- Author: Brenda Dawson
For an article "Should Wyoming livestock and ag adjust to climate?" in the Billings Gazette, reporter Paul Murray sought information about livestock animals' response to warmer temperatures from Frank Mitloehner, UC Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis. Mitloehner talked about ways animals can cool down and discussed shade, fans, sprinklers and even alternative cattle breeds. "We're seeing more and more extreme weather. That is a tendency we're seeing more and more often. That can stress animals. Similar...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
There's been some confusion in recent years about the impact of animal agriculture on global warming. UC Davis Cooperative Extension air quality specialist Frank Mitloehner will share his findings on the subject this month during a free webinar on the eXtension website, according to an article in Pork magazine.
The 2006 United Nations report "Livestock's Long Shadow" said the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a higher share than transportation. Mitloehner said livestock's contribution is more like 3 percent, yet wide distribution of the misinformation has put Americans and others on the wrong path toward...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A meeting this week of the American Chemical Society turned two interesting UC research projects into headline news.
UC Davis nutrition professor Paul Davis reported that walnuts slowed prostate tumors by 30 percent to 40 percent in mice, according to a UPI article. The dose was equivalent to 2.5 ounces for a typical man. Not only was prostate cancer growth reduced, but the mice had lower blood levels of a protein that is strongly associated with prostate cancer.Completely unrelated research presented at the meeting, also from UC Davis, questioned an...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
For Central Valley dairies, conflicting laws are making it hard to generate green electricity from dairy waste, according to an article this week in the Los Angeles Times.
In order to reduce emissions of methane - a greenhouse gas - some dairy operators have installed methane digesters that convert the methane into electricity.
However, the process produces nitrogen oxides (NOx), which react with volatile organic compounds to create ozone, a significant air pollution problem in the San Joaquin Valley. NOx levels for the valley, a region with air pollution among the most severe in the country, is set by federal officials and enforced...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC Cooperative Extension provided Marin ranchers and dairy operators exposure at a two-hour workshop Feb. 2 to the latest conservation practices that can help the agriculture industry reduce its environmental impacts and increase farm and ranch energy efficiency.
In addition to local farmers, reporter Rob Rogers was at the event collecting information for an article published in the Marin Independent Journal yesterday.Rogers reported that cows produce a smaller percentage of greenhouse gases in the United States and Europe than in other nations, where farming is a larger part of the economy, and where it's practiced less...