U.S. dairy farmers visiting the headquarters for KEENAN Systems in Dublin, Ireland, learned more about MechFiber and the impact it can make on a dairy herd. KEENAN Corporate Marketing Manager Martin Minchen shared that the concept, developed in 2008, has been a key value proposition for the company globally. The focus is on consistent fiber lengths and an even mix … Read More
President Proclaims National Ag Day
This morning U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, along with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, presented a proclamation signed by President Trump naming the first day of spring National Ag Day. Cindy was attending and will have more to add later today. The photo is courtesy of @SecretarySonny‘s Twitter account! Also pictured with the proclamation is Spencer Flood, Minnesota FFA. This … Read More
SMART Farmer Leon Sheets
In this episode of the SMART Farmer podcast, we hear from America’s Pig Farmer of the Year, Leon Sheets, who raises 33,000 pigs a year in northeast Iowa along with his wife and son. SMART Farmer podcast listeners may remember that we interviewed last year’s Pig Farmer of the Year Brad Greenway from South Dakota, who also serves as chairman … Read More
Lucky Alltech KEENAN Great Green Getaway Winners
For three U.S. dairy producers, the luck of the Irish was on their side when their names were selected in a live, random drawing at the 2017 World Dairy Expo for the Alltech KEENAN Great Green Getaway. Hank and Joanne Greisen of Wisconsin; Mary and Mike Van Rossum of Wisconsin, and Ashley Ervin and her sisters have all been enjoying … Read More
Cabinet Members Testify on Infrastructure Needs
USDA photo Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and four other cabinet members testified this week before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing entitled “Rebuilding Infrastructure in America: Administration Perspectives.” Secretary Perdue was joined by Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and Department of Energy Secretary … Read More
New Isolation Technique Improves Vaccine Development
Scientific breakthroughs in the way a virus can be isolated from diagnostic samples are improving the development of vaccines to fight porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus. The success rate was not good when the virus was isolated in traditional simian (MARC-145) cells. The Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is working with Aptimmune Biologics, Inc. to use the … Read More
Outsmarting the PRRS Virus
The 2018 Aptimmune Scientific Symposium focused on the success of the Barricade vaccine for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), which was introduced in 2017. “PRRS is a daunting challenge and a difficult vaccine to not only develop but also manage in the production world,” said Dr. Bob Nordgren, chairman of the board for Aptimmune. “For 20 years, we’ve come … Read More
Aptimmune Vaccines Gaining Popularity
Aptimmune is looking to grow its presence in the swine vaccine market with the success of Barricade for porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome (PRRS). “It’s kind of an exciting time because we launched the product over a year ago and we’ve got customers that are using the product, evaluating it in a number of trials,” said Steve Berger, director of … Read More
Aptimmune Shares Barricade Vaccine Field Data
In the year since Aptimmune launched the Barricade vaccine to fight porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome (PRRS), the company has been gathering field data from 30 different veterinarians in 12 different states. “We’ve been able to see a 50 percent reduction in mortality across the board, so it’s been very rewarding,” said Dr. Jessica Seate, professional service veterinarian for Aptimmune. … Read More
USFRA Launches engAGe App to Help Advocate Online
In in a proactive effort to bring farmers and ranchers into the mainstream conversation about food and ag-related issues, U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance® (USFRA) has launched engAGe – a new app to give farmers, ranchers and advocates a turnkey tool in sharing their story on social media. This platform allows users to easily stay abreast of current news in … Read More