As anybody who has ever raised hogs knows, sometimes you lose some pigs. It’s a fact of life in the business, and while sometimes the reason for losses are obvious, many times you just don’t know and just write it off to things happen.
But what if you could find out more about why you lost that pig so you could avoid losing more. That’s where PIC‘s Necropsy Audits come in.
During the PIC seminar this past week in Danville, Indiana, Dr. Amanda Ness, a health assurance veterinarian with PIC, talked about how examining lost pigs can help prevent further losses.
“We go through and necropsy every single dead pig in a system for a specific period of time,” she said. Then, they take take all that information and put it in their database and come back with information and recommendations producers can discuss with their veterinarians. She says early pig care seems to be the biggest cause of pig loss.
She says this necropsy audit is just part of the overall PIC package that managers receive to better manage their herds. “It’s just another customer service we offer to try make our customers as profitable as possible.”
You can read more about the PIC system here. And you can hear my entire conversation with Amanda here:
OK, so it’s not exactly how I remember boot camp from my days in the Air Force, but our good friends at PIC give out a lot of excellent information in their one-day seminars to help hog farm managers (without anyone making you drop and give them 20 push-ups!).
I recently attended the session they put on in Danville, Indiana, videotaping the speakers for later use.
During the program, entitled “Best Cost Production – Key to Success,” much of the focus was on how to optimize pig operations to make sure farmers are getting the most out of every dollar they put into it.
In between sessions, I caught up with Casey Neill, a PIC nutritionist who talked about reducing sow herd feed costs and nutrition programs that maximize performance. He told me that with today’s tight margins, no one can afford to spend too much without getting any more performance.
“With high feed costs you need to know exactly what kind of nutrient specs are in those diets,” said Neill.
He went on to tell me that overfeeding just a half pound too much to sows could cost a producer an extra $50 per sow. He believes the tips the producers get here could make the difference between operating in the red or counting your profits from the black.
“I think everybody can get at least one good idea to help save some money on their operations.”
I’ll have more to post, but in the meantime, you can listen to my conversation with Casey.
Dr. Bob Rowland with Kansas State University (left) and Dr. Max Rodibaugh (center), a swine practitioner from Indiana, were the last two speakers at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica’s (BIVI) Area Regional Control of PRRS seminar last week in Chicago. They are pictured here during the final segment of the seminar featuring a roundtable discussion with all presenters.
Max, who serves as chairman of the PRRS Task Force of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, says building industry cooperation and support is critical to having a plan to control PRRS. “There has been a flurry of activity this summer and fall of different groups working on ideas for PRRS and we see a need to pull those together so we can keep that information in one place and disseminate it to the industry,” he says. The task force is considering a website specifically for PRRS control.
Bob Rowland is a professor at K State’s college of vet medicine and director of the PRRS CAP project which provides funding for PRRS control research through USDA. Ultimately, he says funding for PRRS control has to come from every segment of the industry. “I outlined kind of a NASCAR concept in which we bring together a lot of little legs on a caterpillar and use that to fund a large project,” Rowland says. Even though the swine industry is going through some very tough times right now, Rowland believes it is the ideal time to attack PRRS control as producers change to adapt to the economic situation.
Listen to or download back-to-back interviews with Drs. Rodibaugh and Rowland here:
Her name is Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, but most people just call her Dr. Montse (mont-see). She is an international expert in swine health at the University of Minnesota, joining the College of Veterinary Medicine earlier this year as the Al Leman Chair in Swine Medicine. So, she definitely knows her stuff when it comes to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better known as PRRS.
She was on the program at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica’s (BIVI) Area Regional Control of PRRS seminar last week in Chicago, just prior to the start of the 2009 International PRRS Symposium. Her topic was building and executing herd plans within ARC projects.
“We do need herd plans in order to move forward on PRRS elimination,” Dr. Montse says. “A herd plan is putting in writing all the steps to take to clean up a farm or clean up an area. What we intend to do with that is to use those documents for communication purposes, to bring everybody on board, and at the same time to identify the limitations we may encounter in the future.”
Listen to or download my interview with Dr. Monste about PRRS control herd plans here:
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) has taken the lead in promoting game changing Area Regional Control (ARC) of PRRS, or porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome – which costs swine producers an estimated $560 million annually.
“The challenge is we really need to learn to work together,” says Dr. Laura Batista, Knowledge Manager for BIVI’s PRRS Area Solutions Team. “We’re really not competing at all. It has to be by the producers, the veterinarians, the local communities. We just want to help and complement.”
I talked with Laura about the effort during BIVI’s seminar about PRRS control in Chicago. Listen to or download that interview here:
Lindsay Corporation, maker of Zimmatic irrigation systems, announces the addition of pump control to its award-winning FieldNET Web-based irrigation management system.
New Holland’s T7070 Auto Command tractor has been awarded the prestigious title of Tractor of the Year for 2010 at Agritechnica.
New, dynamic educational sessions with direct access to the leading authorities on pressing cattle industry issues, as well as discussion with other producers facing similar challenges, are available at the 2010 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show starting Jan. 27.
BASF is proud to announce its platinum-level support of the National Agricultural Aviation Association’s (NAAA) 43rd Annual Convention and Exposition.
When the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team visited a feed mill this morning owned by the Hamoudeh Group they saw some state of the art grain testing. The company has infrared grain testing equipment which quickly analyzes a sample and provides a printout of a number of the qualities most important to them.
You can see a sample being analyzed in this video clip:
Our team will be meeting with some representatives from Iraq this evening at dinner but I probably won’t have time to post again until getting home this weekend. Until then . . .
The largest integrated dairy producer in Jordan is Hamoudeh Group and the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team visited their largest facility northeast of Amman which houses about 4,000 cows. Before getting a tour we heard a presentation from Marwan Hawari, pictured center showing some grain test results to team members, at their feed mill. I’ll have a video clip from that location to post soon.
In his comments Marwan describes the Hamoudeh Group company which is involved in a lot of different enterprises, including poultry production and being the local Pfizer animal health representative company. You’ll also hear him express some concerns with finding some toxins in recent shipments of U.S. grain. He asked the group what he should expect in future shipments.
The National Poultry Company in Jordan is managed by Mousa Wakileh who met with the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team. Mousa would like to see more education of traders and producers in order to increase imports of corn from the U.S. He’s also predicting a 50 percent increase in poultry consumption per capita in Jordan over the next five years which would also increase demand for American feed grains. According to Mousa, America is the preferred supplier of corn in Jordan.
I recorded a portion of Mousa’s comments which you can listen to below:
On Wednesday, BASF and the NAAA unveiled a scholarship program designed to help those interested in pursuing a career in agricultural aviation. BASF partnered with the NAAA to develop and establish the scholarship program.
“BASF and the NAAA are each devoted to sustaining and improving the field of agricultural aviation,” said Jim Gaffney, BASF Technical Market Manager. “This scholarship presents an opportunity for us to work together to help foster scenarios in which new pilots are provided with a foundation for success in the field of aerial application.”
The company which makes a variety of fungicides for aerial application also provided platinum level support of the premiere annual event for aerial applicators, sponsoring both the kickoff breakfast and shuttle service for the convention. In addition, BASF presented best practices for optimizing aerial application of crop protection, which can be found on the company’s recently launched Aerial Applicators section of its Web site – www.plant-health-pilots.com.
Just about everyone these days is making speculations about the state of the economy. While many industry experts and economics disagree about the cause and effects of this recession, most can agree that the economic recovery is going to be a slow one. An economist at Texas A&M University is one of the many weighing in on the debate. In a recent press release, the university shares the thoughts of Dr. Charlie Hall. Here is an excerpt from that release…
Dr. Charlie Hall, who also is the Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University, said at the 2009 Texas Plant Protection Conference recently in Bryan that the economic recovery is going to be slow, “but that’s a good thing.” Current economic concerns include the global financial situation, auto industry, energy consumption and overall U.S. infrastructure, he said, adding the U.S. labor situation is improving as weekly unemployment claims are declining. He said that the national definition of the savings rate doesn’t include two things: appreciation of home and 401(k) retirement accounts.
“I think we as consumers will save a little bit more, but that does not mean we will stop spending altogether,” said Hall. “I think the Great Recession has prompted people to be more frugal and temporarily increase the savings rate. In terms of the long run, spending is too ingrained in the mindset of the consumer, but they will exhibit a smarter consumption pattern.”
How about you? Are you practicing frugality this year? Do you see an increased savings over spending among the typical American consumer?
Ertl has personally autographed each of the numbered Farmall Super M 1/16 scale toy tractors for NAFB. To make it even more special for the organization, Joe designed and mounted a replica of a tractor radio. Best of all, your gift will also help to support future farm broadcasters. What more could you ask?
Only 200 of these tractors have been produced to benefit the NAFB Foundation. Numbers 1-5 were auctioned live during the Foundation Auction and Reception at the NAFB Convention – one of which was purchased by Monsanto’s Tami Craig Shilling, pictured here with Lyle Orwig of Charleston-Orwig (who also bought one, if I remember correctly.)
Numbers 6-200 are now available, just in time for Christmas, for just $80 plus shipping and handling – and you can even charge it! Place your order by Friday, December 11 to ensure delivery before December 24.
Don’t delay, order today – operators are standing by…. all you have to do is go to the website!
Products from the acquisition will align with Novus’s MINTREX® chelated trace mineral products and further expand its mineral technology. When complete, this acquisition will enable Novus to offer its customers and the animal agriculture market an expanded chelated trace mineral product portfolio to support their livestock operations.
Since its establishment in 1956, Albion has been an innovator in mineral chelate nutrition. Albion manufactures highly bioavailable nutritional mineral forms and has a long-standing customer base in both the beef and dairy markets.
“The intent to acquire Albion’s animal division is consistent with the direction Novus has taken to work with industry partners to achieve greater production efficiencies and minimize environmental impact,” said Giovanni Gasperoni, Executive Vice President, Novus International.
BASF Plant Science and Monsanto today announced they will be working together to develop new corn hybrids with better nutrition for animal feed.
The new hybrids will contain BASF’s NutriDense® traits that are designed to enhance animal feed performance. NutriDense corn has higher levels of essential amino acids and energy, greater phosphorous availability and is more digestible.
BASF’s NutriDense traits will be combined with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready® Genuity™ VT Triple PRO™ and Genuity™ SmartStax™ corn. The new high quality hybrids are expected to deliver the best feed value and yields equivalent to elite conventional corn. Once launched, seed companies will market the new hybrids through licensing agreements.
Read more here.
A blizzard was brewing outside but the brand new Ag Leader Academy was just getting warmed up yesterday in Ames, Iowa.
ZimmComm’s Precision Pays website reporter Kurt Lawton was there for the kick off of the academy, along with more than 200 dealers who attended to learn about all the company’s new products and the steering technology and services gained from the recently announced partnership with AutoFarm.
There was a lot of buzz about teaming up two new products in particular, which highlights the strengths of the new partnership between Ag Leader and AutoFarm. The ability to pair the new ‘flagship’ products—Ag Leader’s INTEGRA monitor with the high-accuracy automatic steering ParaDyme product from AutoFarm—will offer the most advanced and innovative precision ag system ever, say the companies.
The INTEGRA full-featured, year-around display, comprised of a 12-inch HD touchscreen, features a new hardware platform that can handle mapping, planter and application control, yield monitoring, real-time data logging and more—controlling virtually every operation from the cab.
And to make this a fully integrated system, a patented dual-antenna roof module called the ParaDyme, delivers a unique steering system that can handle any correction (from WAAS to RTK), plus it offers factory-activated and integrated wireless and cellular communications for remote diagnostics. It not only can provide sub-inch accuracy with RTK or the CORS Network, but it can track pitch, roll, yaw, vehicle position and heading.
The USDA Ag Specialist on the ground in Jordan is Mohamed N. Khraishy. He took time to meet with our Corn Mission team after we arrived this afternoon. He says that he acts mainly as a facilitator on our behalf or as he puts it, “See me as the grease between the wheels.”
I recorded part of our discussion with Mohamed for you to listen to. He says that quality doesn’t seem to be much of an issue for feed grain imports but that price does matter. The global economic recession has had an impact even here. He’s afraid that we might see a short term decline in American grain imports. To avoid fluctuations in the market he sees a real need for more storage facilities. He fields lots of questions about finding an American company that may want to invest in storage here in Jordan.
You can listen to part of our discussion with Mohamed below:
The Board of Directors of the American Soybean Association has confirmed Rob Joslin from Sidney, Ohio, as President, and Johnny Dodson from Halls, Tenn., as Chairman. Board members also elected Alan Kemper from Lafayette, Ind., to serve as First Vice President. Click here for the full Board list.
Webinar: Trading Opportunities with the Soft Red Winter Wheat Index (SRWI) and Soft Red Winter Wheat Cash Markets. Thursday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. E-mail marketing@mgex.com for more information.
The Regional Director for the U.S. Grains Council coordinating our Corn Mission visit to Jordan is Joe O’Brien. Joe covers the Middle East and part of India.
He says that Jordan is “one of the bright spots of the Middle East.” There are biotech issues in the region though, especially toward Turkey and India. He says it’s a very competitive market with recent pressure coming from the Black Sea area. During the next couple days we’ll get to see a Jordanian dairy and meet with the poultry industry.
January in Orlando is looking pretty good right now to most of us here in the frigid Midwest.
So if you have not made plans to attend AG Connect Expo 2010 in Orlando on January 13-15, take this snow day to get on line and make your reservations.
Besides offering the opportunity to get away to a warmer climate, Expo 2010 will provide a world-class event for the global agriculture industry—bringing together the latest in equipment, technology and ideas. The show was developed by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) with the support of a variety of industry organizations and companies, including Agwired and parent company ZimmComm New Media.
Find out more about what AG Connect offers from previous posts here on Agwired – including this interview with AEM’s Charlie O’Brien, and one with expo director Sara Mooney about the show’s awards program.
Fellow Show Me State resident and corn grower from the southeast part of Missouri, Jim Stuever, took a few moments to provide his thoughts on how the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team is doing after arriving in Amman, Jordan. In the photo, Jim (pictured left), is listening to a presentation we’re having from Mohamed Kraishy, USDA Ag Specialist in Jordan.
Jim has seen a very diverse set of conditions from country to country as we’ve traveled. That means that market development efforts are going to be very different in each country too. After seeing the USGC “on the ground” he says that they’re increasing the environment for corn and corn by-products which is helping keep our markets viable. Jim thinks that corn grower investment in the USGC reinforces and increases foreign market use of American feed grains.
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
David conducted a presentation on delivering expert opinion via social media to an audience at the start of International Poultry Expo week. He's got some great information about who consumers trust and how you can use today's consumer behavior to help communicate your message.
During the PIC seminar this past week in Danville, Indiana, Dr. Amanda Ness, a health assurance veterinarian with PIC, talked about how examining lost pigs can help prevent further losses.
OK, so it’s not exactly how I remember boot camp from my days in the Air Force, but our good friends at 
In between sessions, I caught up with Casey Neill, a PIC nutritionist who talked about reducing sow herd feed costs and nutrition programs that maximize performance. He told me that with today’s tight margins, no one can afford to spend too much without getting any more performance.
Dr. Bob Rowland with Kansas State University (left) and Dr. Max Rodibaugh (center), a swine practitioner from Indiana, were the last two speakers at the 
Her name is Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, but most people just call her Dr. Montse (mont-see). She is an international expert in swine health at the University of Minnesota, joining the College of Veterinary Medicine earlier this year as the Al Leman Chair in Swine Medicine. So, she definitely knows her stuff when it comes to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better known as PRRS.
The largest integrated dairy producer in Jordan is Hamoudeh Group and the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team visited their largest facility northeast of Amman which houses about 4,000 cows. Before getting a tour we heard a presentation from Marwan Hawari, pictured center showing some grain test results to team members, at their feed mill. I’ll have a video clip from that location to post soon.
The National Poultry Company in Jordan is managed by Mousa Wakileh who met with the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team. Mousa would like to see more education of traders and producers in order to increase imports of corn from the U.S. He’s also predicting a 50 percent increase in poultry consumption per capita in Jordan over the next five years which would also increase demand for American feed grains. According to Mousa, America is the preferred supplier of corn in Jordan.
“BASF and the NAAA are each devoted to sustaining and improving the field of agricultural aviation,” said Jim Gaffney, BASF Technical Market Manager. “This scholarship presents an opportunity for us to work together to help foster scenarios in which new pilots are provided with a foundation for success in the field of aerial application.”
Here is the perfect present for that tractor lover on your list – 
Only 200 of these tractors have been produced to benefit the NAFB Foundation. Numbers 1-5 were auctioned live during the Foundation Auction and Reception at the NAFB Convention – one of which was purchased by Monsanto’s Tami Craig Shilling, pictured here with Lyle Orwig of Charleston-Orwig (who also bought one, if I remember correctly.)
Products from the acquisition will align with Novus’s MINTREX® chelated trace mineral products and further expand its mineral technology. When complete, this acquisition will enable Novus to offer its customers and the animal agriculture market an expanded chelated trace mineral product portfolio to support their livestock operations.
ZimmComm’s 
The USDA Ag Specialist on the ground in Jordan is Mohamed N. Khraishy. He took time to meet with our Corn Mission team after we arrived this afternoon. He says that he acts mainly as a facilitator on our behalf or as he puts it, “See me as the grease between the wheels.”
The Regional Director for the U.S. Grains Council coordinating our Corn Mission visit to Jordan is Joe O’Brien. Joe covers the Middle East and part of India. 
So if you have not made plans to attend 
Fellow Show Me State resident and corn grower from the southeast part of Missouri, Jim Stuever, took a few moments to provide his thoughts on how the 
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
