Resilience of U.S. cattle and beef sectors: lessons from COVID-19. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

The upheaval wrought on the U.S. beef industry by the global COVID-19 pandemic carried with it several lessons that might help improve resiliency should there be a reoccurrence. First, the futures market for fed cattle fell well before cash prices, which sent a signal to market cattle early, and those who did so benefited. Second, the decline in futures anticipated the closure of slaughter plants and provided an opportunity to purchase and store beef primals in anticipation of future scarcity. Third, the beef industry has ways of slowing or stopping the pipeline of animals destined for feed yards and can "store" these animals in background feeding facilities or on pasture or rangeland. Producers who waited to sell feeder cattle benefited from higher feeder cattle prices once the processing facilities reopened. Fourth, cow slaughter plants responded to the pandemic and subsequent scarcity of labor much better than large fed-cattle plants. Cow plants are not as sophisticated and complex as fed-cattle plants. This relative simplicity may help explain the superior performance of these plants during the crisis. Sixth, the academic work on the value of building smaller plants as a response against concentration provides mixed results-these plants require more labor per animal and can be even more susceptible to labor scarcity. Seventh, the observed increase in boxed beef prices, even as fed cattle prices fell, demonstrates the risk-mitigating impact of producer ownership of downstream activities in the value chain.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on milk production per hectare in Ecuadorian herds

Dairy production systems in Ecuador have been studied in the last 10 years. During the Covid-2019 pandemic, the entire human society was harmed and agricultural activities affected by the disease and by the restrictions implemented to prevent its spread. The dairy industry did not escape this global situation and was affected in various countries. Reports from Ecuador and Asian countries indicate the unfavorable effect that this global health emergency situation had on dairy production. However, according to a report by the Argentine Dairy Chain Observatory1, world milk production had a constant growth of around 3%. It is considered that the activities carried out by veterinarians, milking and animal handling operators, inseminators and by the personnel dedicated to the management of paddocks were affected by Covid-19. Likewise, the supply of medicines, agricultural inputs and technology had a critical situation due to the pandemic. In addition, the response times were not always adequate, especially due to the absenteeism of livestock personnel, human mortality and effects on the health and well-being of people . Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the effects the pandemic could have on the country's cattle farms. The objective of this work was to evaluate whether the pandemic period affected milk production per hectare per year in Ecuadorian herds.

Assessment of the financial condition of selected dairy cooperatives during the COVID-19 pandemic

The aim of the article is to present the financial condition of selected dairy cooperatives using ratio analysis and selected discriminant models. The main objective of the paper is to assess the overall financial condition of dairy cooperatives during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) and earlier years (2017-2019). The author focused, on the one hand, on the assessment of the financial condition of a selected group and, on the other hand, on the link between the financial situation of selected dairy cooperatives and state aid during the changing economic reality caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus. The financial analysis for dairy cooperatives also reveals a broader comparative context in the time span before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research shows that the analysed dairy cooperatives, with the exception of OSM Jasienica Rosielna, did not have a negative financial results.

Prospect of Vaccinia virus vector vaccine for wildlife

Against a pandemic of emerged infectious disease, COVID-19, new generation vaccines based on nucleic acids or recombinant viruses, which had not been used as vaccines in humans, have been inoculated and shown to be successful. They are, however, heat-labile and need a cold-chain including deep-freezers for storage and transportation. Vaccinia virus (VAC) vector vaccine (VACV) is a pioneer of new generation of vaccines constructed by using molecular biological technology. VACV, which has contributed to eradication of smallpox, has excellent characteristics of vaccinia virus such as a high heat-stability and long-lasting immunological effects. It is possible to distinguish the immunological responses of vaccination from those of natural infections. We started our developmental researches 35 years ago, using attenuated VAC strains established in Japan. In this article, we first describe the early researches of VACVs;development of two VACVs for Bovine leukemia virus and Rinderpest morbillivirus antigens and their protective immunity in large mammals, sheep and cows. Second, application of VACV is described;Rabies-VACV, which has already been licensed, used in the field in Europe and USA, and resulted in a prominent decrease of rabies. Then, current status of VACV research is described;non-replicating VACVs in mammalian cells have been developed as new-generation and ultimately-safe vaccines. We discuss the possibility of future application of VACV for wildlife.

Spatio-temporal evolution dynamic, effect and governance policy of construction land use in urban agglomeration: case study of Yangtze River Delta, China

The urban construction land change is the most obvious and complex spatial phenomenon in urban agglomerations which has attracted extensive attention of scholars in different fields. Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration is the most mature urban agglomeration in China, a typical representative in both China and the world. This paper analyzes the evolution dynamic, effect and governance policy of urban construction land in Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration 2011-2020 using a combination of BCG model, decoupling model and GIS tools. The findings are as follows. (1) There are large intercity differences in urban construction land in urban agglomerations, but the spatial heterogeneity is gradually decreasing. (2) The change trends and evolution patterns of urban construction land in urban agglomerations are increasingly diversified, with emergence of a variety of types such as rapid growth, slow growth, inverted U-shape, stars, cows, question and dogs. (3) The population growth, economic development and income improvement corresponding to the change of urban construction land in urban agglomerations have no desirable effect, with most cities in the expansive negative decoupling state. (4) The decoupling types show increasingly complex changes, in evolution, degeneration and unchanged states. Affected by economic transformation and the outbreak of COVID-19, an increasing number of cities are in strong negative decoupling and degeneration states, threatening the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. (5) Based on the division of urban agglomerations into three policy areas of Transformation Leading, Land Dependent, and Land Reduction, the response strategies for each are proposed, and a differentiated land use zoning management system is established.

Flies (Insecta, Diptera) collected in the environment of dairy farms as carriers of Rotavirus A and betacoronavirus.

AIMS: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of rotavirus and coronavirus in dipterans that commonly inhabit the environment of dairy farms. METHODS AND RESULTS: We collected 217 insect specimens from nine dairy farms, which were examined through hemi-nested RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing in search of VP1 and N genes for rotavirus and bovine coronavirus-BCoV, respectively. With a predominance of Muscidae (152/217 = 70%) 11 families of Diptera were identified. Rotavirus A (RVA) and betacoronavirus (BCoV) were detected in 14.7% (32/217) and 4.6% (10/217) of the dipterans, respectively. Sequencing of the amplicons was possible for 11.5% (25/217) of RVA and 0.5% (1/217) of BCoV, confirming the presence of these pathogens. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the role of dipterans as carriers of RVA and BCoV of great relevance for public and animal health.

Tiny Cow Heads, Methanol, and Apple-Flavored Ivermectin: Libraries Confronting Pandemic Misinformation

"The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Popular Media and the Roles of Public Libraries in Supporting Health Information Access, Health Literacy, and Health Justice during Pandemics: Learning from the Past to Prepare for the Future." Libraries have been widely and justly praised for their creativity, resourcefulness, and tenacity in finding ways to meet community needs during the novel coronavirus pandemic that began in earnest in early 2020. [Extracted from the article]

Swissherdbook bulletin

This bulletin highlights the effects of COVID-19 in the dairy cattle sector with emphasis on milk prices and milk yield.

SwissHerdbook statistics 2020: more lactations in the COVID year

This article discusses the strategies done by the dairy sector in Switzerland to maintain and even have surplus milk supply during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the strategies implemented during the pandemic are milk production tests, inspection of the origin of milk, registration of calves, and insemination using top performing dairy bulls.

The effect of the vaccine against viral pneumoenteritis left-pointing-double-angle Bolshevak right-pointing-double-angle on the metabolism of cows

The problem of viral pneumoenteritis of young farm animals is relevant for agriculture of the Republic of Belarus. Today, the most effective method of preventing viral pneumoenteritis of calves is vaccination of pregnant cows. In case of mixed infections, the most effective means of preventing such diseases are polyvalent vaccines. But biological preparations should have not only high preventive effectiveness, but also not affect the quality of the final product. The author of the article studied the effect of a polyvalent inactivated culture vaccine against infectious rhinotracheitis, viral diarrhea, parainfluenza-3, respiratory syncytial, rotavirus and coronavirus infection of cattle left-pointing-double-angle BolsheVak right-pointing-double-angle on the state of metabolism of pregnant cows. For this purpose, 3 groups of pregnant cows of the Belarusian black-and-white Holstein breed were formed in the conditions of the Agricultural Republican subsidiary of the Ulishitsy Agro enterprise of the Gorodok district on the principle of pairs of analogues with10 animals in each group for 1.5-2 months before calving. The cows of the first experimental group were immunized with the vaccine against viral pneumoenteritis "Bolshevak" with the adjuvant ISA-15 intramuscularly into the croup area in compliance with the rules of asepsis and antiseptics in the volume of 5.0 cm3. Cows of the second experimental group were immunized with the vaccine against viral pneumoenteritis "Bolshevak" with the adjuvant ISA-25 - in the volume of 3.0 cm3. The cows of the control group were injected with isotonic sodium chloride solution according to a similar scheme. The animals were immunized twice with an interval of 21 days. The sampling was carried out before the start of the studies, on the 14th, 21st days after the first vaccination and on the 45th day after the revaccination. The clinical condition of the animals was monitored for 70 days. As a result of the research, it was found that the studied vaccine against viral pneumoenteritis does not have a negative effect on the general condition of the animal, does not cause allergic reactions, abortions, does not inhibit the synthesis of the studied biochemical parameters of the serum.

Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dairy cattle farming in Ethiopia

The purpose of this report was to document the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dairy cattle farming in Ethiopia and draw recommendations for enhancing dairy farming and the dairy sector's resilience to such pandemics and other market shocks. It presents the results of a rapid survey of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder and medium-scale dairy cattle farmers in Ethiopia during the period between 5 September and 11 October 2020. A total of 1815 farmers who are part of the African Dairy Genetics Gains (ADGG) programme from five regions of Ethiopia, and one city administration participated in the study. Majority of the respondents reported that dairy farming input supply and service provision such as feed, veterinary services, animal vaccines, artificial insemination and daily hired labour had all decreased during the pandemic. More than half (60%) of the respondents reported a decrease in the total volume of milk produced per household, which was linked to the shortage of feed and other services. Forty-six percent of the respondents reported selling milk at a lower price compared to periods before the pandemic. Decreasing demand for milk by direct consumers, cooperatives and processors is one potential reason for the lower milk sales price. In conclusion, service providers and input suppliers (both government and private sector) working in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture are important in safeguarding farmers from shocks which result from man-made or natural disasters such as those brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, supporting dairy cooperatives and processors to produce at full capacity and linking dairy farmers to microfinance providers so they can access credit will ensure sustained profitability of their dairy farms.

Waste management in dairy farms during the COVID-19 period - the case of Gjilan region - Kosovo

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the level of education and experience in animal husbandry in terms of waste management on dairy farms in Kosovo during the Covid-19, the case of Gjilan region. It is a descriptive and quantitative study. Random samples were taken in 71 dairy farms in three municipalities of the Gjilan region. Surveys include farms where 5-78 dairy cows are raised. Data on milk production, waste management from detergents, organic manure, cleaning rags, farm certification and water analysis are included. Datas for each farm were recorded during the period of February-April 2020. During these period farmers' reported that the restrictive measures taken as a result of Covid-19 did not have any negative impact on milk production, however, 26.8% of farmers interviewed reported that milk production was reduced. Further, it was observed a major mismanagement of farm waste that was the main focus of the research: 80.3% of farmers stated that compost waste comes out of the farm and is distributed freely in the environment around the farm.