Throughout Africa, chickens are vital to family nourishment, income and food security. But African poultry production is threatened by an extremely virulent Newcastle disease virus that can decimate entire flocks within days. 

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences broke ground October 15 on a new dairy goat parlor and creamery just south of campus near the existing Dairy Goat Teaching and Research Facility off Old Davis Road.

The 2,420 square-foot Noel-Nordfelt Animal Science Goat Dairy and Creamery will provide a California Department of Food and Agriculture inspected and approved facility for students, staff, faculty and industry stakeholders to process fluid milk and make cheese with state-of-the-art equipment. The project should take about eight months to complete.

At UC Davis, wood ducks are known among students majoring in wildlife, fish and conservation biology as the wildlife model for an internship program run by Professor John Eadie. Each year, from 50 to 90 interns learn how to check nests, measure eggs, band birds, collect blood samples and conduct field research on waterfowl behavior, reproduction and survival. 

Wild horses face an uncertain future on the mainland

It's hot at El Campeon Farms, even for early August. A hard wind accompanies the heat, blowing through the Conejo Valley, where this horse ranch sits in Southern California. Abby Followwill is saddled on a horse named Vince. His golden-brown coat and blond mane stand out against the saturated blue sky and dusty corral where Followwill is training with him.

Safety of birds, people, at stake, a UC Davis study suggests

Historically, keeping backyard chickens was a response to economic hardship — whether it was in the Depression or during wartime food rationing.

Seafood is low in fat, high in protein, and a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids, which doctors say can boost brain development and help prevent ailments like depression, arthritis, and heart disease.

Health benefits are one reason people are eating more fish. The United Nations reports that global per capita fish consumption has hit a record high and continues to climb.

Can fisheries sustainably keep up with rising demand? What is “sustainable seafood” anyway?

The novel research, funded by a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, could improve the well-being of thousands of families in this growing yet underserved population.

Thirty-three koi swim in sanitized tanks at the UC Davis Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture (CABA). They are refugees from fires that ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres in Santa Rosa and throughout the wine country, destroying more than 6,000 homes.

“In some cases, the fish were rescued from homes that were completely burned down, so the koi are all that are left,” says CABA Director Linda Deanovic, lifting a tank lid to peer inside at a golden, incandescent koi.

Remote sensing technology has detected what could be a win for both spotted owls and forestry management, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and the University of Washington.

New Cooling Technologies Tested at UC Davis Dairy Facility

Innovative cooling technologies tested on dairy cows at the University of California, Davis, are addressing the long-standing challenge of keeping dairy cows cool in heat-stressed California.