Breeding animals are typically raised under high health conditions in nucleus herds, but their offspring are often exposed to multiple disease challenges in commercial production facilities. Because breeding animals are not exposed to many common swine pathogens, it is difficult to select for resilience to disease. A possible solution is selecting for levels of natural antibodies (NAb), which can be measured in a high health environment and in this study are shown to correlate with disease resilience and to be heritable (h2 = 0.11 to 0.39). Therefore, breeding for increased NAb levels in clean conditions could be a valuable method to improve resilience and decrease mortality in market pigs. Work is ongoing to verify the potential of this prediction.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the quality and sensory characteristics of ready-to-eat (RTE) frankfurter-type sausage cured with celery juice powder and including red wine. Four frankfurter treatments including a conventionally cured treatment without red wine (control) and three treatments cured with pre-converted vegetable juice powder and 0%, 5% or 10 % (v/w) red wine were prepared. Adding 5% red wine increased the a*-value, and the textural resilience, cohesiveness and springiness of the frankfurters, as well as decreased lipid/protein oxidation of the final products. Added wine also introduced new volatiles (alcohol and ester compounds) to the frankfurters. The effects of red wine might be advantageous in natural and organic processed meats where nitrite concentrations are typically less than in conventionally cured products. However, the addition of excess amounts of red wine (10%) to the meat batter may have negative effects on the meat quality.

Precision management in calf care is needed as there are many ways to add value to these heifers before they join the milking string. A one-day workshop was hosted on August 31, for a first-hand look at how fellow dairy farmers are housing pre-weaned calves using technology to help manage their calf program. These included automatic calf feeders, pasteurizers, and milk cooling systems. Areas of focus included basic sanitation for automatic calf feeders, equipment hygiene, and housing and ventilation.

Corn Silage and earlage are two common feeds for beef cattle. Both of these feeds can increase beef production per acre as compared to corn grain but require good management from production through feeding to optimize beef production. Variation in the production, harvesting and storage of these feeds could influence the nutrient analysis and beef production.

This study evaluated the antioxidant activity of ethanol or hot water extracts from the residues of coffee after brewing. The extraction experiment was carried out using conventional solid–liquid methods, including ethanol and water as the extraction media at different temperatures and liquid/solid ratios. The antioxidant activity of extracts was tested for total phenolic compounds (TPC), 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and 2-thiobariburic acid reactive substances (TBARS) using oil emulsion and raw/cooked meat systems. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of the ethanol extracts with heating (HEE) and without heating (CEE) were higher than that of the hot water extracts (WE). The highest DPPH value of HEE and CEE at 1000 ppm was 91.22% and 90.21%, respectively. In oil emulsion and raw/cooked meat systems, both of water and ethanol extracts had similar antioxidant effects to the positive control (BHA), but HEE and CEE extracts showed stronger antioxidant activities than WE extract. The ethanol extracts of coffee residue had a strong antioxidant activity, and thus have potential to be used as a natural antioxidant in meat.