WHAT THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSIONER SAID: THE FEDERAL REPORT CARD ON AGRICULTURE IN ONTARIO AND QUEBEC

On October 2nd, 2001 the federal environment commissioner released her annual report. In it, she offered an assessment of the environmental impact of agriculture in the Great Lakes basin and the federal government's role. Specifically, the environment commissioner addressed: * Manure and fertilizer management * Soil erosion * Environmental impact of farm programs * Federal role in sustainable agriculture. Based on environmental audits and other analyses, the commissioner presented the following conclusions: * There is a problem with the accumulation of soil nutrients as a result of manure and chemical fertilizer applications in the Great Lakes basin * Soil erosion is a continuing problem that is not receiving adequate attention or data collection * Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) has not adequately taken account of the environmental impact of farm programs, and farm programs can have impacts that conflict with AAFC's stated environmental goals * AAFC has not appropriately targeted funding for the environment by region, and there is a greater need for cross-compliance in farm programs * Certain agricultural practices are unsustainable, and the framework to alter unsustainable farming practices is lacking. But are these conclusions warranted, given the mix of belief and credible evidence that typically permeates discussions of agriculture and the environment? In this special report, we provide a brief analysis of the Environment Commissioner's report as it relates to livestock and sustainability. Specifically, we clarify a misconception in the Commissioner's comparison between livestock waste and human waste, and discuss the sustainability of crop nutrients (loadings and uptake) in Ontario and Quebec as they relate to manure loadings and fertilizer use.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Silage additive update: 1984

Numerous commercial silage additives, whose manufacturers claim will improve silage quality, are available to Kansas farmers and ranchers. We believe that these claims must ultimately be documented with farm-scale research. To date, Manhattan and Ft. Hays farm-scale silo results clearly indicate that a few silage additives do improve silage quality and are cost-effective. Several of them have consistently reduced in silo losses. But results probably will not be favorable with all additives under every farm condition. Nor will research results obtained with one commercial product in our trials also apply to other products on the market, however similar in ingredient formulation

THE COMPETITIVENESS IMPACTS OF CANADA'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT REVIEW REGULATIONS; FINAL REPORT

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Head Position in Stroke Trial (HeadPoST)- sitting-up vs lying-flat positioning of patients with acute stroke: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background Positioning a patient lying-flat in the acute phase of ischaemic stroke may improve recovery and reduce disability, but such a possibility has not been formally tested in a randomised trial. We therefore initiated the Head Position in Stroke Trial (HeadPoST) to determine the effects of lying-flat (0°) compared with sitting-up (≥30°) head positioning in the first 24 hours of hospital admission for patients with acute stroke. Methods/Design We plan to conduct an international, cluster randomised, crossover, open, blinded outcome-assessed clinical trial involving 140 study hospitals (clusters) with established acute stroke care programs. Each hospital will be randomly assigned to sequential policies of lying-flat (0°) or sitting-up (≥30°) head position as a ‘business as usual’ stroke care policy during the first 24 hours of admittance. Each hospital is required to recruit 60 consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke (AIS), and all patients with acute intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) (an estimated average of 10), in the first randomised head position policy before crossing over to the second head position policy with a similar recruitment target. After collection of in-hospital clinical and management data and 7-day outcomes, central trained blinded assessors will conduct a telephone disability assessment with the modified Rankin Scale at 90 days. The primary outcome for analysis is a shift (defined as improvement) in death or disability on this scale. For a cluster size of 60 patients with AIS per intervention and with various assumptions including an intracluster correlation coefficient of 0.03, a sample size of 16,800 patients at 140 centres will provide 90 % power (α 0.05) to detect at least a 16 % relative improvement (shift) in an ordinal logistic regression analysis of the primary outcome. The treatment effect will also be assessed in all patients with ICH who are recruited during each treatment study period. Discussion HeadPoST is a large international clinical trial in which we will rigorously evaluate the effects of different head positioning in patients with acute stroke. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02162017 (date of registration: 27 April 2014); ANZCTR identifier: ACTRN12614000483651 (date of registration: 9 May 2014). Protocol version and date: version 2.2, 19 June 2014

Effects of early weaning on carcass and ribeye steak characteristics of bulls and steers

Crossbred Hereford × Angus calves (n = 103) were used to determine the effect of early weaning on carcass and ribeye (longissimus muscle) characteristics of bulls and steers. Treatments were: 1) early-weaned (117 days of age) bulls, 2) early-weaned steers, 3) normal-weaned (220 days of age) bulls, and 4) normal-weaned steers. Cattle were harvested at 360 and 389 days of age. At 36 hours postmortem, carcass quality and cutability were measured. Ribeye steaks were aged 14 days and scored for color, Warner-Bratzler shear force, and sensory panel evaluations. Carcasses from early-weaned cattle had greater dressing percentages, heavier weights, greater fat thicknesses, and higher numerical USDA Yield Grades (lower cutability). They also had more marbling and greater USDA quality grades, but had similar longissimus color, shear force, and sensory panel scores, compared with those of normal-weaned cattle. Bulls had greater dressing percentages, but had similar carcass weights to steers. Bull carcasses had less fat thickness and greater ribeye areas, resulting in lower numerical USDA Yield Grades (higher cutability) than steers had. They also had less marbling, darker color, and lower USDA quality grades than steers did. Longissimus muscles from bulls were darker, had greater shear forces, and had lower sensory panel tenderness scores than those from steers. For early-maturing British-type cattle, early weaning is a viable management strategy to produce heavier, higher-quality carcasses than those of normal-weaned cattle. Carcasses from early-weaned cattle are fatter and have lower cutability. For a non-implant “natural” market, bulls could be an alternative for producing high-cutability carcasses. Steaks may be less tender, however, and pre-harvest management must be optimized to reduce dark-cutting carcasses

Effects of early weaning on feedlot performance of bulls and steers

Crossbred Hereford × Angus calves (n = 103) were used to determine the effects of early weaning on feedlot performance of bulls and steers. Treatments were: 1) early-weaned (117 days of age) bulls, 2) early-weaned steers, 3) normal-weaned (220 days of age) bulls, and 4) normal-weaned steers. Early-weaned calves were placed on a grower ration at an average age of 134 days and on a finishing ration at 182 days of age. Normal-weaned calves were placed on a finishing ration at 242 days of age. Weight, feed intake, and ultrasound measurements were recorded during the feeding period. Three early-weaned cattle were removed due to chronic bloat, and four early-weaned cattle died in the feedlot. The feedlot period was terminated at either 358 or 387 days of age. Early-weaned cattle had greater average daily gains early in the feedlot period, but normal-weaned cattle had greater gains later in the feedlot period. Excluding the initial weight at 117 days of age, early-weaned cattle maintained heavier weights throughout the feeding period. Bulls had greater average daily gains until feedlot entry of normal-weaned calves, but steers had greater average daily gains later in the feedlot period, resulting in similar final weights. For early-maturing British-type cattle, early weaning resulted in heavier final weights, but it may not be the most viable management strategy because of disadvantages in animal health. Overall, there was no growth-performance advantage for leaving males intact, suggesting that the implant regimen used for these steers was sufficient to compensate for the expected loss in performance when bulls are castrated

Summer Precipitation and Steer Gain Interactions on Supplemented Shortgrass Range

Supplementing late-summer native shortgrass range with 1.5 lb of cottonseed meal or 1.5 lb of sorghum grain resulted in similar 10-year average gains with yearling steers. During seven of ten years the steers receiving sorghum grain gained as much or more than cottonseed meal-fed steers. In the other three years animals fed cottonseed meal gained more during the supplementation period. This work indicates the occurrence of significant interactions in supplementation studies on native range in areas with variable climatic conditions. Specifically, the experiments suggest that if rainfall has been high and lush grass growth is present during late summer, animal response to a high protein supplement is greater than to an energy supplement. On the other hand, supplementing with grain appears as beneficial and less expensive than cottonseed meal in dry years.This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202