New Issue of Healthy Animals Now Online

The Agricultural Research Service today posted a new issue of Healthy Animals at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/ha/han16.htm

This quarterly online newsletter compiles ARS news and expert resources on the health and well-being of agricultural animals and fish.

Each quarter, one article in Healthy Animals focuses on a particular element of ARS animal research. The current issue looks at an experimental vaccine against shipping fever in cattle. The vaccine was created by deleting a gene segment from bacteria that cause shipping fever.

Other research highlighted in this issue includes:

• An improved method for supplying farm-raised catfish with oxygen during a crucial production stage.
• A compound from a weed that may help catfish farmers battle the ram's horn snail.
• Remote sensing that matches grazing animals with the right forage more quickly and more easily.
• Swine at various locations in the country receive different levels of nutrients from the same feed mixtures.
• A new test that shows which trout are genetically inclined to develop more muscle and less fat.

Professionals interested in animal health issues may want to bookmark the site as a resource for locating animal health experts. An index lists ARS research locations covering approximately 70 animal health topics. These range from specific diseases, such as Lyme disease, to broad subjects like nutrition or parasites. The site also provides complete contact information for the more than 25 ARS research groups that conduct studies aimed at protecting and improving farm animal health.

To receive an e-mail alert about each future issue's posting online, contact Jim Core, ARS Information Staff, telephone 301-504-1619, jcore@ars.usda.gov, or sign up online at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/ha/subscribe.htm

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.