Weekly Livestock-Equine News: June 8, 2026

U.S. dairies expect profitability plunge

Producers foresee an uncertain future, according to the Farm Journal 2026 State of the Dairy Industry Report. In 2025, 74% of producers expected to see a profit; however, only 61% actually saw one. For 2026, profit expectations have cratered to just 46% — a 28-point decline. While milk prices remain volatile, input costs have reached a breaking point. Financing has moved up the list of producers’ top challenges, leaving many in a Catch-22: They can’t afford to fix their facilities, but they can’t afford the inefficiency of keeping them broken.

Penn Vet’s new lab to use AI to crack the code of livestock behavior

DAT-AI-LAB, a collaboration between Penn Vet researchers and AgriGates, a Philadelphia-based ag-tech firm, officially launched at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center. Part of the lab’s task will be building databases of knowledge of species-specific animal behavior. “We need to think about how we use animals themselves to tell us how we should be better managing them,” said Daniel Foy, co-founder of AgriGates. “Using technology to do that is going to give us digital eyes and ears for diagnostic and predictive capabilities.”

Contaminated shavings shown to lead to metformin positives in horses

Horses can test positive for the human diabetes drug metformin after coming into contact with stall shavings contaminated by urine containing the drug, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. Metformin is a banned substance under the rules of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). After a series of positive tests in active Thoroughbred racehorses, HISA harmonized metformin testing protocols in October 2023, with minimum reporting levels of 0.5 nanograms per milliliter in blood and 1 nanogram per milliliter in urine.

USDA opens livestock insects research lab

The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) opened the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas, intended to provide the U.S. cattle industry with tools and advanced technologies to manage and eliminate invasive fly and tick pests. The facility also houses two ARS research units: the Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit and the Veterinary Pest Genetics Research Unit.

Rapid response critical for containing livestock disease

In livestock disease response, timing determines whether an outbreak is contained or cascades through the entire production system. Research from Kansas State University suggests that the window may be as short as eight to 10 days. In modeling scenarios, outbreaks detected within that timeframe remained relatively small. When detection came later, the scale increased quickly, reaching hundreds or even thousands of operations. Traceability — the ability to identify where animals have been and which operations they have been in contact with — is one of the most consistent factors shaping outcomes. When tracing improved in the models, large outbreak size declined, in some cases by hundreds of infected operations, in others by a thousand or more.

Dairy industry continues ‘right-sizing’

In a conversation with the journal Dairy Herd Management, Corey Gillins, chief milk marketing officer for Dairy Farmers of America, laid out a roadmap of an industry undergoing a profound transition. The number of farm families continues to decline, but at the same time, the industry is experiencing a surge in efficiency, strategic diversity and a sophisticated approach to risk. Modern risk management is now a two-sided equation, Gillins said. Producers are using DFA’s risk management teams to lock in margins by hedging both the milk check and the input side — fuel, feed and fertilizer. “You can’t budget on hope anymore.”