Global Dairy 500 Conference Underway

Chuck ZimmermanAlltech, Alltech Global 500, Industry News

Alltech Global Dairy 500 ConferenceThe Global Dairy 500 Conference sponsored by Alltech gets underway today as a group of attendees are on a tour today. Alltech’s Allie Hembree is with that group and I’ll have information and photos from the tour later on.

Here’s a note I received from her via email just now:

Good Morning on this beautiful Sunday! We are on our way! The buses have left Lexington and Madison. Currently the Lexington buses are driving through Indiana with cornstalks to my left and flat land on my right. We are having some snacks and watching some interesting episodes of “Dirty Jobs”, which features Fair Oaks Farm in one episode. The day started off with an early wake up call from the hotel and some coffee. We are about half way through our journey to Fair Oaks, and everyone is anxious to get there. Did you know Fair Oaks houses 32,000 dairy cows on their farm? We will keep you updated throughout our trip.

In the meantime you can follow along with Allie on the Alltech Tweets Twitter account.

World Dairy Diary coverage of the Global Dairy 500 Conference is sponsored by Alltech.

"Frosty" is the "Hot" Pick at 2009 World Dairy Expo

News EditorAlpharma, Breeds, Charleston-Orwig, Hoard's Dairyman, Industry News, Novus International, World Dairy Expo

The most exciting part of World Dairy Expo – is the “Parade of Champions” and the crowning of the Supreme Champion title! The 2009 World Dairy Expo Supreme Champion is Harvue Roy Frosty, a Registered Holstein owned by Duckett, Junemann and Scott of Armbrust, Wis. The 2009 Reserve Supreme Champion is Old Mill E Snickerdoodle, a Registered Brown Swiss owned by Allen Bassler, Jr., Va. Congratulations to the owners of these beautiful animals – and congratulations to all of the dairy cattle showmen for a memorable Expo!

Thank you to the Holstein World for providing video coverage of the Supreme Champion. Visit their youtube channel to view the rest of the 2009 Holstein shows from the World Dairy Expo.

World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

Good News for Dairy Producers

Cindy ZimmermanAlpharma, Audio, Charleston-Orwig, Dairy Checkoff, Hoard's Dairyman, Industry News, Novus International, World Dairy Expo

World Dairy Expo Photo Album

World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

With all the bad news in the dairy industry, it was nice to hear some positive news for producers at World Dairy Expo.

WDXPaula Meabon, a producer from Pennsylvania who serves on the Dairy Promotion and Research Board, was happy to share some very good news about new dairy products being offered by major restaurant chains. “As a dairy farmer I am really proud of what our dairy checkoff is doing,” Paula says. “Right now we are partnering with McDonalds with the McCafe drinks, which are 80 percent milk-based coffee beverages. So, not only are they good tasting, but they are also good for you with all the dairy that’s in it.” Paula says McDonald’s new Angus burger is also a first for the dairy industry because it has two slices of cheese “not only are they using American slices, but also Swiss.”

In addition, Paula says the checkoff is partnering with Domino’s Pizza on their six new American Legend pizzas with more cheese. “This is 40 percent added cheese on six new cheese pizzas,” she said. “By adding one ounce of cheese to a pizza, that’s 2.6 billion pounds of milk equivalent used in a year.”

Paula notes that the economic situation in the dairy industry right now could be much worse if it were not for the dairy checkoff helping drive demand for dairy products.

Listen to or download my interview with Paula here:

More from the World Dairy Expo Trade Show

Cindy ZimmermanAlpharma, Charleston-Orwig, Health, Hoard's Dairyman, Novus International, World Dairy Expo

World Dairy Expo Photo Album

World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

There were a record 755 companies exhibiting at World Dairy Expo this year, which made it difficult to visit them all, but we did what we could!

WDXOne booth I visited was Arm and Hammer Animal Nutrition where I talked with president Curt Siverling who says it has been a challenging year for them along with the rest of the dairy industry, since they are primarily a dairy nutrition focused company. Curt says the economic situation has forced many producers to make some “irrational ration decisions” that will eventually have to be reversed. “What’s encouraging to us, however, is even in this very difficult time, we continue to get dairymen to begin using some of our products for the first time,” Curt said. AH offers seven different branded products, starting with the original sodium bicarbonate buffer where the company started, all of which they back up with university studies that prove return on investment for producers.

Listen to my interview with Curt here:

[audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/wdexpo/wdx09-arm-hammer.mp3]

WDXI also stopped by the Novartis Animal Health booth to talk about Healthy Heifer™, a new heifer management program designed to maximize the long-term value of dairy replacement heifers through established health and management protocols. Director of Veterinary Services Dr. Doug Scholz says they just launched this program last month. “We try to take a full management approach,” Doug says. “They need to use reproductive vaccines, vaccines to prevent calf scours, but really the program is much deeper than that. Doing the proper nutritional management, proper animal husbandry management, proper deworming – its really an encompassing program.”

Novartis feels that veterinarians need to be the knowledge source for producers, so the program requires the involvement of the herd veterinarian for enrollment. Listen to Doug explain more about Healthy Heifer here:

[audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/wdexpo/wdx09-novartis.mp3]

BouMatic Can Make Your Dairy Smarter

Cindy ZimmermanAlpharma, Audio, Charleston-Orwig, Hoard's Dairyman, Industry News, Novus International, World Dairy Expo

World Dairy Expo Photo Album

World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

WDXBouMatic has been a global leader in innovative dairy farm products and now they can even make your dairy farm smarter.

At World Dairy Expo this week, BouMatic was introducing its brand new Smart Dairy management systems to producers. I talked with Senior Marketing Director John Mansavage about Smart Dairy.

WDX“This is an automation control system for dairy operators,” Mansavage says. “We’ve developed a modular system where all areas of control on the dairy can be managed through a single control access point and the dairyman can do it from his kitchen table, from the parlor itself, from the beach in Miami – wherever it suits him.” He says it just allows producers to be that much more efficient in challenging economic times when efficiency means productivity.

Mansavage is also on the board of directors for World Dairy Expo and he says they were very pleased with the turnout for this year’s event, despite the economic situation for the industry. “Bar none, this is the dairy show – maybe on the planet,” he told me. “we’re real happy with the response we’re getting and the people we’re talking to in the booth – they’re upbeat. This is probably the toughest I’ve ever seen it in 20 some years of being in the dairy business but it’s kind of an amazing optimism that remains and everybody is just getting through it.”

Listen to my interview with John from World Dairy Expo here:

Dairy Assistance Considered by Congress

Cindy ZimmermanGovernment, Industry News, Price, usda

The new fiscal year for the U.S. Department of Agriculture began October 1, but this week a 30-day continuing resolution was passed after an amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was included to allocate $350 million in emergency dairy assistance under the budget.

tom vilsackThe measure adopted by the conference committee specified $290 million for direct payments and $60 million for purchase of cheese. However, California Sen. Barbara Boxer placed a hold on the Fiscal Year 2010 Ag Appropriations bill, expressing concern that the emergency spending might discriminate against dairies in Western states, and requested a meeting with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to discuss how the emergency spending will be allocated.

Sec. Vilsack says he wants to make sure the assistance is allocated correctly. “You can use the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program, but that doesn’t necessarily benefit all the dairy farmers,” Vilsack said Thursday after a meeting with members of the Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus. “Dairy farmers in California have probably already reached their limit, so you have to look at creative ways to help them at the same time you are helping the dairy farmers across the country.”

Vilsack advocates a more long term solution to the dairy industry situation. “We have to come up with a process in dairy that shrinks the instability in the pricing. What we have now is a boom and bust cycle, what we really need is more stable pricing.”

World Dairy Expo is Natural Fit for Novus International

Cindy ZimmermanAlpharma, Audio, Charleston-Orwig, Health, Hoard's Dairyman, Novus International, World Dairy Expo

World Dairy Expo Photo Album

World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

WDXA global event like World Dairy Expo is a natural fit for a global company like Novus International. “It really fits with the vision of Novus,” says Stephanie Gable, Novus Global Marketing Manager. “One of the things we concentrate on at Novus is actually feeding the world. We want to make sure that we can provide the ingredients to help our customers do a better job of feeding protein to the world. So, we’re here talking about a variety of products that help to increase milk protein, milk fat, milk volume, can help with immunity issues – all for the dairy producers.”

WDXNortheast U.S. sales manager Suzy Demeester says they have a “three legged stool” of products for dairy producers. “ALIMET is the foundation of our products, it is a methionine analog that increases milk production, improves components and also has some health effects,” Demeester says. “We’ve got AGRADO Plus, which is a blend of dietary antioxidants that really helps keep the cows in balance with their oxidative stress, and then MINTREX, a chelated brand of minerals that has a special methionine component to it that also helps contribute to the improvement in component production.”

Demeester says they recently conducted a trial with all three products that resulted in an increase of 10 pounds of milk per cow, plus improvement of components, decrease in somatic cell count and overall profitability improvement for the producer.

Listen to my back-to-back interviews with Stephanie and Suzy from World Dairy Expo here:

McEvoy Awarded Klussendorf Trophy

News EditorAlpharma, Charleston-Orwig, Hoard's Dairyman, Industry News, Novus International, World Dairy Expo

IMG_2718-726349Congratulations to Charlie McEvoy of Marathon, N.Y, for being named the 68th winner of the Klussendorf Trophy, the highest recognition given to a dairy cattle showman in the United States. The award is made in memory of Arthur B. Klussendorf, considered the outstanding showman of his time and a model for all those who have followed him. McEvoy received the award during the 2009 World Dairy Expo.

McEvoy’s selection was made by members of the Klussendorf Memorial Association, formed in 1937, at its annual meeting held earlier this week in Madison, Wis. He received the silver trophy designed by Tiffany Jewelers of New York City from the 2008 winner and this year’s Holstein judge of the International Holstein Show, Mark Rueth, Oxford, Wis.

This year’s Klussendorf winner has a long and distinguished history with the dairy cow. McEvoy was born into a farm family who raised registered Holsteins and began showing at a very young age, and has since been part of the show-ring for every season of his 74 years. At age 16, he moved to Marathon, New York with his mother and father, and for nearly 60 years has resided at the same farm which he now owns in partnership with his youngest son.

Photo courtesy of Hoard’s Dairyman

World Dairy Expo Photo Album

World Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

Alpharma Reaches Out to Teach Youth

Cindy ZimmermanAlpharma, Audio, Charleston-Orwig, Education, Hoard's Dairyman, Novus International, Video, World Dairy Expo

World Dairy Expo Photo Album

WDXWorld Dairy Diary coverage of World Dairy Expo is sponsored by:
Novus Charleston Orwig

Alpharma Animal Health is reaching out to teach young people more about agriculture through a grassroots educational program called “Reach Teach and Learn.”

WDXThe company launched the program earlier this year at the 2009 Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The program supports local school districts and colleges through initiatives that encourage students to learn more about agriculture and how their food is produced, and to share their insights and knowledge about what they learned. I talked with Dr. Lance Fox, Alpharma’s Director of Technical Services, at their exhibit during World Dairy Expo about the purpose of the program.

“Essentially the program is designed to reach out to our youth – elementary, high school, college-level students – our future leaders of tomorrow, to promote agricultural awareness,” Lance told me. “It’s not about products, it’s just about reaching out to the youth.”

It’s also about motivating young people to reach their own personal and professional goals, something Lance has done in his own life and he shares that story when he talks with young people of all ages. He grew up in the Wisconsin dairy industry, became a veterinarian, joined Alpharma as a technical services manager, and earlier this year achieved the personal goal of climbing to the top of Mt. Everest. “If you believe, you can achieve,” Lance says.

Find out more about the Reach Teach and Learn program, which features an essay and video contest for different age level students, at reachteachlearn.com.

Watch my interview with Lance here – listen to or download the audio version below.