Browse Livestock Stories - Page 2

Francis Fluharty joins the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences as the new department head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Science. His career has been devoted to assisting food animal producers through research and educational programs aimed at improving animal health and growth. Fluharty has also worked to improve profitability, as food animal agriculture must be economically-sustainable for farm families.

A two-day Advanced Grazing School, hosted by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialists Sept. 19-20, will provide a deeper understanding of grazing systems to those in attendance. 

In 2017, Georgia row crop farmers will likely devote more acreage to the state’s tried-and-true commodities: cotton and peanuts. This and other agricultural projections for the year were the focus of the 10th annual Georgia Ag Forecast seminar series, held across the state Jan. 18-27.

Carleen Porter, a fourth year Animal Science major spent eight weeks at the University of Perugia Veterinary School in Perugia, Italy, fulfilling the internship requirement for the International Agriculture Certificate. How did you decide on this program? Last spring, I was going to be part of a UGA-sponsored program in Verona for three months. I contacted Amanda Stephens (CAES Associate Director of Student Engagement) about adding on the certificate internship. Amanda was able to work with the UGA veterinary school to secure a veterinary internship at the University of Perugia.

Many Georgia farmers use their fish ponds as water sources for livestock. A pond located in a pasture is a convenient and dependable source of water for stock, but letting cattle have free access to a pond is not the best decision for the animals, the pond or the fish that live there.

The devastating virus has yet to impact Georgia’s top agricultural industry, but University of Georgia Cooperative Extension poultry scientist Casey Ritz believes it’s best if Georgia farmers are proactive in dealing with avian influenza.

Todd Applegate, associate head of the Department of Animal Sciences at Indiana’s Purdue University, has been tapped to lead the University of Georgia’s Department of Poultry Science. He will take the helm starting on Jan. 8.

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 outbreak in the United States is a concern for the commercial poultry industry, not the general population, says a University of Georgia poultry expert. Humans won’t be infected with avian influenza by eating chicken or other poultry products. Nearly all previous cases of human infections with other avian influenza viruses involved close, direct contact with infected poultry, but little to no direct transmission from person to person. While the HPAI H5 virus has caused some severe devastation for the U.S. commercial poultry industry, there have been no reports of infections in humans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from this virus to be low.

University of Georgia researchers have completed a county-by-county analysis of when motorists should be more aware of possibly hitting a deer. They looked at breeding data and then compared it to deer-vehicle collision statistics across Georgia.

Avian influenza is not a problem in Georgia, yet. Commercial chicken producers are prepared to fight the virus that kills birds, and backyard chicken flock owners should prepare, too.