GMO or no GMO - that is the question

Now is the time to make your voice know on whether this technology will infiltrate the mindsets and then the animals over the next century:

Scientists create piglet using new GM technique ZeeNews.com  April 16, 2013

The piglet called "Pig 26" is the first animal to be created via "gene editing". It was born four months ago at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, where Dolly the cloned sheep was created in 1996.

The piglet called "Pig 26" is the first animal to be created via "gene editing". It was born four months ago at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, where Dolly the cloned sheep was created in 1996.

The new technique, which is faster and more efficient than existing methods, can alleviate major concerns of anti-GM campaigners because it does not involve the use of antibiotic-resistance genes, The Telegraph reported.

Scientists hope it could make genetic engineering of livestock more acceptable to the public and be key to the challenge of feeding the growing global population.

"Gene-editing" is a simple and precise process whereby researchers snipped the animal's DNA and inserted new genetic material, in effect changing a single one of the three billion "letters" that make up its genome.

It has a success rate of ten to 15 per cent, compared with less than one per cent for existing methods, and can be performed on a fertilised egg without the need for complicated cloning techniques.

Pig 26 was engineered to have a gene making it immune to African swine fever, a virus which can kill European pigs within 24 hours of infection.

The gene was taken from wild African pigs, which are naturally immune to the virus but which cannot breed with European species.

Whitelaw said similar techniques could be used to make other livestock such as cattle and sheep immune to a host of diseases.

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What do YOU think?

Wanted: Embryos

Wanted embryos sired by De-Su Freddie Galaxy from high GTPI/GLPI heifers or young cows.  Outcross pedigrees are preferrable.

Email details, name of donor, flush date, approx price.

Got Milk? Drought Threatens to Push Up Dairy Prices

Drought-fueled increase in corn prices puts the squeeze on dairy farmers

Milk prices are on track to jump as much as 15 percent in the beginning of 2013, an industry group said Wednesday, thanks in large part to the worst drought since 1956, which has sent animal feed prices soaring.

Corn prices are up 47 percent since mid-June, forcing some California dairy farms into bankruptcy and others to cut herds to limit losses, according to Bloomberg. As a result, milk futures have surged to a 13-month high.

Americans spend almost 11 percent of their grocery budget on dairy products according to some estimates, and a big hike in milk prices could be big trouble when it comes to consumer budgets already strained by rising energy costs.

The specter of skyrocketing milk prices has been used in recent weeks to push for passage of the Farm Bill in Congress, currently in limbo thanks to partisan discord. If Congress doesn't pass the bill by the end of the year, milk prices could spike to $6 a gallon in some parts of the country, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer told reporters in late September.

"They say you shouldn't cry over spilled milk, but it seems perfectly reasonable to cry over a 100 percent increase in the price"

Gillette Sale Results:

Lot 18- $131,000 Ralma-RH Manoman Banjo-ET GTPI +2279, fresh in August she is a Man O Man daughter of Ralma Goldwyn Clarinet-ET EX-90 x Ralma Christmas Fudge-ET VG-88

Lot 38- $48,000 Misty Springs Man O Man Satin GTPI +2227, fresh in July she’s a Man O Man x Misty Springs Shottle Satin

Lot 1 – $43,000 – Gillette S Planet 2nd Snooze VG-86 2y, Planet x 2nd Sleep

Lot 6- $41,000 -1st choice from 4 Mogul Females x Sandy-Valley Planet Melody VG-87

Lot 40- $41,000 Sunnylodge Sudan Shelly, March ’12 Sudan x Misty Springs Man-O-Man Satin

Lot 7- $40,000 1st choice Let It Snow x R-Z Baxter Caramel VG-89 2Y GTPI +2084 x Ralma 
Goldwyn Carmel EX-92

Lot 21- $38,000 – 1st choice Mascalese x MS Chassity Goldwyn Cash VG-87 2y

Lot 8- $35,000 Cleroli Snowman Caramilk, Sept ’11 Snowman x R-Z Baxter Caramel VG-89 2Y

Lot 20- $31,000 Cleroli MP Windbrook Bluffy GTPI +2238 GLPI +3046 DGV +3365, Sept ’11 Windbrook x Farnear Brocade P Buffy-ET VG-87 x Brocade

Lot 37- $31,000 Parkhurst Shamrock Leona, Ladys-Manor PL Shamrock x Pellerat Man O Man Leonor

Lot 29- $26,500 Gillette Epic Jingle #24 GPA LPI in Canada and GTPI +2317, May ’12 Epic x Gillette Shottle Jewel VG-86

Lot 9- $25,000 Gillette Snowman Cassidy, Sept ’11 Snowman x R-Z Baxter Caramel

Lot 62- $20,500 Benner Sudan Jalepeno, #4 Sudan daughter in the World! Daughter of Benner Man O Man Jerarda VG-85 2Y

Lot 61- $20,000 Donnandale Epic Jaylo, July ’12 Epic x Benner Planet Jakova GP-83 GTPI +2341

Lot 23- $16,500 Gen-I-Beq Brawler Fee, Sept ’11 Brawler x Comestar Goldwyn Lava VG-87

Hokkaido National Holstein Show
Jr Champion (by Goldwyn):
TMF GOLD RUFUS VISTA ET

Sold for US$59,000 in the Golden National Sale, after the show.

Photo by: Mr Kiichiro Nosawa

Wanted: Embryos

Wanted embryos sired by De-Su Freddie Galaxy from high GTPI/GLPI heifers or young cows.  Outcross pedigrees are preferrable.
Email details, name of donor, flush date, approx price.

Drought threatens U.S. food prices

A drought in the Corn Belt and elsewhere in the Midwest has pushed the bushel price of corn up about 27 percent in the past month alone, and there is little sign of rain in the near future, a forecast that could soon push up food costs across the country, meteorologists say.

Last week, 63 percent of the corn crop was rated in good or better condition, according to the Agriculture Department. This week, that figure had fallen to 56 percent.

Concerns arise as the crop approaches pollination, a particularly sensitive two-week period when bad weather can inflict significant damage.

“You only get one chance to pollinate over 1 quadrillion kernels,” said Bill Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions, a Omaha-based commodity consulting firm. “There’s always some level of angst at this time of year, but it’s significantly greater now and with good reason. We’ve had extended periods of drought.”

Corn is among the most valuable of U.S. crops, and its price has ripple effects across a wide range of food prices.

Rising corn prices mean higher costs for beef producers who use it to feed their livestock; it also means that some fields planted with other crops will be shifted into corn production. In addition, it puts upward pressure on the price of ethanol.

“Getting a big corn crop is important for everyone,” said David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M.

In less than a month, the future price of a bushel of corn has risen from $4.99 to $6.33, Lapp said. The supply of corn in the United States, meanwhile, is down about 8 percent from last year, according to Agriculture Department statistics.

The area affected by the drought is a swath of the Midwest that reaches as far west as Kansas, as far south as Arkansas and as far east as Indiana, according to the National Weather Service, and the dry conditions have come on fast.

Last week, about 19 percent of the contiguous United States was facing drought conditions characterized as severe or worse. This week that percentage had grown to 24 percent, according to federal forecasters.

“Based on the drought outlook, the potential for further degradation is very high, and the potential to reach exceptional levels of drought — where there are major crop failures — is very high,” said Matthew Rosencrans, a Weather Service meteorologist. “The climate signals we are looking at right now don’t correlate with wetness in that region.”

Jay Armstrong, owner and operator of Armstong Farms in Kansas, flew his small plane over a portion of the affected area and landed with the impression that the potential damage is far worse than is commonly understood.

“At this time of year, when you look down in a place like Indiana or Illinois, you should see just lush green fields,” Armstrong said. “I saw bare soil. I just thought to myself, the market has no idea what’s coming.”

By Peter Whoriskey