Reading Time: 3 minutes Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP said it is working with investors interested in paying “substantially” more for Smithfield Foods than the price China’s Shuanghui International Holdings had agreed to. Starboard, a New York-based fund that holds a 5.7 per cent stake in Smithfield, said in a letter to the company’s shareholders on Tuesday that […] Read more
Activist fund lines up rival buyers for pork giant Smithfield
Zilmax halt fuels demand for rival cattle feed product
Reading Time: 3 minutes Merck’s decision to suspend sales of its Zilmax cattle feed additive has caused such a surge in demand for rival Eli Lilly’s Optaflexx that Lilly is telling some new customers it cannot immediately supply them, customers told Reuters. Zilmax became the focus of attention in the livestock industry after Tyson Foods saidn Aug. 7 it […] Read more
Merck rolls out new training program for Zilmax customers
Reading Time: 4 minutes As questions about the health effects of Merck’s Zilmax feed additive intensified in North America’s beef industry, the pharmaceuticals giant on Tuesday unveiled a program to retrain and certify beef producers in administering the weight-adding drug to cattle. The news comes a week after Tyson Foods declared it would stop accepting beef from Zilmax-fed cattle […] Read more
Merck to study cattle industry use of Zilmax
Reading Time: 2 minutes In the wake of mounting questions over its popular growth feed additive for cattle, Merck’s animal health unit said it is launching a five-step plan to reach out to cattle packers and suppliers in the next 30 days to address questions concerns over Zilmax. Among other steps, the New Jersey-based Merck Animal Health said it […] Read more
U.S. slaughterhouse workers, truckers fuel deadly piglet virus spread
Reading Time: 2 minutes Questionable hygiene practices among meat processing plant employees, freight truck drivers and others who work at hog slaughter houses are aiding in the spread of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus across the United States, according to research conducted by the University of Illinois staff. PEDv is spread most commonly by pigs ingesting contaminated feces. The virus, […] Read more
Piglet virus spreads to North Carolina’s hog farms
Reading Time: 2 minutes A swine virus deadly to piglets has been discovered on two hog farms in North Carolina, an official in the No. 2 hog-producing U.S. state said Tuesday. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) was found at a sow farm, where piglets are born, and at a finishing farm where hogs are fattened up for slaughter, said […] Read more
Piglet virus spreads to 13 U.S. states
Reading Time: 3 minutes A swine virus deadly to young pigs, one never before seen in North America, is spreading rapidly across the U.S. and proving harder to control than previously believed. The virus now has spread to 13 states — with more than 100 positive cases to date — since it was first diagnosed in the United States […] Read more
U.S. pork industry hunts for hog diarrhea virus
Reading Time: 4 minutes The sudden and widespread appearance of a swine virus deadly to young pigs — one never before seen in North America — is raising questions about the biosecurity shield designed to protect the U.S. food supply. The swine-only virus, the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), poses no danger to humans or other animals, and the […] Read more
PFGBest boss gets 50 years’ jail for fraud
Reading Time: 3 minutes A U.S. judge on Thursday sentenced the founder of Peregrine Financial Group (PFGBest) to 50 years in prison for looting hundreds of millions of dollars from the brokerage, saying his customers would probably never recover the money they lost. Russell Wasendorf Sr., who had tried to kill himself just before the fraud was uncovered last […] Read more
Iowa farmland sale hits new record high at $21,900 an acre
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the Midwest struggles with the ripple effects of this year’s devastating drought, farmland prices in Iowa hit a new record high on Thursday when an 80.47-acre parcel sold for $21,900 an acre, the auction firm that handled the sale said Friday. The parcel is located in Sioux County near Boyden, Iowa, about 42 miles […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
