Sustainability can be defined as meeting our needs today without compromising our capabilities to meet our needs in the future (Brundtland, 1987). Classically, sustainability encompasses environmental, economic, and social pillars and the interactions and trade-offs therein.

In recent years, there have been significant public and policy commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all industry sectors. This has been driven by an increasing concern over the changing climate and the role that anthropogenic emissions play in this process.

Cattle production is a cornerstone of U.S. agriculture, but it faces growing scrutiny regarding sustainability. A key driver of industry adoption of more sustainable production systems is consumer demand for environmentally responsible food products, along with evolving opportunities for market differentiation (Ishaq et al., 2024).

The United States is a major global beef supplier, operating a highly diverse production system that spans extensive rangelands and intensive feedyards. Figure 1 provides a conceptual overview of the U.S. beef supply chain, illustrating the major production stages and their connections from cow-calf through feedyard and processing, consistent with established descriptions of the supply chain in the literature (Thoma et al., 2017; Asem-Hiablie et al., 2019; Rotz et al., 2019).

Beef-production systems play a key role in the intersection between food production, biodiversity conservation, and preservation of ecosystem functions (Gerber et al., 2015). As global interest in the concept of “Nature Positive” increases, in parallel to an increasing world population and demand for protein sources, it will be necessary to ensure that beef-producing landscapes contribute to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) mission of “halting and reversing” global biodiversity loss (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2022).

Global beef systems have undergone enormous changes in recent decades, steadily increasing in outputs while holding inventory relatively steady (Steinfeld et al., 2010). This progress has been in no small part due to improvements to genetic potential across many traits. As industries around the world work to produce high-quality protein while balancing economics, animal well-being, and environmental impact, genetic improvement will be an even more important driver.

Sheep exhibit a nocturnal peak in growth hormone secretion with regular circadian fluctuations, making the study of feeding time effects on their physiological functions highly important and practical. This study assigned 12 Dorper × Hu crossbred rams to daytime and nighttime feeding groups to explore how feeding patterns affect their digestive metabolism, blood parameters, intestinal microflora, and metabolites.

Developing beef replacement heifers into productive mature animals requires nutritional strategies that support adequate growth, timely puberty, and optimal pregnancy outcomes. Direct-fed microbials (DFM), particularly spore-forming Bacillus species, can improve forage digestibility and host performance by modulating the gut microbial community.

Protein hydrolysates have been used in the pet food industry for years. Recently, insects have demonstrated their potential antioxidant and antihypertensive activities, which may be enhanced through enzymatic hydrolysis, generating new functional peptides.

Leg health is one of the main welfare challenges in modern broiler production because fast-growing birds are more likely to develop locomotion and skeletal problems. Most studies evaluate only one or two indicators, which can make it difficult to understand the overall welfare response to different management strategies.

Shearing pregnant ewes is commonly done to improve cleanliness around lambing, but it may also influence how lambs grow before birth. In this study, we evaluated whether shearing ewes early in pregnancy (around day 50) affects blood flow to the developing lamb, fetal growth, and lamb performance after birth.

Lameness is a major issue affecting welfare, milk production, and farm economics in dairy herds, and early detection is a challenge in commercial conditions. This study analyzed routine milking and behavioral data from 67 lame cows to investigate changes occurring prior to clinical detection.

The October Edition of The Giving Herd, an ASAS Foundation Newsletter

Dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) are commonly used as a protein source in finishing cattle diets; however, increased availability of canola meal (CM) from biodiesel production has increased interest in CM as an alternative protein source. This study evaluated the effects of replacing DDGS with CM on nutrient and amino acid (AA) intake, flow, and digestibility.

Full-fat rice bran (FFRB) is a valuable feed alternative, but its available energy values for gestating and lactating sows remain poorly defined. Although the substitution method is widely used to determine the energy content of feed ingredients, the optimal inclusion level of FFRB in sow have not been clearly elucidated.

With policies restricting antibiotic overuse becoming mainstream, farmers are turning to non-antibiotic feed additives to maintain poultry health. Based on this trend, this study evaluated the effects of supplementing wheat-based broiler diets with essential oils-organic acids mixture (EOA) alongside enzyme preparations.

Marbling is the main determinant of beef quality and palatability and is affected by feeding practices. Corn-based diets are commonly fed to cattle to support faster growth and contain high amounts of starch and linoleic acid. Together, these dietary characteristics alter how fats are processed in the rumen, leading to ruminal formation of fatty acids such as trans-10, cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid (t10, c12-CLA) and trans-10 18:1 (t10-18:1).

Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) typically requires lifelong management using a combination of medications, topical therapies, and allergen-specific treatments. To determine if targeted nutrition can help manage this condition, researchers evaluated the effects of two therapeutic veterinary foods on 39 dogs with cAD over an 8-wk period.

Bovine viral diarrhea virus type 1 (BVDV-1) is a widespread viral infection responsible for large economic losses in cattle herds. In this study, a knock-out (KO) gene edited cell line targeting the Synaptogyrin-2 (SYNGR2) gene was generated via CRISPR-Cas9 to test the role of this gene in BVDV-1 replication.

The domestic turkey is a major species in the international poultry meat industry. Although free-range, organic-like systems are rising in popularity, little research has been conducted in this regard. That is the case of the effect of uncontrolled rearing systems on turkey growth, which is still an understudied field.