LifeStyle

Cows have been domesticated for thousands of years, serving as an important source of meat, milk, and other dairy products. However, with the rising global demand for animal products, there is a need to improve cow breeding and genetics to increase efficiency, sustainability and profitability. A good breeding program requires careful consideration of factors such as disease resistance, reproduction, milk productivity, and meat yield. With the rapid advancement in technology, there is optimism about the future of cow breeding, but there are also challenges that need to be addressed. In this blog post, we will discuss the advancements in cow breeding and the challenges that lie ahead.

Advancements in cow breeding come from both traditional and modern methods. Traditional methods involve artificial insemination, selective breeding, and crossbreeding. These methods have been used for centuries to improve animal genetics. The modern methods of cow breeding include genomics, epigenomics, and gene editing techniques.
Genomics uses DNA sequencing technology to study the whole genome of an individual cow, making it possible to identify desirable traits such as milk production, disease resistance, and feed efficiency. This helps breeders to select the best animals for breeding and avoid inbreeding. Epigenomics, on the other hand, studies changes in gene expression that are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence. This can help identify the effects of the environment on animal genetics.
The gene editing technology CRISPR/Cas9 is used to precisely mutate or introduce genes in cows, making it possible to breed animals with desirable traits such as hornlessness or increased disease resistance. These methods have the potential to revolutionize cow breeding and increase efficiency and profitability. However, there are also ethical concerns regarding their use.

One key challenge in cow breeding is disease resistance. Cows are susceptible to many diseases, including infectious diseases such as mastitis, tuberculosis, and Bovine Viral Diarrhea, and non-infectious diseases such as metabolic disorders. Diseases can have a detrimental effect on the cow’s productivity, health, and welfare, leading to economic losses for breeders. In addition, some diseases can be transmitted to humans, causing health risks.
To mitigate the challenges of disease, cow breeders have developed vaccine programs, genetic selection, and biosecurity measures. However, emerging diseases and antibiotic resistance pose new challenges that need to be addressed. By applying genomics, epigenomics and gene editing techniques, it is possible to breed cows with better disease resistance and reduce the need for antibiotics.

Another challenge in cow breeding is the sustainability of the industry. Cows are known to produce greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Besides, the production of feed for cows requires a lot of land, water, and energy, leading to environmental degradation. To overcome this challenge, breeders are adopting sustainable practices, such as breeding cows that use less feed and produce less greenhouse gases.

In conclusion, cow breeding plays a crucial role in the production of food and dairy products worldwide. With advancements in genomics, epigenomics, and gene editing techniques, there is optimism about the future of cow breeding. However, challenges such as disease resistance and sustainability need to be addressed to meet the global demand for animal products sustainably. Cow breeders and scientists need to work together to ensure the welfare, health, and productivity of cows, while minimizing the environmental footprint of the industry. As consumers, we can support sustainable and ethical cow breeding practices by choosing products from responsible breeders and advocating for animal welfare.

Yoga has become extremely popular over the last decade and there are some good reasons behind its hype.

Why is yoga so beneficial?

Yoga improves general strength in your body, which leads to better posture, balance, and flexibility. Those improvements affect mood, well-being and can release any kind of pain and tightness in your body.

 Yoga also benefits your mental state and by practicing yoga, you learn to gain better control over your body and emotions. This will help you deal better with things like anxiety, stress and you will experience a general increase in mood and energy levels.

 Yoga as a supplement

 Many people find it hard to commit to yoga because they go “all-in” and see it as a sport, they push themselves to do several hours of the week and quickly loses interest. While there are people who love yoga to an extend where it becomes a lifestyle and their main sport, for many others yoga will be good as a supplement to the additional sports and activities. It’s easier to build routines when we start with small steps, so start with a simple routine, that you know you will be able to stick to. As you start seeing the progress and benefits of yoga, it gets way easier to stick to a routine and you will feel your body can’t function properly without it.

We see many high-level athletes, who incorporate yoga in their weekly training programs before or after sessions, to make sure they can perform at their best level, without getting injured. That’s why you will find various surf routines online, that spans from yoga routines for surfers, to yoga routines for runners, etc. Every athlete can benefit from flexibility, posture alignment, and a better balance. It is also very important for athletes to stay mentally strong when competing on a high level. The mental state of an athlete is important for keeping stress at a manageable level, controlling thoughts, and staying focused on the goals set for a season. The right mental state can be the difference between winning and losing and athletes have started to realize that.

 The athlete mentality can be used in everyday life – why not do different things to increase our general well-being and become better performers at work, in social life, etc. Small healthy habits add up as compounds and will lead to significant improvement over time. The same will happen when bad habits occur in our life. At first, they might seem small and insignificant, but over time they will involve, bring along new bad habits, which will eventually lead to a significant impact.

Get started today!

 We now know that yoga is beneficial for your psychical health as well as your mental health. Building new routines can be difficult, so the key is to start small and then build momentum. We recommend doing some research on the topic of yoga, to get an understanding of general exercise. But the best way to get started is to find a program, developed by people with a lot of experience. 

People choose different hobbies. The ones who are passionate about their hobby transform it into their lifestyle. In the same way, surfing has become the lifestyle of thousands. The sport has become popular in the past few decades. More than just appearance, their life is all about balance.

A surfer finds a connection with the ocean, which soon starts teaching everything about life. Their lifestyle is based on a strong appreciation for nature, which offers them a blue playground. 

Here are some things that will tell you more about the lifestyle of a surfer. 

Doing What They Love!!

The life of a surfer is always well planned. They follow weather forecasts daily to be prepared for the next big swell. Surfers will take any opportunity to get in a surf session before or after work. 

Some surfers even go the extra mile and cover long distances when it comes to surfing; since they don’t live near the ocean. These surfers don’t see surfing as a sport but rather as a lifestyle, and therefore they plan their life around it.

They Eliminating Fear!!

What can bring more thrill in life other than fighting with your fear? The lifestyle of surfers is established to eliminate fears of all types. After your first big wipeout, no challenge or fear feels too big to overcome.

They always look forward to living in the moment, where stress fades away and the only thoughts going through their mind is their focus on surfing. These surfers have a high level of presence and are always in tune with the waves. There is always something they seek to learn and they love to get out of their comfort zone.

Living Life of an Environmentalist!!

Surfers often call themselves environmentalists because they meet the ocean from a closer perspective than anyone else. They know how humans are impacting their blue playground. 

Therefore some surfers feel they have a responsibility to help to save the oceans. Those people do beach clean-ups and support organizations that clean up the ocean from the garbage and plastic spread by humans. 

A Way To Living a Healthy Life!! 

Surfers believe that surfing is a way to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Some people might wonder why these surfers are so obsessed with their search for the perfect wave. In reality, they get a kick out of surfing because it makes them feel better and stronger, both mentally and physically.  

Surfing does not only help to boost their physical health it also relieves them from a lot of unnecessary stress. Surfers live a lifestyle that tends to make them resilient to difficult moments in life. No matter how many times waves hit them, surfers always find a way back to balance themselves and overcome these wipeouts.

Always Busy Making Memories!!

People who do what they love, end up making enormous memories. The surfers live a life of adventure that other people are fascinated by. Their lifestyle is all about simplicity and appreciation for nature and life. 

The regular ups and downs, living in the moment, gives them thousands of memories that they can cherish for the rest of their lives. If you want to become a surfer, then there is no doubt that you are choosing a life full of dedication.

As we grow older our priorities usually change. Whilst we may have had more freedom in our teen-years and twenties, often the thirties onwards are a completely different story. We may have more financial obligations such as a mortgage or car payment, and many of us will have a family we need to support. We also change from wanting the latest gaming console and sneakers, to a comfortable pair of socks and some power tools. Below are the top 4 gifts for the middle-aged man in 2020.

1) Massage therapy gun

If you can’t get a massage regularly or if you don’t want to splurge on one, a massage gun is pretty much the next best option. These are a great way of relieving aches and muscle tension after a workout or generally just to unwind.

Percussive therapy is a popular way of relieving muscular pain, and works by providing rapid bursts of pressure to the body’s tissues. This will no doubt be one of the best selling items for men during the Christmas period, so grab one now before stock becomes limited!

2) A drone

For those looking for a new hobby, personal mini drones are becoming increasingly popular. They are small enough to fit in a backpack, a messenger bag, or with some models even in a jacket pocket! As with much technology, they make rapid advancements and this can be seen in increased camera quality, longer battery life and increased connection distance. This will provide hours of fun and makes for a relaxing hobby.

3) Posture clothing

Why would this be a top gift you may ask? Well, as we get older, our muscles weaken as this can tend to lead to bad posture. This in turn can cause a number of health issues such as breathing difficulties and more strained blood circulation. Investing in clothing that helps improve your posture can help you in the long run, especially at a time when the body is weakening physically.

Many new posture-improving clothing brands such as Active Posture clothing have created subtle garments that are hidden effectively even under light clothing like t-shirts. These are great for those who want to improve their posture but don’t want to be using bulky products.

4) An Apple watch

These have been amongst the top gift wish lists for the past few years and for good reason. Seamless connection with Apple products and a whole host of uses make this the most sought after wrist watch. Receive messages, listen to music, make calls, and pretty much anything you can do on your phone, this will supplement.

So these are currently the top 4 gifts for the middle-aged man. Gift them any of these now and be sure to receive the biggest smile and appreciation in return!

Ever since I was a kid I had always dreamed of finding a job that would allow me to travel the world and see new places regularly. By the time I was fresh out of a British university with a degree in International Business, I thought I had set myself up very well for this and started working for a multinational company that I believed had the potential to send me off somewhere in the near future. I wasn’t fussed where it was going to be, all I knew was that I wanted to see new places and experience new cultures. The first two years of employment were frustrating – I hadn’t even left the country for work, until a unique opportunity arose which would allow me to not only travel abroad for work, but actually transfer there on a three year contract. I jumped at the opportunity and that is how I ended up in the Philippines. Here are some of my experiences from the perspective of a British male, moving to the Philippines as an expat.

We are paid better, much better than the locals

I was by no means anywhere top of the food chain, yet since my salary was being paid in Pounds, and I had local colleagues doing the same job as me, I found out very quickly about the huge gulf in compensation. Without going into too much detail, I was paid around triple what my just-as-talented colleague was earning, for pretty much the same job.

The work culture is different, even though it is the same company

Thanks to my cross-cultural awareness class in university, I was expecting differences in culture, but it was strikingly obvious within the first day. Sure, the management were mainly foreigners, but as the majority of the employees were local, the culture inevitably was based around theirs. There is a much more formal respect when communicating with your superiors or those older than you, and certainly more obedience. However, this meant some of the work went a bit slower as the employees didn’t feel the need, or wanted to take the initiative, to make decisions without their superior’s approval. For me, slow decision making could just as bad as making the wrong decision, but not here.

Technology is just about keeping up

I have been used to using room booking systems in the office for the best part of the decade, and to come into a supposedly modern office and find that meetings were still booked manually seemed incredibly inefficient. While there are many things within the office comparable to working in the UK, this stood out for me like a sore thumb. I guess they still like the human interaction here, or from what I’ve seen of the country so far, they need to create employment, and the cost of labour is cheap enough to still be an incentive not to change.

You are treated better – at least to your face

You wouldn’t believe the type of welcome and respect I have received from security guards, store assistants and locals in general, compared to some of my local colleagues. Granted, these customer facing positions always seem to show respect to whoever they deal with, but it all felt very new to me – being treated with respect rather than suspicion – a great thing about the culture here compared to the UK.

My time as an expat in the Philippines is not yet over, but I would just like to share my personal experiences so far. It has been great, and I would recommend jumping at any opportunity that would allow you to gain a new perspective of the world.

The average person may only be aware of the types of waste they encounter on a day-to-day basis, but unfortunately and unsurprisingly there are usually much more that they may not know about. It it important to increase everyone’s awareness about the different types of waste produced as they all in one way or another, affect us. Just because we don’t knowingly come into contact with certain types, doesn’t mean it isn’t important to educate ourselves and others about them and improve our overall environmental awareness. After all, we are now seeing the damage waste accumulated from previous generations is having, yet progress rectifying this is slow.

Below is a list of the different types of waste that are created by humans.

Municipal solid waste

This is essentially everyday trash that is accumulated such as; product packaging, food scraps, newspapers, clothes etc. Often, this sort of waste can contain valuable materials that can be reused such as plastics and paper, however, sorting between the different types can be difficult if they are not segregated early on. Equipment such as industrial shredders from Metso waste recycling make such processes simpler, with the result being smaller size waste ready to be utilised in energy production.

Commercial waste

This is dry waste created from business processes, be it paper from offices, or plastics from product manufacturing etc. Usually, this waste has some value as long as it is properly segregated, but considering the diversity in materials collected as commercial waste, it is more effective to shred all the materials into smaller pieces before attempting segregation.

Construction and demolition waste

During the process of construction and demolition a large amount of waste is produced, much of which is often not utilised even though it is almost an endless supply of raw materials. Since these processes are almost constant due to continuous renovations, they are a source of valuable raw materials such as concrete, wood and metal that have many uses if segregated properly. One of the main barriers to their reuse is that they are often heavy and bulky, making them costly to transport and reprocess.

Plastic waste

Specifically, this is one of the most common waste known to the average person, with the material getting especially bad press due to its obvious environmental effects if not disposed of properly. Due to the versatility of the material, plastic can come in various forms that can make it difficult to recycle if not sorted properly. However, it is a very valuable and versatile material that can be reused or used as waste fuel.

Paper and cardboard waste

Whilst being biodegradable, paper and cardboard waste are usually one of the most recycled. Once they have been processed, cleaned and dried, they are usually ready to create new paper or cardboard. If they cannot be cleaned, they can be processed and made into waste fuel. There is pretty much always a use for paper and cardboard waste.

Bulky waste

Waste such as white goods which are often too heavy or bulky to recycle conventionally contain many valuable materials than can be reused. Take for example washing machines and refrigerators. Whilst they might come to the end of their lifespan as a whole, the materials that make it up do not, and can be recovered for resale. Fly tipping is a common problem in areas where there are few recycling facilities or effective recovery procedures, so investment in machinery such as Metso industrial shredders to break these items down into more manageable sizes, can be especially useful.

Metal Waste

Scrap metal can come from a variety of sources of sources such as old cars and household goods. Often, this material can be retrieved without compromising their physical property and there is always a constant demand for metals, making it good for resale.

No workplace is perfect; there’s always improvements that can be made to improve working conditions, efficiency, and just the general look and feel. This is why we should always be looking at different ways we can improve in order to keep the organisation ticking over smoothly. Just like any workplace, the office environment can give rise to many issues that can affect the quality of an organisation’s output. Below are common problems you would encounter in an office, and ways you can cure them.

1) Identifying pain points

The first step to curing your problems, would be to identify them, but just like with the human body, remember, prevention is better than cure. Begin by creating a workflow audit for every department in the company; this way you will be able to spot inefficiencies and bottlenecks with the workflow. For example, you could audit the sales department for their contract writing processes, or their customer onboarding. Are they taking longer drawing up contracts and having clients sign than you would like? Auditing the IT department could look into their process of maintaining current systems and making sure security is up to date. Could downtime due to IT-related matters be affecting other departments? It is imperative you have a holistic view of the business, in order to tackle these issues effectively.

2) Improve communication between departments

Resources are limited so it is obviously beneficial to use what is available to your organisation as a whole, effectively. Take for example a company headquarters that would house the sales; marketing, IT, and HR departments – they would be using the same facilities such as meeting rooms and using the same computer systems. However, inefficient communication between departments often results in, for example, double-booked meeting rooms and missing files that because of a lack of centralized systems. These pain points could be easily cured if they were to use a room booking system for the former, and cloud storage for the latter.

3) Have a visible management

Aside from breaking down barriers between departments, communication and the relationship between employees and managers are exceptionally important, and can often determine how committed the employee is to the company. If the managers are only present when things are not going well, and aren’t around to give guidance and lead, this can have a very detrimental effect on the organisation as a whole. Think of it as a weak foundation. This is a very common office pain point, especially more so when it comes to upper management who the employees may seldom see. It is this disconnect between employees and management that can really have a detrimental effect on the workplace. Begin to fix this by having a more open office layout and clear communication channels between all levels; that way, employees will feel they have a chance of their voice being heard.

More and more people are choosing the life of a digital nomad – defined as someone who works remotely and uses telecoms to make a living. This could be anyone: from a graphic designer working from a coffee shop in Bali for a client in New York, to a social media manager working from home for a local client. What they generally have in common is that they are not restricted to a certain workplace – all that is usually needed is a device to work on and an internet connection. This lifestyle appeals to those who want to get away from the structured worklife of working fixed hours in a set location. When you see the amazing places people are now able to work from, with such few requirements, it is little wonder why so many people are choosing this lifestyle. Below are some tips you may want to take when considering becoming a digital nomad.

Hear me out, yes, there is nothing like a face-to-face meeting when it comes to communicating effectively. We may not get a full understanding from a conference call or an email, however, in the fast-paced environment of modern business, delaying decisions until such meetings occur can be detrimental to a business. Many fallen giants of business such as Sears and Blockbuster are victims of complacency and the failure of their leadership to quickly react to changing consumer habits and retail conditions. Slow decision making at senior level is mirrored at the lower levels, and only a change in company culture can effectively change this.