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January 3, 2010 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Indiana Livestock News...From the Indiana Soybean Alliance & Indiana Corn Marketing Council
Indiana Livestock News (ILN) is a digest of news articles and information about issues affecting Indiana and the U.S. livestock industry. The ILN is funded by the soybean and corn checkoff in support of the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council strategic plan goal for increasing corn and soybean consumption through Indiana livestock.
Lawyers target pig, dairy farms
Attorneys seek justice for neighbors allegedly injured by pork and dairy producers.
Muncie Star, December 23, 2009
WINCHESTER -- Neighbors who are fed up living next door to factory farms have found three high-powered trial lawyers who vow to make Randolph County "ground zero" in a courtroom food fight over how Indiana produces pork and milk.
Highly aggressive flies, harmful odors, stacks of dead animals and mismanagement of millions of gallons of manure are among the complaints of neighbors suing pork and dairy producers.
The trial lawyers are bringing multiple lawsuits challenging Indiana's industrial or factory model of producing milk and pork in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) promoted by Gov. Mitch Daniels' agriculture department.
Read more...
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912230336
State agency files suit against Vreba-Hoff
Richmond Palladium Item, December 27, 2009
LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit last week alleging hundreds of new permit violations at Vreba-Hoff dairies in Hudson.
"Once again we find ourselves having to ask the court to enforce the numerous agreements that Vreba-Hoff has failed to live up to, and enough is enough," DEQ Director Steven E. Chester said in a press release. "Most CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) in Michigan work hard to be environmentally responsible members of their communities. It is unfortunate that Vreba-Hoff refuses to adhere to the most fundamental laws that we have in Michigan to keep our precious water resources safe."
Read more...
http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912260316
Environmental groups accuse IDEM of failing to protect water
Muncie Star, January 2, 2010
Environmental groups have filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accusing the Indiana Department of Environmental Management of failing to enforce the federal Clean Water Act.
Coal mines and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are among the sources IDEM is allegedly allowing to degrade the state's rivers, lakes and streams.
Read more...
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20100102/NEWS01/1020312
HSUS measure in Missouri takes next step
meatingplace.com, December 20, 2009
The Humane Society of the United States has gotten the green light from the Missouri Secretary of State's office for the wording on its petition for a ballot initiative intended to crack down on shady dog breeders in Missouri, according to information filed on the state agency's Web site. The animal rights organization may now begin circulating it for signatures.
For an initiative petition changing state law to be placed on the ballot, signatures must be obtained from registered voters equal to 5 percent of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in six of Missouri's nine congressional districts. For 2010, that amounts to just under 100,000 signatures.
Although the ballot initiative is specifically aimed at dog breeders, many agriculture executives interpret HSUS's efforts as a first step toward putting restrictions on livestock operations in the state. The organization had success a year ago in California with Proposition 2, but did not succeed in passing similar animal treatment measures in Ohio earlier this year.
Ag chief Hagler tracks HSUS’s efforts in Missouri
meatingplace.com, December 31, 2009
Jon Hagler is head of Missouri's state Department of Agriculture, and as such, he is in the front row for the Humane Society of the United States' latest state-level legislative push. In the wake of success in California and defeat in Ohio, the group's efforts in Missouri are important to its PR and lobbying momentum nationwide.
Hagler spent some time recently discussing HSUS and the ag industry in the state of Missouri with Meatingplace.
Read more...
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=14992
Down on the Farm, an Endless Cycle of Waste
New York Times, December 29, 2009
GUSTINE, Tex. — Day and night, a huge contraption prowls the grounds at Frank Volleman’s dairy in Central Texas. It has a 3,000-gallon tank, a heavy-duty vacuum pump and hoses and, underneath, adjustable blades that scrape the surface as it passes along.
In function it is something like a Zamboni, but one that has crossed over to the dark side. This is no hockey rink, and it’s not loose ice being scraped up. It’s cow manure.
Read more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/science/29manure.html
Top 10 Animal Stories of the Last Decade
By Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation, HSUS, December 28, 2010
The run up to any new year provides an opportunity for a look back. But now that we are turning into 2010, it’s an opportunity to conduct a longer-term review of the major events and trends of the last decade (though one might argue the end of 2010 is a more suitable marker).
Read more...
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/12/top-10-animal-stories-of-the-last-decade.html
Drop That Burger
Forbes, November, 2009
Patrick O. Brown, a Stanford University biochemist, has changed science twice by giving stuff away. In the early 1990s Brown invented the DNA microarray, a tool that measures how cells make use of their DNA; he then showed researchers how to make their own, transforming genetic research. In 2000 he was one of three scientists who launched a free, online scientific journal called the Public Library of Science (PLOS); it has already broken the stranglehold of $200-a-year scientific publications like Science and Nature.
Now he is tackling an even bigger foe. Over the next 18 months Brown, 55, will take a break from his normal scientific work (finding out how a small number of genes are translated into a much larger number of proteins) in order to change the way the world farms and eats. He wants to put an end to animal farming, or at least put a significant dent in our global hunger for cows, pigs and chickens.
Read more...
http://www.forbes.com/global/2009/1130/technology-mcdonalds-global-warming-drop-that-burger.html
Time Running Out To Register for Indiana Livestock, Grain and Forage Forum, January 15
Don't miss the #1 Indiana agriculture educational experience in 2010! Two great winter meetings (the Indiana Livestock Forum and the Indiana Beef, Dairy and Forage Symposium) along with the state's soybean, corn, forage, horse, beef, pork, dairy, aquaculture and farm organizations have combined forces to bring you the most comprehensive production agriculture program you'll attend in the coming year.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Indianapolis Convention Center
7:00 am - 8:30 am - Early Bird Movie of FOOD, Inc., (Optional)
9:00 am - 6:30 pm - Program
Complete Program...Registration Form....Exhibitor Information
www.indianasoybean.com/forum
Web Sites, Blogs, Facebooks & Twitters to Watch
HSUS - Wayne Pacelle's Blog
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/
Connecting Food Consumers & Producers
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70883098616
Faces of Agriculture
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2348141333
Twitter - Ag Chat
http://twitter.com/agchat
http://www.indianacafowatch.com/
Calendar
Monday, January 4, 2010 - Indiana Beef Cattle Regional Meeting
Dubois County Fairgrounds, Jasper; 6:30 p.m. RSVP to Dubois County Extension at 812-482-1782 by 1/2/10. The counties in this AREA are: Daviess , Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Martin, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick. Current IBCA Director: Andy Lowry
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - Indiana Beef Cattle Regional Meeting
Cass County Fairgrounds, Logansport; 7 p.m. RSVP to Cass County Extension Office at 574-753-7750 by 12/31/09.The counties in this AREA are: Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Fulton, Grant, Howard, Miami, Tipton and Wabash. Current IBCA Director: Andy Hubenthal*
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - Indiana Beef Cattle Regional Meeting
Eagles Nest, Columbia City (125 S. Eagle Glen Trail); 6:30 p.m. RSVP to Ed Farris by 1/4/10: 260-358-4826.
The counties in this AREA are: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley. Current IBCA Director: Robert Mautz
Thursday, January 7, 2010 - Indiana Beef Cattle Regional Meeting
South East Purdue Ag Center, Butlerville; 6:30 p.m. RSVP to Ken Salkeld by 1/4/10: 812-352-3033.
The counties in this AREA are: Bartholomew, Brown, Dearborn, Decatur, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland. Current IBCA Director: Wayne Downey
Monday, January 11, 2010 - Indiana Beef Cattle Regional Meeting
American Legion Post #403, 203 S. Washington St., Wanatah; 6:00 p.m. Central/7:00 p.m. Eastern Time; RSVP to La Porte County Extension office by 1/5/2010: 219-324-9407
The counties in this AREA are: Elkhart, Kosciusko, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Porter, St. Joseph and Starke. Current IBCA Director: John Camden
Thursday, January 14, 2010 - Indiana Beef Cattle Regional Meeting
Morgan County Fairgrounds, Martinsville; 6:30 p.m. RSVP to Chris Parker at 765-342-1010 by 1/8/10.
The counties in this AREA are: Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan and Shelby. Current IBCA Director: Scott Whaley
January 15, 2010 - Indiana Livestock, Grain & Forage Forum (Formerly Indiana Livestock Forum and Indiana Beef, Dairy and Forage Symposium)
February 23, 2010 - Indiana Pork's Taste of Elegance, Indiana Roof
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Indiana Livestock News is edited by Jane Ade Stevens, Indiana Soybean Alliance & Indiana Corn Marketing Council Senior Program Director. ISA and ICMC sponsor the Growing Indiana Agriculture (GINA) livestock education program. GINA is an education and awareness program with the goal of developing an Indiana livestock industry that is environmentally safe, socially responsible, and economically viable for farmers who want to raise livestock. This newsletter is funded by the corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For comments and questions, or to be taken off the mailing list, contact the ISA and ICMC Livestock Director Leah Beyer at 317-347-3620 or send an email to:
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