Section » Farm animals

Goats: An overlooked pasture-raised animal

By • on June 12, 2011

Goats grazing in Ethiopia (iStockphoto) Goat meat is already very popular around the world – the Washington Post claims that goat makes up almost 70 percent of the red meat eaten globally – and its popularity could increase in

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Tipping sacred cows: Reviewing “Meat: A Benign Extravagance”

By • on January 31, 2011

Mainstream culture and news abound with broad statements about our food system and the choices we make about what we put on the dinner table. Surely you’ve heard that if you want to save

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Olney Friends School in Ohio grows food to grow enrollment

By • on December 9, 2010

The farm-to-school movement has been gaining ground lately as advocates encourage administrators to bring more local food into school cafeterias. But at Olney

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One sick chicken

By • on September 23, 2010

With a few exceptions, the animals on my farm are not pets. My sheep and chickens have jobs to do -- eating grass and bugs, making eggs and meat and babies. If they don't do their job, they don't stay on my farm. My Buff Orpington in happier, healthier days. That isn't to say that I don't treat them

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The first rule of farming: Be prepared

By • on June 3, 2010

(Steph Larsen photos)Everyone knows the Boy Scouts' motto: Be Prepared. While my immediate inclination is to ask "For what?", it's as good a command as any to live by. One at which I failed miserably last week. I came home from work and went out to the sheep paddocks to make sure they looked healthy

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Dairy cows’ feed exacerbates air pollution in central California

By • on May 8, 2010

Although it has a relatively low population density, California's San Joaquin Valley has some of the worst air pollution in the nation, especially when it comes to ozone (O3), a gas that can cause respiratory and cardiac problems. To

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The Marin Carbon Project studies carbon sequestration

By • on April 17, 2010

Soil carbon sequestration — the process of converting gaseous carbon dioxide into carbon in the soil — offers a promising (and possibly necessary) route to addressing climate change

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The manurification of America

By • on March 2, 2010

A perfect shitstorm: On some farms, animal manure can be a valuable asset, a way to improve the soil in the fields. But for today's massive factory farms — and, increasingly, the nation's air and waterways — manure is a huge liability, reports the Post's David A. Fahrenthold. Decomposing manure from

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Manure digesters clash with air quality requirements

By • on March 1, 2010

Cracking down on methane labs: When animal manure decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide (on a mass basis). To avoid these emissions, some are installing manure digesters, in which bacteria convert the waste to methane gas. The methane is then burned in

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What does asthma have to do with farm animals — or food?

By • on January 18, 2010

When government officials hear the words "backyard livestock," they tend to worry about disease outbreaks and sanitation crises. And for good reason, as improperly managed animals — including dogs and cats —

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Pets vs. livestock: Cracking open the myths about backyard chickens

By • on November 12, 2009

Last spring I decided that this was the year I was going to finally get some chickens. On a snowy Saturday in March I brought home six tiny cheepers that I bought at my local ranch store in Livingston, Montana. Two of

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Leaving the city to live the dream of goats

By • on June 29, 2009

Not kidding around: Writer Brad Kessler talks about his and his wife's decision to leave New York City for Vermont, raise goats, and make cheese, chronicled in his memoir "Goat

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USDA hearings on NAIS

By • on May 23, 2009

Will they really listen? The Rural Blog reminds us that the USDA is holding "listening sessions" about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The last two will be in Storrs, Connecticut on May 27 and Loveland, Colorado on June 1 (location information and a link to the NAIS comment page at

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Straight to the superbug supersource: Q&A with Maryn McKenna about MRSA in people — and pigs

By • on April 14, 2009

Everyone's up in arms about historian James McWilliams' New York Times op-ed last week, misleadingly headlined "Free-Range Trichinosis," about how a study found more pathogens in pastured pigs than factory ones. Many bloggers have

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Digest – News: Flesh-eating bacteria, wallet-eating food companies, and eating, righteously

By • on March 12, 2009

Makes your skin crawl: As previously reported here, a flesh-eating, antibiotic resistant bacteria is killing 18,000 Americans a year and is carried by 45% of farmers and 49% of pigs in Iowa. Nicholas

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