Monday's agriculture website - American Sheep Industry Association

Today's agriculture website of interest is for the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI). ASI is the national organization representing the interests of more than 82,000 sheep producers located throughout the United States. ASI is a federation of 45 state sheep associations as well as individual members. All ASI officers, board of director members and council and committee members serve as volunteers. The origin of the association dates back to 1865.

From the domestic and international promotion of wool and pelts to its work on legislative, science and technology, animal health and resource management issues, ASI is a producer-powered federation of state organizations dedicated to the common goal of promoting the profitability and well-being of the U.S. sheep industry. The goals of the organization include developing an industry vision, advocating public policy to protect, promote and support the economical viability of the sheep industry, creating strong national and international markets for wool, advancing and coordinating the science and technology of sheep production, and promoting communication and cooperation between all segments of the industry, related business and government agencies.

Friday's art article - common metals used in jewelry

When it comes to buying jewelry made of metal, there are lots of options (and terms!) to know. I'm going to break them down for you and what they actually mean:

Sterling silver: Contains 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper. The copper hardens the overall piece making it 'dent' and mark resistant, but the copper in the metal will react with the oxygen in the air. This results in the dreaded tarnish that eventually forms. (There are ways to avoid tarnish on silver jewelry.) This jewelry is stamped as 'sterling' or .925

Fine silver: This is 100 percent pure silver. This isn't used much in jewelry that is cast (like the cow jewelry charms), but I have used this when making granulation jewelry. Fine silver is softer than sterling silver. This silver may also be stamped as 'fine silver' or .999

Argentium silver: This contains the 92.5 percent silver, but some of the copper has been replaced with germanium. This silver is more resistant to tarnish than sterling silver, but is also more expensive. Currently, argentium silver doesn't have its own 'stamp', so pieces made with this type of metal will be called sterling silver.

24 karat yellow gold: Pure gold. Very soft and not typically used by itself as jewelry. Also referred to as fine gold. Will be stamped as 'fine gold' or .999

10 karat, 14 karat, 18 karat, and 22 karat gold: Refer to how many parts of the 24 karats that contain gold. The higher the karat number, the more parts of gold in the resulting piece of jewelry. The other metals included in this jewelry are typically silver, copper, nickel and/or palladium. When pricing these items, the price generally fluctuates with the amount of gold in the piece (i.e. 18 karat gold jewelry costs more than 14 karat gold jewelry). The higher amount of gold, the more of a yellow appearance to the piece, but the piece will be softer and less 'dent' resistant. This jewelry is stamped as the appropriate number and K. (e.g. 14K)

White gold: This is yellow gold that is combined with either nickel or palladium to give it a white appearance.

Rose gold: This is yellow gold that has a higher percentage of copper to give it a 'blush' appearance.

Green gold: Yellow gold that is alloyed with silver only. The final gold has a yellow-green appearance.

Blue/purple gold: Gold that has been alloyed with iron or aluminum. Very difficult to work with after creation and rarely used.

Plated jewelry: This jewelry is made with a more inexpensive metal, usually silver or bronze, then coated with a more expensive metal. The metal is plated by using chemical or electrochemical means.

Gold filled jewelry: This is a process where a solid layer of gold is bonded to a base metal (usually brass) using heat and pressure. The layer of gold is thousands of times thicker than the layer of gold in gold plated jewelry and much more resistant to wear. This process has recently become available for sterling silver as well.

So how do you know what you have?

Look for a stamp in the back or inside of the piece.

What if there is no stamp? How do I know?

The rules requiring jewelers to place stamps on their products are a bit unclear. We don't have to put on the stamps, especially if we are small production companies (like myself). I choose not to stamp the charms because on many of them, I can't stamp them without detracting from the piece. My advice: if you ever have any questions, ask the person you're buying your jewelry from. If that person isn't available (you're rummaging through an estate sale or got something as a gift) some jewelry repair shops also have commercial kits (using chemicals) that can tell you what your piece of jewelry is made from.

Cow Art and More Oct e-news

Looking for advice on how to pick the right glass for a picture frame? Need a link to print your own Halloween candy bar wrappers? Missed the news about the two new artists we added to our gallery? Check out the October edition of the Cow Art and More e-news. (And by the way, it's free!)

What is #FoodDay to you?

If you're active on twitter, you might have seen the #FoodDay hashtag floating around in tweets today. The idea behind Food Day is to bring people together to talk food, 'Real food' specifically (according to FoodDay.org).

I want to hear what you have to say about your food! Leave a comment below in the comment box or link to a blog or facebook post you might want to share. Let me hear about what food and/or real food means to you.

(By the way, I wrote about this topic last week about a veterinarian's role in food production.)

Two new painters join Cow Art and More

I am excited to introduce two new painters to the Cow Art and More portfolio of artists:

Laura Carey has lived in Canada all her life. She new painting would be an important part of her life, but had no idea that dairy farming would be as important as well. The dairy cattle on the farm she operates with her husband serve as the inspiration for her paintings.










Narrie Toole hails from New Mexico. While she no longer has cattle of her own, she managed her own herd of beef cattle for many years and exhibited the cattle nationally. Narrie's loose impressionistic style of oil painting captures the attention of collectors worldwide.

You can find the complete collection of both artists work in the painting category along with the new products section through the end of the month.

Monday's agriculture website - Rural Women Rock

What happens when you throw a bunch of women that are every bit 'country' in some way or another? You get the Rural Women Rock! blog. The blog was started by rural Oklahoma flower shop owner Kasse Duffy as a place for rural women across American to share and connect. To take Kasse's words directly from the blog:

"My vision is to be the platform and voice, to share the stories and lifestyles of rural women around the world. If you are a rural woman and you rock, or if your a city gal who loves your rural sisters, join us in this journey. I have a feeling its not going to be a smooth ride all the way, back roads can get messy. Lets roll down our windows, let our hair down, turn the music up, and let it all hang out. I have a feeling its going to be life changing, and so much fun for us to all be in it together."

Whether you are a 'rural' woman or not, readers are encouraged to share and support each other. The community members take turn writing the blog posts and enjoy the friendship of rural life. The journey is just getting started.....

Veterinarians and food safety #BAD11 #FoodDay

While I normally blog about art and agriculture, I wanted to take the opportunity to join the worldwide blog conversation today about food. It's a great topic for all of us since we all eat, regardless of where it may have come from. In my role as a large animal veterinarian, food safety is a part of my focus in working with farms.

How is a veterinarian involved with the safety of the food you eat?

Here's a little of what I do in my day that helps keep the beef and dairy products you buy safe:

1. Whenever I prescribe ANY medication for use in a food producing animal, I have to include the time that meat or milk products from this animal cannot be used for human consumption. This includes antibiotics, hormones, and other supportive products. (And by the way, those times aren't my best guess. They have been established by the Food and Drug Administration.)

2. I work with my farms on developing plans to control disease and sickness on farms without needing to use antibiotics. This includes using effective vaccine strategies (using the best vaccines at the best times) and the latest in technology to diagnose diseases. This allows me to confirm disease diagnoses quicker and institute strategies to prevent the disease in the first place.

3. I show people where and how to give the medications as to reduce the risk that not only will the medication cause damage to that future piece of steak, but will also stay in the system longer to cause a medication residue.

4. While every antibiotic used in a food producing animal must have a withdrawal time listed, that is simply not enough to be sure everything is 100 percent safe. I have worked with my farm clients to show them how to use on-farm testing methods to make sure animals returning into production are free of antibiotics and can have their products consumed safely.

5. It's important that if I diagnose a disease on a farm that has a human food safety danger (like Salmonella or E. coli), everyone needs to know all precautions that need to be taken to not only stop the spread, but prevent the sickness of people both working on the farm and product consumers.

6. When it comes to looking at a herd of animals, I also find it a part of my job that I identify risks to operations and how to prevent them from causing a food borne illness. For example, as much as wild birds are great to look at, they can be the source of Salmonella outbreaks. We take precautions to keep these animals from mingling in key areas of farm animals.

7. I'm also involved in helping to control diseases of risk to human health that can be passed through the food through government surveillance programs. This includes testing and vaccinating against Brucellosis and testing for Tuberculosis, both of which can be contracted by people who eat infected products from an animal carrying these diseases.

These are just a few of my duties. Some other responsibilities of veterinarians and food safety include:

1. Veterinarians serving as meat inspectors in federally inspected meat processing plants to make sure only healthy animals enter the food supply.
2. Veterinarians in the armed forces inspecting food to make sure it is safe for troops to eat.
3. Veterinarians serving in positions involved with human and public health to investigate food borne illnesses and disease outbreaks potentially coming from an animal source.

I'm proud to be a (small) part of keeping the food on your plate safe and healthy.