Broiler

A broiler is any chicken ("Gallus gallus domesticus") that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and seven weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaughter weight at approximately 14 weeks of age. Typical broilers have white feathers and yellowish skin. Broiler or sometimes broiler-fryer is also used sometimes to refer specifically to younger chickens under , as compared with the larger roasters.
Due to extensive breeding selection for rapid early growth and the husbandry used to sustain this, broilers are susceptible to several welfare concerns, particularly skeletal malformation and dysfunction, skin and eye lesions and congestive heart conditions. Management of ventilation, housing, stocking density and in-house procedures must be evaluated regularly to support good welfare of the flock. The breeding stock (broiler-breeders) do grow to maturity but also have their own welfare concerns related to the frustration of a high feeding motivation and beak trimming. Broilers are usually grown as mixed-sex flocks in large sheds under intensive conditions.
Modern breeding.
Before the development of modern commercial meat breeds, broilers were mostly young male chickens culled from farm flocks. Pedigree breeding began around 1916. Magazines for the poultry industry existed at this time. A crossbred variety of chicken was produced from a male of a naturally double-breasted Cornish strain, and a female of a tall, large-boned strain of white Plymouth Rocks. This first attempt at a meat crossbreed was introduced in the 1930s and became dominant in the 1960s. The original crossbreed was plagued by problems of low fertility, slow growth and disease susceptibility.
Modern broilers have become very different from the Cornish/Rock crossbreed. As an example, Donald Shaver (originally a breeder of egg-production breeds) began gathering breeding stock for a broiler program in 1950. Besides the breeds normally favoured, Cornish Game, Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire, Langshans, Jersey Black Giant, and Brahmas were included. A white feathered female line was purchased from Cobb. A full-scale breeding program was commenced in 1958, with commercial shipments in Canada and the US in 1959 and in Europe in 1963. As a second example, colour sexing broilers was proposed by Shaver in 1973. The genetics were based on the company's breeding plan for egg layers, which had been developed in the mid-1960s. A difficulty facing the breeders of the colour-sexed broiler is that the chicken must be white-feathered by slaughter age. After 12 years, accurate colour sexing without compromising economic traits was achieved.
Artificial insemination.
Artificial insemination is a mechanism in which spermatozoa are deposited into the reproductive tract of a female. Artificial insemination provides a number of benefits relating to reproduction in the poultry industry. Broiler breeds have been selected specifically for growth, causing them to develop large pectoral muscles, which interfere with and reduce natural mating. The amount of sperm produced and deposited in the hen's reproductive tract may be limited because of this. Additionally, the males' overall sex drive may be significantly reduced due to growth selection. Artificial insemination has allowed many farmers to incorporate selected genes into their stock, increasing their genetic quality.
Abdominal massage is the most common method used for semen collection. During this process, the rooster is restrained and the back region located towards the tail and behind the wings is caressed. This is done gently but quickly. Within a short period of time, the male should get an erection of the phallus. Once this occurs, the cloaca is squeezed and semen is collected from the external papilla of the vas deferens.
During artificial insemination, semen is most frequently deposited intra-vaginally by means of a plastic syringe. In order for semen to be deposited here, the vaginal orifice is everted through the cloaca. This is simply done by applying pressure to the abdomen of the hen. The semen-containing instrument is placed 2–4 cm into the vaginal orifice. As the semen is being deposited, the pressure applied to the hen's abdomen is being released simultaneously. The person performing this procedure typically uses one hand to move and direct the tail feathers, while using the other hand to insert the instrument and semen into the vagina.
General biology.
Modern commercial broilers, for example, Cornish crosses and Cornish-Rocks, are artificially selected and bred for large-scale, efficient meat production. They are noted for having very fast growth rates, a high feed conversion ratio, and low levels of activity. Modern commercial broilers are bred to reach a slaughter-weight of about 2 kg in only 5 to 7 weeks. As a consequence, the behaviour and physiology of broilers reared for meat are those of immature birds, rather than adults. Slow growing free-range and organic strains have been developed which reach slaughter-weight at 12 to 16 weeks of age.
Typical broilers have white feathers and yellowish skin. Recent genetic analysis has revealed that the gene for yellow skin was incorporated into domestic birds through hybridization with the grey junglefowl ("G. sonneratii"). Modern crosses are also favorable for meat production because they lack the typical "hair" which many breeds have that must be removed by singeing after plucking the carcass.
Both male and female broilers are reared for their meat.
Behaviour.
Broiler behaviour is modified by the environment, and alters as the broilers’ age and bodyweight rapidly increase. For example, the activity of broilers reared outdoors is initially greater than broilers reared indoors, but from six weeks of age, decreases to comparable levels in all groups. The same study shows that in the outdoors group, surprisingly little use is made of the extra space and facilities such as perches – it was proposed that the main reason for this was leg weakness as 80 per cent of the birds had a detectable gait abnormality at seven weeks of age. There is no evidence of reduced motivation to extend the behavioural repertoire, as, for example, ground pecking remained at significantly higher levels in the outdoor groups because this behaviour could also be performed from a lying posture rather than standing.
Examining the frequency of all sexual behaviour shows a large decrease with age, suggestive of a decline in libido. The decline in libido is not enough to account for reduced fertility in heavy cocks at 58 weeks and is probably a consequence of the large bulk or the conformation of the males at this age interfering in some way with the transfer of semen during copulations which otherwise look normal.
Feeding and feed conversion.
Chickens are omnivores and modern broilers are given access to a special diet of high protein feed, usually delivered via an automated feeding system. This is combined with artificial lighting conditions to stimulate eating and growth and thus the desired body weight.
In the U.S., the average feed conversion ratio (FCR) of a broiler was 1.91 kilograms of feed per kilograms of liveweight in 2011, up from 4.70 in 1925. Canada has a typical FCR of 1.72. New Zealand commercial broiler farms have recorded the world's best broiler chicken FCR, consistently at 1.38 or lower.
Welfare issues.
Meat birds.
Artificial selection has led to a great increase in the speed with which broilers develop and reach slaughter-weight. The time required to reach live-weight decreased from 120 days to 30 days between 1925 and 2005. Selection for fast early growth-rate, and feeding and management procedures to support such growth, have led to various welfare problems in modern broiler strains. Welfare of broilers is of particular concern given the large number of individuals that are produced; for example, the U.S. in 2011 produced approximately 9 billion broiler chickens.
Cardiovascular dysfunction.
Selection and husbandry for very fast growth means there is a genetically induced mismatch between the energy-supplying organs of the broiler and its energy-consuming organs. Rapid growth can lead to metabolic disorders such as sudden death syndrome (SDS) and ascites.
SDS is an acute heart failure disease that affects mainly male fast-growing broilers which appear to be in good condition. Affected birds suddenly start to flap their wings, lose their balance, sometimes cry out and then fall on their backs or sides and die, usually all within a minute. In 1993, U.K. broiler producers reported an incidence of 0.8%. In 2000, SDS has a death rate of 0.1% to 3% in Europe.
Ascites is characterised by hypertrophy and dilatation of the heart, changes in liver function, pulmonary insufficiency, hypoxaemia and accumulation of large amounts of fluid in the abdominal cavity. Ascites develops gradually and the birds suffer for an extended period before they die. In the UK, up to 19 million broilers die in their sheds from heart failure each year.
Skeletal dysfunction.
Breeding for increased breast muscle means that the broilers’ centre of gravity has moved forward and their breasts are broader compared with their ancestors, which affects the way they walk and puts additional stresses on their hips and legs. There is a high frequency of skeletal problems in broilers, mainly in the locomotory system, including varus and valgus deformities, osteodystrophy, dyschondroplasia and femoral head necrosis. These leg abnormalities impair the locomotor abilities of the birds, and lame birds spend more time lying and sleeping. The behavioural activities of broilers decrease rapidly from 14 days of age onwards. Reduced locomotion also decreases ossification of the bones and results in skeletal abnormalities; these are reduced when broilers have been exercised under experimental conditions.
Most broilers find walking painful, as indicated by studies using analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs. In one experiment, healthy birds took 11 seconds to negotiate an obstacle course, whereas lame birds took 34 seconds. After the birds had been treated with carprofen, there was no effect on the speed of the healthy birds, however, the lame birds now took only 18 seconds to negotiate the course, indicating that the pain of lameness is relieved by the drug. In self-selection experiments, lame birds select more drugged feed than non-lame birds leading to the suggestion that leg problems in broilers are painful.
Several research groups have developed "gait scores" (GS) to objectively rank the walking ability and lameness of broilers. In one example of these scales, GS=0 indicates normal walking ability, GS=3 indicates an obvious gait abnormality which affects the bird's ability to move about and GS=5 indicates a bird that cannot walk at all. GS=5 birds tried to use their wings to help them walking, or crawled along on their shanks. In one study, almost 26% of the birds examined were rated as GS=3 or above and can therefore be considered to have suffered from painful lameness.
The video recordings below are examples of broilers attempting to walk with increasing levels of gait abnormalities and therefore increasing gait scores.
Integument lesions.
Sitting and lying behaviours in fast growing strains increase with age from 75% in the first seven days to 90% at 35 days of age. This increased inactivity is linked with an increase in dermatitis caused by a greater amount of time in contact with ammonia in the litter. This contact dermatitis is characterised by hyperkeratosis and necrosis of the epidermis at the affected sites; it can take forms such as hock burns, breast blisters and foot pad lesions.
Stocking density.
Broilers are usually kept at high stocking densities which vary considerably between countries. Typical stocking densities in Europe range between about or between about . There is a reduction of feed intake and reduced growth rate when stocking density exceeds approximately under deep litter conditions. The reduced growth rate is likely due to a reduced capacity to lose heat generated by metabolism. Higher stocking densities are associated with increased dermatitis including foot pad lesions, breast blisters and soiled plumage. In a large-scale experiment with commercial farms, it was shown that the management conditions (litter quality, temperature and humidity) were more important than stocking density.
Ocular dysfunction.
In attempts to improve or maintain fast growth, broilers are kept under a range of lighting conditions. These include continuous light (fluorescent and incandescent), continuous darkness, or under dim light; chickens kept under these light conditions develop eye abnormalities such as macrophthalmos, avian glaucoma, ocular enlargement and shallow anterior chambers.
Ammonia.
The litter in broiler pens can become highly polluted from the nitrogenous feces of the birds and produce ammonia. Ammonia has been shown to cause increased susceptibility to disease and other health-related problems such as Newcastle disease, airsaculitis and keratoconjunctivitis. The respiratory epithelium in birds is damaged by ammonia concentrations in the air exceeding 75 parts per million (ppm). Ammonia concentrations at 25 to 50 ppm induce eye lesions in broiler chicks after seven days of exposure.
Catching and transport.
Once the broilers have reached the target live-weight, they are caught, usually by hand, and packed live into crates for transport to the slaughterhouse. They are usually deprived of food and water for several hours before catching until slaughter. The process of catching, loading, transport and unloading causes serious stress, injury and even death to a large number of broilers.
The number of broilers that died in the EU in 2005 during the process of catching, packing and transport was estimated to be as high as 18 to 35 million. In the UK, of broilers that were found to be 'dead on arrival' at the slaughterhouse in 2005, it was estimated that up to 40% may have died from thermal stress or suffocation due to crowding on the transporter.
Slaughter is done by hanging the birds fully conscious by their feet upside-down in shackles on a moving chain, stunning them by automatically immersing them in an electrified water bath and exsanguination by cutting their throats.
Some research indicates that chickens might be more intelligent than previously supposed, which "raises questions about how they are treated". A possible 10 year life span has been shortened to six weeks for broilers.
Mortality rates.
According to historical records, broiler mortality rates in the U.S. have decreased from 18% in 1925 to 3.7% in 2012, but have increased since 2013 to reach 5% in 2018.
One indication of the effect of broilers' rapid growth rate on welfare is a comparison of the usual mortality rate for standard broiler chickens (1% per week) with that for slower-growing broiler chickens (0.25% per week) and with young laying hens (0.14% per week); the mortality rate of the fast-growing broilers is seven times the rate of laying hens (the same subspecies) of the same age.
Parent birds.
Meat broilers are usually slaughtered at approximately 35 to 49 days of age, well before they become sexually reproductive at 5 to 6 months of age. However, the bird's parents, often called "broiler-breeders", must live to maturity and beyond so they can be used for breeding. As a consequence, they have additional welfare concerns.
Meat broilers have been artificially selected for an extremely high feeding motivation, but are not usually feed-restricted, as this would delay the time taken for them to reach slaughter-weight. Broiler-breeders have the same highly increased feeding motivation, but must be feed-restricted to prevent them becoming overweight with all its concomitant life-threatening problems. An experiment on broilers’ food intake found that 20% of birds allowed to eat as much as they wanted either died or had to be killed because of severe illness between 11 and 20 weeks of age – either they became so lame they could not stand, or they developed cardiovascular problems.
Broiler breeders fed on commercial rations eat only a quarter to a half as much as they would with free access to food. They are highly motivated to eat at all times, presumably leading to chronic frustration of feeding.
Because broiler breeders live to adulthood, they might show feather pecking or other injurious pecking behaviour. To avoid this, they might be beak trimmed which can lead to acute or chronic pain.
World production and consumption.
A report in 2005 stated that around 5.9 billion broiler chickens for eating were produced yearly in the European Union. Mass production of chicken meat is a global industry and at that time, only two or three breeding companies supplied around 90% of the world's breeder-broilers. The total number of meat chickens produced in the world was nearly 47 billion in 2004; of these, approximately 19% were produced in the US, 15% in China, 13% in the EU25 and 11% in Brazil.
Consumption of broilers is surpassing that of beef in industrialized countries, with demand rising in Asia. Worldwide, 86.6 million tonnes of broiler meat were produced in 2014, and , the worldwide estimation of broiler chick population was approximately 23 billion.
Broiler industry.
The commercial production of broiler chickens for meat consumption is a highly industrialized process. There are two major sectors: (1) rearing birds intended for consumption and (2) rearing parent stock for breeding the meat birds.


Al Nassma Chocolate

Al Nassma Chocolate LLC is a manufacturer and retailer of camel milk chocolates. Founded in Dubai in 2008, the company retails its products in Dubai and in Europe, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.
History.
Al Nassma Chocolate is the United Arab Emirates' first and only camel milk chocolate brand, founded on October 22, 2008. The development and launch of the brand took almost four years.
Products.
The company's products include 70g camel milk chocolate bars in several flavours: whole milk, nuts and cocoa 70% (dark), Arabia (with a mix of Arabian spices such as cardamom and cinnamon), macadamia orange and dates; camel-shaped chocolates, Camel Caravan, with macadamia nut and honey cream filling; hollow camel figures; and various kinds of pralines.
Arab cuisine traditionally includes camel milk in various forms, and was a staple of the diet of Bedouins until mid-20th century. The company uses mild cocoa beans roasted in a manner that doesn’t overpower the slight saltiness of camel milk.
Its 70g chocolate bars are wrapped in double printed gold foil; while pralines are packaged in boxes resembling camel hide. Wooden boxes sourced from Holzmanufaktur Liebich in Germany are used for Camel Caravan, and the camel figures are wrapped in golden foil, and packed in gift boxes.
Production process.
Al Nassma manufactures its own chocolates from cocoa beans. In 2006 the company set up a Halal-certified production facility. The milk from which the chocolates are produced comes from camels at the Camelicious Farm in Umm Nahad. The farm belongs to Emirates Industry for Camel Milk & Products (EICMP). The farm houses over 3,500 camels. The camels are milked twice daily, yielding around 5,000 litres of raw camel milk, which is pasteurised in an ISO 22000 certified dairy plant. A portion of the milk is bottled for sale under the Camelicious label. The remaining is freeze-dried and airlifted to be sent to a factory in Austria where the chocolate mass is manufactured in a chocolate mass factory.
Al Nassma makes use of around 150 ml of fresh and pasteurised camel milk in one bar of whole milk chocolate. All ingredients – including camel milk, sugar, cocoa beans, cocoa paste, cocoa butter, bourbon vanilla, honey, Arabian spices, pistachios, dates, macadamia nuts and orange zest have no artificial colour or additives.
The molding of most products as well as most of the packaging is done at the company’s headquarter in Dubai, UAE.
Spread & reach.
Since its inception in 2008, Al Nassma has sold its camel milk chocolate mainly through camel-shaped kiosks. There is also an Al Nassma branded shop at the Camelicious camel farm in the desert.
There are sales kiosks at The Dubai Mall, including ‘At the Top’, Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, Bab Al Shams Hotel, Emirates Towers Hotel, Atlantis, The Palm, Kempinski, Grand Hyatt and Anantara Hotels & Resorts. It is sold in duty free outlets in the Persian Gulf region, including Dubai Duty Free, Qatar Duty Free.
In 2009 Al Nassma started exporting its camel milk chocolates via UPS to Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the US, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, France and the UK.
The products are sold in retail locations within UAE shopping malls, hotels and resorts and in duty frees in several countries. They are also sold at Julius Meinl am Graben in Vienna and Prague since 2013, and at Selfridges in London since early 2014, and KaDeWe in Berlin.
In June 2014, Al Nassma and opened duty-free sales in Vienna Duty Free and Istanbul Duty Free, and on cruise liners of MSC Cruises.


Odell-Locke-Randolph Cotton Mill

The Odell-Locke-Randolph Cotton Mill is an historic building in the city of Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina. The original mill was constructed in 1839, as the McDonald Cotton Mills, north of the town of Concord in what is now the Locke Mill Plaza. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Cabarrus County, North Carolina in 1983.
History.
The mill was constructed in 1839 as the "Concord Steam Cotton Factory" also known as the Barringer Mill. By 1842 the mill was producing cotton yarn, shirting, and other goods. By 1850 a railroad ran west of town and the mill had 70 employees. During the aftermath of the Civil War the mill became the "McDonald Cotton Mill". John Milton Odell bought the buildings in 1877 and created the Odell Manufacturing Company in 1880.
The mill became the Locke Mill after reorganization from the bankrupt Odell Manufacturing Company in 1909. The mill became known as the Randolph Mill after another reorganization in 1939.


Andreas Stihl

Andreas Stihl (10 November 1896 in Zürich, Switzerland – 14 January 1973 in Rohrbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) was a Swiss-born German engineer and important inventor in the area of chainsaws, and the founder of Andreas Stihl AG & Company KG. He is often hailed as the "Father of the chainsaw".
Stihl went to the Volksschule in Zürich, before moving to relatives in Germany. He attended the Realschule in Singen (Baden-Württemberg) and the Gymnasium in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel. From 1915 until his dismissal by injuries in 1917, Stihl fought in the First World War in the German Army. From 1917 until 1920, he studied mechanical engineering in Eisenach. In 1923, together with his friend Carl Hohl, he founded an engineering firm in Stuttgart, which was dissolved in 1926.
Stihl founded a new company, for steam boiler prefiring systems in the same year in Stuttgart. He also patented the "Cutoff Chainsaw for Electric Power" in 1926, which weighed a hefty 64 kilograms and had a one-inch gauge chain with handles at either end. Due to its bulk, it required two people to operate. It was, however, the first electric chainsaw worldwide. In 1929, Stihl built a petrol powered chainsaw, named the "tree-felling machine", two years after fellow German Emil Lerp had built the first one worldwide. The following year, Stihl created the first ever chainsaw that could be operated by only one person. The company continued to grow and in 1931 it became the first European company to export chainsaws to the United States and the Soviet Union. During the Nazi regime, Stihl was member of the Nazi Party.
Since 1971, Stihl is the biggest chainsaw manufacturing company in the world. Andreas Stihl had four children with his first wife, among them Hans Peter Stihl (born 1932) and Eva Mayr-Stihl (born 1935), who succeeded her father in managing the company and remaining Vorstand until 2002.


Leopard pattern

A leopard pattern is a spotted color pattern, particularly in the hair coat or skin of animals, but can also describe spotting patterns in plants and fabrics. The term refers to the black and gold spotted coat of the leopard cat, but is used to describe many color combinations that result in spots scattered randomly across the skin or hair coat of other animals.
Examples of animals with coloring patterns termed "leopard" include many great cats in the genus "Panthera", the leopard frog, the "leopard" spotting pattern in the Appaloosa and Knabstrupper breeds of horses, the leopard seal, insects such as the giant leopard moth, and fish species such as the leopard darter, leopard shark, and the leopard eel. Examples of plants that use the term include the leopard lily, and the leopard flower.
The "Lp" (leopard complex) gene is responsible for the leopard color pattern in horses, which not only produces a spotted coat color but also causes mottling of the skin, a white sclera around the eye, and striped hooves. Horses with the "Lp" gene may be spotted all over, or may have concentrations of spots in various patterns.


Giant dog breed

A giant dog breed is a breed of dog of gigantic proportions, sometimes described as a breed whose weight exceeds . Breeds sometimes described as giant breeds include the Great Dane, Newfoundland, St. Bernard and Irish Wolfhound. These breeds have seen a marked increase in their size since the 19th century as a result of selective breeding.
Dog breeds described as giants tend to have more health problems than smaller dogs and have the shortest life expectancy of all dog breeds.


Morris Schinasi

Morris Schinasi (; born Musa Eskenazi; April 27, 1855 – September 10, 1928) was an Ottoman-born wealthy American businessman in the tobacco industry.
He was born in 1855 in Manisa, Ottoman Empire to relatively poor Sephardic Jew parents. At the age of nine, he contracted diphtheria. He was treated by a Muslim physician named (Shinasi or Schinasi in European languages) and regained his health. His parents named him henceforth as a gesture of gratitude. He had two brothers Solomon (also known as Shlomo), Yaakov and a sister Sultana.
He was forced to leave the school and jobbed in a Jewish cemetery as a guard. At the age of fifteen, he left Turkey for Alexandria, Egypt, where he lived until he was nearly thirty. It was then that Garaffolo, a successful Greek tobacco merchant, who informally adopted Schinasi in Alexandria, determined that Schinasi should seek his fortune in America. In 1890, he immigrated to the United States.
Career.
In 1893, Morris Schinasi exhibited the cigarette made with his patented cigarette-rolling machine at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Schinasi then returned to New York City to found Schinasi Brothers with his brother, Solomon, who came also to the United States. Together, the Schinasis produced ready-made cigarettes under the brand name "Natural" at their factory on 120th Street and Broadway using imported Turkish tobacco rather than the Virginia-grown leaves. They became highly successful. In solidarity with their roots, the brothers invited about 200 Turkish Jews from their homeland to work in the factory. By 1907, both were millionaires.
In 1916, the brothers sold the cigarette factory, worth $2 million, and all commercial rights to the business, to the American Tobacco Company for $3.5 million, and retired from active business life. Morris Schinasi died on September 10, 1928 at the age of 74. A large portion of his wealth, well over $5 million, he designated to charity. A one-million dollar fund was entrusted to the Chemical Bank and Trust Company of New York for founding a hospital in Manisa, the town of his birth.
His success was acknowledged by Abdul Hamid II, the contemporary Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who gave him the Medjidie Medal of fourth degree "for his excellent efforts in promoting this industry, which won for him His Majesty's commendation." The presentation took place in July 1908.
At a press conference held in Athens, Greece, he passed a note to a person sitting next to him asking him to read it because of his illiteracy. He was then asked "You became so wealthy as an analphabet. What you would become when you were literate?". He replied "A good cemetery guard." referring to his job at age fifteen when he was fired because he could not take a family to their relative's grave. This might have inspired the short story "The Verger" in the book "Trio" by W. Somerset Maugham.
Family.
During a business trip to Salonica, then in the Ottoman Empire, he met his future wife, Laurette Schinasi née Ben Rubi, the granddaughter of his business associate Joseph Ben Rubi. He married the 16-year-old girl in 1903. The couple had three daughters Victoria, Juliette and Altina.
His daughter Altina Schinasi (1907–1999) was an American sculptor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, window dresser, designer, and inventor, best known for designing the Harlequin eyeglass frame.
Legacy.
Upon Morris Schinasi's death, his widow Laurette Schinasi traveled in April 1930 to Manisa, Turkey to establish Moris Sinasi Çocuk Hastahanesi, or Moris Sinasi Children's Hospital in the city of her late husband's birth. The construction of the institution was financed by 80% of the $1 million inheritance. The Turkish government exempted the customs duty from all imported construction materials and hospital equipment by a special act. With the remaining sum, bonds were acquired, of which interests are regularly transferred to the hospital needed for health-care costs. Opened on August 15, 1933, the hospital is still in operation today.
An international association for children's health based in Turkey, "", bears his name.
His family mansion built in 1907 at West 107th Street & 351 Riverside in Manhattan, New York City and called the Schinasi House today, is designated a New York City Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the rooms in the building of marble French Renaissance were decorated in Turkish style.


David Vetter (farmer)

David Vetter is an organic farmer and leader in the sustainable agriculture movement. He was instrumental in developing the infrastructure for the organic food production system in the United States.
Early life and education.
David Vetter grew up on his family's farm in Marquette, Nebraska. In 1953, his father Donald Vetter decided to stop spraying pesticides on his fields. He questioned the chemical's real value in farming. He found that they did not give him much higher returns, while he believed they caused significant harm to the soil and killed wildlife. He was considered strange by his neighbors for his beliefs and farming practices.
Vetter received a BS in Soil Science/Agronomy from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and a Master of Divinity from the United Theological Seminary.
While he was in the seminary, he met Fred Kirschenmann. He introduced Kirschenmann to the science of organic farming, inspiring Kirschenmann to return to farming himself.
Career.
After completing his education, Vetter returned to his family's farm in 1975. The farm was certified organic in 1978.
Vetter realized that he needed to help build a processing infrastructure and a marketing program in order to sell and distribute his products to the consumer. In 1980, David and his father Don, invested $170,000 to build a small grain-cleaning plant. David and his father Don established Grain Place Foods in 1987 to provide a place for other organic farmers to go and get their grain cleaned and marketed.
Vetter is a founding member of the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society. He also chaired the first Organic Crop Improvement Association's International Certification Committee.
The Vetter family started the Grain Place Foundation after Donald Vetter's death in 2015.
As of 2019, the farm employs 30 people. As of 2020, the family grows a variety of crops on a 9-year rotation.
Film.
Vetter and his family were featured in the 2018 documentary film "Dreaming of a Vetter World". The film tells the Vetter family story and how management of soil is critical to sustainable agriculture and even in combating climate change. The film was entirely shot, directed and narrated by the director Bonnie Hawthorne, who lived on the Vetter farm during filming. Jo Andres, Steve Buscemi, and Robert Houston were executive producers.
Awards and honors.
In 2016, the Rodale Institute named him an "Organic Pioneer" and he received the Organic Leadership Award from the Organic Trade Association. He was named as the Rodale Institute's 2016 Farmer of the Year. In 2011, David and his family were named Organic Farmers of the Year by the Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service (MOSES).
Personal life.
Vetter is married to his wife Rogean. Together they raised three children: Allison, Darci, and Madison.


Pata de mulo cheese

Pata de mulo cheese is a type of cheese made from ewe's milk in the Tierra de Campos "comarca" of Castilla y León, Spain. It originated as the aged version of the Villalón cheese, a fresh cheese made in Villalón de Campos, Valladolid. Due to its elongated shape it became known as "pata de mulo", literally "mule's leg". This shape was achieved by moulding the cheese by hand in a cheesecloth. Several pata de mulo cheeses made by Los Payuelos have been awarded prizes at the World Cheese Awards, including Super Gold ("curado", 2013) and Silver ("semicurado", 2017).


Grimshaw Silk Mill

Grimshaw Silk Mill, also known as Freeman Shoes, is a historic factory building located in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1887 and rebuilt in 1889, after a tornado destroyed the original building on January 9, 1889, killing 19 employees and injuring 100. It is a three-story, rectangular brick building measuring 50 feet by 250 feet. A stair tower is topped by a pyramidal roof. It sits on a rubble stone basement and features pilasters, brownstone keystones, and a pressed metal cornice.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.


Crutching

Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep for hygiene purposes. It can also refer to removing wool from the heads of sheep ("wigging" or "eye-wooling"). It does not refer to the process of mulesinga controversial procedure that involves removing of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep.
Motivation.
Through centuries of selective breeding, most recently through artificial insemination, domestic sheep have denser and longer wool than their wild forebears, which may require human intervention to maintain. Sheep with heavy fleeces of wool often develop stains or dags on their rear ends from faeces. In ewes, urine can also stain the wool. To avoid discomfort to the sheep and damage to the fleece, graziers remove the wool (and any dags) from the sheep.
Urine and watery faeces from eating spring grass can also lead to myiasis (fly-strike), which occurs when flies lay eggs in warm, damp wool and the fly larvae grow and eat into the sheep. Crutching is an effective way to help prevent this; in some areas, crutching is carried out at the start of the fly season (which depends on local climatic conditions) and may be needed at intervals of 6–8 weeks in high fly risk conditions.
Rams and wethers may also be rung (crutched) on the belly around the pizzle (cock) to prevent fly-strike there.
Wigging (removal of wool from the head of sheep) is carried out to prevent the sheep from becoming "wool blind", in which the wool covers the sheep's eyes. It also prevents accumulation of grass seeds and burrs in wool around the head as a sheep grazes. Both these problems are more severe in breeds with heavy wool growth such as Merinos.
In addition, ewes are generally crutched prior to lambing if they are not "offshears" (recently shorn), in order to provide the newborn lamb with a cleaner suckling area.
Procedure.
Crutching is generally carried out in shearing sheds, using shearers and the same tools as for shearing the entire fleece, as crutching is simply shearing only a portion of the animal. Blade shears may be used, especially where an individual sheep is particularly dirty, or flystruck. Generally, whole flocks are treated together. A mechanical shearing handpiece is used, and the graziers sit the sheep between their legs and shear the required portion of the sheep, leaving the main fleece to continue growing. There are also many varieties of crutching cradles which allow the sheep to be crutched with less physical strain to the operator.
For small flocks, a grazier might do the work single-handedly. For large flocks and stud sheep, graziers will hire shearers, or use a contractor who provides professional shearing teams to do the required work. The grazier would decide on the extent of crutching: the rear of the sheep is almost always shorn, whereas wool around the face, ears, underside and pizzle may also be removed depending on the circumstances such as the weather, length of fleece, and amount of seed or other impurities present in the fleece and the underlying reason for crutching (preventive of fly-strike, or to reduce the likelihood of stain in the fleece wool). Super fine wool Merino flocks are often given a light crutch, known as a New England crutch that removes less of the valuable fleece.
When a single or small number of sheep need crutching, graziers will often work in the paddock using dagging (or blade) shears or portable powered shearing gear instead of driving the sheep into the shearing shed and back.
Related procedures.
Docking (removing) sheep's tails has much the same benefits for the sheep as crutching. While this procedure may reduce the care needed to keep wool clean, regular crutching may still required for the reasons outlined above.
Crutching is different to mulesing where part of the wrinkled skin is removed, although they are closely related in that mulesed sheep require much less crutching. It is the excess wool which gets most soiled from urination and faeces, and which can be perceived to be particularly dirty due to green feeding, rapid changes in feed, or from problems such as internal parasites.


Pyaar Mohabbat Happy Lucky

Pyaar Mohabbat Happy Lucky () is an Indian animated television series directed by Amit Gaur and produced by Popcorn Animation Studios. It aired on ZeeQ from 2014 to 2017. It depicts two neighbours, Happy and Lucky, who live in the countryside with Pappu, Bunty and Builder. There is a happy relationship between Happy and Lucky, and there are plenty of jokes and teasing between the two main characters.


Rinderbraten

Rinderbraten, is a dish of German origin whose name means "beef roast". It is made from a large round of beef, stuffed with pork fat that has been rolled in a combination of saltpeter, salt, red pepper, brown sugar, allspice, and cloves. The round is then submerged in brine for up to six weeks, then boiled, and then simmered, with the blackened outer layer of beef and fat removed and cinnamon sprinkled over it before serving.
Variations.
A modified Rinderbraten called Spice Round or Spiced Round was once a common centerpiece of holiday meals in Nashville, Tennessee.
After the Civil War, Nashville was a hub of the meat-packing industry in the American south due to an influx of Swiss and German immigrants who founded several meat-packing companies along the Cumberland River, a major shipping route between the American north and south. One particular meat-packer was Mr. William Jacobs, who founded the Jacobs Packing Company in 1865.
Jacobs, originally from Wittenburg, Germany, only packed during the winter months due to local climate and the availability of meat from local stock beginning in September. Jacobs knew that Rinderbraten, a specialty of his native country, was prepared with brine in order to preserve the meat through winter, so he began producing batches of it for the local populace as an easily stored convenience. In 1865, he was able to convince the posh Maxwell House Hotel to add it to their winter menu, and from there it gained in popularity, attracting other meat-packing companies to emulate his success.
At one time, there were over 30 butchers and meat-packers in Nashville, and nearly all of them produced Spice Round. Each used a slightly different and closely guarded recipe.
Nashville's version of Rinderbraten was not "stuffed" with pork fat; rather, it was larded throughout the meat with special horns. In addition to the fat being blended with the traditional Rinderbraten spice, typically the same spices would be used in the brining solution and run through the meat using specially prepared larding needles, leading to a much more heavily spiced preparation than the German version. Because of this, most Nashville families omitted the sprinkling of cinnamon over the cooked meat.
It is still available in some grocery stores in the city during the holiday season.


Ward Cheney

Ward Cheney (23 February 1813 Manchester, Connecticut - 22 March 1876) was a pioneer manufacturer of silk fabrics.
Biography.
Ward Cheney was principal founder of the house of Cheney Brothers and was most active in its business management. He first engaged in the dry goods business in Providence, Rhode Island, with his brother Charles. When Charles moved to Ohio, Ward returned to South Manchester and found several brothers raising a Chinese mulberry, "Morus multicaulis". The success of the experiments led him and brothers Frank and Rush to start a silk culturing operation in Burlington, New Jersey. In 1838 he and his brothers Ralph, Rush and Frank established the manufacturing firm of Cheney Brothers in South Manchester.
Cheney Brothers had many obstacles with which to contend, and the factory was suspended after three or four years but was revived in 1841. The business was finally organized as a joint-stock company, retaining the firm name, and Ward became president of the corporation.
The brothers worked harmoniously in building up by slow steps an extensive business, with mills at South Manchester and Hartford, employing 2,500 operatives. The sewing silks manufactured by them were considered by competent judges superior to the best qualities made in Europe and found a special demand for use in sewing machines on account of strength, uniformity of twist, and fine finish. They afterward made great progress in weaving silk goods with power-looms and made printed as well as plain-dyed fabrics.
On their father's farm, the brothers established the model manufacturing village of South Manchester, with cottage homes, and a spacious and architecturally elegant hall and theatre where dramatic and other entertainments were given gratis and religious exercises were held on Sundays. The village also had a school, a library and reading room, boarding houses, and pleasure grounds. Here all the brothers had their homes, and their relations with their workmen afforded a rare instance of cordiality and affection. From time to time skilled operatives were brought over from England and settled in South Manchester.
Ward Cheney was known in business circles as a generous and progressive man, and frequently aided young men beginning mercantile life. He was president of the Silk Association of America.
Family.
His brother Seth Wells Cheney was an artist, married to the writer, Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney. His brother John Cheney excelled as an engraver of heads. His fine engraving work was praised by curator S. R. Koehler at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, but the interest in line engraving was in decline.
Brothers who joined Ward at Cheney Brothers were Charles, Ralph, Rush and Frank:
Charles Cheney (26 December 1803 - 20 June 1874) went to Tolland, Connecticut as a clerk when he was about fourteen years old, and before he was of age engaged in mercantile business on his own account in Providence. In 1834, he moved to Ohio and established himself as a farmer at Mount Healthy, near Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained eleven years, during which period he became interested in the anti-slavery movement. In 1847 he joined his brothers at Cheney Brothers in South Manchester. He spent a considerable portion of his time in Hartford, where they had also extensive manufactories. He served in the legislature for one or two terms and was distinguished for his public spirit and generous charities.
Ralph Cheney (13 January 1806 - 16 September 1869)
As well as joining his brothers in the silk enterprise, he was fond of agricultural pursuits and devoted most of his life to farming.
Rush Cheney (25 April 1815 - 7 June 1882)
He possessed inventive talent and capability in the application
of mechanical principles to manufacturing; and thus
contributed a very important element to the building up of the
manufacture of silk fabric, in which he was engaged most of his life.
Frank Cheney (born 5 July 1817)
A natural mechanic, he joined
with his brother Rush in the invention and construction of
machinery which made the family business successful.
Sons of the brothers who joined the enterprise were Frank Woodbridge and Arthur:
Frank Woodbridge Cheney (born 5 June 1832) was a son of Charles. After graduation at Brown University in 1854, he joined the Cheney Brothers operations at Hartford. He volunteered for the Civil War in 1862 and became lieutenant colonel of the 16th Connecticut Volunteers. The regiment went to the front on 29 August, 1,010 strong but undisciplined and almost wholly ignorant of drill. The Confederates were beginning the invasion of Maryland that ended in repulse at Antietam, and all available troops were hurried forward to meet them irrespective of experience as soldiers. On 12 September, Frank Cheney led his regiment of recruits in a skirmish that proved preliminary to the battle of Antietam, in which engagement he was severely wounded, late in the afternoon, while endeavoring to rally his men, who, never having had a battalion drill, had been thrown into disorder by the enemy's fire. Cheney's wound proved so serious that he was obliged to retire from the service on 24 December 1862. In 1863, Frank married Mary Bushnell, daughter of Horace Bushnell. They had 12 children. Frank traveled in Europe, China, and Japan, studying the silk industries of those countries, and joined Cheney Brothers as its treasurer. His eldest son Horace B. Cheney followed in his footsteps.
Arthur Cheney (14 January 1837 - December 1878) was the youngest of Ward's three children. He interested himself in the drama and built the Globe Theatre, Boston, originally called Selwyn's Theatre. It was managed with varying success by Selwyn, Floyd, and others, and, when it was burned, was rebuilt by Arthur and carried on at a loss.
In addition to Arthur, Ward Cheney also had two other children, Louis and Alice.


Bulbophyllum moratii

Bulbophyllum moratii is a species of orchid in the genus "Bulbophyllum". It is critically endangered due to illegal collection and logging.


Rock Ridge Night Rocket

Ch. Rock Ridge Night Rocket was a Bedlington Terrier that won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in 1948. A LIFE magazine article called him the "Best U.S. Dog". He was owned by William Rockefeller's family.


Koyun dog

The Rize Koyan is a breed of livestock guardian dog from Turkey.
The Rize Koyan is named after the town of Rize, the breed is found throughout Rize and Ordu provinces in the north-east Black Sea region of Turkey. The breed resembles the Kars dog with solid bodies and strong legs, dogs stand approximately with bitches being shorter; their coats can be various colours although grey is most common, bi-coloured examples are known.


Dominant white

Dominant white or white spotting is a group of genetically related coat color conditions in the horse, best known for producing an all-white coat, but also able to produce various forms of white spotting and white markings, several of which are sometimes referred to as sabino.
There are many different forms of dominant white or white spotting; they are labeled "W1" through "W27" and are associated with the "KIT" gene, along with Sabino 1. The white spotting produced can range from flashy white markings like those made by "W20", to patterns similar to Sabino 1, to a fully white or almost fully white horse. White horses are born with unpigmented pink skin and white hair, usually with dark eyes. Under normal conditions, at least one parent must be dominant white to produce dominant white offspring. However, most of the currently-known alleles of dominant white can be linked to a documented spontaneous mutation in a single ancestor. For many of the "W" alleles, the white coats are, as the name suggests, inherited dominantly, meaning that a horse only needs one copy of the allele to have a white or white spotted coat. Others, such as "W20", are incompletely dominant, with horses with two copies having more white than horses with only one. In addition, different alleles which on their own give a white spotted but not completely white horse, such as "W5" and "W10", can combine to make a horse completely white.
White can occur in any breed, and has been studied in many different breeds. Camarillo White Horses are characterized by their white coats.
White is both genetically and visually distinct from gray and cremello. Dominant white is not the same as lethal white syndrome, nor are white horses "albinos". Tyrosinase negative albinism has never been documented in horses. Some forms of white are thought to result in nonviable embryos when a zygote has two "W" alleles (is homozygous). However, others, such as "W20", are perfectly viable in their homozygous form.
Description.
Although the term "dominant white" is typically associated with a pure white coat, such horses may be all-white, near-white, partially white, or exhibit an irregular spotting pattern similar to that of sabino horses. To add to the confusion, at least some horses in each of those groups might be referred to as "dominant white", "white spotted", or "sabino". The amount of white hair depends on which KIT alleles are involved. At birth, most of the white hair is rooted in unpigmented pink skin. The pink skin lacks melanocytes, and appears pink from the underlying network of capillaries. White spotting is not known to affect eye color, and most white horses have brown eyes.
White or near-white.
White horses are born with pink skin and a white coat, which they retain throughout their lives. The genetic factors that produce an all-white horse are often also capable of producing a near-white horse, which is mostly white but has some areas that are pigmented normally. Near-white horses most commonly have color in the hair and skin along the topline (dorsal midline) of the horse, in the mane, and on the ears. The color is often interspersed as specks or spots on a white background. In addition, the hooves are usually white, but may have striping if there is pigmented skin on the coronary band just above the hoof. In some cases, foals born with residual non-white hair may lose some or all of this pigment with age, without the help of the gray factor.
White spotting.
White spotting from a "W" allele is difficult to identify visually, as it can range from small white markings in the case of a heterozygous "W20" horse all the way to an obvious pinto pattern. In addition, even completely white horses can have genes which by themselves would only give white spotting, such as "W20" combined with "W22" or "W5" combined with "W10". As such, the only reliable way to find out whether a horse has one of the known white spotting patterns from an allele on KIT is to have it genetically tested.
Prevalence.
Dominant white is one of several potential genetic causes for horses with near-white or completely white coats; it may occur through spontaneous mutation, and thus may be found unexpectedly in any breed, even those that discourage excessive white markings. To date, dominant white has been identified in multiple families of Thoroughbreds, American Quarter Horses, Frederiksborg horses, Icelandic horses, Shetland ponies, Franches Montagnes horses, South German Draft horses, and in one family of the Arabian horse. The American White Horse, which is descended primarily from one white stallion crossed on non-white mares, is known for its white coat, as is the Camarillo White Horse.
Inheritance.
The "W" locus was mapped to the "KIT" gene in 2007. KIT is short for "KIT proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase". White spotting is caused by multiple forms, or alleles, of the "KIT" gene. All horses possess the "KIT" gene, as it is necessary for survival even at the earliest stages of development. The presence or absence of dominant white is based on the presence of certain altered variants of "KIT". Each unique form is called an allele, and for every trait, all animals inherit one allele from each parent. The original or "normal" form of "KIT", which is expected in horses without dominant white spotting, is called the "wild type" allele. Thus, a dominant white horse has at least one "KIT" allele with a mutation associated with dominant white spotting, and either the wild type "KIT" allele or a second allele on KIT associated with white spotting, which could be one of the ones in the "W" series or could be "Sabino 1".
Allelic series.
The "KIT" gene contains over 2000 base pairs, and a change in any of those base pairs results in a mutant allele. Over forty seven such alleles have been identified by sequencing the "KIT" genes of various horses. The resultant phenotype of many of these alleles is not yet known, but 29 have been linked to white spotting. To date, DNA tests can identify if a horse carries the various identified "W" alleles, some commercially available.
These alleles do not account for all dominantly inherited white spotting in horses. More "KIT" alleles are expected to be found with roles in white spotting. Most "W" alleles each occur within a specific breed or family and arise as spontaneous mutations. The "KIT" gene itself seems prone to mutation, and so new alleles of W could occur in virtually any breed.
Relation to sabino.
Sabino can refer either specifically to "Sabino 1" ("SB1") or to a variety of visually similar spotting patterns. SB1 creates a nearly pure white horse when homozygous, which is not true for other sabino patterns. To add to the confusion, white spotting created by several "W" alleles, such as "W5", "W15", and "W19" creates patterns that historically were called sabino. For that reason, the use of the word "sabino" is evolving. Genetically, "Sabino 1" is basically another allele on "KIT", and thus is probably able to be classified as a form of dominant white.
In its homozygous form, "Sabino 1" can be confused with dominant white alleles such as "W1", "W2", "W3", or "W4" that create a white or near-white horse with only one copy. Both dominant white and "Sabino-White" horses are identified by all-white or near-white coats with underlying pink skin and dark eyes, often with residual pigment along the dorsal midline. However, it takes two copies of "Sabino 1" to produce a Sabino-white horse, and "Sabino 1" is not homozygous lethal.
Initially, dominant white was separated from sabino on the grounds that the former had to be entirely white, while the latter could possess some pigment. However, the 2007 and 2009 studies of dominant white showed that many dominant white alleles produce a range of white phenotypes that include horses with pigmented spots in their hair and skin. Each of the larger families of dominant white studied included pure-white horses, horses described as having "sabino-like" white markings, as well as white horses described as "maximal sabino".
More recently, dominant white and sabino were distinguished from one another on the grounds that dominant white alleles produce nonviable embryos in the homozygous state, while "Sabino 1" was viable when homozygous. However, not all "KIT" alleles currently identified as "dominant white" have been proven lethal, and in fact "W20" is known to be viable in the homozygous form.
The similarities between Dominant White, "Sabino 1", and other forms of sabino may reflect their common molecular origin: The "W" series and "SB1" have both been mapped to "KIT". The researchers who mapped "Sabino 1" suggested that other sabino-like patterns might also map to "KIT". Similarly, major alleles for white leg and facial markings have also been mapped to or near to the "KIT" gene.
Molecular genetics.
The "KIT" gene encodes a protein called steel factor receptor, which is critical to the differentiation of stem cells into blood cells, sperm cells, and pigment cells. A process called alternative splicing, which uses the information encoded in the "KIT" gene to make slightly different proteins (isoforms) for use in different circumstances, may impact whether a mutation on "KIT" affects blood cells, sperm cells, or pigment cells. Steel factor receptor interacts chemically with steel factor or stem cell factor to relay chemical messages. These messages are used during embryonic development to signal the migration of early melanocytes (pigment cells) from the neural crest tissue to their eventual destinations in the dermal layer. The neural crest is a transient tissue in the embryo that lies along the dorsal line. Melanocytes migrate along the dorsal line to a number of specific sites: near the eye, near the ear, and the top of the head; six sites along each side of the body, and a few along the tail. At these sites, the cells undergo a few rounds of replication and differentiation, and then migrate down and around the body from the dorsal aspect towards the ventral aspect and the limb buds.
The timing of this migration is critical; all white markings, from a small star to a pure white coat, are caused by the failed migration of melanocytes.
A certain degree of the eventual amount of white, and its "design", is completely random. The development of an organism from single-celled to fully formed is a process with many, many steps. Even beginning with identical genomes, as in clones and identical twins, the process is unlikely to occur the same way twice. A process with this element of randomness is called a stochastic process, and cell differentiation is, in part, a stochastic process. The stochastic element of development is partly responsible for the eventual appearance of white on a horse, potentially accounting for nearly a quarter of the phenotype. The research team that studied dominant white cited "subtle variations in the amount of residual KIT protein" as a potential cause for the variability in phenotype of horses with the same allele. They also speculated that variability in the phenotype of horses with "W1" might be caused by "different efficacies of [nonsense-mediated decay] in different individuals and in different body regions." That is, some horses destroy more of the mutant KIT protein than others.
Lethality.
Early embryonal lethality, also known as early embryonic death or a non-viable embryo, may occur when the embryo possesses two dominant white alleles, or has the homozygous genotype. The reason for this is that many mutations for "W" are caused by nonsense mutations, frameshift mutations or DNA deletions, which, if homozygous, would make it impossible to produce a functional KIT protein. However, it is possible that homozygous embryos from alleles of missense and splice site mutations might be viable because they have less effect on gene function. For instance, "W1" is a nonsense mutation and it is thought that horses with the genotype "W1/W1" would die in utero, while "W20" is a missense mutation and living horses with the "W20/W20" genotype have been found. A 2013 study also located horses that were compound W5/W20 heterozygotes, almost completely white, essentially with greater depigmentation than could be accounted for by either allele alone.
"White" horses that are not dominant white.
White horses are potent symbols in many cultures. An array of horse coat colors may be identified as "white", often inaccurately, and many are genetically distinct from "dominant white".
"Albino" horses have never been documented, despite references to so-called "albino" horses. Dominant white is caused by the absence of pigment cells (melanocytes), whereas albino animals have a normal distribution of melanocytes. Also, a diagnosis of albinism in humans is based on visual impairment, which has not been described in horses with dominant white nor similar coat colors. In other mammals, the diagnosis of albinism is based on the impairment of tyrosinase production. No mutations of the tyrosinase gene are known in horses, however, cream and pearl colors result from mutations to a protein involved in tyrosinase transport.
Lethal white overo.
Foals with lethal white syndrome (LWS) have two copies of the frame overo gene and are born with white or nearly white coats and pink skin. However, unlike dominant white horses, foals with LWS are born with an underdeveloped colon that is untreatable, and if not euthanized, invariably die of colic within a few days of birth. Horses that carry only one allele of the LWS gene are healthy and typically exhibit the "frame overo" spotting pattern. In cases of "solid" horses with frame overo ancestry, uncertain "overo" (non-tobiano) phenotype, or horses with multiple patterns, the LWS allele can be detected by DNA test.
Mosaicism.
Mosaicism in horses is thought to account for some spontaneous occurrences of white, near-white, spotted, and roan horses. Mosaicism refers to mutations that occur after the single-cell stage, and therefore affect only a portion of the adult cells. Mosaicism may be one possible cause for the rare occurrence of brindle coloring in horses. Mosaic-white horses would be visually indistinguishable from dominant whites. Mosaicism could produce white or partially white foals if a stem cell in the developing foal underwent a mutation, or change to the DNA, that resulted in unpigmented skin and hair. The cells that descend from the affected stem cell will exhibit the mutation, while the rest of the cells are unaffected.
A mosaic mutation may or may not be inheritable, depending on the cell populations affected. Though this is not always the case, genetic mutations can occur spontaneously in one sex cell of a parent during gametogenesis. In these cases, called germline mutations, the mutation will be present in the single-celled zygote conceived from the affected sperm or egg cell, and the condition can be inherited by the next generation.
History of dominant white research.
Dominant white horses were first described in scientific literature in 1912. Horse breeder William P. Newell described his family of white and near-white horses to researcher A. P. Sturtevant of Columbia University:
"The colour of skin is white or so-called pink, usually with a few small dark specks in skin. Some have a great many dark spots in skin. These latter usually have a few dark stripes in hoofs; otherwise the hoofs are almost invariably white. Those that do not have dark specks in skin usually have glass or watch eyes, otherwise dark eyes ... I have one colt coming one year old that is pure white, not a coloured speck on him, not a coloured hair on him, and with glass [blue] eyes."
Sturtevant and his contemporaries agreed that this colt's blue eyes were inherited separately from his white coat. In 1912, Sturtevant assigned the "white" trait to the "White" or "W" locus. At the time there was no means of assigning "W" to a position on the chromosome, or to a gene.
This family of white horses produced Old King in 1908, a dark-eyed white stallion that was purchased by Caleb R. and Hudson B. Thompson. Old King was bred to Morgan mares to produce a breed of horse known today as the American White Horse. A grandson of Old King, Snow King, was at the center of the first major study of the dominant white coat color in horses, conducted in 1969 by Dr. William L. Pulos of Alfred University and Dr. Frederick B. Hutt of Cornell. They concluded, based on test matings and progeny phenotype ratios, that the white coat was dominantly inherited and embryonic lethal in the homozygous state. Other factors, such as variations in expressivity and the influence of multiple genes, may have influenced the progeny ratios that Pulos and Hutt observed. The white coat of the American White Horse has not yet been mapped.
A 1924 study by C. Wriedt identified a heritable white coat color in the Frederiksborg horse. Wriedt described a range of what he considered to be homozygote phenotypes: all-white, white with pigmented flecks, or ', which transliterates to "white-gray." The German term for gray horse is ', not "weißgraue". Heterozygotes, according to Wriedt, ranged from roaned or diluted to more or less solid white horses. Reviewers, such as Miguel Odriozola, reinterpreted Wriedt's data in successive years, while Pulos and Hutt felt that his work had been "erroneous" because Wriedt never concluded that white was lethal when homozygous.
Other researchers prior to modern DNA analysis developed remarkably prescient theories. The gene itself was first proposed and named "W" in 1948. In a 1969 work on horse coat colors, "A los colores del caballo", Miguel Odriozola suggested that various forms of dominantly inherited white spotting might be arranged sequentially along one chromosome, thus allowing for the varied expression of dominant white. He also proposed that other, distant genes might also influence the amount of white present.
The embryonic lethality hypothesis was originally supported by Pulos and Hutt's 1969 study of Mendelian progeny ratios. Conclusions about Mendelian traits that are controlled by a single gene can be drawn from test breedings with large sample sizes. However, traits that are controlled by allelic series or multiple loci are not Mendelian characters, and may not be subject to Mendelian ratios.
Pulos and Hutt knew that if the allele that created a white coat was recessive, then white horses would have to be homozygous for the condition and therefore breeding white horses together would always result in a white foal. However, this did not occur in their study and they concluded that white was not recessive. Conversely, if a white coat was a simple autosomal dominant, "ww" horses would be non-white, while both "Ww" and "WW" horses would be white, and the latter would always produce white offspring. But Pulos and Hutt did not observe any white horses that always produced white offspring, suggesting that homozygous dominant ("WW") white horses did not exist. As a result, Pulos and Hutt concluded that white was semidominant and lethal in the homozygous state: "ww" horses were non-white, "Ww" were white, and "WW" died.
Pulos and Hutt reported that neonatal death rates in white foals were similar to those in non-white foals, and concluded that homozygous white fetuses died during gestation. No aborted fetuses were found, suggesting that death occurred early on in embryonic or fetal development and that the fetus was "resorbed."
Prior to Pulos and Hutt's work, researchers were split on the mode of inheritance of white and whether it was deleterious (harmful). Recent research has discovered several possible genetic pathways to a white coat, so disparities in these historical findings may reflect the action of different genes. It is also possible that the varied origins of Pulos and Hutt's white horses might be responsible for the lack of homozygotes. Therefore, it remains to be proven whether all equine dominant white mutations cause embryonic lethality in the homozygous state.
The "white" ("W") locus was first recognized in mice in 1908. The mutation of the same name produces a belly spot and interspersed white hairs on the dorsal aspect of the coat in the heterozygote ("W/+") and black-eyed white in the homozygote ("W/W"). While heterozygotes are healthy, homozygous "W" mice have severe macrocytic anemia and die within days. A mutation which affects multiple systems is "pleiotropic." Following the mapping of the "KIT" gene to the "W" locus in 1988, researchers began identifying other mutations as part of an allelic series of "W". There are over 90 known "W" alleles, each representing a unique mutation on the "KIT" gene, which primarily produce white spotting from tiny head spots to fully white coats, macrocytic anemia from mild to lethal, and sterility. Some alleles, such as "sash" produce white spotting alone, while others affect the health of the animal even in the heterozygous state. Alleles encoding small amounts of white are no more likely to be linked with anemia and sterility than those encoding conspicuous white. Presently, no anecdotal or research evidence has suggested that equine "KIT" mutations affect health or fertility. A recent study showed that blood parameters in horses with the "W1" mutation were normal.
Between the time of Pulos and Hutt's study in 1969 and the beginning of molecular-level research into dominant white in the 21st century, a pattern known as "Sabino" became regarded by some as a more likely cause of white phenotypes. Sabino is a type of white spotting, and the one allele now named, the incompletely dominant "Sabino-1" ("SB-1"), is found on the same locus as other "W" alleles. When homozygous, "SB-1" can produce nearly all-white horses.
In 2007, researchers from Switzerland and the United States published a paper identifying the genetic cause of dominant white spotting in horses from the Franches Montagnes horse, Camarillo White Horse, Arabian horse and Thoroughbred breeds. Each of these dominant white conditions had occurred separately and spontaneously in the past 75 years, and each represents a different allele (variation or form) of the same gene. These same researchers identified a further seven unique causes of dominant white in 2009: three in distinct families of Thoroughbreds, one Icelandic horse, one Holsteiner, a large family of American Quarter Horses and a family of South German Draft horses.
Homologous conditions.
In humans, a skin condition called piebaldism is caused by more than a dozen distinct mutations in the "KIT" gene. Piebaldism in humans is characterized by a white forelock, and pigmentless patches of skin on the forehead, brow, face, ventral trunk and extremities. Outside of pigmentation, piebaldism is an otherwise benign condition. In pigs, the "patch," "belted," and commercial "white" colors are caused by mutations on the "KIT" gene. The best-known model for "KIT" gene function is the mouse, in which over 90 alleles have been described. The various alleles produce everything from white toes and blazes to black-eyed white mice, "panda-white" to "sashed" and "belted". Many of these alleles are lethal in the homozygous state, lethal when combined, or sublethal due to anemia. Male mice with "KIT" mutations are often sterile. To date, no such pleiotropic effects have been described in horses with "KIT" mutations.


Solomon Nason

Solomon L. Nason (December 16, 1825 – April 1, 1899) was an American farmer and lumberman from Nasonville, Wisconsin who served one term as a Greenback Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Clark, Lincoln, Taylor and Wood counties.
Background.
Nason was born in Standish, Cumberland County, Maine on December 16, 1825, and received a common school education. He became a farmer and lumberman. Nason went to California in 1849, but returned to Maine in 1853, and in that same year moved to Wisconsin, settling in Wood County along with his brother William G. Nason in the spring of 1855. They settled in the area later known as "Nasonville" (at that time commencing about three or four miles southwest of what was to become Marshfield, and extending towards Maple Works and Neillsville in Clark County) since the Nason brothers had early settled at a site about eleven miles southwest of Marshfield. The Nasons settled permanently in what would later be termed Nasonville proper in September 1856, buying land in Section 5, Town 24 N, Range 2 E (Rock Township), and also buying several adjoining sections. Solomon later donated a portion of this land, on which the hamlet of Lindsey would be erected. Solomon Nason established and kept a store in Nasonville, and when a Nasonville post office was established was appointed postmaster in 1859, serving in that capacity until 1878.
Public service.
At the time of his election to the Assembly, Solomon Nason had played a leading part in the organization of the Town of Lincoln and had been the chairman of the board of supervisors for eight years, and county commissioner of Wood County under the commissioner system (which was in force from January, 1862 to March, 1870) for two years.
Legislative service.
Nason was nominated by the Greenbacks in 1877, and was elected to the Assembly without opposition, with 2,923 votes. (Republican incumbent Freeman Lindsay was not a candidate.) He was assigned to the standing committee on state lands. He was not a candidate for re-election, and the seat was taken by Republican Niram Withee.


Hope Mills Dam

The Hope Mills Dam, also known as Hope Mills Dam #1, is a concrete gravity dam on Little Rockfish Creek in Hope Mills, North Carolina, USA, which created Hope Mills Lake. Four different dams were built on the site including the current one. The first dam, of rock-crib design, was built in 1839 to power local cotton mills. The second was an embankment dam built in 1924 for powering the mills and later to maintain the lake's water level. Both previous dams failed from flooding. Then in June 2010 a leak was discovered and the lake was drained. The current dam was completed in early 2018 and water to be impounded in January but rainwater filled the dam before water even needed to be impounded.
History.
The first Hope Mills Dam was a rock-crib dam and was built in 1839 by the Rockfish Mills Co. for the powering of four cotton mills nearby. In 1865, General Sherman and Union Army troops burned the cotton mills but spared the dam from destruction. After the American Civil War, two mills were rebuilt and the surrounding area including the dam was named Hope Mills. On May 9, 1923 this first dam was breached by a flood and construction on an earthen-embankment dam began the same year. Rockfish Mills Co. again constructed the dam with designs from Mees Consulting Engineers of Charlotte and the actual construction by the Scott-Stewart Jones Co. The second dam cost $27,093 and was completed in early 1924.
In 1930, Rockfish Mills Co. went bankrupt and was not bought until 1941 by Dixie Yarns. Dixie Yarns eventually gave the dam to the town in 1984. In 1993, a two-lane Lakeview Road bridge was installed over the dam and at the same time a leak in the dam was repaired. In 1994, an unused turbine shaft from the old cotton mill site was uncovered and filled with cement. In addition, walls behind the dam's spillway were reinforced with rock after concerns were voiced about their strength. Hurricane Floyd brought heavy rains in 1999 which, after concerns of a dam breach, forced the opening of the floodgates. In 2001, a crack was repaired that engineers had determined was not structural. Later in 2001, the dam passed safety inspection but two small holes and some eroded concrete was repaired in 2002.
2003 failure and reconstruction.
In late May 2003, over Memorial Day weekend, heavy rains caused the embankment dam to give way and also destroyed of the nearby Lakeview Road. About 40 homes and 1600 people downstream were evacuated as water from Hope Mills Lake rushed down the creek causing $2.1 million in damages before making its way to the Cape Fear River. One of the floodgates on the dam had failed to open because of the pressure exerted by the flood waters, which helped push water over the top of the dam. Later in 2003, Lakeview Road was repaired and plans for the repair of the dam were underway. After four years of fund and permit requests, construction on the new 14 million dollar Hope Mills Dam began in March 2007. Crowder Construction Company was awarded the contract to construct the dam along with designs from Mactec, Morrison Engineers. The new dam would essentially be a concrete labyrinth-spillway that would expand the dam's ability to discharge flood waters. The new dam would be longer and would incorporate a fish ladder as well. Construction of the new Hope Mills Dam was complete in June 2008 and the lake was again full by August.
2010 failure.
On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, a controlled release began after engineers noticed silt coming out of the lower side of the dam. Residents were informed to loosen the ropes to their boats because the lake was going to be lowered two feet. Town officials later told residents the lake may have to be lowered as much as nine feet to inspect the dam. Overnight a sinkhole developed at the base of the dam and the lake water drained underneath the foundation. By Thursday morning (June 17, 2010) almost all of the water in the lake was gone and the town awoke to a news helicopter hovering overhead with a live video feed to ABC11.
Repairs for the dam were expected to begin in August 2012 and end October 2013 but they never occurred. A lawsuit was filed by the town in mid-October 2012, complaining that the companies involved were delaying the repairs which had yet to begin. In April 2013 Mayor Jackie Warner requested a plan to remove the dam but the town sued the builders for $10 million in May in order to pay for repairs. In July 2014, the town received a $9.4 million settlement from the builders.
2016 Reconstruction.
In March 2016, construction of a new dam started after years of frustration. The ribbon cutting for the completed dam was on 31 January 2018. "but [s]teady rains ... filled the formerly empty lake bed to its proper level", Town Manager Melissa Adams said. As a result, the town shut the dam's gates, impounding the water in the lake.
Envision Sustainability Award.
On Wednesday, August 7, 2019, the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure announced that the reconstructed Hope Mills Dam had been awarded an Envision Bronze award for sustainability. The project was the first dam project to earn an Envision award. The project was completed by a design-build team composed of Schnabel Engineering and ASI Constructors with a budget of $8 million.


Ken Tschumper

Ken Tschumper (born April 24, 1950) is an American farmer and politician.
Born in La Crescent, Minnesota, Tschumper received his bachelor's degree from Winona State University and went to graduate school at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. He was a dairy farmer. He served as a Democrat in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2007 and 2008. Tschumper was a 2012 Democratic candidate for District 28B of the Minnesota House of Representatives. In 2014, he ran for Houston County commissioner. One of his main points is to ban frac sand. He owns a farm in LaCrescent, Minnesota, with 3,200 acres.


Overo

Overo refers to several genetically unrelated pinto coloration patterns of white-over-dark body markings in horses, and is a term used by the American Paint Horse Association to classify a set of pinto patterns that are not Tobiano. "Overo" is a Spanish word, originally meaning "like an egg".There are at least three genetically different spotting patterns which fall under the "overo" classification: frame overo, sabino overo, and splash or splashed white overo.
To complicate matters further, some of the spotting gene patterns can be combined to produce a horse with multiple color traits, such as the Tovero. The genetics of pinto spotting patterns are still being researched and are not fully understood. Some patterns may be polygenic, dominant, or incomplete dominants, and spotting can be so minimally expressed on an individual that the animal is mistaken for a "solid" colored horse. The sabino pattern is one of the most complex, as there has been one gene identified, SB-1, that creates one type of sabino patterning, but not all sabino-patterned horses carry it. There is a DNA test for the allele associated with the frame overo pattern, which causes the controversial lethal white syndrome, and there is a DNA test for three mutations, SW-1, SW-2, and SW-3, associated with splashed white.
Although the condition lethal white syndrome is also sometimes called "overo lethal white", that term is somewhat a misnomer. Because there are many different ways a horse can be classified as an "overo", and different genes linked to overo patterning, it is not accurate to say the "overo gene" is what "causes" lethal white syndrome. The frame allele is associated with lethal white, but the other genetics, such as horses with sabino and splash alleles, are not. There is a genetic link between splash white and deafness, but the correlation is not yet fully understood.
Frame overo.
The frame overo pattern is the most common of the three types of overo patterns recognized in the American Paint Horse breed. A frame overo horse appears to be any solid base color (bay, black, chestnut, etc.) with white irregular patches added, usually with a horizontal orientation. Markings are often of jagged shape rather than rounded, the white rarely crosses the back, the lower legs tend to be dark, and the tail is one color, usually dark. The head is often white or bald-faced, and blue eyes are not uncommon. The frame overo pattern usually behaves like a dominant gene, in that when frame overo horses are crossed on nonspotted horses, about half of the foals come out spotted. There are records of frame overos being produced by two nonspotted parents. There is a theory, however, that these "solid" horses simply may be horses with very minimal expression of overo genetics.
Frame coloring is controversial because it is associated with lethal white syndrome (OLWS or LWS), the equine version of Hirschprung disease. LWS occurs when a foal is homozygous for the Ile118Lys EDNRB mutation, which is considered by many researchers to be "usually responsible" for the frame overo phenotype. However, other researchers emphasize that overo spotting patterns are phenotypically and genetically heterogeneous, that is, may have multiple sources.
The frame overo gene can be masked by other white patterns, particularly tobiano, which is a dominant gene and epistatic to overo. Epistatic means that when both genes are present, this is the one expressed.
In addition, some carriers of the LWS allele appear to be solid. One theory holds that such horses carry the frame gene, but so minimal in expression that they appear solid. Either way, all LWS foals have horses with frame overo patterning in their pedigrees, and horses carrying a frame allele may not necessarily have a visible expression of the frame overo color.
"Lethal white".
Foals which are homozygous for frame and thus have lethal white syndrome (LWS) are not albinos. Albinism does not exist in horses. LWS foals are born almost or completely white with pink skin, but have blue eyes, not red ones. The lethal trait is that the nerves of the foal's digestive system are undeveloped and the bowel cannot move food along. All lethal white foals die within 72 hours after birth, and are typically euthanized sooner for humane reasons. A horse can be a carrier of the trait when it carries only one copy of the gene, (that is, heterozygous) and carriers are healthy and show no clinical signs of lethal white syndrome.
Thus, it is recommended by organizations such as the American Paint Horse Association that horses of any pattern with overo ancestors be tested to verify their carrier state before being bred. There is a DNA test for the gene which can be used to plan breedings and avoid producing affected foals. The mutation has not been found in solid-colored horses from breeds without frame patterning. Likewise, a sick foal that happens to be white can be tested to avoid inadvertent euthanization of a non-lethal foal who has a simple case of colic.
Lethal white horses should not be confused with non-lethal forms of white, such as dominant white, which may be completely white with pink skin. Blue-eyed, pink-skinned cremellos and other horses carrying the cream gene do not carry the LWS allele unless they also have an ancestor with overo genetics. The splash white and sabino genetics are not associated with lethal white, though such horses could also be carriers of the frame allele.
Splash overo.
A "splash" or "splashed white" overo pattern appears like a solid-colored horse who has been dipped in white paint, and the color splashed up from the bottom. It is the least common of the overo patterns. The legs and bottom portion of the body are usually white, as is the head, and blue eyes are common. Edges where white and dark color meet are usually crisp and sharp. Recent studies suggest that splashed white may be caused by a dominant gene. Splash overos are more prone to being deaf than other horses.
Outside of the United States, the term "splash" is sometimes applied to horses of apparent Sabino patterning.
Sabino "overo".
"Sabino" is listed a type of overo coloring by the American Paint Horse Association. This terminology, outdated in terms of modern genetics, creates confusion, because other breeds, including many that will not register "pinto" or "paint" horses, may have individuals with sabino genetics. One reason for the terminology confusion is that "overo" was used by Paint horse breeders in the United States to refer to "anything that is not tobiano." Another reason for this terminology is that the term "overo", when used outside of the USA, particularly in Spanish-speaking countries, refers to horses with the speckled roaning patterns typical of horses called sabino in the USA. In addition, strongly marked sabino horses may mimic either overo or tobiano coloring.
In general, sabino is a generic description for a group of similar white spotting patterns. These include high white stockings on all four feet, often extending up the legs with jagged edges, a fairly white head, with markings often extending past the eyes, roaning at the edges of white markings, lip spots, "lacing," and white patches on the lower barrel that may extend to the flanks. A minimal sabino may only have one of the traits associated with sabino horses. On the other hand, a "sabino-white" is a near-white or completely white horse, and sabino genetics are not linked to lethal white.
Tobiano.
Tobiano coloring is the inverse of overo spotting. Tobianos have a vertical spotting pattern, large, rounded spots, white that crosses the topline, dark heads, but mostly white legs and white or multi-colored tail. Typical examples tend to have more white than dark, whereas typical frame overo horses tend to more dark than white, though there are many exceptions in both cases. It is created by a different gene from any of the overo patterns and is a dominant gene. All tobianos must have at least one tobiano parent. When a tobiano allele is present, it is epistatic and often masks other patterns.
Tovero and other mixed patterns.
A tovero horse has pinto spotting patterns that show characteristics of both overo and tobiano and probably carries genes for both. For example, a tovero might have tobiano body spotting with rounded edges and white across the back, yet have irregular facial markings and blue eyes.
Horses may also have a combination of sabino and frame overo genetics or any other combination of genes, resulting patterns that are difficult to smoothly classify into any one group.


Piloto Cigars Inc.

Piloto Cigars Inc. is a privately held company that produces the Padrón cigar brand from Nicaragua. Commonly known as Padrón Cigars, the company was founded September 8, 1964 in Miami, Florida by Cuba-native José Orlando Padrón. In 1970, Padrón moved the company to Estelí, Nicaragua.
Padrón Cigars is managed and curated by three generations of the Padrόn family, under the leadership of José O. Padrón,Jorge Padrón. The company controls all aspects of cigar production, including tobacco growing, sorting, processing, cigar manufacturing, and distribution.
Company history.
Origins.
Damaso Padrón, Jose Orlando Padrón's grandfather, immigrated to Cuba from the Canary Islands (Spain) in the middle 1800s when he was a young boy. As was designated in those days, the "" () were made to work in the tobacco fields. With what little money they had, the Padrón family bought a small farm in the Pinar del Río region of Cuba, Las Obas. At that time they made $7 every of tobacco they cultivated in Cuba. From there, the Padrón family continued to buy farms around the Pinar del Río region including a factory in Piloto, where the name of Jose's company, Piloto Cigars, is derived.
Jose Orlando Padrón was born in 1926 in Cuba and grew up near the Pinar del Río region, famed for its tobacco. His family has been working in the tobacco industry since the 1850s, and, when Jose moved from Cuba in 1961 after his tobacco farm was nationalized by Fidel Castro, went to Spain, then New York, and then he brought over a century's worth of tobacco knowledge to Miami. In Miami, Jose earned $60 every month from government aid to Cuban refugees. After a friend gave him a small hammer, Jose obtained a carpentry job. It was this job that enabled him to raise the $600 to start his own cigar brand and business. To this day, the little hammer has been a symbol of Jose's start as a cigar blender and manufacturer.
Padrón produced 200 cigars a day, made in typical Cuban rolling style, with one torcedor. Padrón then came to the idea of making a new cigar, the "Fuma". Made completely from Connecticut broadleaf tobacco, many bought this cigar for its curly head cap, which resembled the traditional cigars from Cuba.
It soon became very limiting to deal only with Connecticut broadleaf tobacco because of its long curing process. Padrón was approached by a man from a tobacco company in Nicaragua touring around for potential buyers, who asked him to inspect his tobacco for its quality. Padrón thought very well of his tobacco and told him to come back after his trip to Europe so he may travel to Nicaragua and inspect the tobacco and the fields. There, in the Jalapa valley of Nicaragua, Padrón found the tobacco he would use for his cigars.
Move to Nicaragua.
Jose Padrón began using the Nicaraguan tobacco in 1967, but due to inability to meet the demands of his consumers, he moved his company to Estelí, Nicaragua in 1970 — a country with numerous political troubles at the time. Padrón tried to remain apolitical during his stay in Nicaragua however, after riots broke out and Padrón's factory was burnt down, Jose began to search for another location for his business.
While the factory in Nicaragua was rebuilt soon after the disaster, another factory was established across the border in Honduras. After the Sandinista rebellion and take over, there was much uncertainty at the Padrón factory as to what the workers were to do. Padrón asked them to continue working, and eventually Padrón returned to Nicaragua where he spoke to a Sandinista official, who promised him there would be no more problems with his factory.
Nicaraguan blockade.
A new problem arose for Padrón after making peace with the Sandinistas: the United States embargo against Nicaragua enacted by President Reagan on Nicaraguan products. Padrón scrambled to move as much tobacco and cigars from Nicaragua to Tampa, Florida during the 5 days allotted before the blockade took effect. He was later granted an extension by the U.S. government to continue to move his product for another 6 months, then, whatever stock he had left in Nicaragua, remained there. After the blockade lifted, Padrón shifted his main operation back to Nicaragua, where it still remains today.
Current history.
As President, Jorge is moving into the director's position for the company; making more trips to visit the factories in Estelí and working on the business end of the company. It is the intent of the Padrón family that Jorge will eventually take the main leadership role in the company one day. Jose Orlando Padrón passed away on December 5, 2017.
In 2003, the company opened a new rolling facility in Estelí, Nicaragua, a building twice the size of the company's previous Estelí facility. The new rolling center was the 17th building owned by Padrón in Estelí and brought the company's usable space in the city up to a total of , mostly dedicated to the storage of tobacco. At that time the company maintained an inventory sufficient for more than 25 million cigars — six years' worth of production.
Product line.
The Padrón cigar company makes three different blends of cigar, all with their own unique flavor points and sizes. As a business, Padrón Cigars tries to cater to all their customers, and that means catering to all price points as well.
Padrón Series.
There are fifteen vitolas in the Padrón series. Each is available in a natural and a maduro wrapper. With the exception of the Corticos, the band for all of the vitolas is brown with "Padrón" and "Handmade" in white lettering. The wrapper, filler, and binder leaves are all sun-grown habano from Nicaragua, aged two-and-one-half years.
Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series.
In 1994, Padrón introduced the 1964 Anniversary Series, in celebration of the company's 30-year anniversary. Like the regular Padrón series, these cigars are made entirely from Nigaraguan-grown tobacco, and are available in both natural and maduro wrappers The series is limited in its production and to assure authenticity, the company labels each individual cigar with its own 6-digit serial number.
Padron Serie 1926.
The third cigar blend Padrón offers is the Padrón Serie 1926, created in 2002 in honor of Jose Padrón's 75th birthday, with the "1926" a reference to the family patriarch's year of birth. Consisting of 7 vitolas, each cigar features either a sun-grown habano natural or Maduro wrapper, and contains Nicaraguan tobacco aged for no less than five years. Just like the Padrón 1964 Anniversary blend, the Padrón Serie 1926 is box pressed and has 6 digit security codes on their bands to ensure against counterfeiting.
Padrón 1926 Serie Famous 75th, which comes in a 5 x 54 box pressed robusto vitola and is available in either a Nicaraguan habano or Nicaraguan habano maduro wrapper. Release date Nov 2015.
Only 1500 boxes of each version are being produced, with box prices set at $210 and single stick prices at $21.
Padron Family Reserve.
The fourth and final cigar blends that Padrón offers is the Padrón Family Reserve. They were first created in 2009, and each different blend was created to commemorate a special date to the company, with exception to the 85 year which was created for Jose Orlando Padrón's birthday. Consisting of 6 unique blends, each cigar features either a sun-grown habano natural or Maduro wrapper, and contains Nicaraguan tobacco aged for no less than ten years. Just like the Padrón 1964 Anniversary and Padrón Serie 1926 blends, all six blends are box pressed and have 6 digit security codes on their bands to ensure against counterfeiting.
Awards/Recognition/Ratings.
Padrón has received numerous awards and high ratings from many respected cigar critics, connoisseurs and aficionados. The Thousand series has received over sixty one ratings, the lowest being an 88 and the highest being a 94 on a one hundred point scale. The Padrón 1964 Anniversary blend has received sixty two ratings, the lowest being a 90 and the highest being a 95 on a one hundred point scale. The Padrón Serie 1926 blend has received twenty seven ratings, the lowest being a 90 and the highest being a 97 on a 100-point scale. The special release Padrón 1964 Anniversary "A" received a rating of 91 twice, while the newest Padrón 1964 Anniversary "Millennium" has received no ratings.