At the opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention today we heard from Lucinda Williams, Chairman, Cattlemen’s Beef Board. This session also featured leaders from NCBA and ANCW which I will be posting separately. Lucinda spoke about her observations from a year as Chairman of the CBB and offered a number of thoughts for consideration. You can watch her …
Good Gut Health for Poultry
Gut health is important for poultry producers, not just for the health and performance of their flocks, but also from the standpoints of food safety and animal welfare – probably two of the most important issues for the animal agriculture industry as a whole. I talked with Novus International poultry veterinarian Dr. Marco Quiroz about the importance of poultry producers …
Poultry President Pleased With Expo
The president of the US Poultry and Egg Association is pretty pleased with the turnout at this year’s International Poultry Expo, which looks to be better than a year ago, despite the condition of the economy. “This is our 62nd show here in Atlanta,” John Starkey told me during an interview in the media room overlooking the trade show floor. …
Annual Meeting Outlook From CBB CEO Tom Ramey
The CEO of the Beef Board is Tom Ramey, seen here providing information to CBB Chairman Lucinda Williams at the Operating Committee Mtg. I spoke with him this morning about the issues and work being done here from the staff perspective. Tom says this annual meeting is where they go over the financial reports and audits from the last year …
Blog Training With National Beef Ambassadors
I spent the morning with the 2010 National Beef Ambassador Team (pictured LR: Ellen Hoffschneider, Neb.; Malorie Bankhead, Cali.; Mandy-Jo Laurent, Tex.; Rebecca Vraspir, Wyo.; and Jackson Alexander, Okla.) The morning was spent in a social media training workshop, where I helped to equip the ambassadors with the tools they need to write an effective blog post to share the …
Beef Board Operating Committee Meets
The Beef Board Operating Committee had a big challenge here at the Cattle Industry Convention. A number of previously funded projects returned unused dollars which now became available for re-allocation. This happens normally and so a number of what are called AR’s or Authorization Requests (amended) were made from other projects that had funds cut last year to obtain some …
Bioavailability is Key to Chelated Trace Minerals
When it comes to chelated trace minerals, Dr. Jim Richards with Novus International is a serious expert, and this is no simple subject. “When you chelate a trace mineral, you basically react it with an organic mineral called a ligand,” says Jim, who is Novus Manager of Cell Biology Research. Now, that likely means very little to the cell biology …
History of Poultry Feed Management
The International Poultry Scientific Forum is held in conjunction with the International Poultry Expo each year and is sponsored by the Southern Poultry Science Society, the Southern Conference on Avian Diseases, and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. As part of that event, Novus International hosts a luncheon and speaker for the attendees on a topic of general interest to …
CBB and NCBA Officer Previews
The combined meetings of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Cattlemen’s Beef Board have started here at the Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio. To kick off our coverage I conducted a short interview with an officer from each organization. Pictured are Tom Jones, CBB Secretary/Treasurer (left) and Bill Donald, NCBA Vice President. I caught up with them prior to …
AGCO Shows How To Go Social
AGCO is providing a great example of how to integrate social media and networking into their communications strategy and to learn more about what they’re doing I spoke with Sue Otten, Director, Corporate Communications & Brand Communications Worldwide. In our conversation we talk about why the company has invested in very active social communications channels. Sue says that it’s a …