Farm & Ranch

5 ways agriculture play in the Superbowl

Published

9 years ago

January 29, 2015

NTFR

By Julie Tomascik
Chicken wings. Peanuts. And you can’t forget the pigskins, give or take a few pounds of air. Those can mean only one thing. Super Bowl weekend.
The biggest game of the year is just a few days away.
And while New England Patriots fans pray for good passes from Tom Brady and Seattle Seahawks fans hope Russell Wilson can run the ball, I’m pulling for agriculture.
Wait. That’s not a team.
Agriculture may not get much recognition–if any–but it’s a major player in the game. And Texas agriculture is part of that role, even if the game isn’t in Texas this year.
So how exactly is agriculture involved?
Footballs. They’re made from leather. And Texas leads the nation in cattle numbers with nearly 11 million head.
Peanuts. The Lone Star State grows more than 423 million pounds of this popular snack. That’s a lot of nuts!
Land. A football field, including the end zones, takes up a pretty big chunk of land. About 1.3 acres. To compare, Texas is home to more than 130 million acres of farmland. That’s about 100 million football fields.
Chicken wings. Super Bowl weekend is unquestionably the biggest time of year for wings. Texas grows more than 100 million chickens each year, ranking sixth in the nation.
Cotton. Texas is a major cotton state. And 3.5 million bales of cotton were produced in 2011. Need a Super Bowl XLIX championship shirt? They’re made from cotton!
And maybe agriculture will make it in another commercial this year, too.
So, while I’ll be enjoying my fair share of wings, picking my favorite commercial and cheering loudly, I’ll also be rooting for agriculture.
What are your plans for the big game?

Farm & Ranch

Hazards of Backyard Poultry

Published

6 days ago

April 21, 2024

NTFR

By Barry Whitworth, DVM

Having backyard poultry is a popular agriculture enterprise. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 0.8 percent of all households in the United States have chickens. People keep chickens for a variety of reasons with table eggs being one of the more common reasons.

Unfortunately, some of these poultry producers are not aware of the hazards that come with keeping poultry because many times they carry pathogens but appear healthy.
Chickens are carriers of several zoonotic diseases. These are diseases that can be passed from animals to humans. According to a recent survey in Pennsylvania, a majority of backyard poultry producers were aware of the dangers of avian influenza. However, this study also revealed that far fewer producers were aware of the risk of possible exposure to Salmonella and Campylobacter.

The lack of knowledge about the hazards of raising poultry likely contributes to the continued issues of Salmonella outbreaks associated with backyard poultry. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,072 illnesses of Salmonella linked to backyard poultry, and 272 of those patients required hospitalization. Oklahoma reported 43 individuals with the disease.

To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.