Beef cattle browse more than 11 million acres of grazing lands in the State of Florida. Such large herds naturally generate large quantities of manure and other waste. What is being done to manage this challenge to the environment?

Researchers at Kansas State University are investigating an apparent link between cattle fed distiller’s grain and increasing instances of E. coli tainted beef.

Evidence has surfaced suggesting that Americans and others are probably already eating meat from the offspring of clones. Executives from the nation's major cattle cloning companies conceded yesterday that they have not been able to keep track of how many offspring of clones have entered the food supply, despite a years-old request by the FDA.

We should all ask ourselves this question. Do we really want to continue to eat animals, or will their cloned body parts satisfy us? While looking an animal in the eye, I wonder how many of us could really do what is necessary to provide that meat.

A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to marketing meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats.Where's the beef? Over there in the Petri dish!

The Holstein is a breed of dairy cow known today as the world's highest production dairy animal. Originating in Europe, Holsteins were developed in what is now the Netherlands and more specifically in the two northern provices of North Holland and Friesland (not from Holstein, Germany). The original animals were the regional cattle of the Batavians and Friesians, two tribes who settled in the coastal Rhine region around 2,000 years ago.The Dutch breeders bred and oversaw the evolution of the breed with the aim of obtaining animals which would make best use of grass, the area's most abundant resource. The result, over the centuries, was an efficient, high-producing black-and-white dairy cow.With the growth of the new world, markets began to develop for milk in America, and dairy breeders turned to Holland for their livestock. After about 8,800 Holsteins had been imported, disease problems in Europe led to the cessation of imports.In Europe, the breed is used for milk in the North, meat in the South - Since 1945, European development has led to cattle production becoming increasingly regionalised. Over 60% of the cattle herd and under 50% of the useable agricultural area, but over 80% of dairy production, is to be found to the north of a line joining Bordeaux and Venice. This change led to the need for specialised animals for dairy (and beef) production. Until this time, milk and beef had been produced from dual-purpose animals, and the leading breeds, national derivatives of the Dutch Friesian, had become very different animals than their American counterparts. It was the obvious choice to import superior production animals to cross with the European black and whites. For this reason, in modern usage of the word Holstein is used to describe North American stock and its use in Europe. Friesian, denotes animals of a traditional European ancestry. Crosses between the two are described by the term Holstein-Friesian.