Keeping Animals

Weather Making for Early Weaning Crunch Time
By Jill Zimmerman, Kansas State University Extension in Cowley County

With the hot, dry summer currently being experienced throughout the Midwest, traditional weaning plans may need to be significantly altered. Cows are out of grass in many areas, and grass is extremely short in others. Early weaning of calves should be strongly considered.

Considerable research has shown that it is a much better use of resources to wean the calf early and either sell or feed the calf rather than try to feed the cow enough to sustain lactation through a drought. It will hold feed costs down both now and this winter when producers are trying to get cows in condition to survive the winter, calve successfully, and be in reasonable body condition score (BCS) to breed back next year. Many cows may be close to drying up on their own because of the lack of feed, so the primary thing they may be providing is merely companionship for the calf!

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Egg Cleaning for the Backyard Flock
By Kody Sok, UNL Extension Poultry Assistant, and Sheila Purdum, UNL Extension Poultry Specialist

Producing your own eggs can be a rewarding part of raising your own chickens. However, household poultry flocks can produce a high percentage of dirty or tainted eggs (Figure 1). Most of these eggs are soiled because they were laid in dirty nests or on the floor where they may have come in contact with fecal matter. Dirty eggs can be a health hazard if they are not properly washed and sanitized (i.e. harmful bacteria can enter through the pores of the eggs and if not cooked properly have the potential to cause food poisoning).

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Heat Stress Management in Broilers
By Gary D. Butcher, D.V.M., Ph.D. and Richard Miles, Ph.D., University of Florida Extension

High ambient temperatures can be devastating to commerical broilers; coupled with high humidity they can have an even more harmful effect. Heat stress interferes with the broilers comfort and suppresses productive efficiency. During periods of heat stress the broiler has to make major thermo-regulatory adaptions in order to prevent death from heat exhaustion. The result is that the full genetic potential of the broiler is often not achieved.

The pupose of this paper is to review some of the effects of heat stress on broilers and methods which can be used by the poultry producer to partially alleviate some of the deterimental effects of heat stress on broiler performance.

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