Some help is on the way for farmers and livestock producers. It has forced them to buy feed and to sell cattle to stay in business. For cattle farmers, the drought has dried up pasture grass, their normal source of feed. The drought has hurt crop farmers, lowered lake levels and hurt water supplies in some communities. Hall said he has done farming work "on and off all my life. As those costs have risen, action at livestock auction barns has increased as farmers fighting for their...

The intensive grazing dairy farm would milk 3,250 cows when it is fully developed, according to information reviewed by the commissioners. Honey said the commissioners were notified of the plan because the farm comes under the same notification requirement as concentrated animal feeding operations. Last week, he described problems with odors and animal waste from the operation, which milks about 1,200 cows. Erwin, who owns a farm near the dairy CAFO, for years has urged the county to adopt...

Sharon McDonald, wife of former R-CALF USA director Dennis McDonald, and former member Judie Manuel have been submitting letters to various publications that mislead readers by asserting that litigation against former directors and members has absolutely no basis, that the lawsuits are frivolous and wasting producer dollars. Sharon McDonald, wife of former R-CALF USA director Dennis McDonald, and former member Judie Manuel have been submitting letters to various publications that mislead...

Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), R-CALF USA urged the agency to issue a new proposed rule for country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef - without delay - that would build on the progress of COOL for fish, implemented in April 2005 and based on some of the agency's own actions. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), R-CALF USA urged the agency to issue a new proposed rule for country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for...

By changing its sales profile and holding less meat in an 18-month programme, PPCS, with an annual turnover of about $2 billion and nearly a third of sheep and beef meat exports, has reduced debt. Over the past few weeks the chief executive of meat processor PPCS has spoken to more than 2000 farmer suppliers in 30 meetings throughout New Zealand. He asks, if the marketing models and performance are so poor, then why has venison improved in price and beef maintained its value the past 12...