STUDY OBJECTIVE s: To describe the farm work patterns and the relationship between hours spent working on specific farm tasks and task specific work related injuries among women and men. DESIGN A cross sectional survey of farm operators and their spouses in an eight county area of Colorado was conducted. Personal interviews were conducted between 1993 and 1997. Interviews took between 45 minu...

During a previous longitudinal study, performed on four farrow-to-finish farms (A to D), samples were taken from twelve sows, their offspring, and the environment on various occasions over six months to study the MRSA presence. During the present study, a selection of the obtained MRSA isolates were typed by multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA), Pulsed Field Gel Electrop...

The clonal relationship among Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium isolates from selected pig production units in Denmark was investigated by the pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing method to determine environmental survival and spread of Salmonella in different herds. Thirty-four Typhimurium isolated during 1996^1998 from porcine faeces and environmental samples from three pig f...

More efficient and economical production systems are needed to improve the sustainability of dairy farms. One concept to consider is using perennial cows. Perennial cows are those that maintain a relatively high milk production for >or=2 yr without going through the typical dry period followed by calving. Farm records show that some cows have produced over 20 kg/d after 4 yr of continuous lacta...

Simulation frameworks for Decision Support Systems (DSSs) at the whole-farm level have not adequately supported process level management and integration of complex farming systems. Development of the Great Plains Framework for Agricultural Resource Management (GPFARM) DSS for whole-farm management required a simulation package that could handle this complex system. Object-oriented (OO) techniqu...

The growing use of wind energy as major energy source, has led to the construction of large wind farms. The control of such wind farms is typically separated into control at wind turbine level and at wind farm level. The wind farm controller assures that the wind farm produces the demanded amount of power, by providing set-points for the turbines in the farm. The local turbine control assures t...

Two commercial Midwestern egg-type chicken flocks experienced significant increases in mortality rates in April 2013 with clinical signs appearing in 17-week-old pullets in Farm A and in 46-week-old hens in Farm B. Average weekly mortality was 0.44% over a 4-week period in Farm A and 0.17% over an 8-week period in Farm B. On Farm A, flocks in the affected house had a 45% decrease in daily egg p...

The aim of this study was to assess the value of deep systemic sub-iliac lymph nodes collected at slaughter as predictors of Salmonella prevalence in live hogs. An observational study was conducted on 24 farms from September 2006 to February 2009. At least one cohort of market-weight pigs was visited for each farm. Within each cohort, 30 farm fecal samples on farm and 30 sub-iliac lymph nodes f...

This study describes alcohol consumption in five Western Cape Province communities. Cross-sectional data from a community household sample (n = 591) describe the alcohol use patterns of adult males and females, and farm workers vs. others. Data reveal that men were more likely to be current drinkers than women, 75.1% vs. 65.8% (p = 0.033); farm laborers were more likely to be current drinkers t...