Cows, Sheep, Pigs News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Automated 3D Computer Vision Model Offers a New Tool to Measure and Understand Dairy Cow Behavior and Welfare

Nov. 20, 2024 — Dairy cows typically rest for 10 or more hours a day, so a dry, clean, and comfortable place -- such as a freestall -- to lie down and rest is essential for their health, well-being, and production ...

Small Reductions to Meat Production in Wealthier Countries May Help Fight Climate Change, New Analysis Concludes

Nov. 4, 2024 — Scientists and environmental activists have consistently called for drastic reductions in meat production as a way to reduce emissions and, in doing so, combat climate change. However, a new analysis ...

Thin Skin Significantly Blunts Injury from Puncture

Oct. 28, 2024 — Thin, stretchy skin -- like that of a pig or human -- significantly lessens the underlying damage that occurs when it's punctured. Pig skin even outperforms synthetic materials that are designed to mimic skin, a new study finds. Its special ...

Lab-Grown Pork Gets Support from Sorghum Grain

Oct. 28, 2024 — Meat grown in a lab isn't science fiction anymore. Cultured meats have existed for over a decade, and as of 2023, you might even find lab-grown chicken in restaurants (in the U.S., at least). Now, with the literal support of plant-based scaffolds, ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:16pm EST

Elephant Seal Colony Declines One Year After Avian Flu Outbreak

Nov. 11, 2024 — A year after an outbreak of H5N1 killed thousands of elephant seals in Argentina, only about a third of the seals normally expected here returned, scientists ...

H5N1 Virus Isolated from Infected Dairy Worker Is 100% Lethal in Ferrets, but Does Not Appear to Be Circulating in Nature Anymore

Oct. 28, 2024 — A strain of H5N1 avian influenza virus found in a Texas dairy worker who was infected this spring was able to spread among ferrets through the air, ...

Geometric Mechanics Shape the Dog's Nose

Oct. 22, 2024 — The noses of many mammals, such as dogs, ferrets and cows, feature grooves forming a multitude of polygons. A team has analyzed in detail how these patterns form in the embryo using 3D imaging ...

AI Decodes Microbes' Message in Milk Safety Testing Approach

Oct. 17, 2024 — By combining the genetic sequencing and analysis of the microbes in a milk sample with artificial intelligence (AI), researchers were able to detect anomalies in milk production, such as ...

Methane Emissions from Dairy Farms Higher Than Thought -- But Conversion Could Reduce Emissions

Oct. 2, 2024 — New research has found methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms may be up to five times greater than official statistics suggest -- and ...

World's Oldest Cheese Reveals Origins of Kefir

Sep. 25, 2024 — Scientists successfully extracted and analyzed DNA from ancient cheese samples found alongside the Tarim Basin mummies in China, dating back approximately 3,600 years. The research suggests a new ...

Are Cows Pickier Than Goats?

Sep. 19, 2024 — Linnaeus collected 643 different plant species that were then fed to horses, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. The results were carefully compiled but not analyzed until now, 275 years ...

An Unexpected Result: The Mammalian Inner Ear Is a Striking Example of Convergent Evolution

Sep. 17, 2024 — A new study reveals the surprisingly convergent evolution in the inner ear of mammals. An international research team showed that a group of highly ...

Sep. 12, 2024 — Researchers can harvest protein and vitamin B9 from microbes by feeding them nothing much more than hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2. The technology runs on renewable energy to produce a sustainable, ...

Ancient Sea Cow Attacked by a Crocodile and Sharks Sheds New Light on Prehistoric Food Chains

Aug. 29, 2024 — A new study showing how a prehistoric sea cow was preyed upon by not one, but two different carnivores -- a crocodilian and a shark -- is revealing ...

Cattle Raised by Maasai Farmers Aren't the Conservation Villains They've Been Made out to Be, Study Finds

Sep. 9, 2024 — A new study has found the pastoral practices of the Indigenous Maasai people of Kenya had almost no discernible positive or negative effect on the ecological well-being of the Maasai Mara National ...

Aoudad, Bighorn Sheep Share Respiratory Pathogens

Aug. 27, 2024 — A team of researchers has discovered that aoudad -- an animal in the sheep and goat family -- can catch and spread many of the same respiratory pathogens that can impact desert bighorn sheep, a ...

How Baleen Whales Have Adapted Over the Past 50 Million Years

Aug. 22, 2024 — The largest dataset of cetacean genes ever collated has helped scientists deep dive 'into the blue' to fathom the 'triumph' of baleen whale evolution. The new study explores the ...

Environmental Laws Failing to Slow Deforestation

Aug. 20, 2024 — Australia's environmental laws are failing to stop high rates of tree clearing to make way for agriculture, development and ...

New Insights on How Bird Flu Crosses the Species Barrier

Aug. 19, 2024 — The avian influenza virus needs to mutate to cross the species barrier and to infect and replicate within mammalian cells. Scientists have now deciphered the structure of the avian influenza ...

Cheese of the Future: Consumers Open to Animal-Free Alternatives

Aug. 1, 2024 — Companies and institutes are currently working on biotechnological processes for the production of 'dairy products' without the use of cows: In so-called precision fermentation, egg and ...

Unraveling a Key Junction Underlying Muscle Contraction

July 31, 2024 — Using powerful new visualization technologies, researchers have captured the first 3-D images of the structure of a key muscle receptor, providing new insights on how muscles develop across the ...

New Study Confirms Mammal-to-Mammal Avian Flu Spread

July 24, 2024 — A new study provides evidence that a spillover of avian influenza from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states has now led to mammal-to-mammal transmission -- between cows and from cows to ...

Understanding How a Red Seaweed Reduces Methane Emissions from Cows

July 22, 2024 — New research has implications for addressing a leading contributor to climate warming, ...

Receptors Make Dairy Cows a Prime Target for Influenza

July 15, 2024 — A study helps explain why dairy cows infected by highly pathogenic avian influenza are shedding the virus in their milk. Their findings could help develop biosecurity measures aimed at slowing the ...

Big Boost for New Epigenetics Paradigm: CoRSIVs, First Discovered in Humans, Now Found in Cattle

July 14, 2024 — A study opens new possibilities to improve production efficiency in the cattle industry and potentially animal agriculture more ...

Nanoplastics and 'Forever Chemicals' Disrupt Molecular Structures, Functionality

July 11, 2024 — Researchers have made significant inroads in understanding how nanoplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- commonly known as forever chemicals -- disrupt biomolecular structure and ...

Raw Milk Is Risky, but Airborne Transmission of H5N1 from Cow's Milk Is Inefficient in Mammals

July 8, 2024 — While H5N1 avian influenza virus taken from infected cow's milk makes mice and ferrets sick when dripped into their noses, airborne transmission of the virus between ferrets -- a common model ...

Cuts to Processed Meat Intake Bring a Range of Health Benefits

July 3, 2024 — Reducing consumption of processed meat by around one-third could prevent more than 350,000 cases of diabetes in the US over 10 ...

Pasteurization Inactivates Highly Infectious Avian Flu in Milk, Study Suggests

July 3, 2024 — Researchers found no infectious virus in the sampled pasteurized milk products tested for ...

Bird Flu Stays Stable on Milking Equipment for at Least One Hour

June 27, 2024 — H5N1 virus in unpasteurized milk is stable on metal and rubber components of commercial milking equipment for at least one hour, increasing its potential to infect people and other ...

Biting Flies on Dairy Farms Can Spread Bovine Mastitis

June 26, 2024 — A new study identified biting flies as reservoirs of bacteria that cause bovine mastitis on dairy ...

Direct Evidence Found for Dairy Consumption in the Pyrenees in the Earliest Stages of the Neolithic

June 17, 2024 — A study on the remains of the Chaves and Puyascada caves, both located in the province of Huesca, Spain, yields the first direct proof of the consumption and processing of dairy products in the ...

Infectious H5N1 Influenza Virus in Raw Milk Rapidly Declines With Heat Treatment

June 14, 2024 — The amount of infectious H5N1 influenza viruses in raw milk rapidly declined with heat treatment in laboratory research. However, small, detectable amounts of infectious virus remained in raw milk ...

Sweaty Cattle May Boost Food Security in a Warming World

June 13, 2024 — Climate change is making it more difficult to raise cattle -- growth and reproduction are affected by heat -- so it's critical to breed cattle better adapted to a hotter and longer summer. A new ...