For nearly 60 years, New World screwworm was largely a problem of the past for the United States. That changed in 2026. In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed New World screwworm in cattle in South Texas, the first confirmed U.S. livestock detection in decades.
What if ranchers could move cattle without moving physical fences? Virtual fencing is the answer, as it allows producers to set grazing boundaries using GPS technology, giving them the ability to manage livestock in real time — without posts, wires, or gates.
As the climate crisis intensifies, reducing global greenhouse gas emissions has become an urgent priority that requires immediate and sustained action.Methane, one of the greenhouse gases, is particularly of concern with its strong ability to trap heat in the atmosphere.
Cattle are special animals that consume foods such as grasses and hays that humans can’t digest, taking those pieces of energy and turning them into milk and meat that nourish people. In the process, part of the energy cows eat results in the production of methane that is belched out the front end of the animal. That’s a conundrum.
In recent years, new management strategies on dairy farms have cooked up solutions that allow us to make a cheeseburger relying on the dairy industry alone, which carries benefits for people, producers, and the planet.
Simply put, land use refers to how we use the land. It represents the economic and cultural activities such as agricultural, residential, industrial, mining and recreational use with respect to human activity and is an important consideration when discussing the sustainability of the foods we eat.
How do California dairy farms manage their water to make the most of this precious resource during these years of drought and keep their cattle healthy and productive?
Mitloehner lab Ph.D. student Conor McCabe, M.S. explains what constitutes a dairy cow diet and the many ways they upcycle byproducts into high-quality nutrition.
