Wolves have been attacking cattle in North Thompson, an area north of Kamloops, B.C. Brenda Jones, who ranches in the area, reports maimed and dead cattle. Jones says that even uninjured animals are stressed, and calves aren’t gaining as much weight as they should. Her experience is all too common. There is no separating agriculture from nature, and predators are a part of nature.
Does domestication render animals more vulnerable to predators at a genetic level? And can producers select animals that defend themselves against predators, yet allow themselves to be easily handled by humans? A paper written by Temple Grandin and Mark J. Deesing provides some insight into these questions.
Wolves have been attacking cattle in North Thompson, an area north of Kamloops, B.C. Brenda Jones, who ranches in the area, reports maimed and dead cattle. Jones says that even uninjured animals are stressed, and calves aren’t gaining as much weight as they should. Her experience is all too common. There is no separating agriculture from nature, and predators are a part of nature.
Does domestication render animals more vulnerable to predators at a genetic level? And can producers select animals that defend themselves against predators, yet allow themselves to be easily handled by humans? A paper written by Temple Grandin and Mark J. Deesing provides some insight into these questions.
While much has been said about livestock’s contribution of greenhouse gases to climate change, too little has been said about how climate change will affect the world’s food supply. Indeed, scientists are justifiably worried about why food and sustainability are overlooked in discussions on human adaptability to climate change. Given the pressures on food production by environmental changes already taking place and a human population that will soon exceed 1 billion people, such an oversight can lead to record rates of starvation in the foreseeable future.
Such is mind-boggling since it should be obvious that producing drought- and disease- resistant livestock is a bigger imperative than ever if a booming human population is to be fed through a series of erratic changes in the weather.
This means that genetic modification is of more importance to human survival rates than previously thought. Yet the world’s focus tends to be on organic farming where genetic modification is at best frowned upon and at worst outright banned. Organic farming does indeed have an important role in human survival rates but it cannot be the only answer to the increasingly complex global problem of climate change.
Indeed, such a myopic view may prove devastating to the already shrinking genetic resources in every country of the world. Gene banks can act as a backup to maintaining breeds in the production systems where they were developed. But they can also provide hardier stock for countries where current livestock is not faring well in a suddenly altered environment.
Traditionally, livestock breeders have shared animal genetic resources willingly with neighboring breeders. More recently, there is some gene swapping among breeders in different countries although that is stifled by growing protections of intellectual property and commercial interests. But if climate change continues to impact entire regions, then gene restoration and/or gene modification may prove to be our last defense against starvation on a scale that few can imagine now.
In the journal Science, scientists spell out why it is so hard for food security to gain traction in climate change discussions. But those are not the only reasons. Chief among the resistance are the science-deniers found in big numbers in leading countries like the U.S. Science-deniers fiercely refuse to believe climate change or evolution exist. Further, they actively block the use and large-scale acceptance of the biosciences as a means to address many of man’s food problems.
Perhaps it is time for farmers to stand beside scientists and explain in an earthy way to the people around the world exactly what is happening now to both the weather and food production. Because this is no high-brow, intellectual discussion, nor is it an attack on religious or political values. Food is simply a necessity for all and even the science-deniers will learn that soon enough. It is better for us all if we present a show-and-tell than for nature to do so.
More than 600 delegates from Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia are in Alberta this week for the annual Banff Pork Seminar. Delegates have plenty to chew on with this year’s theme, “Feeding Tomorrow’s World.”
One of the plenary session speakers this year is Greg BeVier. BeVier is responsible for livestock grants at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the focus of his talk was livestock production’s role in lifting people out of poverty and hunger.
A new disease prowls European livestock operations.
Schmallenberg virus, named for the town in Germany where it was identified, causes brain and limb deformities in ruminant fetuses. The virus infects the females early in their pregnancies. Cattle owners have also reported diarrhea, fever, and reduced milk production in infected cows. No vaccine is available.
Humans aren’t the only ones susceptible to diseases like H1N1 influenza. Pigs can catch it from humans, too, according to research presented at an international symposium on pig diseases.
A research project examining swine populations in New Caledonia highlights how pigs can be infected by humans. New Caledonia is a group of islands located 1,500 kilometres east of Australia. Prior to the H1N1 pandemic of 2009, the pig population of New Caledonia was free from swine influenza.
Wolves have been attacking cattle in North Thompson, an area north of Kamloops, B.C. Brenda Jones, who ranches in the area, reports maimed and dead cattle. Jones says that even uninjured animals are stressed, and calves aren’t gaining as much weight as they should. Her experience is all too common. There is no separating agriculture from nature, and predators are a part of nature.
While much has been said about 
More than 600 delegates from Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia are in Alberta this week for the annual 
A new disease prowls European livestock operations.