NAFB is 75 Years Strong

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio, NAFB

The 2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention is marking the diamond anniversary of the meeting, which has been held in Kansas City for about 45 of those 75 years.

NAFB president Tom Cassidy, Ag Radio Network, says this year’s convention is the largest ever in the organization’s history, with many retired members who have been away from the business for years coming in for the celebration.

In this interview, Cassidy talks about this year’s meeting and the state of farm broadcasting.Interview with NAFB president Tom Cassidy, Ag Radio Network

PHOTOS

2018 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Kansas City Here We Come

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, NAFB

ZimmComm is headed out today to the 75th annual NAFB convention at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. We first started attending NAFB in the mid-1980s and have been there every year since 1987. But there are lots of NAFB members who have been faithfully attending the annual meeting since before it started being held in Kansas City. This year will be different for us since we’re bringing our fur baby with us because the Westin is so dog friendly and we will be seeing the grandbabies later this week!

The NAFB was founded in 1944 as the National Association of Radio Farm Directors (NARFD). Television was added to the name in 1955 to become NATRFD. The next name change came in 1964 to the more inclusive National Association of Farm Broadcasters and NAFB. In 2005, the name was changed from Broadcasters to Broadcasting.

There is a lot of history in the NAFB and we’ll be sharing some of it this week, thanks to the support of FMC – which has been a proud sponsor of Trade Talk for many years. Stay tuned for lots of photos and interviews!

Meanwhile, take a walk down memory lane from the past decade or so of NAFB meetings in the ZimmComm Flickr collection. See you in Kansas City to make new memories this week!

Coverage of the NAFB Convention is sponsored by
Coverage of the NAFB Convention is sponsored by FMC

Animal Ag Bites 11/5

carrie muehlingAgWired Animal, Animal Bites

  • This Thanksgiving, more consumers will be able to trace their Honeysuckle White turkeys to the family farm where they were raised, thanks to a blockchain solution that brings transparency to consumer’s food purchases. Through a simple text or by entering an on-package code at HoneysuckleWhite.com, consumers can trace their turkey back to the family farm, access the farm’s location by state and county, view the family farm story, see photos from the farm and read a message from the farmer.
  • More than 1,600 National FFA Organization chapters across the country are receiving funds from veterinarians and animal health dealers and distributors through this year’s Zoetis Industry Support Program.
  • Farmweld is committed to providing U.S. pork producers with the highest quality equipment and services. To expand that effort, the company has hired Brent Jackson to provide field sales support in the vital pig production states of Iowa and Minnesota.
  • Advanced Animal Diagnostics (AAD) announced that it has entered into a license and commercialization agreement with Zoetis to bring AAD’s innovative mastitis detection technology to dairy producers and veterinarians outside of the United States.

Alltech Yeast Products Help Dairy Efficiency

carrie muehlingAgWired Animal, Alltech, Audio, Dairy, Nutrition, World Dairy Expo

Alltech knows very well the benefits of using live yeast in a feed ration, and Territory Sales Manager Kurt Peterson was talking to farmers about that at the 2018 World Dairy Expo.

“Right now, everybody is aware of low milk prices. So the focus really is still driving efficiency at the dairy, looking at the ways to increase production without increasing cost, just evaluating things that they can control,” said Peterson.

Peterson said using yeast can lead to rumen stabilization and enhanced fiber digestion. He told farmers it is important to identify whether that yeast is going into a mineral, complete feed, or a supplement.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Kurt here: Interview with Kurt Peterson, Alltech

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

CrystalBlox New Self-fed Cattle Protein Supplement

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Health, Audio, distillers grains, Feed

As cow-calf producers prepare for fall and winter feeding conditions, the makers of CRYSTALYX® have launched a new self-fed protein supplement for beef cattle to help improve forage utilization.

CrystalBlox, developed by Ridley Block Operations which is part of the Alltech feed division, is the first supplement of its kind to be brought to the market in nearly 40 years. With a new hybrid form that combines the economical nutrient delivery and fortification of compressed blocks with the consistent and predictable intake of low moisture block technology, CrystalBlox will fit into a wide variety of feeding situations in which protein delivery is critical.

CrystalBlox is designed and formulated to provide supplemental protein to help improve forage utilization by promoting increased forage intake and improved fiber digestibility. In situations where forage crude protein levels are low due to drought or with advanced maturity such as fall and winter forages, CrystalBlox can provide supplemental protein that will help cattle extract more energy and nutrients from forage supplies.

In this edition of the Block Talk Podcast by CRYSTALYX Brand Supplements you can hear Dan Dhuyvetter, director of research and development and director of nutrition services at CRYSTALYX® Brand Supplements, discusses how CrystalBlox combines CRYSTALYX and distillers grains to help maintain cow body condition as cattle consume low quality forages.

Listen here:
CRYSTALYX® Block Talk podcast on new block form

Technology Changing Life on the Dairy Farm

carrie muehlingAgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Dairy, World Dairy Expo

Technology is changing the way dairy farmers work, especially when it comes to data. More and more resources are available to collect data on nearly every aspect of a dairy, but with that opportunity comes the challenge of managing that information and using it to make decisions.

“It’s amazing how many new types of data we have on dairy farms,” said Jeff Bewley, Alltech Dairy Specialist. “We have many new technologies to help us monitor variables in the parlor. We have wearable technologies that are kind of like Fit Bits for cows that provide us an opportunity to monitor the behavior of the cow 24 hours per day.”

Bewley said those tools can help dairy producers to better understand and manage the health of their animals. They also help farmers to manage the individual animals instead of just groups or herds of animals. Bewley was at the 2018 World Dairy Expo.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Jeff here: Interview with Jeff Bewley, Alltech

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

Animal Ag Bites 10/29

carrie muehlingAgWired Animal, Animal Bites

  • Cargill has developed an industry-first robotic cattle driver aimed at improving animal welfare and employee safety. The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. Employees operate the robots from a catwalk located above the pens, reducing safety risks by keeping those who work in the cattle yard portion of processing plants at a greater distance from the 1300-pound animals.
  • O’Fallon, IL-based Brookside Agra will feature several of its innovative products at EuroTier 2018, the world’s leading trade fair for animal production.
  • The USPOULTRY Foundation announces the completion of a funded research project at AviServe LLC in Newark, Del., that has revealed a new tool for controlling reovirus. A complete report may be obtained by going to USPOULTRY’s website, www.uspoultry.org.
  • U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is hosting a Poultry Handling and Transportation “Train the Trainer” Workshop for poultry transporters and catch crews. The workshop is limited to 40 people, and the cost is $150 for USPOULTRY members and $300 for non-members. Please submit your application, along with a letter of recommendation from your supervisor, at www.uspoultryhandling.org.
  • With North Carolina still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Florence, Smithfield Foods committed to invest in infrastructure and provide farmer incentives to install manure lagoon covers and digesters on 90 percent of the total hog finishing capacity in North Carolina, Missouri and Utah over the next ten years.
  • Smithfield Foods has initiated a challenge for Virginia Tech students involved in the student group Commodity Investing by Students, known as COINS, that would reward the top-performing analysts with a yearlong supply of Smithfield bacon.
  • The National Pork Producers Council applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its proposed rule exempting livestock farmers from reporting to state and local authorities the routine emissions from their farms.

NCBA Advocates for USDA to Oversee Fake Meat

AgWired Animal, Audio, Beef, Food, food safety, Meat, NCBA

Officers of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) reiterated their unwavering support for USDA oversight of lab-grown fake meat during a public meeting this week, hosted jointly by USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

President-Elect Jennifer Houston explained why USDA is well-positioned to apply current food safety processes to lab-grown fake meat products, since two-thirds of the facilities already overseen by USDA are “processing-only” facilities where harvesting of animals does not take place.

“Ensuring lab-grown fake meat products are subject to strong, daily inspection by USDA’s trained professionals is essential,” she said. “The health of consumers is on the line, and USDA is far better suited to ensure the safety of lab-grown products.”

Listen – NCBA President-Elect Jennifer Houston delivers remarks at fake meat hearing

NCBA President Kevin Kester focused his comments on how USDA oversight provides protects consumers against false and misleading marketing claims.

“USDA can be trusted to enforce truthful, transparent labeling of the products under its jurisdiction,” he said. “Beef producers welcome competition, but product labels and marketing must be based on sound science, not the misleading claims of anti-animal agriculture activists.”

Fighting Mycotoxins in the Field

carrie muehlingAgWired Animal, Alltech, Audio, Crop Science, Dairy

Dairy farmers must be diligent when it comes to managing mycotoxin levels and reducing the potential effects in feed.

Because mycotoxins are a byproduct of molds found in the field, that is the place to begin. But strobilurin-based fungicides are not always the best answer based on university research, according to Brian Springer, North American Technical Manager with Alltech Crop Science.

“They’ve found that if you go and you get a particular type of fungicide that’s in the strobilurin-based family, then what happens is those mycotoxins react to that, and they actually get worse instead of better. So it actually causes them to go under stress,” said Springer. “We approach with a natural approach from Alltech Crop Science, and we do not trigger that same response.

Springer said farms with a history of high mycotoxin loads need to look at the residue in the fields ahead of time because molds are carried over from one season to the next. Another key time is the growing point during the tassel process, as that’s when mycotoxins actually infect the grain.

Springer was at the 2018 World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Brian here: Interview with Brian Springer, Alltech

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

Meet Cargill’s Cowboy Robot

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Animal Agriculture, Livestock, Video

Cargill has developed the first ever robotic cattle driver to improve both animal welfare and employee safety.

The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. Employees operate the robots from a catwalk located above the pens, reducing safety risks by keeping those who work in the cattle yard portion of processing plants at a safer distance.

Using waving automated arms, blowers and audio recordings to move cattle in a desired direction, the robots can operate in rain, snow or mud, with no delay in daily operations. Testing was conducted at Cargill’s Wyalusing, Penn., and Schuyler, Neb., beef processing facilities to determine a design and operational attributes of the robot that would effectively improve animal welfare and employee safety before being implemented at the company’s U.S. and Canadian beef plants.

The robotic cattle drivers are currently being implemented at Cargill Protein beef plants in the U.S. and Canada and are manufactured by the New Jersey-based company Flock Free, which is primarily a company focused on bird control for various industries.

Learn more about the Cowboy Robot from Cargill and watch it at work in this video –