Many country veterinary practitioners have invested money in their clinics for facilities to handle cattle and horses. It is for the convenience of the vet but also for the restraint and treatment of the patient. However, there were those clients that assumed it was so the vet could charge them for an office call. Dr. Blaine took an after-hours call from a third-generation cattlewoman in the rolling foothills of western Alberta. “We’ve got a prolapse and need you to come to the ranch straight away,” she said.

Triangles have a unique place in our world. Engineers use them to build bridges; romance writers use them to manufacture chaos, Pythagoras used it to create his theorem and the shortstop uses it to make a double play! Triangles strengthen structures. They take three straight lines going nowhere and form a bond that can withstand great pressure. I see this cohesive combination in another triangle: Woman-horse-child. It is particularly evident when the child has Down’s syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis or any other disability which restricts their possibilities.

Reporting to you from Yei, Central Equatoria state, South Sudan.… Her name is Rita Harriet Brown. She is headmistress and lead teacher at the Yei Girls Boarding Secondary School. This is the story of the school, and the 300 young women living, learning and coming of age in Central Equatoria state.

University of Illinois chemist Wilfred van der Donk (right) has identified a chemical compound that could be the next frontier in mastitis treatment. The synthetic compound, geobacillin, is similar to a natural mastitis-fighting compound, nisin, which is made in a cow’s udder. A commercial form of nisin for mastitis treatment is currently under FDA review and a decision is expected soon. (Read an update about this drug’s approval status below.) Research initially shows the new compound to be even more potent than nisin against at least one bacterial strain that causes mastitis. Progressive Dairyman Editor Walt Cooley talked with Van der Donk about his discovery.

On April 26, Rep. Thomas J. Rooney, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, held a hearing on reforming dairy programs in the 2012 Farm Bill. This is the third of eight hearings which are gathering agricultural leaders in Washington to share their perspective on farm policy. Witnesses discussed problems with current dairy programs and provided feedback on proposals being considered to address those inadequacies. Dr. Scott Brown, assistant research professor at the University of Missouri, provided economic analysis of policies under discussion. Other witnesses shared their perspectives on the potential impacts of dairy reform.

The upcoming 4-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference will be held June 13-14, 2012, in Dubuque, Iowa. Click here to learn how you can attend the conference. We asked two of the speakers a few questions about their topics and why producers should be interested in attending. Thomas Overton Associate Professor and PRO-DAIRY Director Cornell University

A bill recently approved by a legislative committee would funnel revenues from the Oxford Casino to a loan program to aid Maine's dairy farmers. The Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee supported a bill to create a revolving low-interest loan fund that farmers could use for equipment purchases and other capital needs, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MBPN).

A large fraction of Los Angeles' smog is ammonium nitrate particles, which are formed when ammonia reacts with nitrogen oxides that are produced in large quantities in automobile emissions. The ammonia is generated by cars with certain types of catalytic converters – and by bacteria that consume cattle waste. To provide an accounting of these ammonia sources in Los Angeles, researchers from the University of Colorado-Boulder and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration organized eighteen flights of a plane carrying instruments that could make detailed atmospheric measurements.