Anticipation is high that the federal government may soon allow the meat of cloned animals into the food chain. Along with expectations, prices of cloned animals have also skyrocketed.

In September, a cow replicated from Circle A Forever Lady 718-an outstanding herd producer-was sold for $170,000 in Missouri, according to ViaGen, the company that created the clone.

Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram/ Barry Shlacter, Nov. 1, 2003
Source URL: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/7158040.htm

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Early in 2004 Cargill Inc. is expected to announce the consolidation of its meat operations under one name: Cargill Meat Solutions.

Cargill Meat Solutions will be based in Witchita, Kan., where Excel Corp.-Cargill's beef and pork unit-has been headquartered for more than 50 years. It will be the second largest meat company in the U.S., behind Tyson Foods, Inc.

Source: The Business Journal/ Benno Groeneveld, Oct. 30, 2003
Source URL: http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2003/10/27/daily37.html

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There are a number of complex ways to look at consumer demand for pork. I prefer a simple approach. My pork demand index uses only two data series: year-over-year percent change in per capita pork consumption and year-over-year percent change in deflated retail pork prices. For example, if pork consumption is steady and the deflated retail pork price is higher than last year, then my pork demand index is up, i.e. people are paying a higher price to eat the same amount of pork as last year. If per capita consumption is steady but the deflated pork price is lower than last year, then my demand index is down.

One explanation of why pork demand might change is the price of competing meats, such as beef. One would expect that higher priced beef would tend to increase the demand for pork and lower beef prices would do the opposite, and historically it has. However, this relationship does not appear to be strong in recent years.

Source: University of Missouri/ Ron Plain, Nov. 4, 2003
Source URL: http://agebb.missouri.edu/mgt/bull1b.htm

said a University of Illinois Extension marketing specialist.

"The market has focused on the extent of the soybean supply problem in the United States and the large increase in purchases by China," said Darrel Good. "In addition, of course, the South American crop is still a long way from harvest. Until there is solid evidence of a decline in the rate of consumption of U.S. soybeans, prices are expected to be well supported.

Good's comments came as he reviewed the soybean market, where prices continue to march higher as the market looks for signs that the rate of soybean and soybean product consumption is declining in line with available supplies. Soybean prices advanced about 30 cents last week, with nearby futures trading over $8.

Source: University of Illinois/ News Release/ Bob Sampson, Nov. 4, 2003
Source URL: http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news2553.html

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is amending regulations pertaining to the interstate movement of swine. The amended regulations limit the requirement for mandatory veterinary inspections, at intervals of 30 days or less, to swine that are or will be in the process of moving interstate within a swine production system and also to the premises on which the swine are to be housed.

This final rule will reduce the frequency of veterinary inspections for swine that have completed their movement within a single swine production system without diminishing the effectiveness of APHIS' swine disease monitoring and surveillance activities.

Source: USDA/ APHIS, Nov. 3, 2003
Source URL: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/news/2003/11/finherds_vs.html

Producers don't have to put on a deerstalker cap and pick up a magnifying glass to determine what went right when making changes to prevent disease problems. All it takes is some simple detection and repetition.

In the case used in this story for example, a farmer with an outbreak of post-weaning E. coli diarrhea in an offsite nursery consulted his veterinarian, feed salesman and owners of the sow herds supplying his pigs. He then changed his practices, but implemented several at the same time, meaning which actually worked could not be determined.

Source: Better Farming/ Better Pork/ Cate Dewey, October 2003
Source URL: http://www.betterfarming.com/bp/oct03_stor1.htm#light

Randy Pleima, general manager of Mahaska Rural Water Systems, is proud of the quality of water his system offers to thousands of rural users. Since 1996 the Mahaska Rural Water Systems' water nitrate levels have dropped from 1.5 parts per million to 0.2 parts per million.

Pleima gives credit to the area's farmers and says that most of the manure in the county is now knifed in and buffer strips have been created along streams.

Emily Eide, chief executive officer of the Iowa Rural Water Association, says that throughout the state similar efforts are being made and water quality is improving as are the number of rural water systems.

Source: Iowa Farmer/ Gene Lucht, Oct. 23, 2003
Source URL: http://www.iowafarmer.com/03/031025/water.htm

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There are four primary ways that shelterbelts cut down odors produced on livestock operations: by diluting gas concentrations of odor into the lower atmosphere; by reducing wind speeds dust and other aerosol deposition is encouraged; by physically intercepting dust and other aerosols; and by acting as a sink for the chemical constituents of odor.

Three primary sources of odor exist in confined animal production operations: confinement buildings, manure storage facilities, and land application areas. A 1986 study by D. G. Hardwick found that among 1,820 pig, cattle, and poultry farms, 46 percent of odor complaints were associated with manure spreading, 25 percent with buildings, and 19 percent with manure storage.

Source: Better Pork/ Sam Bradshaw, October 2003
Source URL: http://www.betterfarming.com/bp/oct03_stor3.htm#odours

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the launch of a new Internet Web site that provides marketing profiles for all 50 states.

The site includes in-depth statistical information on farms, including size, market value, cropland, livestock inventories and commodities. There also are demographic and food consumption statistics for the major metropolitan areas in each State.

Source: USDA/ AMS, Nov. 3, 2003
Source URL: http://www.ams.usda.gov/news/266-03.htm

Pig prices in Europe have dropped €22/head since early September's €138/head, but prices are expected to remain firm through Christmas. UK prices have not suffered the same drop.

The Euro Deadweight Average Pig Price (DAPP) is now 105.34p/kg compared with 97.59p in mid-September. The UK Adjusted Euro-Spec Average (AESA) rose to 105.69p/kg compared with 96.51p in September.

Source: Farmers Weekly Interactive/ Peter Crichton, Nov. 3, 2003
Source URL: http://www.fwi.co.uk/article.asp?con=12816&sec=19&hier=19