<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Ruminant Pro - 'THE' site for livestock professionals]]></title><description><![CDATA[Articles]]></description><link>http://www.ruminantpro.com/</link><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright Ruminant Pro - 'THE' site for livestock professionals]]></copyright><generator>sNews CMS</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Cattle eartags a financial burden]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Some communal farmers in the Omaheke region have complained about the expenses they incurred in buying cattle ear tags, describing it as &quot;daylight robbery&quot; of their money.  
  The Ministry of Agriculture's Veterinary section introduced the ear tags on livestock some years ago as an official mark for tracing stolen livestock, as well as for healthy meat export reasons.  
  &quot;It is a financial burden on us. We pay for those ear tags, which have no benefits to us. We were not supposed to accept that system,&quot; complained a group of five local communal farmers who spoke to Nampa on condition of anonymity last Thursday.  
  The farmers explained that the cattle ear tags are not for free, as they buy them in a pair of two at a cost of N$ 16 per cow, starting when a cow is six months old.  
  &quot;It means that if I have 100 cattle in my kraal, I will pay N$1 600 for ear tags for my cattle. That is a lot of money for a communal farmer whose life depends on livestock,&quot; complained one farmer from the Otjinene Constituency.  
  They claim that the traditional way of marking their livestock with 'branding irons' is very cheap and affordable for communal farmers. They also suggested that cattle ear tags should only be applicable to commercial farmers and to the livestock being taken to auction centres for sale, or to the livestock moved from one place to another.  
  However, among them was one part-time livestock farmer in Gobabis, Fessy Marenga, who disagreed with their claims.  
  Said Marenga: &quot;For me, any method that could help me trace my stolen livestock has to be supported in full.&quot; In addition to Marenga's views, the Gobabis State Veterinarian, Dr Emmanuel Hikufe, also emphasised the importance of cattle ear tags, saying it is a government policy that all livestock should have double ear tags.  
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:45:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.ruminantpro.com/africa/cattle-eartags-a-financial-burden-922011/</link><guid>http://www.ruminantpro.com/africa/cattle-eartags-a-financial-burden-922011/</guid><author>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:45:00 +0000</author><comment></comment></item><item><title><![CDATA[Livestock prices mostly down]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Beef and pork futures traded mostly down on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  
  April live cattle fell 0.03 cent to $1.1172 a pound; March feeder cattle dropped 0.07 cent at $1.2450 a pound; April lean hogs fell 0.62 cent to 91.20 cents a pound; while February pork bellies were unchanged at $1.1300 a pound.  
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:44:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.ruminantpro.com/north_america/livestock-prices-mostly-down-922011/</link><guid>http://www.ruminantpro.com/north_america/livestock-prices-mostly-down-922011/</guid><author>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:44:00 +0000</author><comment></comment></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cattle battered by cyclone]]></title><description><![CDATA[  While most of the focus has been on damage in coastal areas, the effects of Cyclone Yasi inland have been severe too.  
  Reporter Will Ockenden has been surveying the scene from a helicopter, and says the damage becomes clear from the air.  
  &quot;Above Wyoming Station, about 250 kilometres south-west of Cairns, sheds are knocked over, tin has been torn from rooves, nd ppower is still off to many of the stations,&quot; he says.  
  &quot;You can see thousands of trees knocked over by Cyclone Yasi.  
  &quot;It's still too early to know how many cattle have been lost, and graziers say they won't know the full number until mustering in several months.  
  &quot;One particularly gruesome image was of cows squashed under a tree during the cyclone.&quot;  
  A north Queensland grazier says she doesn't know how much of her cattle herd is dead as a result of Cyclone Yasi.  
  Janet Barden lives 90 kilometres west of Cardwell, on grazing land that was hit by a category five cyclone last week.  
  She says this week has been devastating, as her family starts to assess the damage by helicopter.  
  &quot;I guess when we took to the air was when it probably really hit home,&quot; he said.  
  &quot;We came across cattle that had copped the full force of it with timber down on them and probably what cattle survived very shell-shocked.  
  &quot;They just sort of stood there and looked at us in amazement when we flew above them in the chopper.&quot;  
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:41:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.ruminantpro.com/oceania/cattle-battered-by-cyclone-922011/</link><guid>http://www.ruminantpro.com/oceania/cattle-battered-by-cyclone-922011/</guid><author>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:41:00 +0000</author><comment></comment></item><item><title><![CDATA[Israeli-led $500 million dairy farm project in Vietnam]]></title><description><![CDATA[  In the largest project of its kind in the world and the biggest ever undertaken by an Israeli firm, 30,000 dairy cows are being flown to Vietnam to supply 300 million liters of milk annually as part of a $500 million dairy farm project there.  
  &quot;This is a very large operation,&quot; says Daniel Hojman, the Uruguay-born manager of dairy farming professional compliance for SAE Afikim, based in Kibbutz Afikim near the Sea of Galilee. With employees from 10 Israeli companies relocating to Vietnam until the project is fully implemented, this is quite an understatement.  
  The company, whose AfiMilk and AfiFarm computerized systems for modern dairy farm and herd management are globally-recognized, won a five-year contract to manage a new Vietnamese corporation's scheme to boost milk production and consumption to unprecedented levels in this socialist republic.  
  Every 50 days starting last February, another 1,500 heifers have landed in Vietnam after a three-week ocean journey. After five years, the operation will encompass 30,000 cows at 12 state-of-the-art mega dairies and a milk processing plant supplying 300 million liters per year. By the end of 2012, 500,000 liters are expected to be produced daily.  
  Today, the average Vietnamese drinks 11.5 liters of milk each year - most of it made from imported milk powder - compared to 130 liters consumed by the average Israeli. Each dairy cow in Vietnam produces about 3,500 liters a year, or one-third of the output for an Israeli heifer. Israeli know-how will change that.  
  Training 1,000 Vietnamese  
  &quot;The Vietnamese have not developed a professional knowledge of dairy farming, so we have to develop systems, manage the farms and at the same time train them in many different procedures,&quot; Hojman tells ISRAEL21c.  
  &quot;Right now we are building and managing three farms. We went there to train the managers of those farms for a week and then they came to Israel for another two weeks of training.&quot; When all 12 farms are operational, Hojman will be responsible for educating close to 1,000 employees.  
  Hojman's team teaches the most basic jobs by example; more skilled jobs with the help of manuals outlining step-by-step protocols; and upper-level management tasks through specially created courses in Israel and Vietnam. With assistance from Israel's foreign and agricultural ministries, Hojman wants to arrange yearlong internships in Israel for Vietnamese veterinary and agriculture university students to enable them to manage the dairy farms back home.  
  In the meantime, about 30 Israeli dairy and field crop experts, architects, engineers and construction workers are living nearby in their own little community. Most are young, single men, but one has his wife and daughter with him and the child attends a local kindergarten. Hojman Skypes and phones the crew often between frequent visits, which entail flying 10 hours to Bangkok and then another two to Hanoi followed by a 124-mile journey over land.  
  &quot;I am grateful to our extraordinary people there, working in not simple conditions,&quot; he says. They are 80 kilometers [about 50 miles] from the nearest large city, Vinh. The Israeli embassy in Hanoi provides them with medical coverage and other needs, but they have little to do socially or recreationally during their off-hours.&quot;  
  Adapting to the Vietnamese mindset  
  In their dealings with the Vietnamese, there is a large cultural gap to overcome, Hojman adds. &quot;The Vietnamese people are still under a communist regime and that develops ways of thinking that are quite different from ours. The leader makes the decision and all others accept it and fulfill it. There's not much room for opinions and discussion.&quot;  
  Accustomed to lively (and famously intense) give-and-take, the Israelis are learning to adapt to the Vietnamese mindset as they work toward turning the project over at the end of 2015.  
  Even before the dairy venture began, more than 200 Israeli companies were doing business in Vietnam and exports from Israel accounted for millions of dollars of sales, according to the Israel Vietnam Corporation.  
  SAE Afikim CEO Ronen Zexer says that Ephraim Ben Matityahu, former Israeli ambassador in Hanoi, initiated many commercial contacts between the two countries and Israeli Minister of Agriculture Shalom Simchon brought a delegation of corporate executives in 2007 to stimulate new business.  
  Hojman relates that Israeli companies provide everything from milking machinery to food-preparation machinery. Feeding the growing herd is a major undertaking. Two of three ingredients for their feed are available domestically: concentrated grain-and-protein pellets and byproducts from sugarcane, pineapple or brewery plants. The third ingredient, silage and long fiber, is not yet grown in Vietnam and must be imported from the United States for the time being.  
  Hojman sees the vast venture as a working advertisement for Israel's expertise in all the industries involved. &quot;I hope that our ability to manage this kind of huge operation will reflect on all the companies' reputations to everyone's advantage,&quot; he says.  
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:15:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.ruminantpro.com/asia/israeliled-500-million-dairy-farm-project-in-vietnam-722011/</link><guid>http://www.ruminantpro.com/asia/israeliled-500-million-dairy-farm-project-in-vietnam-722011/</guid><author>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:15:00 +0000</author><comment></comment></item><item><title><![CDATA[Additional FMD Case Found In South Korea&#039;s Largest Port City]]></title><description><![CDATA[  South Korea confirmed an additional case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in its largest port city on Monday as quarantine authorities start the second stage of its nationwide vaccination process, Yonhap news agency quoted the government as saying Monday.  
  The case at the pig and goat farm in Busan, which raised 568 animals, brings the total number of officially confirmed FMD outbreaks to 146, after livestock started showing symptoms in late November, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. It is also the first confirmed case in the city located 450 kilometres southeast of Seoul.  
  The latest outbreak comes after all 13 million heads of cattle and pigs in the country were inoculated as of January, but have not been given a second vaccine shot that can enhance resistance to the virus.  
  &quot;Since the pigs at the farm have only recently received shots, while the goats are not included in the ongoing vaccination programme, all the livestock have been ordered culled,&quot; the farm ministry said.  
  Authorities plan to complete giving second vaccine shots of local livestock by the middle of March that should help stem further outbreaks.  
  Since the first FMD outbreak was confirmed on Nov 29, Seoul destroyed more than 3.16 million heads of cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and deer. Losses are estimated at more than 2 trillion won (US$1.8 billion).  
  A senior quarantine official, meanwhile, said that inspections will be carried out on more than 4,000 animal burial sites across the country for possible environmental contamination. The animals were usually buried at their farms after they were culled to prevent further spread of FMD.  
  &quot;Detailed on-site inspections will start this week with all sites to be checked by early March,&quot; said Deputy Farm Minister Lee Sang-kil.  
  Although the burial sites were created according to set rules, emergency remedial actions can be ordered, while more permanent measures will be taken for any shortcomings found, he said.  
  The official added that experts are trying to determine why a national animal science centre in Cheonan, 92 kilometres south of the capital city, tested positive for FMD over the weekend.  
  He said that preliminary tests showed little possibility of the virus spreading by air, with attention being focused on support workers who may have brought the virus in from neighbouring animal farms.  
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:19:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.ruminantpro.com/asia/additional-fmd-case-found-in-south-koreas-largest-port-city-722011/</link><guid>http://www.ruminantpro.com/asia/additional-fmd-case-found-in-south-koreas-largest-port-city-722011/</guid><author>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:19:00 +0000</author><comment></comment></item></channel></rss>
