Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship

Oxbows, once an abundant and natural feature of the landscape, have been nearly eliminated due to the effects of the Anthropocene, consequently impacting water quality, flood storage capacity, and the wildlife that depend on this habitat. These depressional basins within floodplains naturally accumulate sediment over time, but the sedimentation rate of oxbows over the last 100 years has greatly increased. The primary sources of sediment are from human activity, including erosion from agricultural fields and urban developments, drainage alterations, precipitation changes associated with climate change, and disconnection from their rivers and natural river hydraulics. Outlined in this manuscript is a step-by-step guide for restoring oxbows, based on 20 years of experience and lessons learned implementing oxbow restorations in Iowa on first-, second-, and third-order streams. Our goal is to provide conservation services providers and others interested in restoring degraded oxbows with the tools and expertise to confidently restore oxbows to achieve conservation goals.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization and its impact on animal agriculture in the United States was undeniable. By April, COVID-19 resulted in the simultaneous closure or reduced operations of many meat processing plants in the upper Midwest, leading to supply chain disruptions. In Iowa, the leading pork production and processing state, these disruptions caused producer uncertainty, confusion, and stress, including time-sensitive challenges for maintaining animal care. The Iowa Resource Coordination Center (IRCC) was quickly created and launched by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS). The IRCC included public representation from the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA), Iowa Pork Industry Center (IPIC), and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, and private partners including producers, veterinarians, and technical specialists. Supporting swine welfare, the IRCC provided information on management strategies, dietary alterations to slow pig growth, alternative markets, on-farm euthanasia, and mass depopulation under veterinary oversight. In a crisis, Iowa created a model that reacted to producers’ pragmatic, mental and emotional needs. This model could be quickly replicated with an introduction of foreign animal disease.

The method of veterinary education will vary slightly from university to university depending on location of the college and makeup of the veterinary student body. Understanding that there are differences can help you prepare to hire a new associate. You should also understand that your input at the college level can help guide of some of the decisions with respect to content and methods of teaching veterinary students. This discussion will address experiences in teaching veterinary students at a few university colleges of veterinary medicine.

Subsurface drainage systems installed throughout much of north central region of Iowa have provided substantial crop production benefits. However, most of these systems were installed in the early 1900's and as such they are reaching their design life. With the aging infrastructure of these systems, better economic conditions, and the potential for more financial gains for better drainage; there will need to be significant rehabilitation that occurs in the future. This paper will discuss some of what is known about the existing infrastructure in this area, some potential opportunities for future redesign, and potential economic returns of drainage district redesign. The future redesign would need to include environmental as well as economic considerations and might include the integration of drainage and wetland systems. While this paper focuses on a specific location, the concepts should have relevance to many areas where existing drainage infrastructure is aging.

The objective of this study was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the thioesterase (TE) domain of the bovine fatty acid synthase (FASN) gene and to evaluate the extent to which they were associated with beef fatty acid composition. The four exons in FASN that encode for the TE domain were sequenced, and three SNPs, AF285607:g.17924A>G, g.18663T>C and g.18727C>T, were identified. Purebred Angus bulls (n = 331) were classified into three genotype groups, g.17924AA (n = 121), g.17924AG (n = 168) and g.17924GG (n = 42). The g.17924A>G genotype was significantly associated with fatty acid composition of longissimus dorsi muscle of Angus bulls. Cattle with the g.17924GG genotype had lower myristic acid (C14:0; P < 0.0001), palmitic acid (C16:0, P < 0.05) and total saturated fatty acid contents (P < 0.01), greater health index (P < 0.001), oleic acid content (C18:1; P < 0.001) and total monounsaturated fatty acid concentration (P < 0.01) in the total lipids and triacylglycerols fraction than did those with the g.17924AA genotype. Because of the linkage disequilibrium between SNPs g.17924A>G and g.18663T>C, similar significant associations of fatty acid contents with the g.18663T>C genotypes were observed. In conclusion, the SNPs g.17924A>G and g.18663T>C may be used as DNA markers to select breeding stock that have a healthier fatty acid composition.