Health Institute | +Brigid Zeller, bzeller@ahi.orgRon Phillips, rphillips@ahi.org |
| Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges | +Kevin Cain, kcain@aavmc.org |
| Association of Veterinary Biologics Companies | +John Thomas, jthomas@lltmlaw.com |
| Biotechnology Industry Organization | +Dave Edwards, dedwards@bio.org |
| Council for Agricultural Science and Technology | +Linda Chimenti, lchimenti@cast-science.org |
| Federation of Animal Science Societies | +Lowell Randel, lowell@therandelgroup.com |
| Livestock Exporters Association of the USA | +Tony Clayton, livestockexportersassn@earthlink.net |
| Livestock Marketing Association | +Kristen Parman, kparman@LMAWeb.com |
| Multistate Initiative on Mycobacterial Diseases of Animals | + Ken Olson, keolson@prodigy.netVivek Kapur, vkapur@psu.edu
Don Lein, dhl10@cornell.edu |
| National Aquaculture Association | +Betsy Hart, bhart@sc.rr.comRandy MacMillan, randy@clearsprings.com |
| National Association for the Advancement of Animal Science | +Lowell Randel, lowell@therandelgroup.comWalt Smith, walt@themallardgroup.net |
| National Association of Animal Breeders | +Gordon Doak, gdoak@naab-css.orgJere Mitchell, jmitchell@naab-css.org |
| National Association of Federal Veterinarians | +Mike Gilsdorf, mgilsdorf@nafv.orgCaroline Tuckhorn, ctuckhorn@nafv.org |
| National Association of Public Health Veterinarians | +Lisa Tell, latell@ucdavis.edu |
| National Association of State Departments of Agriculture | +Amy Hendrickson, amy@nasda.orgNathan Brown, nathan@nasda.org |
| National Dairy Herd Improvement Association | +Jay Mattison, jmattison@requestltd.com |
| National Farmers Union | +Mike Stranz, mstranz@nfudc.orgChandler Goule, cgoule@nfudc.org |
| National Grain and Feed Association | + David Fairfield, dfairfield@ngfa.orgRandall Gordon, RGordon@NGFA.org |
| National Institute for Animal Agriculture | +Scott Stuart, scott.stuart@animalagriculture.org |
| National Renderers Association | +David Meeker, dmeeker@nationalrenderers.comJessica Meisinger, jmeisinger@nationalrenderers.com |
| North American Meat Association | +Sally Donner, sdonner@ofwlaw.comBarry Carpenter, barry@nmaonline.org |
| Poultry Science Association | +Steve Kopperud, skopperud@poldir.com |
| U.S. Animal Health Association | +Ben Richey, brichey@usaha.org |
UK: Schmallenberg virus can infect wild animals
on Feb 20 in Industry News, NewsBy Helen Briggs BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21452990
A livestock virus sweeping through British sheep flocks and cattle herds has infected wild deer, say scientists.
The disease, which is spread by insects, causes birth defects in lambs and can reduce milk yields in cattle.
Outbreaks have been reported in farm animals in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
European scientists say wild deer can catch the virus, and are calling for the impact on wildlife to be monitored.
Dr Mutien-Marie Garigliany, said wild animals such as roe and red deer can potentially act as a reservoir of infection.
“We should implement specific surveillance of wild animals for SBV,” he told BBC News.
He said wild boar as well as wild deer show signs of SBV infection, although it is not thought to make them sick.
SBV first appeared in south east England more than a year ago, but has now spread to every county in England and Wales.
Dr Rachael Tarlinton, a virology expert and veterinary scientist at the University of Nottingham, said the disease was having a huge financial impact on some farms.
Lambing season
Reports from veterinary students at the university suggest losses as high as 30% of lambs in some infected flocks.
Red deer can catch SBVDr Tarlinton said the studies in Belgium show wild deer can catch the virus, but the impact on deer – and their offspring – is unknown.
“We know deer get the virus – they produce antibodies to it,” she told BBC News.
“But deer have a different placental structure to cows and sheep – so we don’t know if it gets across the placenta to affect foetuses.”
According to Prof Trevor Drew of the UK government’s Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, the virus can infect native red deer, fallow deer, sika deer and roe deer.
The disease is transmitted by bites from midges and other insects, which makes it impossible to eradicate from British farms, Prof Drew told MPs last week.
Schmallenberg virus
- Confirmed outbreaks in several European countries
- SBV generally causes mild symptoms in adult cattle and sheep
- If animals catch the infection during pregnancy, it can pass to the unborn lamb or calf, causing stillbirth and birth defects
- The disease is of concern to farmers, particularly during the lambing season, with some farms reporting heavy losses this winter.
“It is just impossible to control midges across an area the size of Europe,” Prof Drew told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee.
“Even if we had some national campaign, it would be quite simple that the midges would be blown over and of course we cannot control the disease in wild deer.”
The UK’s deputy chief veterinary officer, Alick Simmons, said a vaccine against SBV is not yet available but several are being developed.
“This is a disease which we believe will either through vaccination or through natural spread become less of a problem over time,” he told the committee.
“And already in the areas we have been affected in northern Europe and to a certain extent in the south east of England, the disease is less than it was last year.”
Emerging disease
SBV, named after the German town where it was first detected, is an emerging livestock disease in Europe.
It was found in south east England early in 2012, and has since spread to every county in England and Wales.
SBV is not a notifiable condition, suggesting official figures on the number of outbreaks are a vast underestimate.
OR: AGF Listening Session
on Feb 18 in AGF Activities, Industry News, News, News ReleasesAGF NEWS UPDATE
February 18, 2013
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Steve Lee: 202-350-9065 SteveLee@AmericanGoatFederation.org
Linda Campbell: 540-743-4628 LindaCampbell@AmericanGoatFederation.org
Clackamas, OR
– Jan Carlson, American Goat Federation (AGF) Director from Davis, California, will represent the AGF at the Northwest Oregon Dairy Goat Association Goat Education Conference on February 23. She has managed the University of California Davis Goat Facility for the past 13 years, in addition to teaching animal science/goat husbandry classes. Ms. Carlson will provide information to the expected 500 attendees about the AGF, who we are, who our members are, and what we have been doing and are planning to do in the future on behalf of goat owners nationwide. She will be at the AGF Booth during the event, and will collect information from producers about their needs and concerns regarding the goat industry.
This activity is being funded by the proceeds of a grant AGF received to conduct “Listening Sessions” and surveys at major goat industry events across the United States. AGF is soliciting feedback from producers about what their major concerns are, what factors will enhance their business, and how AGF can best represent them as members. The information being collected will assist AGF to develop strategic planning focus areas and provide information to the USDA and other government agencies about our industry.
The mission of the American Goat Federation includes the provision of educational information and resources to individual AGF members and member organizations. The mission extends to goat producers throughout the nation. We continue to conduct a membership drive, recruiting new members to increase our membership and give us an even stronger voice when representing all facets of the goat industry. The AGF Facebook page contains up to the minute information about what the AGF is doing for the goat industry as well as the activities of other agencies engaged in supporting animal agriculture.
More information is available at www.AmericanGoatFederation.org.
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OHIO: February webinars on sheep and goat management
on Feb 02 in Industry News, NewsGOSHEN — The Purdue Cooperative Extension Service office in Elkhart County will be a host site for the “Ohio Sheep and Goat Educational Series,” which begins Feb. 4.
This four-part webinar is geared toward sheep and goat producers to help them stay current on topics in the industry. Sessions include:
• Feb. 4: “Vaccination Programs for Sheep and Goat Operations,” Eric Gordon, Ohio State large-animal veterinarian
• Feb. 11: “Artificial Insemination Techniques of Sheep and Goats,” Meghan Wulster-Radcliffe, CEO, American Society of Animal Science
• Feb. 18: “Managing Pastures and Hay Fields after a Drought,” Jeff McCutcheon and Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension
• Feb. 25: “Use of EAZI-BREED CIDR for Sheep and Goat Operations,” Keith Inskeep, West Virginia University.
The program is from 7 to 9 p.m. each week and is free. The Extension office is at the Elkhart County fairgrounds, 17746 C.R. 34, Goshen.
To attend the webinar contact the Extension office at 533-0554 or Robert Kelly at kelly115@purdue.edu.