- Cargill has developed an industry-first robotic cattle driver aimed at improving animal welfare and employee safety. The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. Employees operate the robots from a catwalk located above the pens, reducing safety risks by keeping those who work in the cattle yard portion of processing plants at a greater distance from the 1300-pound animals.
- O’Fallon, IL-based Brookside Agra will feature several of its innovative products at EuroTier 2018, the world’s leading trade fair for animal production.
- The USPOULTRY Foundation announces the completion of a funded research project at AviServe LLC in Newark, Del., that has revealed a new tool for controlling reovirus. A complete report may be obtained by going to USPOULTRY’s website, www.uspoultry.org.
- U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is hosting a Poultry Handling and Transportation “Train the Trainer” Workshop for poultry transporters and catch crews. The workshop is limited to 40 people, and the cost is $150 for USPOULTRY members and $300 for non-members. Please submit your application, along with a letter of recommendation from your supervisor, at www.uspoultryhandling.org.
- With North Carolina still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Florence, Smithfield Foods committed to invest in infrastructure and provide farmer incentives to install manure lagoon covers and digesters on 90 percent of the total hog finishing capacity in North Carolina, Missouri and Utah over the next ten years.
- Smithfield Foods has initiated a challenge for Virginia Tech students involved in the student group Commodity Investing by Students, known as COINS, that would reward the top-performing analysts with a yearlong supply of Smithfield bacon.
- The National Pork Producers Council applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its proposed rule exempting livestock farmers from reporting to state and local authorities the routine emissions from their farms.
