livestock

Ranchers across the Midwest are battling black vultures, a federally protected bird that has a reputation for killing newborn livestock. While the birds play a major ecological role, their expanding population is becoming a big nuisance for producers.

One year after a devastating drought, Texas agriculture watchers are wary that the positive effects of a wet spring could be zapped up with extreme heat.

Starting June 11, livestock producers will have to get a prescription from a veterinarian to buy antibiotics that they could previously purchase over-the-counter.

As small town populations decline, people in places like western Kansas look for ways to keep their rural farming and ranching lifestyle alive for the next generation. Some families think youth rodeo might be part of the answer.

Kansas — along with most of the U.S. — is plagued with a stubborn drought that the state’s governor has declared to be an emergency. Most of western and southern Kansas is in extreme or exceptional drought.

Pork industry groups and the state of California squared off before the U.S. Supreme Court over a state law that the pork industry says could force widespread change in hog production if it’s upheld.

Climate experts say summer nights have gotten warmer. One study found the average minimum temperature in the United States has gotten warmer by 2.5 degrees over the last 50 years. For farmers, this means crops and livestock could suffer.

Researchers are learning that cows exposed to fire often give less milk, and horses, with their large lungs, take in a lot of smoke from fires.

As the number of coyotes in Kansas grows, hunting contests have sprung up as a way to remove potential threats to livestock. But the resilient canine keeps finding ways to survive, no matter what humans throw at it.

Meat processors and agriculture officials are making sure they’re prepared against a highly contagious swine disease.