During the recent Cattle Industry Convention, Pfizer Animal Health held it’s annual breakfast for the media.
Dr. Mike Nichols, Senior Veterinarian Pfizer Animal Health Veterinary Operations, was on hand to talk about how the company is helping veterinary students. A year ago they made a decision to support the veterinary profession by creating an externship program for students to encourage them to look at and choose a food animal practice and specifically bovine. They sponsored 78 first and second year veterinary students for the Bovine Externship Program who then spent 4 weeks at a local veterinary practice where they were mentored and received exposure to what the practice was like. He says they’re continuing the program this year and 78 selected students who will receive a $2,000 stipend and be matched with either practicing veterinarians or producers for a four-week field work experience.
You can learn more about the Pfizer Animal Health Bovine Externship Program by listening to my interview with Mike below:
New things are coming to the cattle industry market from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica. During a media breakfast at the recent Cattle Industry Convention I spoke with Craig Jones, Sr. Associate Director Cattle Services. He told me that the company has had great interaction with producers who have been visiting with them in their booth.
Their acquisition of products like Cydectin, Pyramid and others from Ft. Dodge Animal Health has enhanced their product lines but it has raised questions about who to get what product from. He thinks it has gone very smoothly though. At this convention their main goal was to get their name out and help producers understand the changes that have taken place.
This is one of the most familiar sights for ag journalists to see at a Cattle Industry Convention. You can believe that the company representative that is probably interviewed the most is therefore with Merial.
In what seems to be becoming a tradition I interviewed Dr. Frank Hurtig during the convention to find out what’s new from Merial. He says that once again the company will be offering the Ivomec Challenge. He says that it’s coming on the heels of what many parasitologists are saying will be one of the worst springs and summers for parasites out on pastures due to 2009 weather patterns. To participate in the Ivomec Challenge a producer has to treat all their cows and calves with Ivomec this spring and then if those calves don’t weigh more this fall than last fall Merial will give them enough Ivomec product to treat their herd again this fall at no charge.
To hear other news from Merial just listen to my interview with Frank below:
After all the committees meet during convention the leaders got together for a special extra meeting to set their priorities. This was done via a wireless electronic process. You can see CBB Board member Robert Fountain, Jr. (Secretary/Treasurer) holding up his device before they got started.
I spoke about the process with Rick Husted who managed the session. He says that in the past the priority setting has happened in each of the committee meetings. This year they have evolved that process to bring all the committee leaders together in one session to set and rank priorities. This will be used to set the FY 2011 plan. You can learn more about the process by listening to Rick.
You can listen to and download my interview with Rick below.
Much of the work done at the Cattle Industry Convention is in committees. These meetings are open and as I’ve found over the years, a great learning experience to attend. I did a walk around during the main committee time as part of my work for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and stopped in just as the Joint Issues Management Committee was concluding. As you can imagine, this committee is dealing with some real challenges, especially from activist groups like HSUS and others that are spreading misinformation about the industry.
I spoke with committee chair, Mike Stahly. Mike says that the checkoff does many surveys of consumers to learn what they think about the industry and the product. This information is then used to craft strategies for how to deal with issues like the whole animal welfare one.
All committees of the Beef Board have their own web page and archived copies of agendas and minutes. You can find the Joint Issues Management Committee page here. This has been a key feature of the website we built for the CBB and it has proven to be a simple tool to make checkoff information available and easy to find.
You can listen to and download my interview with Mike below.
You get to meet a lot of wonderful people in a media room, including the media. At the Cattle Industry Convention one of the interesting people I met was Linda Brake. She was named the 2009 Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year by the American National CattleWomen. Linda is from Arizona and seemed a little overwhelmed by the honor. The award is sponsored by Land O’ Lakes Purina Mills LLC.
Linda says she feels very “special.” She says it’s an honor to have been selected. In my interview with her you can listen to her describe her feelings and talk about the work she’s done.
Linda has been an active CattleWoman for 20 years. As an ANCW member, she has served on various committees and as the vice-chair and chairman of the National Beef Cook-Off (NBCO) Committee and co-chair of the 2001 NBCO. She has served as Secretary and President in the Santa Cruz CattleWomen and numerous positions at the state level including Arizona CattleWomen President in 1998. Linda has also served on a joint NCBA committee, is a member of the Arizona Beef Council and producer member of the Western Center for Risk Management Education.
“Linda is a role model for all who work to sell beef,” said Vicki Wilkinson, of Chino Valley, Ariz. and past ANCW president. “She has always been there to lend a hand, give sage advice and do whatever was necessary to promote and educate the public or her peers about our product, beef.” Linda Vensel, Ariz. past president, credits her ability to work well with others and leadership skills for the success of the first destination city National Beef Cook-Off in Chicago that earned over 400 million beef impressions.”
Linda is also a wife, mother, grandmother and has served as a volunteer at her church and for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Posse for over 20 years.
The Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year Award is given to one cattlewoman each year that has excelled at continued beef promotion on the local, state, and national level, while contributing dedication, commitment and support to the American National CattleWomen, Inc.
When it comes to communicating NOVUS International’s commitment to the beef industry Dan is the man. He’s Dan Meagher, VIce President, Sales, Americas. He was on hand at the Cattle Industry Convention to help spread the word about the company name and products for the beef industry.
Dan says that NOVUS is investing in people and products. A lot of the research the company has done has been on beef. He thinks they have an opportunity right now in this segment of the industry. He says they’ve moved into the dairy and pork sectors and this is just part of their diversification strategy. Their products are designed to maximize the nutrition capabilities of the animal so it reaches its full potential while reducing costs.
Here’s NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts being interviewed in the media room here at the Cattle Industry Convention. I had my turn and our interview is posted below. Additionally, I have his remarks today when he gave the NCBA management report at the annual meeting.
One thing you’ll notice from talking with or listening to Forrest is his energy level. Even with all the challenges facing his industry he’s very optimistic. It has been just a year that he’s been in his current position.
Forrest mentions the work of the NCBA Governance Task Force and after his report this morning the recommendations passed by a vote of 201 to 13. I’m sure we’ll be getting details of the changes since there is still a lot of work to be done on re-structuring the organization. Working groups will be set up and the next step will take place at the summer meeting.
You can listen to or download (mp3) my interview with Forrest here:
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You can listen to or download (mp3) his management report here:
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Welcome new CBB Chairman Dan Dierschke, Texas rancher. Dan took the gavel this morning at the annual meeting and I spoke with him about his priorities for the coming year.
Dan says he has three goals as chairman: 1) develop an effective response to the increasing demands of the anti-animal use activists, 2) continue to use checkoff investments to build beef demand, and 3) reduce counter-productive arguments within the industry and stress our common goals.
Here’s the list of new officers/executive committee members:
Chairman: Dan Dierschke, TX
Vice Chairman: Tom Jones, AR
Secretary/Treasurer: Robert Fountain, Jr., GA
Virginia Coehlo, CA
Virginia Davis, IN
Will Frazee, IA
Wesley Grau, NM
Kristy Lage, NE
Hank Maxey, Jr., VA
Daryl Berlier Owen, TX
Sid Sumner, FL
Each annual meeting of the CBB concludes with a report from the CEO. Tom Ramey reported this morning and I have his comments recorded for you to listen to.
Tom detailed the changes in the staff during the last year and says he feels real good about the people who are working on behalf of the checkoff in the office. He mentioned that the latest producer attitude survey showed that 69 percent either strongly or somewhat strongly approve of the checkoff. That’s up slightly from last year. Tom also mentioned that he and the officers are committed to working with NCBA to help achieve the mission of improving beef demand.
At the annual CBB Banquet we honored outgoing Chairman, Lucinda Williams. She’s seen here with one of the quilts she made for the staff and board. All board members were asked to sign them before they left.
Then we heard comments from both Dan Dierschke, incoming CBB Chairman and Tom Ramey, CBB CEO. They came to the stage and expressed their appreciation and enjoyment with working with Lucinda. They noted her endless energy and care for other people at all times.
The incoming NCBA President is Illinois cattleman Steve Foglesong. He dropped by the Livestock Publications Council lunch today.
He told the agricultural journalists attending the luncheon to reach out to other media when they see them reporting inaccurate information. He says that when he sees problems he’s going to do something about it and he’s quite willing to engage people who disagree with him.
Wally the steer is getting a lot of attention at the NOVUS International booth in the NCBA Trade Show. He’s there to make the point of how important it is to put the right fuel in the engine. With animals, it’s no different and NOVUS would love to talk to cattlemen about it.
I posted comments earlier this week made by NCBA President Gary Voogt and finally got the video uploaded so you can watch what he had to say. His comments ran longer than YouTube allows but most of them are here. If you didn’t listen to his comments you can still do so here.
One of the most popular attractions at Wednesday’s grand opening of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show in San Antonio belonged to U.S. Premium Beef. Thanks to Joe Schuele, USMEF for this story including photo and audio.
The company, a member of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, decided to promote the value of beef exports by serving samples of the Asian barbecue dish Yakiniku (YAK-A-NEE-KOO) – a thinly sliced cut derived from the beef short rib that is especially popular in South Korea and Japan. The samples were enjoyed by a steady stream of cattle producers throughout the evening.
Bill Miller, director of communications for U.S. Premium Beef, explains that the purpose of the barbecue promotion was to illustrate for cattle producers the critical importance of U.S. beef exports to their industry, and to the bottom line of their operations. Listen to or download (mp3) Bill here:
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Miller also comments on the important role played by the Beef Checkoff Program in promoting U.S. beef in overseas markets. Listen to or download (mp3) Bill here:
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Novus International announced its commitment to the beef industry today at the Cattle Industry Convention. They held a press conference this afternoon and I spoke with Gary Winter, Ruminant Sales Manager, North America afterward. I’m also posting the full press conference for you in case you’d like to listen in. With th
Gary has been with the company for about ten years. He says they’ve been getting a lot of interest from producers here and the trade show is providing them with a great opportunity to get their name out in front of them since there are a lot of beef producers who aren’t familiar with their name yet. He says they’ve had ingredients going into the beef business for a while but are just now launching their marketing campaign into the market. He points to products like Alimet, Mintrex and Agrado Plus as some of the names that producers can look to to increase herd efficiency.
You can listen to or download (mp3) Gary’s remarks here:
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You can listen to or download (mp3) the full press conference here:
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When I first walked in to the NCBA Trade Show this evening I thought I heard dogs barking. They were. They turned out to be Jack Russell Terriers racing in the back of the trade show area. So it was an iPhone YouTube moment.
We’re going to get to know the Novus beef team even more tomorrow when they make some major announcements. They’re also sponsoring AgWired coverage of the Cattle Industry Convention.
At the opening of the NCBA Trade Show I stopped by their booth and spoke with Stephanie Gable. Stephanie also introduced me to Wally, the mechanical steer that you can see behind the team members in the photo. I’ll let her explain in the video I shot with my iPhone.
We had a great tweetup at the NCBA Trade Show this evening. The best things about them is getting to meet with people you’ve been communicating with via Twitter. Of course you know this if you follow AgWired. It’s not our first tweetup.
Here’s the group that got together. I’m sure you recognize some of them.
If you’re tweeting about the convention then use the #NCBA10 hashtag. If you’re tweeting about what the Beef Board is doing then use their hashtag which is #mybeef.
One of our featured speakers at the opening session of the Cattle Industry Convention was NCBA President Gary Voogt.
Gary says it’s been an honor to serve as President of the organization for the past year. He logged about 200,000 miles and did a lot of hotel rooms nights. He says cattlemen have their work cut out for them this week. He says there are almost 5,700 attending the convention and it may be a record. He says history will be made and he urges support for the governance task force that will change the organization. I’m sure we’ll get more details about it. He says the industry needs to “live in one house.”
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
During the recent Cattle Industry Convention, Pfizer Animal Health held it’s annual breakfast for the media.
New things are coming to the cattle industry market from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica. During a media breakfast at the recent Cattle Industry Convention I spoke with Craig Jones, Sr. Associate Director Cattle Services. He told me that the company has had great interaction with producers who have been visiting with them in their booth.
This is one of the most familiar sights for ag journalists to see at a Cattle Industry Convention. You can believe that the company representative that is probably interviewed the most is therefore with 
After all the committees meet during convention the leaders got together for a special extra meeting to set their priorities. This was done via a wireless electronic process. You can see CBB Board member Robert Fountain, Jr. (Secretary/Treasurer) holding up his device before they got started.
Much of the work done at the Cattle Industry Convention is in committees. These meetings are open and as I’ve found over the years, a great learning experience to attend. I did a walk around during the main committee time as part of my work for the 
You get to meet a lot of wonderful people in a media room, including the media. At the Cattle Industry Convention one of the interesting people I met was Linda Brake. She was named the 2009 Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year by the American National CattleWomen. Linda is from Arizona and seemed a little overwhelmed by the honor. The award is sponsored by Land O’ Lakes Purina Mills LLC.
When it comes to communicating NOVUS International’s commitment to the beef industry Dan is the man. He’s Dan Meagher, VIce President, Sales, Americas. He was on hand at the Cattle Industry Convention to help spread the word about the company name and products for the beef industry.
Here’s NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts being interviewed in the media room here at the Cattle Industry Convention. I had my turn and our interview is posted below. Additionally, I have his remarks today when he gave the NCBA management report at the annual meeting.
Welcome new CBB Chairman Dan Dierschke, Texas rancher. Dan took the gavel this morning at the annual meeting and I spoke with him about his priorities for the coming year.
Each annual meeting of the CBB concludes with a report from the CEO. Tom Ramey reported this morning and I have his comments recorded for you to listen to.
At the annual CBB Banquet we honored outgoing Chairman, Lucinda Williams. She’s seen here with one of the quilts she made for the staff and board. All board members were asked to sign them before they left.
The incoming NCBA President is Illinois cattleman Steve Foglesong. He dropped by the 
One of the most popular attractions at Wednesday’s grand opening of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show in San Antonio belonged to 
We’re going to get to know the 
We had a great tweetup at the NCBA Trade Show this evening. The best things about them is getting to meet with people you’ve been communicating with via Twitter. Of course you know this if you follow AgWired. It’s not our first tweetup.
One of our featured speakers at the opening session of the Cattle Industry Convention was NCBA President Gary Voogt.
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
