News Archive 2004
LEAP --- New Website
The Ohio Livestock Coalition has created a website to address questions producers may have relative to the Ohio Livestock Environmental Assurance Program. According to Dave White, Executive Director, current funding for LEAP is provided in part from a grant through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' (ODNR) Division of Soil and Water Conservation (DSWC). Visit the website at http://www.ohleap.org to access an explanation of the differences between LEAP, Level 1 and Level 2, and OFAER, as well as news releases, fact sheets, and forms for setting up a local LEAP training session. Back to TopMurphy-Brown Offers Environmental Tool
By Pork news source (Friday, March 12, 2004)
Murphy-Brown, the swine production subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, and the North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance are offering a tool to help U.S. pork producers better protect the environment.
In a joint announcement, officials say they are offering producers a free, user-friendly management tool that provides an organized approach to identifying and managing those parts of pork operations that could affect the environment, such as feeding, clean-up, manure treatment systems and spray irrigation.
The free tool is a prototypical environmental management system that can meet the specific needs of pork producers for an environmental action plan. An EMS program consists of policies, procedures and practices that are designed to ensure that high environmental standards are routinely maintained at pork operations.
The EMS template is similar to one that Murphy-Brown developed for all of its U.S. pork production operations. Individual producers who want to incorporate unique characteristics of their operations can easily customize this modified tool.
Producers who want assistance in developing their own EMS can download free materials from the Web sites of Smithfield Foods (www.smithfieldfoods.com), the DPPEA (www.p2pays.org) and the North Carolina Pork Council (www.ncpork.com).
The package of materials includes a guidance manual, which explains how to develop an EMS for a typical pork production operation; a copy of an existing EMS in use on a North Carolina pork operation to provide details of how an EMS functions; and a fill-in-the-blank EMS template that producers can customize to meet the needs of their operations.
For more information about this free tool, producers should contact Don Butler, Murphy-Brown at 910-293-5328.2004 Midwest Swine Nutrition Proceedings
NEW FACT SHEET SERIES TARGETS LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY PRODUCERS
AMES, Iowa -- A new set of 24 fact sheets and related slide presentations is designed to help livestock and poultry producers deal with revised federal regulations for concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO).
A national team of 20 land-grant university faculty, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service staff and National Pork Board staff collaborated on the project. The project was managed through the Midwest Plan Service (MWPS) on the Iowa State University campus.
Three people in the ISU College of Agriculture reviewed one or more fact sheets, including Wendy Powers, associate professor of animal science; Jeff Lorimor, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering; and Angela Rieck-Hinz, extension program specialist in agronomy. Bill Koenig, an MWPS staff engineer, reviewed one of the fact sheets.
The series is a part of the larger Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship (LPES) curriculum, which is intended to promote the voluntary practice of environmental stewardship principles in the animal production industry.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently revised CAFO regulations. The LPES CAFO Fact Sheet series was developed with assistance from the EPA's National Agriculture Compliance Assistance Center to ensure compatibility of the series with the final CAFO rules.
To promote understanding and implementation, the series addresses the following questions producers might have about the CAFO regulations:
·Will my operation be affected by the revised CAFO regulations?
·What must I do to comply with the CAFO regulations?
·What is the timeline for achieving compliance?
·What records do I need to keep and what annual reports do I need to provide to EPA?
·Is any financial or technical assistance available to achieve compliance?
The series can be viewed online at the LPES website, http://www.lpes.org/CAFO.html. The series also is available through the catalog section of the MWPS website at http://www.mwpshq.org.
The series is available in three downloadable formats: PDF files, MS Word® files, and PowerPoint® slide presentations. The free PDF files can be read online, printed or downloaded for future reference. Developed for educators and advisers, the Word® files and PowerPoint® presentations can be purchased, downloaded and modified to meet local, state and regional needs. A one-time fee of $50 provides continuing, unlimited download privileges. Back to Top
SWAP - An Evaluative Tool for Swine Care
It is generally accepted that animal welfare can be determined by assessing the animals' physiology (such as immune function and hormonal status or response), behavior and performance, and health. For an accurate picture of welfare, all three areas must be evaluated. Using any one of these parameters as a sole indication of welfare can be misleading. A Swine Welfare Assurance Program (SWAP) geared to address all three parameters will be released in August 2003 by the National Pork Board. The program will divide swine production into two stages: 1. Gilts, Sows, boars and Neonatal Piglets, and 2. Nursery and Finisher Pigs, assessing and evaluating swine well-being on farm. This program will be applicable to all sizes and types of production systems throughout the U.S. Contact the National Pork Board for further details or read more about the program at http://www.porkscience.org/dispTopicOverview.asp
?topic_id=3&TID=2&level=3&TPID=3&tier2ID=.
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