Featured Articles

  • Mar
    28
    Interpretive Summary: Animal ag industry supports the America’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation Act


    Representative Bruce Westerman introduced America’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation Act (AWHCA) into the House of Representatives to fund habitat restoration and forest management projects and promote collaboration with private partners to conserve habitat for at-risk and listed species. The AWHCA will also provide $20 million to fund habitat restoration projects and forest management on tribal lands.

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  • Mar
    28
    Interpretive Summary: Final rule issues for the Packers and Stockers Act


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the finalization of the Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act. The final rule will be effective for 60 days following publishing in the Federal Register and is designed to establish clearer, more effective standards under the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act for prohibited practices relating to discrimination, retaliation, and deception in contracting.

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  • Mar
    28
    Interpretive Summary: January US meat export data released


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the January 2024 export data, which was compiled by the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Pork and lamb exports were high for January, while beef exports were slightly down. Export value is trending significantly higher than the previous year.

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  • Mar
    28
    Interpretive Summary: The Rural and Agricultural Income and Savings from Renewable Energy initiative is introduced


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) have launched a new program to help farmers cut costs and increase income using underutilized renewable technologies including smaller-scale wind projects. The Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE) initiative will help 400 individual farmers deploy smaller-scale wind projects using USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

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  • Mar
    28
    Interpretive Summary: The US House Ag Labor Working Group release final report


    The United States House Agricultural Working Group has released its final report with policy recommendations. The bipartisan working group participated in extensive discussions with producers across the nation to identify key challenges faced by the industry The goal of the report is to bolster the agricultural workforce.

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  • Mar
    28
    Interpretive Summary: USDA finalized the Product of USA label claim


    The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced the finalization of the voluntary “Product of USA” label claim. FSIS is amending its regulations to define the conditions under which the labeling of meat, poultry, and egg products under mandatory inspection, as well as voluntarily inspected products, may use voluntary label claims indicating that the product is of United States origin.

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  • Mar
    21
    Interpretive Summary: Elucidating the factors and consequences of the severity of rumen acidosis in first-lactation Holstein cows during transition and early lactation


    The present study reports a high variation of severity of subacute rumen acidosis in first-lactation dairy cows with the same feeding regimen close to parturition and until 10 weeks after parturition. Six significant factors influencing this severity were identified, including in particular length of close-up period, age at parturition, and dry matter intake.

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  • Mar
    21
    Interpretive Summary: Comparison between multiple-trait and random regression models for genetic evaluation of weight traits in Australian meat sheep


    Currently, multiple-trait (MT) models are used in large-scale genetic evaluation of growth traits, where body weight traits are defined as separate traits at a finite number of fixed ages. Random regression (RR) models are expected to be superior since they can handle repeated measurements of weight and model these as a function of the actual age of measurement.

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  • Mar
    21
    Interpretive Summary: Unravelling novel and pleiotropic genes for cannon bone circumference and bone mineral density in Yorkshire pigs


    Leg weakness, a highly prevalent health condition in pig breeding farms, adversely affects the lifespan of breeding pigs. The augmentation of cannon bone circumference (CBC) and bone mineral density (BMD), which are objective measures of limb strength in pigs, can effectively alleviate leg weakness.

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  • Mar
    21
    Interpretive Summary: Identification and screening of circular RNAs during adipogenic differentiation of ovine preadipocyte by RNA-seq


    The moderate fat deposition contributes to improve mutton quality, which is associated with the differentiation of preadipocytes. To investigate roles of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in preadipocyte differentiation, we identified circRNAs on days 0, 2, and 8 of preadipocytes differentiation and compared the expression profile of circRNAs at different adipogenic differentiation stages.

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  • Mar
    21
    Interpretive Summary: Technical note: ShinyAnimalCV: open-source cloud-based web application for object detection, segmentation, and three-dimensional visualization of animals using computer vision


    The integration of cameras and data science has great potential to revolutionize livestock production systems, making them more efficient and sustainable by replacing human-based management with real-time individualized animal care. However, applying these digital tools to animal data presents challenges that require computer programming and data analysis skills, as well as access to computing resources.

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  • Mar
    17
    Jim Oltjen's Animal Science Family Tree and Legacy


    Jim Oltjen's family history of animal scientists spans three generations, and ASAS has been part of that journey since 1958. They have been mentored by and mentors to those who are now lifelong friends. He and his wife, Sharon, encourage you to reflect on your animal science family tree and ASAS journey and urge you to consider your legacy with ASAS by becoming a 1908 Society Member and ensuring a bright future for aspiring animal scientists.

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  • Mar
    14
    Interpretive Summary: Green banana flour as a novel functional ingredient in retorted feline diets


    Green banana flour (GBF) is a novel ingredient in the pet food industry but has been gaining popularity in human nutrition. Not only can GBF be a source of dietary fiber in pet foods, but the natural brown color and hygroscopic properties also show the potential in contributing to physical characteristics.

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  • Mar
    14
    Interpretive Summary: Nitrogen and energy utilization and methane emissions of sheep grazing on annual pasture vs. native pasture


    The reduction of methane (CH4) emissions and nitrogen (N) excretion from livestock production systems can help mitigate environmental impact and improve feeding efficiency. The energy requirements of livestock are crucial for enhancing their performance and minimizing environmental impact.

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  • Mar
    14
    Interpretive Summary: Benchmarking the United States bison meat industry: stakeholder perceptions, production parameters, and live animal factors affecting meat quality


    This project evaluated bison industry stakeholder perceptions on management, animal welfare, and meat quality with in-person and online surveys. Additionally, multiple live animal factors were measured to benchmark their influence on specific meat quality attributes.

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  • Mar
    14
    Interpretive Summary: One-carbon metabolite supplementation to nutrient-restricted beef heifers affects placental vascularity during early pregnancy


    In cow–calf production, periods of poor forage availability or quality can result in nutrient restriction during pregnancy. Previous studies have shown that even moderate maternal feed restriction during pregnancy, including very early in pregnancy, has profound effects on fetal and placental development, potentially having lasting impacts on calf growth and body composition later in life.

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  • Mar
    14
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of dietary Nisin on growth performance, immune function, and gut health of broilers challenged by Clostridium perfringens


    Necrotic enteritis (NE), a severe digestive disorder in broiler chickens caused by Clostridium perfringens (Cp), a gram-positive bacterium, is a widespread issue in the global poultry industry, leading to significant economic losses. Nisin (Ni), a polypeptide bacteriocin produced by probiotic lactic streptococci, has been found to enhance daily weight gain and feed intake, while also exhibiting inhibitory effects on gram-positive bacteria and anti-inflammatory properties.

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  • Mar
    07
    Interpretive Summary: Stress indicators in dairy cows adapting to virtual fencing


    Virtual fences are commercially available but face restrictions in some countries due to animal welfare concerns. For virtual fencing (VF), animals are equipped with collars that emit audio tones (ATs) followed by electric pulses (EPs) when they cross a virtual boundary tracked by global navigation. Existing studies have so far not covered the aspect of longer-term learning, impacting possibly VF suitability.

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  • Mar
    07
    Interpretive Summary: Exploring definitions of daily enteric methane emission phenotypes for genetic evaluations using a population of indoor-fed multi-breed growing cattle with feed intake data


    Livestock production is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Animal breeding programs have been proposed as a sustainable mitigation strategy to reduce enteric methane emissions in livestock production.

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  • Mar
    07
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of betaine on growth performance and intestinal health of rabbits fed different digestible energy diets


    Insufficient dietary energy can cause many negative effects on animal production and cause intestinal diseases, which are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in rabbits. Results of some experiments demonstrated that betaine has various physiological functions such as improving energy utilization and intestinal health.

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