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A central California farmer is holding off on harvesting his fields until thousands of imperiled tricolored baby blackbirds can fly from their nests. The Fresno Bee reports Thursday that Frank Mendonsa, owner of a dairy farm south of Tulare, California, was recognized Wednesday by Audubon California and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. About 15,000 tricolored blackbirds are temporarily nesting in fields of triticale silage that Mendonsa is growing for cow feed, the newspaper reported.

Recently, scientists from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have jointly demonstrated cream separation from natural whole milk at liter-scales for the first time using ultrasonic standing waves—a novel, fast and nondestructive separation technique typically used only in small-scale settings. At the 169th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), being held May 18-22 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the researchers will report the key design and effective operating parameters for milk fat separation in batch and continuous systems. The project, co-funded by the Geoffrey-Gardiner Dairy Foundation and the Australian Research...

I put in(pots) 5 varieties of Tomato from this outfit(got them all at Bamgaars)(http://chefjeffsgarden.com/about.html) and one Pepper Plant(also in a pot).

Canada vowed on Tuesday to give the Americans a taste of their own medicine by making it harder for the U.S. to peddle its wares in the Great White North. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast said they plan to enact "retaliatory measures" against U.S. exports after winning a meat-labelling dispute at the World Trade Organization on Monday. The WTO upheld a complaint by Canada and Mexico that U.S. laws -- which require retailers to label meat with the country where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered -- discriminate against imported livestock. "The WTO has been...

America's biggest ranch, which is larger than New York City, goes on sale for $713million in Texas The Waggoner Ranch is the largest contiguous ranch in the United States spanning six counties in Northern Texas Listing marks end of decades-long court battle among heirs of cattle baron W.T. Waggoner who founded it in 1923 The estate includes the 510,000-acre ranch with two main compounds, hundreds of homes and 20 cowboy camps Also included are hundreds of quarter-horses, thousands of cattle, 1,200 oil wells and 30,000 acres of cultivated land It reportedly falls within 'super asset class', akin to selling the...

A new research paper published in the open access journal ZooKeys reports on a discovery made during a Los Angeles class fieldtrip—a new species of marine pillbug (Crustacea: Isopoda). While documenting that new species, a second new species of pillbug originally collected 142 years ago by biologists on a wooden sailing ship in Alaska was discovered in a collection room at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) by researchers Adam Wall and Dr. Regina Wetzer. The Los Angeles discovery was made during a Loyola Marymount University field trip for an invertebrate zoology lab course taught by NHM...

The California almond is getting a bad reputation. At least that’s what the numbers show. According to an April report released by the Pacific Institute, a non-profit research firm based in Oakland, almonds are not the most water intensive crop grown in the Golden State. In fact, almonds tie with pistachios for fourth place in the ranking of California’s water intensive crops and require on average four acre-feet of water per acre. One acre-foot is approximately 326,000 gallons of water. Alfalfa and rice are the top two water users, averaging five acre-feet of water per acre a piece, though alfalfa...

Washington State University researchers have found a way to make jet fuel from a common black fungus found in decaying leaves, soil and rotting fruit. The researchers hope the process leads to economically viable production of aviation biofuels in the next five years. The researchers used Aspergillus carbonarius ITEM 5010 to create hydrocarbons, the chief component of petroleum, similar to those in aviation fuels. Led by Birgitte Ahring, director and Battelle distinguished professor of the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory at WSU Tri-cities, the researchers published their work in the April edition of Fungal Biology. The fungus produced the most...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is traveling to Colorado to announce funding for conservation projects in all 50 states. […] The Department of Agriculture says the projects concern water quality, soil health, wildlife habitat and agricultural viability. …

Insurance lady asked me what kind of dog do I have.... I said half red heeler half lab and she is a good dog. She asked me how big she was (she is 80 lbs, but I said none of your business) I am getting upset at this point. I told her that if ever Ki was to get out of control that I would 'fix' it. I am not above certain things. I just don't like noses being stuck up my ass. I live on the family ranch and I have to have big dogs. This is just pissing...

Boreal Winery in Warren, east of Sudbury, is trying something new: pumpkin wine. They've used some giant pumpkins grown in Sudbury, and fermented the wine right inside the pumpkins. It was bottled just a few weeks ago, and the winery will start selling it this weekend. Owner of Boreal Winery Greg Meilien said the wine is fantastic. "[We were] quite surprised. We weren't sure what was going to happen but it turned out very, very nice," he said. Meilien said as for the taste, it's something you need to try for yourself, but added it does have a melon mid-palette...

If you've ever dreamed of owning your own patch of land and a successful home-grown business then a 200-word essay and $150 is all is could take for it to become a reality. Paul and Leslie Spell, of Humble Heart Farms in Elkmont, Alabama, are giving away their goat cheese farm - complete with their house, 20 acres of land, 56 goats, cheese-making equipment, recipes and even a dog - to the person who writes the best essay about why they should run it. It will cost entrants just $150 to apply and, with an expected 2,500 applications, the couple...

Opened my e-mail this morning and just flat out enjoyed this short

Federal agricultural officials are planning to announce voluntary programs and initiatives for farmers, ranchers and foresters meant to build on President Barack Obama’s efforts to combat global warming—and don’t require congressional approval.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to unveil plans Thursday at Michigan State University, where Obama signed the sweeping farm bill into law last year. The efforts, many of which have their roots in that law, aim to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, boost carbon capture and storage and come with various enticements, including grants, low-interest loans and technical assistance. […] Obama administration aides have said the issue of...

The problems are multiplying for the Texas veterinarian... "Current interests: Living my days to the fullest, finding the meaning of happiness, killing things or trying to kill things (animals, a full glass of whiskey, hangovers, etc)..."

It began with anxiety and depression. A few months later, hallucinations appeared. Then the Texas man, in his 40s, couldn't feel or move the left side of his face. He thought the symptoms were because of a recent car accident. But the psychiatric problems got worse. And some doctors thought the man might have bipolar disorder. Cattle feeding practices have been changed in an effort to halt the spread of mad cow disease. THE SALT Mad Cow Disease: What You Need To Know Now Eventually, he couldn't walk or speak. He was hospitalized. And about 18 months after symptoms began,...

The oil-rich nation is opening its stock market -- the largest in the Middle East -- to foreign investors on June 15, the government announced Thursday. The Saudi market -- worth an estimated $530 billion -- is more than double the size of the Tel Aviv stock exchange in Israel. Previously, only Saudi-based investors could buy stocks there. By mid-June, international firms will be able to buy stocks in the country's exchange, the Tadawul All Share Index. This will likely encourage mutual funds and ETFs to add some Saudi stocks to their holdings, especially in emerging market funds. The move...

'It's going to be the new little wave' For decades, if not centuries, the Amazon dwellers of southern Colombia didn’t make too much of the cacay nut. They fed it to their livestock, used it to treat wounds and chopped down its trees for firewood. But then, a few years ago, the global jet-setting crowd found out what the yellow-ish oil from the protein-rich nut could do for their skin. And suddenly, the cacay (pronounced kahk-ai) has become a red-hot commodity, providing the key ingredient to anti-aging facial creams that can fetch $200 an ounce in beauty shops in Los...

Conventional agriculture is causing enormous environmental damage in Germany, warns a study by the country’s Federal Environment Agency, saying a transition to organic farming and stricter regulation is urgently needed. EurActiv Germany reports. Spanning over 50% of the country, agriculture takes up by far the biggest amount of land in the country, and is one of its most important economic sectors. But intensive farming still harms the environment to an alarming extent, according to a study conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The use of pesticides and fertilizers, as well as intensive animal husbandry, have a negative impact on...

<p>Make vodka from strawberries? No one does that, says Anthony Caspary, co-founder of Ventura Spirits, a bootstrap distillery he started with his brother and two friends in the basement of an old industrial building on the western edge of Ventura. Other than the expense of the strawberries themselves, it's just too much work.</p>