Bander Uses Expand

Chuck ZimmermanCallicrate Bander

The Callicrate BanderSomehow we didn’t get the latest news from the Callicrate Bander posted here but that’s easy to fix. You can link to the full release which has sound bites included that you can listen to on your computer.

USE OF BANDERS EXPANDS BEYOND CASTRATION

A popular castration device is proving adaptable for a wide variety of other animal health procedures, according to livestock producers and veterinarians.

(St. Francis, KS) The Callicrate Bander was developed as a tool for low-stress, bloodless, user-friendly castration that enables cattle on feed to maintain high performance levels. However, the ligation capabilities of the Callicrate Bander, which is designed and handcrafted in the U.S., also lends itself to a variety of other animal health treatments.

Tom King, an independent marketing representative from Oshkosh, Nebraska says he continues to see new uses for the bander, especially among livestock veterinarians who use it when they need a sanitary way to shut off blood supply for operations.

“I’ve had veterinarians tell me they use it on just about anything that’s sticking out that’s not supposed to be there. For blood worts and tumors and damaged teats on dairy cows. Even had two vets now tell me that they’ve used it to amputate broken legs that needed to be taken off.”

Tail docking is just one example of a procedure made simple, safe and stress-free by using the Callicrate Bander. Marketing rep Mick Lovelace of Edmond, Oklahoma says the practice is widely used on dairies where sanitation in milking barns and parlors is an issue, and the Callicrate Bander makes the procedure much simpler for the dairy farmer in either a stall barn or a parlor barn situation. Full Release (Word Document)

Holstein USA Board Meeting

Chuck ZimmermanHolstein Association

Holstein Association USAHolstein Association USA just held its annual fall board meeting in St. Louis and provided some details:

The meeting, led by newly elected Holstein President Randy Gross, was a successful and productive exchange of ideas, discussion and action.

Registrations continue to grow – 248,729 animals have been registered through the end of October 2005, an increase of 3.9% from 239,430 in 2004. Animals transferred through the end of October are: 47,684 compared to 47,709 at the same time last year. Classification activity is up 4.6% from last year, 167,419 animals have been classified through the end of October, in a total of 4,184 herds, compared to 3,916 herds in 2004, an increase of herd activity of 6.8%.

The Board approved the recommendation of the Junior Advisory and Youth Activities Committees to denote Louisville, Kentucky as the site of the Grand National Junior Holstein Show, along with the remaining five designated National Junior Holstein Shows. The Board approved changes to the delegate reimbursement policy, effective with the June 2006 Annual Meeting. All delegates who attend the entire Annual Meeting will be reimbursed $400 for their expenses.

The Board received various committee reports including the Audit, Holstein Breed of the Future, International, Show and Junior Advisory Committees. Chief Financial Officer, Barbara Casna, reported the Association is projected to have another very healthy year in 2005, with net operating results forecasted to be $951,000. Total revenues through October 2005 are $11,800,000 which is an increase of $303,000 from last year or 3%. The Holstein Association Reserve Fund on October 31, 2005 was valued at $21,591,000, a gain of $551,000, or 3%, since January 1st.

Holstein Association staff presented the 2006 Management-by-Objective Business Plan to the Board of Directors. The plan was approved. The Board welcomed representatives of Monsanto Company, Roger A. Cady, PhD and Shay Sunderland, PhD for a discussion on the future of the dairy industry.

Back In The Saddle

Chuck ZimmermanGeneral

Hello World Dairy Diary fans. We’ve taken an extended break from posting to work on some other projects and determine where we go from here.

Where we go is basically this. We’ll begin posting dairy news from around the world on a regular basis immediately and are seeking sponsors! We really appreciate our original 3 sponsors and will keep their logo/links up for the time being.

So, look for much more to come. It’s late but I’ll have more news starting tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting.

Photo Album From Expo Now Online

Chuck ZimmermanWorld Dairy Expo

Entrance To World Dairy ExpoI promised I’d provide you with an online photo album from World Dairy Expo and I finally got it done. I took 262 photos during Expo and uploaded 201 of them. So there’s a lot to look at. Many of them were posted to World Dairy Diary but these are larger and unedited.

This link – World Dairy Diary Photo Album – will take you to the Flickr photo album. You can look at them individually or as a slideshow. You can download them too. If you use them, just give us credit please.

I hope you enjoy them. It was fun taking them.

Internships Available At Select Sires

Chuck ZimmermanExhibitor

Select SiresAre you a college student looking for a summer internship? Here’s an opportunity. If you’re not a college student, maybe you know one you could pass this opportunity on to!

Select Sires Inc. has announced plans to offer two summer internships at its headquarters facility in Plain City, Ohio, during the summer of 2006. Positions are available within the dairy-sire and communications departments, with applications due by Monday, Nov. 21, 2005. “Both practical work experience within the industry and networking are extremely important in helping college students prepare for full-time employment upon graduation,” says Dave Thorbahn, Select Sires general manager. “That’s why Select Sires and several of its 10 member cooperatives offer hands-on internship opportunities each year. These internships help introduce top students to the industry side of agriculture, while they contribute to the day-to-day operation of the Select Sires federation.”

College students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in dairy science, animal science, agricultural economics, agricultural communications or related agricultural fields may apply for these internships. Applicants must be familiar with cattle pedigree information. Previous judging-team experience is an advantage. While important for all internships, strong writing and computer skills are a requirement for students working in corporate communications. Sire-department interns must have experience working with cattle, and the ability to clip and prepare animals for still or video photography.

For more information about these internships or to submit a resume for consideration, visit http://www.selectsires.com/internship.html or send an e-mail message to info-line@selectsires.com.

Virtus & Lallemand Teaming Up On New Dairy Products

Chuck ZimmermanExhibitor, Industry News

Strata GThis is a two blog post. That means that it will appear on AgWired and on World Dairy Diary. Why? Because these folks did a great media relations event at World Dairy Expo and they have new product news.

They are Virtus Nutrition & Lallemand. Now I don’t know about you but it’s not easy to understand and write about what these folks make. However, they did what it took to get the media there and “explain” it. We were invited to a wine tasting/product discussion. I missed the introduction so I never did fully understand the relationship between Virtus and Lallemand, except that Lallemand manufacturers and Virtus distributes.

However, Lallemand makes yeast and yeast is used in wine making. In fact, we learned that most of the wine made in the world uses Lallemand manufactured yeast! Yeast is also used in animal nutrition and there are different kinds of yeast that produce different kinds of results.

So, what they did was have us taste 3 different kinds of wine that were made with all the same ingredients except that the yeast for each was different. They all tasted different and this demonstrated the whole point of the presentation that followed on animal nutrition! Very creative and very well done. Besides, they brought in a wine expert, Lallemand’s own Bob Charley, who is a forage products manager. He was excellent. In fact, the wine was excellent.

The best part was leaving though and receiving a 2-bottle wine holder with corkscrew and a bottle of red and white inside! I only have the white left. They stocked the holders with New Glarus Primrose Winery products, which was also a good idea since we were in Wisconsin and the winery is located in New Glarus, WI. Let’s do it again Lallemand & Virtus.

Virtus Nutrition, headquartered in Fairlawn, Ohio, today introduced Strata G™ with Omega-3 Fatty Acids, the first in a line of new products to appear under the new Strata G brand name. “Strata G products feature specific fatty acids, such as omega-3’s, that are meant to be strategically fed at a specific time for a specific result,” said Scott Sorrell, Director of Marketing for Virtus Nutrition.

EFACTVirtus Nutrition, headquartered in Fairlawn, Ohio, today announced a new, patented manufacturing process — Engineered Fatty Acid Conversion Technology (EFACT™) — that enables the company to produce calcium salts from virtually any fat source. “Science is just beginning to discover and understand the power of certain specific fatty acids,” said Dr. Steve Koenig, President and CEO of NutriScience Technologies, holding company of Virtus Nutrition. “EFACT gives us the ability to build new products with virtually any fatty acid profile from a wide variety of fat sources”.”

Holstein Foundation Online Art Sale

Chuck ZimmermanHolstein Association

Holstein FoundationNow’s the time to get your dairy holiday shopping done online and help out a good cause. It’s the first ever Holstein Foundation online Art Sale!

The high-quality paintings, ceramics, and sculptures, all relating to dairy cattle make the perfect holiday gifts! All proceeds from the Holstein Foundation Art Sale benefit Foundation programs. The Foundation will accept bids on these special art pieces until December 1, 2005. Make sure your bid is the last one!

iDAIRY Up And Running

Chuck ZimmermanHolstein Association, Industry News

iDairyNational animal ID is heating up as various systems and government certification programs are starting to be implemented. In the dairy business there’s a new coalition of groups working together to create a system. One of those is iDAIRY of which Holstein Association USA is a founder.


Holstein Association USA, Inc. is a founding member of IDairy, the new coalition of six leading dairy industry organizations working to facilitate a national animal ID system.

“The Holstein Association believes there is an urgent need for a mandatory national animal ID system in the United States to allow the government to respond quickly and effectively to an animal health emergency,” said John M. Meyer, Chief Executive Officer of the Holstein Association USA, Inc.

Announced Thursday, October 6, 2005 at the World Dairy Expo, IDairy unveiled a three phase approach to secure the dairy industry’s role in the national animal ID system. The first phase is for all dairy and livestock producers to register their premises; the next step is for each animal to be identified and the final phase is the transfer of data from individual systems to a national database. The IDairy group hopes to have all dairy cows identified prior to the 2009 goal set by USDA.

Dairy and livestock producers can visit the newly launched IDairy website: www.idairy.org to complete the first phase of the coalition’s plan: registering all agricultural premises. The IDairy website is the industry’s source for the most up-to-date information about national animal ID and the founding organizations: Holstein Association USA, Inc., American Jersey Cattle Association, National Association for Animal Breeders, National Dairy Herd Improvement Association, National Milk Producers Federation and Professional Dairy Heifer Growers Association.

Nonfat Dry Milk Donation By USDA

Chuck ZimmermanGovernment, Industry News, Milk

USDAUSDA is using nonfat dry milk to help those in need. This announcement was just made at the end of last week.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced that USDA will donate an additional 25 million pounds of nonfat dry milk (NDM) to help care for the needy throughout the U.S., including those affected by the 2005 hurricanes.

“This initiative builds on the president’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and promotes USDA’s efforts to meet nutritional requirements of individuals in need,” said Johanns. “Distribution of nonfat dry milk and its products to faith-based and community organizations is just one of many avenues through which USDA supports those in need.”

Nonfat dry milk can be used in manufacturing dairy products such as ready-to-eat pudding, ready-to-eat milk-based soups, nutritional bars and ultra-high temperature shelf-stable milk. The faith-based and community organizations exchange USDA’s nonfat dry milk for such manufactured products for distribution within the 48 contiguous states.

Johanns made the donation possible by extending the current deadlines under the National Nonprofit Humanitarian Initiative (NNHI) through December 31, 2005.

The following nonprofit organizations have participated in the FY 2005 NNHI.

America’s Second Harvest
Believer’s Sanctuary
California Emergency Foodlink
Calvary Baptist Church
Cascade Blue Mountain Food Share
Central Wisconsin Community Action Council, Inc.
City Team Ministries
Comlinks
Convoy of Hope
Cooperative Care Center
Cumac/Echo
Farm Share, Inc.
Feed the Children, Inc.
Feed the Hungry
Goodness Outreach Depot
Harvesting International Ministry Center, Inc.
Heartland Family Services
His Hands Extended
Hope In Action
Hosanna Daycor & H.P.W. Church
Hunger Task Force, Milwaukee, WI
Jeffco Action Center, Inc.
Jerico Faith Center
Las Cruces Gospel Rescue Mission
Love, Inc.
Midwest Mission Distribution
Newcap, Inc.
Operation Blessing Relief & Development Corp.
Operation Compassion
Racine/Kenosha Community Action Agency
Shilo Ministries
Springs Rescue Mission
St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation The Mission, Inc.
The Salvation Army, Long Beach, CA
The Salvation Army, Lancaster, CA
The Salvation Army, Phoenix, AZ
United Christian Ministries, Inc.
Westcap
Westside Food Bank
With Love From Jesus Ministries, Inc.
Word of Faith

Interview With Publisher Of Dairy Directory

Chuck ZimmermanExhibitor, Industry News

Southwest Plains Dairy DirectoryI’ve written before about the Southwest Plains Dairy Directory here on World Dairy Diary. I just got to interview the CEO of McCormick Company, the advertising agency that created the directory which was on display and available at World Diary Expo. I thought it was very interesting that an advertising agency did a project like this. The printed directory is also available in an online, searchable database.

The interview I did with Kathy Cornett was used for a regular weekly program I do on our sister website, AgWired. It’s called the ZimmCast. You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Download MP3 File (5MB MP3 File)