News Update
June 10, 2013
Mexican Wolves in Southwest
Continue to be Protected as
Endangered Subspecies
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed June 7 to remove the gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the list of threatened and endangered species. The Service is also proposing to maintain protection and expand recovery efforts for the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) in the Southwest, where it remains endangered.
Under the proposal, state wildlife management agency professionals would resume responsibility for management and protection of gray wolves in states where wolves occur. The proposed rule is based on the best science available and incorporates new information about the gray wolf’s current and historical distribution in the contiguous United States and Mexico. It focuses the protection on the Mexican wolf, the only remaining entity that warrants protection under the Act, by designating the Mexican wolf as an endangered subspecies.
“From the moment a species requires the protection of the Endangered Species Act, our goal is to work with our partners to address the threats it faces and ensure its recovery,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “An exhaustive review of the latest scientific and taxonomic information shows that we have accomplished that goal with the gray wolf, allowing us to focus our work under the ESA on recovery of the Mexican wolf subspecies in the Southwest.”
In addition to listing the Mexican wolf as an endangered subspecies, the Service proposes to modify existing regulations governing the nonessential experimental population to allow captive raised wolves to be released throughout the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in the Apache and Gila National Forests.
For more information, please visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gray Wolf topic page here.
Cattle Producers Should Control Fly Populations
One of the best ways to keep cattle healthy and gaining pounds in hot weather is to control flies, a Purdue Extension beef specialist says.
Heavy populations of flies can cause stress in cattle herds and spread disease. Both stress and disease can reduce milk production and calf gain.
“We’re into June, so producers should start looking for the fly populations, and they need to knock those fly populations down soon,” Ron Lemenager said.
There are two main fly species that Indiana cattle producers need to worry about: the horn fly and the face fly.
The horn fly is a small, blood-sucking insect that feeds mainly on the backs, sides, shoulders and underlines of cattle. They reduce weight gain and make animals more prone to stay in the shade instead of going out in the sun to graze, Lemenager said.
Horn flies are usually easier to control than face flies because they don’t travel far.
“Horn flies typically stay with the animal, only leaving to deposit eggs in manure,” Lemenager said.
Face flies are known to travel more from animal to animal and from farm to farm. Non-biting face flies are about twice the size of horn flies and similar in size to houseflies.
Producers have a few options for controlling flies in their herds. One option, a newer technology, is to use insecticide-impregnated ear tags. The tags contain the pyrethroid or organophosphate class of insecticides and are effective in reducing face fly populations for several months.
Lemenager recommended rotating pyrethroid and organophosphate products so flies don't build up resistance.
Farmers also can control fly populations for several weeks by using insecticides in dust bags, oilers, pour-ons and sprays. Feed-through larvacides in a mineral supplement form also have efficacy in disrupting fly life cycles.
For the full article and more information on controling flies, click here.
Forage Production Lagging in Oklahoma
Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension livestock marketing specialist, explains recent rains across much of the state have resulted in green conditions in those areas; however, pasture and hay growth has been delayed, especially for warm season forages.
“Delayed hay production is a concern to cattle producers who have suffered through severely depleted hay supplies during the last two years of drought,” he said.
Recent USDA reports indicate 69% of the first cutting of alfalfa hay was complete, compared to a 92% average for the same time period. For other hay, 30% of the first cutting was completed, with 47% being average. Approximately 33% of Oklahoma pasture and range conditions were rated poor to very poor, down slightly from 36% a week earlier.
Similar effects occurred nationally, with U.S. hay disappearance from December to May down 25% from the 10-year average, resulting in per cow hay use of 21.6 pounds (lb.) of hay per cow per day, compared to the 10-year average of 26.91 lb. of hay per cow per day.
Cattle and calves represent the number one agricultural commodity produced in Oklahoma, accounting for 46% of total agricultural cash receipts, according to National Agricultural Statistics Service data.
For more information and the full release, click here.
Clarke Honored for International Efforts
in Agriculture, Rural Development
Neville Clarke received the 2013 Special Service Award from the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development recently at the Future Leader’s Forum in Washington, D.C.
Clarke, special assistant for program development for the vice chancellor of agriculture at Texas A&M University, was recognized for his “outstanding contributions towards poverty alleviation and food security in the developing countries” and for his commitment to the association’s mission.
The citation noted that since 1954, “Clarke has served our country in several capacities both in uniform and in the civil society.” It was upon his retirement as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force in 1975 that Clarke became director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, now called Texas A&M AgriLife Research.
In that role, Clarke initiated research projects in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, the citation noted, along with the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, which were aimed at “reducing poverty, hunger and environmental degradation in developing countries.” That concept has since been developed to serve smallholder livestock producers in other African nations, as well as in Asia and Latin America.
Clarke also was founding director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Center of Excellence on Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense and has been a USDA advisor on agricultural biosecurity since 1996.
He earned a pre-med associate’s degree from Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde, a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Texas A&M, and a master’s and doctorate in physiology from the University of Washington School of Medicine.
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