ANIMALNET JULY 7, 1998 Don't Forget Your Pet When Disaster Strikes More Cow Clones Expected in Japan Peers back new rules on calves welfare Thailand to ban inland shrimp farming Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? USDA amends TB regs Gov't ban may be lifted soon on transport of game farm elk Pork Quality and Safety Summit Dissension butchers hog industry Plan to save the family farm soars with addition of emu Mom of cow clone dies AnimalNet is produced by researchers at the Agri-Food isk Management and Communication Project at the University of Guelph, is edited by Douglas Powell (dpowell@uoguelph.ca) and Amanda Whitfield (awhitfie@uoguelph.ca), and is supported by the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, the U.S. National Pork Producers, U.S. National Food Processors Association, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited (Canada), the U.S. National Cattlemens Beef Association, Canadian Animal Health Institute, The Rutgers University Food Safety Extension Program, National Cattlemans Beef Association, and the Agricultural Adaptation Council (CanAdapt Program). DON'T FORGET YOUR PET WHEN DISASTER STRIKES July 7/98 (from a press release) PHOENIX -- When disaster strikes, as it has in Central Florida with the recent fires, victims are often forced to evacuate their homes -- sometimes with little or no warning. Sadly, frightened and stressed pets are often dropped-off at overcrowded humane evacuation centers and animal shelters or forgotten altogether. A good household evacuation plan that addresses the needs of all family members, including pets, can help eliminate the question of how to care for your pet when disaster strikes. PETsMART (Nasdaq: PETM)encourages pet owners across the country to establish an emergency evacuation plan, before disaster strikes, that includes companion animals. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) offers the following pet disaster preparedness tips for pet owners: * If you evacuate your home, do not leave your pets behind. * Find out which motels and hotels in your area allow pets -- well in advance of needing them. * Create a pet evacuation/survival kit and include the following supplies: pet carrier, blanket, leash, harness, copy of current medical records and vaccination information, pet first-aid book, first-aid supplies, two-week supply of pet food, ample water, food and water bowls, can opener, your pet's medications and/or vitamins, cat litter and pan, favorite treats, and familiar toy. * Make sure identification tags are up to date and securely fastened to your pet's collar and have a current photo of your pet on-hand. * Make a list of local boarding kennels, veterinarians, and friends and relatives that may temporarily house your pet during or following a disaster. Most of the supplies mentioned above are available at PETsMART stores nationwide. A complete list of disaster planning tips for pets, livestock and wildlife is available on the HSUS Web site at www.hsus.org. MORE COW CLONES EXPECTED IN JAPAN 7-Jul-1998 AP TOKYO -- Just days after the birth of calves cloned from an adult cow, Japanese scientists were cited as saying Tuesday that calves cloned from cells from adults' ears and buttocks could be on the way. If the experiment succeeds, the calves would be the first clones from cells other than those from an animal's reproductive organs, said the Nara State Livestock Research Center in western Japan. Center spokesman Katsuhiko Hata was quoted as saying, "We are currently in the process of experimenting with cells taken from various parts of adult cows to figure out the most effective way to produce adult-clone calves." The story says that cloning an adult is better than relying on the relative uncertainty of cells from a fetus, because scientists can select adults that have already demonstrated their ability to produce more milk or high-quality beef. "The next step is to find ways that are the least stressful to cows," Hata said in a telephone interview from the center, about 260 miles southwest of Tokyo. At the Nara center, five surrogate cows have been impregnated, with delivery expected between mid-December and mid-January, Hata said. The center took cells from ears and buttock muscles and somatic cells from adult Japanese beef cows as well as a Holstein fetus, and placed them in unfertilized eggs whose own nuclei had been removed. Artificially cultivated embryos were then placed into the wombs of 13 cows in February, Hata said. Seven of the cows became pregnant, but two had miscarriages, he said. PEERS BACK NEW RULES ON CALVES' WELFARE July 7/98 PA News By Gabrielle Fagan, Lords Staff, PA News Measures to improve living conditions for calves were approved by the U.K. Lords tonight. Lord Hoyle, for the Government, was cited as saying that livestock welfare regulations would enforce much of what was in practice within the industry already and that Britain had always been ahead of Europe in its treatment of farm animals, adding "I am pleased this will bring an end to the veal crate situation." The regulations introduce a mandatory requirement to keep calves in groups after the age of eight weeks, unless recommended by a vet, and improved space allowed. Individual stalls and pens housing calves must allow tactile as well as visual contact. They will apply on January 2004 for accommodation in use before January 1998. Tethering will no longer permitted except in respect of group-housed calves for a short period during feeding. There will be higher standards for inspections, and diet and hygiene. THAILAND TO BAN INLAND SHRIMP FARMING July 7/98 Reuters BANGKOK -- Thai Government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart was cited as saying Tuesday that it would ban inland shrimp farming because they used salt water for breeding that contaminated fresh ground water, adding that the ban would be proposed to parliament soon and was likely to become law later this year. He said the cabinet wanted to ban all new farms but was prepared to allow some existing farms to continue operations for a short period while their current stocks were harvested. Figures from the Agriculture Ministry estimate there are now about 1,920 ha (4,744 acres) of freshwater shrimp farms in Thailand and the lucrative industry is growing. WHICH COMES FIRST? THE CHICKEN, OR THE EGG? July 7/98 Technology Review Picture a chicken's egg. Now replace it with Michael West's vision for an egg. It's low in cholesterol and doesn't need to be refrigerated. It still comes in a carton but is laid by a chicken that is resistant to both Marek's diseasea scourge that kills off entire flocks and to the Salmonella bacterium. Most important, it's packed with a drug vital to your well-being. West, CE of Origen Therapeutics, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm that he founded last fall with $1 million in startup funds, was quoted as saying, "We think this is the future of the poultry industry." These future plans are being laid thanks to the chicken version of the embryonic stem (ES) cella cell that can give rise to any other specialized type of tissue in the organism. The story says that Origen's vision for finer fowl includes chickens with genes to make them more meaty as well as disease-resistant. But the biggest prize lies in turning the egg into an oval pharmaceutical factory. West says the company plans to engineer chickens that lay eggs packed with protein-based drugs that can be easily harvested by drug companies. USDA AMENDS TUBERCULOSIS REGS June 29/98 National Meat Association The USDA announced that it would be extending indemnity payments to owners of cattle, bison and captive cervids destroyed for suspicion of tuberculosis, whereas previously it was only given for affected and exposed animals. In the interest of eliminating the disease from the U.S. by the year 2000, USDA would like to encourage immediate eradication of suspect animals. GOV'T BAN MAY BE LIFTED SOON ON TRANSPORT OF GAME FARM ELK July 7/98 The Saskatoon StarPhoenix A6 Murray Lyons The Canadian Agriculture Department may lift its ban on transporting game farm elk within Saskatchewan by the end of this week. The ban was imposed when one elk was diagnosed with chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a farm near Swift Current in April. Four Saskatchewan herds were subsequently quarantined, six elk destroyed and all movement of animals banned. Federal Agriculture Department spokesperson George Luterbach was cited as saying the department is still waiting for lab results on the six animals and that officials have already lifted the ban on movement of deer species in the province. Terri Harris, executive director of the Saskatchewan Elk Breeders Association, was cited as saying that it understands the test results will be back by the end of the week. The elk breeders and other livestock organizations were upset with the way briefing notes from Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) made their way to news media last month. Harris was quoted as saying that some of the information which linked elk chronic wasting disease directly to mad cow disease was "less than accurate. None of it was based on fact." There have only been two other reported cases of chronic wasting disease found in Canada, one in a mule deer at the Metro Toronto Zoo in the 1970s and another in an elk on a Saskatchewan game farm in 1996. In both cases, the infected animal had come from the United States. The infected animal found in Swift Current was born in Canada but its mother was imported from South Dakota in 1989. There has been a ban on importing deer and elk from the U.S. since 1990. The other elk destroyed last month were offspring and siblings of the Swift Current animal. The briefing note attached to the Environment Department memo says CWD could potentially have an impact on native wildlife populations, the game farm industry and beef exports. Harris was quoted as saying, "We see it just brings an example to light of some of the problems we've had all along with the Environment Department." PORK QUALITY AND SAFETY SUMMIT July 14-15, 1998 Hotel Fort Des Moines Des Moines, Iowa Sponsored by the National Pork Producers Council Purpose of the Summit This years Summit is an attempt to build on the excellent beginnings from last years summit. In addition to pork quality, pre and post harvest food safety have been added. The program is targeted at individuals throughout the pork chain interested in the production and processing of safe, high quality pork. July 14, 1998 General Session -- Session involves discussion of pork quality and safety concepts with an overview of some issues that affect these concepts James Salter, Total Research Corporation Dr. Forrest Dryden, Hormel Foods Dr. Gary Smith, Colorado State University Dr. Rhoda Miller, Texas A &M University Dr. David Meisinger, National Pork Producers Council John Cravens, National Pork Producers Council Pre-Harvest Food Safety -- Salmonella, its incidence and risk factors associated with disease on the farm, will be examined in this session Dr. Peter Davies, North Carolina State University Dr. Jim mcKean, Iowa State University Dr. Thomas Blaha, University of Minnesota Dr. Peter Bahnson, University of Illinois Dr. Eric Bush, APHIS:VS Dr. Peter Davies, North Carolina State University Post-Harvest Food Safety (Concurrent) Session -- Session will deal with establishing baselines for pork safety issues in carcasses and meat Dr. Jim Dickson, Iowa State University henry Zerby, Dr. Keith Belk, and Gary Smith, Colorado State University Mandy Carr and Dr. Mark Miller, Texas Tech University Pork Quality (Concurrent) Session (1:00pm-3:30pm) -- Colour issues, on-farm effects on quality, meat characteristics, and processing issues will be discussed in this session Dr. Mark Morgan, Purdue University Dr. Mike Ellis and Dr. Floyd McKeith, University of Illinois Dr. Don Beitz, Iowa State University Dr. David Gerrard, Purdue University Cindy Cloud, Texas A &M University Food Safety (4) and Pork Quality (3) Breakout Sessionssessions allow for audience input July 15, 1998 General Session - Irradiation effects on pork quality and safety; Dr. Dennis Olson, Iowa State University Commercial Systems Approach to Quality and Safety Dr. Jan Schuiteman, NOBL Laboratories, Sioux Center, IA Ken Winsel, Pork Producer, Woodstack, MN Dr. David Meisinger, National Pork Producers Council Dr. Beth Lautner, National Pork Producers Council Pre-Harvest Food Safety (Concurrent) Session -- Sessions will examine various on-farm pork safety issues (e.g. Antibiotic resistance) and organisms (e.g. Salmonella) as well as with programs in place to deal with these issues Dr. John Waddell, Swine Practitioner, Sutton, NE Dr. Richard Isaacson, University of Illinois Dr. John Ragan, FSIS/USDA Dr. Irene Wesley, ARS/USDA Dr. Jeff Zimmerman, Iowa State University Dr. Dave Pyburn, National Pork Producers Council Post-Harvest Food Safety Session --Session deals with some of the intervention strategies and how to stay proactive in dealing of issues of relevance here. Dr. Jim Dickson, Iowa State University Dr. Richard Linton and Dr. david Gerrard, Purdue University Hery Zerby and Dr. Keith Belk, Colorado State University Jorge Hernandez, Educational Foundation, National Restaurant Association Bill Kuecker, Cryovac Pork Quality (Concurrent) Session -- Session will deal entirely with pork quality in the plant. Factors affecting pork quality on the slaughter line and in processing will also be discussed. Dr. Roger Mandigo, University of Nebraska Jesper Broendum, SFK Technologies Dr. Nicola Simmons, MIRNZ Dr. Eric Berg, Texas A&M University Dr. Estes Reynolds, University of Georgia Registration Advance for Allied Industry $170.00 At the door for Allied Industry $195.00 Advance for Producers $ 99.00 At the door for Producers $125.00 Registration fee covers: printed proceedings and handouts, lunch, refreshments, dinner. Space is limited. To Register using Visa or Mastercard call 1-800-667-1436 or (515) 223- 2600 For more information contact Jenny Felt, Education Program Manager at (515) 223-2600; or 1-800-456-7675, ext.771. DISSENSION BUTCHERS HOG INDUSTRY July 6/98 The Kitchener-Waterloo Record D1 Jim Romahn The local hog industry is on the ropes, according to columnist Romahn. Last year, J.M. Schneider Inc. closed its hog slaughtering and fresh pork cutting lines in Kitchener. This year, Thorn Apple Valley in Detroit, the largest hog-packing plant serving hog farmers in the region, is closing down. For 10 years, there has been little or no expansion in the local industry, yet there has been tremendous growth in other areas of North America and around the world. Dissension in the ranks, says Romahn, is the biggest single reason for the failure of the Ontario hog and pork industry to capitalize on tremendous opportunities to thrive. Many studies have come to the same conclusion, the most recent one prepared by Groupe de Recherche en Economie et Politique Agricoles (GREPA) of Laval University in Quebec. There is dissension wherever you turn. The purebred breeders are so divided that their organization was locked in a constitutional stalemate last year. The marketing board, Ontario Pork, is splintered into dozens of factions and is either unable or unwilling to show leadership precisely when it's most needed. The packers are equally splintered, Maple Leaf and Quality Packers competing as large-volume plants, then a second tier of small but expanding plants that either are, or soon will be, federally inspected facilities, and then a third tier of tiny-scale packers that are little more than local butcher shops. There was a time when Canadian pork was so much better that it was easy to export everything from breeding stock to bacon. That quality advantage is almost gone. For example, Paul Ferreira of Ayr, who has a feed sales territory for the Growmark co-operative that spans Ontario and Michigan, says there is no difference now between the genetic quality of hogs raised on either side of the border. That, in turn, means U.S. packing plants can market pork to Japan that is every bit as lean and tasty as the best from Ontario. The GREPA report says Ontario could bounce back if everybody would start pulling together. That includes farmers uniting behind their marketing board, and co-operation instead of confrontation between packers and the marketing board. It's an interesting vision, but it isn't going to happen. The best plan for Ontario would be to end the marketing board's sales monopoly so individual packers and farmers become completely free to pursue direct alliances. Those farmers who nurse a grudge against packers would no longer be able to use their collective voting clout at the marketing board to stymie progress. A few farmers who are of a quite different mind have pursued alliances with U.S. packers, and have been rewarded with higher prices and profits. They need to get the marketing board monkey off their backs. The provincial governments in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have all cancelled marketing board monopolies. They felt it was necessary to get their pork industries on track to expansion focused on export markets. The longer Ontario waits to do the same, the more difficult it will become to bounce back from the ropes. PLAN TO SAVE THE FAMILY FARM SOARS WITH ADDITION OF EMU July 7/98 The Toronto Star B3 Theresa Ebden Bob Hunter's get-rich-quick idea was,according to this story, to introduce the emu as an addition to his cash crops, an idea that has since become a 2,000-head commercial emu empire. Hunter wanted to save his fourth-generation Whitby grain farm 13 years ago, and consulted international farming circles for creative ideas. His interest was piqued when he came upon the idea of breeding ostriches, which were then selling for $50,000 a pair. He ended up with a 6-foot emu, a small cousin of the ostrich. The story says that determined to prove himself, Hunter kept his emus for breeding. Today, the Hunters estimate that a half-dozen local farmers have taken up the notion and now raise emu for export and meat. MOM OF COW CLONES DIES July 7/98 The Edmonton Sun p.25 AP The mother of two calves that Japanese scientists say are the world's first cow clones died suddenly yesterday, a day after giving birth. An autopsy was being performed to determine the cause of the cow's death, scientists said. The yet-to-be-named twin clones were in good health: One was receiving milk and the other a nutrient medicine, said Toyokazu Morita, an official of the Ishikawa Prefectural Livestock Research Centre. The six-year-old cow gave birth to two clones, weighing 16 kg and 17 kg, compared with an average calf which weighs 25 kg, Morita said. Researchers took cells from a cow and placed them in unfertilized eggs whose own nuclei had been removed. Artificially cultivated embryos then were placed into the wombs of mother cows in November, said Morita, who noted that cow cloning would be used to breed better cattle strains. To subscribe to AnimalNet, send mail to: listserv@listserv.uoguelph.ca leave subject line blank in the body of the message type: subscribe animalnet-L firstname lastname i.e. subscribe animalnet -L Doug Powell To unsubscribe to AnimalNet, send mail to: listserv@listserv.uoguelph.ca leave subject line blank in the body of the message type: signoff animalnet -L For more information about the AnimalNet research program, please contact: Dr. Douglas Powell dept. of plant agriculture University of Guelph Guelph, Ont. 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