ANIMAL SCIENCES

Agri-culture

By Dr. Gerald L. StokkaAssociate Professor of LivestockStewardship at NDSU

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Science Technology & ApplicationScience Technology & ApplicationKnowledge is the accumulation of facts, wisdom is knowing what to do with them.

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Agriculture Stewardship: A Philosophy of Life & CultureAgriculture Stewardship: A Philosophy of Life & Culture

ANIMAL SCIENCES

DefinitionDefinitionStewardship:

Careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care (noun, Webster)

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Philosophy & CulturePhilosophy & Culture

• Rangelands and herbivory co-evolved as part of a natural system. Grazing is a fundamental biologic process and is the basis of the food chain.

• Grass evolved to be eaten. It is a renewable resource, grows from sunlight and water and needs to be harvested just like a lawn needs to be mowed.

• Ranchers are resident caretakers of brush, grass and grazers.

• Did God make a mistake in making these grazing animals?

J. Wayne Burkhardt, PhD. Professor, Range Management University of Nevada, Reno Range Magazine Nov 2003

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Agricultural Stewardship: Philosophy of Life & CultureAgricultural Stewardship: Philosophy of Life & Culture

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship: A Philosophy of Life & CultureStewardship: A Philosophy of Life & Culture

Mission statement: “I have a stewardship responsibility to manage available resources; land,

livestock, my personal life, while leaving behind a better place for the next generation.”

– Stokka 2012 )

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship of Truth, Philosophy & TechnologyStewardship of Truth, Philosophy & Technology

Save the Whales, Forget the Children • In developing countries, 200 million-300 million children of

preschool age are at risk of vitamin A deficiency– which increases their susceptibility to illnesses including measles and

diarrheal diseases. Every year, about half a million children become blind as a result of vitamin A deficiency and 70% of those die within a year.

• GMO, "Golden Rice" varieties are enriched, by genes that produce beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.

• Greenpeace's war on Golden Rice ignores science in the name of misguided activism.– Wall Street Journal, Oct 30, 2012 Henry I. Miller

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship of TruthStewardship of Truth

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship of Truth: Unintended ConsequencesStewardship of Truth: Unintended Consequences

Divergent trends in obesity and fat intake patterns: the American paradox.RESULTS: In the adult US population the prevalence of overweight rose from 25.4% from 1976 to 1980 to 33.3% from 1988 to 1991, a 31% increase. Fat intake, adjusted for total calories, dropped from 41.0% to 36.6%, an 11% decrease. Average total daily calorie intake also tended to decrease, from 1,854 kcal to 1,785 kcal (-4%). Rise in consumption of low-calorie products, from 19% of the population in 1978 to 76% in 1991. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced fat and calorie intake and frequent use of low-calorie food products have been associated with a paradoxical increase in the prevalence of obesity.

– Am J Med. 1997 Mar;102(3):259-64. Heine, AG, Weinster, RL.

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship & Economics

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Livestock Stewardship & Our Well BeingLivestock Stewardship & Our Well Being

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship & Technology: Are we keeping up with the Grain Cart?Stewardship & Technology: Are we keeping up with the Grain Cart?

Precision Agriculture Beef Production• Fields Animals – herds/pens• Seed - GMO Genetics, DNA tech• Fertilizer Growth enhancement• Herbicide/Insecticide Antibiotics, Anti-infectives• Crop Insurance Vaccines• ?? Behavior modification• ?? Estrus synchronization, AI,

Embryo,IVF• ??

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Economic forcesEconomic forcesReturn/unit - /bushel, acre, cow• Corn – Direct & Indirect costs $454/acre inputs, Cost/bushel

- $4.02. East Central ND • Revenue - $5.50 X 115 bu/acre = $632.50. • Beef cattle –Variable + Fixed costs $574/cow, • Revenue - 584 pound blk steers X $164.02/cwt = 957.88.

– Plus heifer calves, open heifers and cull cows.– Price from Kist Livestock Dec 19 2012

• Input prices NDSU Ag Econ

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/livestockeconomics/cool

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/cropeconomics

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Livestock StewardLivestock Steward

Producing food by caring for animalsthrough responsible resource managementand the prudent use of technology

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Solutions & ThoughtsSolutions & Thoughts

Blend the disciplines of a guiding philosophy, animal husbandry and animal science (technology).• Emotion will always trumps science in the perception of the public.• Be passionate and engaged about our chosen way of life, the

business and the science that we rely on.

"I've always thought that the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that's why I gave it to my people, but I've come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it's the truth" -Andrei Sakharov, atheist, but believed in a non-scientific “guiding principle” that governed the universe and human life

ANIMAL SCIENCES

Stewardship & The Beef BusinessStewardship & The Beef Business“In this business of cattle raising, we exert our will, We take a calf off a poor cow and graft it onto a good one. We hobble a reticent cow until she lets her calf suck. We midwife these calves into existence, we care for them, sometimes we even risk our lives for them, and they are ultimately slated for slaughter. In this fact lies the essential irony of our work. No one forgets that a live calf is money in the bank. And yet a reverence remains. John Bell and Hungry and the calf in the cab of the pickup are not merely units of production; our connection to them is more than economic. Day in and day out we confront the messiness of this business of living; if we live with slaughter, we also live with nurture, with seasons and cycles, with birth and with death.”• Riding the White Horse Home, Teresa Jordan, 1993 Vintage Books, pg

108

ANIMAL SCIENCES

StewardshipStewardshipBelieving---there are several layers to it.• There's the surface-level type of believing, where you acknowledge

that something is true. • Then there is a deeper kind of belief--the type that gets inside of

you and actually changes you. – It's the kind of belief that changes your behavior, your attitude, and

your outlook on life, and the people around you can't help but notice.“o Anne Burkholder 2012, Feedyard Foodie

ANIMAL SCIENCES

AgricultureAgricultureHe makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to

cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth.Psalm 104:14