The Cowboy Calendar | Coordinating Rodeo & Equine Events in Hawaii

Published on June 29, 2011 in Ag Tourism, General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

Makawao Rodeo 2011

ANNUAL MAKAWAO RODEO – A very exciting rodeo event presented by the Maui Roping Club – more than 350 paniolos (cowboys) attend the rodeo from all over the world. Oskie Rice Rodeo Arena, Makawao Rodeo, a mile above Makawao town, on Olinda Road at Kaanaolo Ranch on Maui. This Hawaiian style rodeo, with rough stock and roping events, features rodeo clowns. Before and after the rodeo, enjoy live entertainment and country western dancing. For more information call (808) 572-8102.

The Cowboy Calendar | Coordinating Rodeo & Equine Events in Hawaii

Clean energy future racing toward reality

Published on June 12, 2011 in Agriculture Grants, Alternative Energy, General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

Maui Electric Co. and other Hawaii utilities once again were ranked among the top utilities in the country for solar power capacity.

MECO parent Hawaiian Electric Co. again was named one of the nation’s Top 10 electric utilities for the amount of solar power added to its system per customer in the the 2010 Solar Electric Power Association Utility Solar Rankings. MECO was ranked in fifth place for total solar watts per customer.

The amount of grid-connected solar is growing fast, and even a little faster than vendors had promised, if the experience of businessmen Thomas Kafsack and Josh Stone is any indication.

Both installed solar generators since the last round of SEPA solar rankings.

Kafsack, operator of Surfing Goat Dairy, just broke ground for phase two of his 43 kilowatt project, but he is pleased with phase one, which covers half his barn roof and was switched on a couple of weeks ago.

The project, designed and built by Haleakala Solar, cost more than $300,000, but after two tries Kafsack got a Renewable Energy for America grant from the Department of Agriculture to cover 20 percent of the cost.

Without the grant, he said Friday, the investment would not have made a sufficient return, but with it he will recover his costs “in under 10 years.” Continue reading ‘Clean energy future racing toward reality’

New MRSA strain appears in cows

Published on June 3, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

A new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, has been discovered in cows and humans in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, researchers reported Thursday. The new strain disturbs researchers because it evades one of the most commonly used tests to detect MRSA, which could lead physicians to prescribe the wrong antibiotics to treat the infection. The new strain of the bacterium is still relatively rare and, so far, no deaths have been attributed to it, the team reported in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. Its discovery in cows raises a new question about the origin of MRSA outbreaks, however: Are cows a natural reservoir for the infections or are they infected by humans who come into contact with them?

The presence of the bacteria in cows does not present a threat to the food supply because it is killed during the pasteurization process. But the infection can be transmitted to humans who come into close contact with the animals, and these workers can then pass the bacteria into the general population.

Although MRSA infections may be declining in the United States, they still represent a serious healthcare problem, with an estimated 90,000 new infections linked to healthcare facilities each year and about 15,000 deaths, mostly in older people or those with underlying health problems. Continue reading ‘New MRSA strain appears in cows’

Rinderpest, or ‘cattle plague,’ becomes only second disease to be eradicated

Published on May 26, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

Rinderpest, or ‘cattle plague,’ becomes only second disease to be eradicated
By David Brown, Thursday, May 26, 4:12 PM

Rinderpest, a cattle disease that for centuries felled herds in Europe, Africa and Asia and caused periodic human famine, has been eradicated, veterinary epidemiologists announced this week.

Eradication is the Holy Grail of disease prevention and has been successful only once before. Smallpox, an equally devastating human scourge, was eradicated in 1980, proving it is possible to stamp out a microbe across the entire planet. Attempts are underway to rid the world of polio and Guinea worm disease.

The bovine equivalent of measles, rinderpest is described in ancient Chinese writings and in documents from the Roman Empire. It hobbled Charlemagne when he moved herds to support his armies in the 8th century. When it entered Ethiopia in 1889, it caused starvation that killed one-third of the country’s human population, even though the microbe does not infect people.

Even in communities that do not depend on herding for their livelihood, rinderpest could be lethal because it killed draft animals and disrupted agriculture.

“This is quite a momentous occasion for humanity,” Continue reading ‘Rinderpest, or ‘cattle plague,’ becomes only second disease to be eradicated’

2 arrested in connection with goat slaying

Published on May 19, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Police Department arrested two Kilauea men in connection with the theft of a goat last month belonging to Kunana Dairy, according to a county press release.

Dairy co-owner Louisa Wooton said a few days after the theft that her goat, Kaitlyn, was “like a family member,” and was weeks away from giving birth. The killers beheaded Kaitlyn, and took all the edible parts, including the head, leaving behind the guts and unborn kids, according to Wooton.

She said on May 2 the dairy was offering a $11,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for killing Kaitlyn. Wooton couldn’t be reached by press time on Friday for comments.

Ryan Winchell, 29, was arrested Wednesday for first-degree criminal property damage, second-degree theft, theft of livestock, place to keep firearm and storage of firearm. His bail was set at $8,100.

Russell Ho‘omanawanui, 29, was arrested Friday for first-degree criminal property damage, second-degree theft, theft of livestock and place to keep firearm. His bail was set at $8,000.

KPD said the two men stole a three-year-old goat, four months into pregnancy, from a pasture in Moloa‘a sometime between April 27 and 29, the release stated.

The men allegedly climbed over a fence to gain access to the private property where the goats were kept. Continue reading ‘2 arrested in connection with goat slaying’

Malaysian pigs get IDs to protect pork eaters

Published on May 14, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

KUALA LUMPUR – MALAYSIA will give locally-reared pigs embedded identity discs in a bid to stop the illegal slaughter and distribution of meat that is unfit for human consumption, reports said on Sunday.

This follows the revelation by Malaysian pork sellers association chief Goh Chui Lai over the weekend that unhealthy pigs were being slaughtered at illegal abattoirs, resulting in unhygienic meat being distributed nationwide.

Malaysian veterinary services department chief Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin told the New Straits Times daily that radio-frequency identification (RFID) disc would now be placed beneath the skin of each pig in order to track it.

‘Any mismatch between the number of pigs reared in each farm and the number slaughtered at licensed abattoirs will be considered suspicious,’ he told the paper. Continue reading ‘Malaysian pigs get IDs to protect pork eaters’

The dairy farmers who returned to Fukushima’s fallout path

Published on May 11, 2011 in Alternative Energy, General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

“The alarm is ringing. That means danger,” says Keiko Sanpei, above, with a nervous laugh as she looks at a meter which shows radiation levels, at her dairy farm, more than five times the health limit. “I was afraid when I first returned. But being with the cows, that fear goes away.”

Sanpei’s home is in Namie, a radiation hotspot 17 miles downwind of the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant. It is just outside the government’s mandatory exclusion zone, but the ground here was so contaminated during the crisis residents are now exposed to almost as much radiation as someone standing outside the plant’s west gate.

Namie has become a ghost town. The fields, normally a hive of activity in this season, are deserted. Roads are almost empty, apart from emergency vehicles and a police van that blocks the route into the 16 mile-radius exclusion zone.

Almost all of the 2,000 residents followed government advice to evacuate after the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant on 15 March, but Sanpei and her husband were among a few dozen farmers who returned, more concerned for their cattle than their personal safety.

“I could hear the cows in my ears mooing. I couldn’t sleep. I was so worried,” says Sanpei as one of the herd licks her arm. “We came back after a week. Even though the radiation was frightening, when we saw the cows again we had peace of mind.” Continue reading ‘The dairy farmers who returned to Fukushima’s fallout path’

Algae producer Cellana gets $5.5M to develop animal feed

Published on May 4, 2011 in Agriculture Grants, Biofuels, General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

Kona-based Cellana LLC has received a $5.5 million federal grant to develop animal feed from algae grown at its facility at Keahole Point.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be combined with $1.6 million raised by Cellana for the project titled “Developing a new Generation of Animal Feed Supplements,” according to a news release from the office of U.S. Sen Daniel Inouye. The project began May 1 and runs through April 30, 2014.

In addition to animal feed, algae can also be used to produce oil that can be refined into a variety of fuel products, including biodiesel that can be burned in automobiles and power plants.

“By developing a cheaper form of animal feed from marine algae we allow our livestock and dairy industry to remain competitive by reducing the amount of revenue they direct to feeding their animals,” Inouye said in the release.

“I would like to laud Cellana’s efforts to move Hawaii away from the use od imported fossil fuels while developing innovative new products form one of our most readily available resources,” he said.

Algae producer Cellana gets $5.5M to develop animal feed – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Trespasser beheads, guts goat at local dairy

Published on May 2, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

KILAUEA — Sometime between dusk on Thursday and dawn on Friday, a pregnant goat from Kilauea’s Kunana Dairy was gutted and beheaded, her unborn kids dumped next to her insides, sources said Monday.

“Nothing like that has ever happened to us before,” dairy co-owner Louisa Wooton said. “You have no idea how horrible it was. She was like a family member.”

A trespasser is suspected of killing Kaitlyn, Kunana’s goat named after a former worker.

Wooton said Kaitlyn was gutted in a field in Moloa‘a about a mile from the dairy’s main pasture in Kilauea.

“They took her meat, they took her head, they took everything that was edible from her and left everything else there on the ground,” she said.

Wooton said she discovered what was left of Kaitlyn on Friday afternoon, when she went to check on her goats in Moloa‘a.

“Our goats are so fricking tame, she was probably kissing his hands while he knifed her in the heart,” Wooton said.

Next to Kaitlyn’s remains, the killer left behind a Winchester hunting knife, unspent shotgun shells and a pair of sunglasses.

Kaitlyn, a 4-year-old white doe, was two weeks away from giving birth. Wooton said besides being a family member, Kaitlyn was also a working animal that generated $7,000 in annual income for the dairy. Continue reading ‘Trespasser beheads, guts goat at local dairy’

Brazilian company JBS dominates world beef industry from farm to fork

Published on April 14, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

The founder, who began by slaughtering one or two head a day in 1953, raises calves far in the countryside. Six of his children are in JBS’s management. And ranchers such as Edson Crochiquia, who is 69 but rounds up cattle on horseback near here, spare no detail to provide the company with healthy, 1,000-pound animals.

Even a decade ago, JBS was still mainly focused on selling in Brazil. But by acquiring American giants such as Swift and Pilgrim’s Pride, JBS grew from a $1 billion private company into a $40 billion behemoth that slaughters 90,000 head of cattle a day, employs 125,000 workers and exports to 150 countries.

JBS is now the world’s biggest provider of meat, its footprint felt by feedlots, packing plants and chicken processors from Argentina to Italy to the American Midwest.

In Brazil, it is not uncommon to find banks, steel mills and other companies that evolved from family businesses into global giants. But JBS stands out, using an alliance with Brazil’s development bank and an aggressive acquisition strategy to become a vital pillar of the country’s efforts to project its economic power abroad.

To Wesley Batista, JBS’s 40-year-old chief executive and the founder’s fourth child, the company is still run “a simple way,” using a management model without “a lot of layers, not a lot of fancy things, not a lot of time spent on PowerPoint presentations.” Continue reading ‘Brazilian company JBS dominates world beef industry from farm to fork’

Rare panda cow born on farm near Campion – Reporter-Herald, Loveland, Colo.

Published on January 1, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

By Tom Hacker

It is safe to say that Ben is the last miniature panda cow born anywhere in 2010.

In fact, he has few peers, being a calf and one of only 24 of the scarce breed in the world.

At just after 8 a.m. Friday, on a farm east of Campion, Ben entered the world after mother Bella, a lowline Angus cow, spent a zero-degree night in labor in her stall.

Two hours later, still wet and shivering, the tiny calf snuggled against his diminutive mother.

“We’ll get him bundled up pretty soon,” said Chris Jessen, who has miniature donkeys, other miniature cattle breeds and even a wallaby — a miniature kangaroo — on his hobby farm.

“We’ve got a regular petting zoo, here,” wife Pam Jessen said.

It could have been even more so, with the Jessens having explored the idea of raising reindeer, and even camels, on their acreage.

Ben’s namesake is Chris Jessen’s brother, also born on New Year’s Eve.

“He was the first person I called this morning,” he said.

The miniature panda cow is the result of 44 years of genetic manipulation by Richard Gradwohl, a farmer in Covington, Wash., about 20 miles southeast of Seattle.

A white belt encircling the animal’s midsection, and the white face with black ovals around the eyes, give the cow an appearance that is very much panda-like.

“We had a Chinese delegation visit our farm, and they were fascinated,” Gradwohl said in a telephone interview Friday. “They want them in China, so we’re going to be exporting.” Continue reading ‘Rare panda cow born on farm near Campion – Reporter-Herald, Loveland, Colo.’

Livestock owners advised to reregister

Published on December 11, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

HONOLULU – The state is reminding livestock owners that they have until the end of the month to re-register their brands or lose their rights to them.

Hawaii law requires livestock owners to register their brand every five years to secure its validity and individuality.

The state Department of Agriculture said Thursday that there were 700 registered brands in Hawaii between 2005 and 2010, but only 425 have re-registered their brands.

The department’s Livestock Disease Control Branch manager and veterinarian, Jason Moniz, said owners may potentially lose the right to their brand if they don’t reregister by Dec. 31.

Owners should contact the Livestock Disease Control Branch for more information.

Livestock owners advised to reregister – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

2010 Molokai Stampede Results

Published on November 26, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

2010 MOLOKAI STAMPEDE RESULTS

Keiki Dummy Roping 2-4 yrs. Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1st Place – Ramie Faye Domingo Buckle Winner
2nd Place- Ashton Dudoit

Keiki Dummy Roping 5-9 yrs. Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1st Place Meleana Pa-Kala Buckle Winner
2nd Place Lindsey Ann Domingo
2rd Place Noel Tancayo
2th Place Kaya Feldsinger

Keiki Dummy Roping 2-4 yrs. Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1st Place Jayden Dudoit-Tabilangan Buckle Winner

Keiki Barrel Racing 2-4 yrs. Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1st Place Meleana Tancayo Buckle Winner

Keiki Barrel Racing 5-9yrs. Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1. Meleana Pa-Kala Buckle Winner
2.Lane Kamakana
3. Noel Tancayo

Keiki Barrel Racing 10-12yrs Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1. Kapua Lee Buckle Winner

Calf Scramble- Buckle donated by Friendly Market Center
1. Noel Tancayo Buckle Winner
2. Kaya Feldsinger
3. Bubu Kamakana

Wahine Barrels Buckle donated by Kapualei Ranch
1. Ryanna Cambra Buckle Winner
2. Real Dudoit Continue reading ‘2010 Molokai Stampede Results’

Big Island man dies after motorcycle hits cow

Published on November 18, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

A Big Island man has died of injuries received when the motorcycle he was driving ran into a cow in North Kohala.

Police on Thursday identified the man as 26-year-old Patrick K. Bowles of Kamuela.

Officials say Bowles was wearing a helmet when the motorcycle struck the cow on Kohala Ranch Road and Kanaloa Drive at about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday night. He was transported to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police say speed appears to be a factor in the crash.

Big Island man dies after motorcycle hits cow – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Parker Ranch seeing green profitable

Published on November 17, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

Profits rise despite drought, economy After a rough 2008, much ground regained Wise investments offset losses
After two years of multimillion dollar losses, Parker Ranch Foundation Trust made money last year and now wants to raise more by hosting special events at its Waimea rodeo arena.

Revenues and net assets were up in 2009, while operating costs were reduced by the trust, which owns Parker Ranch, one of the nation’s oldest and largest cattle ranches.

However, cattle sales remained in the red, while several other income sources were down in 2009 compared with the prior year, according to the trust’s recently released 2009 annual report.

“Global events have continued to raise uncertainty about the economic outlook, and the drought in West Hawaii has exacerbated the local challenges for the Big Island ranching community,” the five trustees wrote in the document. “Nonetheless, Parker Ranch Foundation Trust has accomplished a great deal during the last year.”

Chief among them was going from an $18 million operating loss in 2008 to a $5.1 million profit last year. That financial turnaround helped boost total assets to $283.8 million by year’s end, up $5 million from the close of 2008. Continue reading ‘Parker Ranch seeing green profitable’

Aiu roping event draws top cowboys

Published on November 3, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.

LIHU‘E — A couple years ago an idea entered the mind of Jerry Nakasone, hanai son of Juliet and Harold Aiu, to hold a jackpot roping event dedicated to Harold Aiu, a member of the Hawai‘i Cowboy Hall of Fame and a Living Treasure as honored by the Kaua‘i Museum.

The event was planned for the summer of this year, around the time of Harold Aiu’s 80th birthday.

After Harold Aiu died earlier this year of cancer, Nakasone decided to go ahead with the event, at CJM Country Stables in Po‘ipu, in cooperation with Jimmy Miranda, CJM owner.

Over 100 cowboys and cowgirls came from near and far to compete in the two-day event, with each night ending with a feast and paniolo entertainment.

Every child, grandchild and great-grandchild of the Aius attended, some coming from as far away as Boston.

Harold “Papa” Aiu was watching over the belt-buckle and check presentations to the winners, from a poster atop one of his favorite horses.

Not only did Aiu actively rope on Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i for decades, he also traveled to the Mainland, as far as Oklahoma City, to compete in the U.S. team roping championships, oftentimes with partner Lelan Nishek of Kaua‘i Nursery & Landscaping.

Aiu would return with trophy saddles, belt buckles, blankets, bridles and other prizes in addition to cash winnings, family members said. Continue reading ‘Aiu roping event draws top cowboys’