UPfront
Porcine protectors
MU pigs figure into major disease research
Cystic Fibrosis continues to be a lethal disease for humans despite the identification of the problematic gene two decades ago. Many humans born with CF (the most common genetic disease in Caucasians) often die because of a lung disease developed later. Scientists have been unable to develop an animal model that develops the fatal lung disease. Now, a University of Missouri researcher is producing pigs born with cystic fibrosis that mimic the exact symptoms of a newborn with CF. The researchers hope that these pigs will continue to mimic the human symptoms so the fatal lung disease can be studied and ultimately treated.
“Right now, if you want to do experiments to find treatments or therapies for the lung disease that is fatal for people with CF, you would have to experiment on kids that have CF,” said Randy Prather, professor of reproductive biotechnology in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “When the genetic mutation is introduced into mice, they do not display the symptoms of CF. That’s why these new swine models are so important. We have been able to get them through the initial stages of the disease, which they display just like humans, and now we are just waiting for them to grow and potentially develop the lung disease so we can start experimenting in ways that have never been possible.”
Prather collaborated with Michael Welsh from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Iowa. To create the genetic defect in pigs, a team led by Welsh made genetic modifications in pig cells. Prather’s group then generated the genetically modified pigs from the cells using a process known as nuclear transfer. The pigs (called founder animals) that were produced carried only one copy of the mutated gene. Prather bred the pigs naturally and now many piglets have been born with CF.
Once a litter is born, the piglets are immediately flown to Iowa where physicians who perform the corrective surgery on human newborns with CF do the same for the pigs. Meanwhile, MU researchers perform analysis during the transit to determine which piglets have the mutations.
“So far, all the mutations in the pigs have exactly mimicked the problems in humans born with CF,” Prather said. “The whole cellular physiology of the pig is similar to humans. That’s why having this breakthrough model is so exciting for the potential it has to move research on cystic fibrosis forward.”
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Get to know COOL Information available online Hog and cattle producers can watch an Internet based presentation from Iowa State University (visit http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p55109224). Country of origin labeling initially became law in 2002. It was re-adopted in the 2008 Farm Bill and USDA developed the regulations. In addition to fruits, vegetables, and nuts, COOL covers muscle cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and goat meat, as well as ground meats, and both wild and farm-raised fish. Exempt are processed meats and food products, and products produced before Sept. 30. Although there is a grace period, retailers are being urged to adopt the program immediately. Since the retailer is responsible for labeling the product, they can require suppliers to provide information on the origin of the product—and that goes all the way back to the farmgate. Any animal that is born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. would be a “product of the US;” however, ground beef could come from several geographical sources and would be labeled as such. To verify the origin at the demand of the retailer, the meat packer must have legal documentation, and will require producers to provide satisfactory paperwork. Identification for individual animals is not required, but producers may find that easier to handle. The primary paperwork that producers will likely handle is an affidavit. Anyone signing an affidavit is required to have first-hand knowledge of the origin of the animal. Along with the legal requirements come verification audits, which can be conducted to trace an animal. Acceptable papers that can be used in an audit include: birth records, receiving records, purchase records, animal health papers, sales receipts, inventory documents, feeding records, segregation plans, branding records, breeding stock information, etc. To comply with the requirements, producers will have to be able to trace animal movement one step back and one step forward. The affidavit does not have to be written by your attorney, since a variety of them are available without charge. They only have to be completed and either kept on file or submitted to a livestock purchaser when requested. If technical issues will not allow you to view the presentation listed above, the Iowa Beef Center provides numerous other resources. (http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/content/COOL_webcast.html). |
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Digital switch on the way
There is a good chance for snow in February—on your TV
If you’re a rural resident depending on an antenna for television, big changes are coming. But they have nothing to do with summer re-runs or the new fall season. These changes involve the transition to digital broadcasting on Feb. 17, 2009.
For millions of Americans—those whose televisions are already hooked up to cable or satellite or those who have televisions with built-in digital tuners—the transition should be seamless. But if you get your programming on an analog television through a rooftop antenna or “rabbit ears,” you will have to take action to keep your TV sets working after the transition. You can:
• connect your analog TV to a converter box that will get digital reception
• connect your analog TV to a paid service like cable or satellite
• buy a TV with a built-in digital tuner.
Through a program run by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, every household can get two coupons—each worth $40—to help defray the cost of the converter boxes. Most of the boxes cost between $50 and $70. You can order the coupons online at www.dtv2009.gov or by phone at (888)DTV2009.
Congress ordered the change to all-digital broadcasting to free up channels for police, fire, and emergency personnel. According to the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that oversees the nation’s airwaves, the digital transition offers benefits beyond public safety—it will open the door to new wireless services for consumers, allow TV stations to offer better picture and sound quality and enable TV stations to broadcast several programs at the same time.
If you decide to buy a new television with a built-in digital tuner (also called a digital receiver), you won’t have to order a coupon or buy and install a converter box unless you also want to keep your old analog television on hand. If you currently get good reception on channels 2 to 51, you shouldn’t have to get a new antenna for a new digital television. Nor will you need to buy a high definition television (HDTV) to get a digital picture.
Check your owner’s manual to see if the televisions you have are analog or digital. If you decide to shop for a new TV, make sure the label and the packaging say that the television has a built-in digital tuner. You might get a great price on an analog television—either from retailers or people in your community who are selling them -—but every analog set, including small and battery-powered televisions and televisions in your RV, will need a converter box to get a digital picture. You will need to order a coupon if you want to take advantage of the government’s program.
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Delving into Donkeys The Donkey Companion
By Sue Weaver
Storey Publishing
Paperback
352 pages
8 1/2 x 10 7/8
ISBN: 978-1-60342-038-9
$24.95 The Donkey Companion is the source for all things donkey, whether they are used by small-scale farmers, riding mounts, stable companions, livestock guardians, pets or therapy animals for children. Author Sue Weaver’s insight into equine species, and especially her keen understanding between donkey and horse, make this a worthy read for donkey owners or prospective owners. The book contains voluminous knowledge about donkeys, including the animal’s history, physiology, behavior, breed characteristics and health care. Chapters include an overview of donkey breeds, donkey behaviors, how to feed and groom, and training methods. Weaver also discusses using donkeys for driving, riding or pack animals. A chapter called Donkey Business explores breeding donkeys for profit. For more information, call Storey Publishing at (413)346-2100 or visit www.storey.com |
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Today's Farmer at 100
There's nothing new under the sun, including the shock from high energy prices
Editor's note: 2008 marks 100 years of publishing for Today's Farmer. We pulled this material from our archives to celebrate our history and offer some perspective on what farm reporters have brought to these pages in the past 100 years.
Agriculture, any way you describe it, is an energy-dependent industry. It takes enormous quantities of fuel to plant, maintain and harvest a crop. Once it is harvested, it must be transported, elevated, dried and conditioned, stored, marketed and delivered (more transportation).
We all have been asleep at the wheel for the past several years and have put out of our mind what high energy costs can do to this industry.
That passage sounds like a Corn Belt politician twisting arms in Congress for a little more clout for biofuels, doesn’t it? It isn’t. The passage is from the November 1990 edition of Today’s Farmer, written in the president’s column by Bud Frew. Frew was reacting to Saddam Hussein’s 1990 excursion into Kuwait to commandeer a few high-yield oil fields. We know what happened to Hussein’s forces in the weeks after his ill-fated invasion. And we know what has happened to oil price in the 18 years since. Prices retreated long enough for a return to complacence, and now the pain has returned.
In the same issue of Today’s Farmer, contributing writer James Ritchie asked University of Missouri ag engineer Don Pfost what farmers could do to stretch their fuel dollars.
Pfost made the recommendations that we hear still today:
Match equipment to tractor size. Use a smaller tractor for light loads, or gear up and throttle back on light loads when a larger tractor is used. It takes one-third more fuel to pull a light load with the governor wide open than to shift to a higher gear and ease back on the throttle.
Other advice was to make sure to hit the scheduled maintenance on machinery to achieve the best possible efficiency. Don’t idle tractors for long periods.
And if it seems we’re doomed to ignore energy crises until they recur, then we should keep paying attention to the time-tested advice that Pfost had on offer those long 18 years ago:
Farmers can save about 7 percent on fuel by properly ballasting tractors and reducing wheel slippage. In recent years, tractor horsepower has increased more rapidly than tractor weight. As a result, the weight-to-horsepower ratio has decreased about 25 percent in the past eight or 10 years. A tractor with low weight-to-horsepower ratio cannot develop enough traction to carry full engine power in lower gear ranges.
This wheelslip is critical to tractor efficiency. Too little weight in relation to power means excessive wheel slippage, tire wear, fuel consumption and field time. Too much weight and full-load operation at slow speeds greatly decrease the life of the tractor’s drive train and increase soil compaction. For the most efficient operation, tractors should have wheelslip ranging from 8 to 10 percent on firm soil and 14 to 16 percent on sandy or newly tilled soil.
While every gallon of fuel saved means more money to a farming operation, adjusting ballast or turning off an idling tractor only goes so far. Frew mentioned that in his column:
As a farmer, you will need to rethink your operations in every way possible. It will affect tillage practices and certainly push toward fewer trips over the field. Energy should become a key part of the planning process forever, for all of agriculture.
The point is, even though we may feel that we have no control over certain events, it is nearly always possible to control how that particular event really affects our individual operations. It is possible, that is, unless we go back to being asleep at the wheel.
You can argue that we did go back to sleep. And you can argue that Frew asked a very prescient question near the end of his column, “We do not have to be totally dependent on fossil fuels, do we?”
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