The National Pork Board is celebrating Cindy today. Not me, that would be Cindy Cunningham, or “communications professional extraordinaire,” as NPB VP of Communications Michael Wegner calls her.
Our good friend is being celebrated today for 20 years of service to America’s pork industry. As Mike notes, Cindy “helped guide the pork industry through the price collapse in 1998 and through the H1N1 disaster in 2009. She’s also helped the industry avert a few thousand other crises — large and small — in between and since. And crisis management is just a small part of her job description. We all can be thankful she has chosen to dedicate these past 20 years to serving pork producers.”
I am thankful to have known Cindy for all those 20 years and that she is one of the exclusive club of three Cindy-Cyndi’s – which includes us and Cyndi Young of Brownfield Network. We’re kind of a big deal.
When I told her I wanted a photo to do a post about her anniversary at NPB, she said nay, nay. Of course, we have dozens of photos of her over the years – always lovely. And we have to say yeah, yeah.
Last time, it was Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) who had negative comments about USDA’s controversial Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard’s Administration (GIPSA) proposal. This time, it’s Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO), chairman of the House Small Business Committee’s Agriculture, Energy and Trade Subcommittee. Earlier this month, Tipton held a subcommittee hearing entitled “How USDA’s Proposed GIPSA Rule Hurts America’s Small Businesses.”
Tipton says if the “Job-Crushing GIPSA Proposed Regulation” is adopted it “has the potential to reduce gross domestic product by over $1.5 billion and cost the U.S. economy nearly 23,000 jobs.” He’s most concerned that USDA “fully comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) and ensure that USDA understands the private-sector costs of the regulations it is imposing on all sectors within the livestock industry.”
One of the witnesses at the July 7 hearing was USDA Undersecretary Edward Avalos, who said the agency is “fairly close” to completing the final economic analysis on the proposed rule, but that it was “too early in the process” yet to answer any specific questions related to economic impact.
Robbie LeValley of LeValley Ranch in Hotchkiss, Colorado was also a witness at the hearing. “The proposed GIPSA rule will destroy our small business model, force us to lay off our employees, cripple our ability to market our cattle way we want to and limit consumer choice,” she said.
Other witnesses with similar messages included Gary Malenke of Sioux-Preme Pork Products and Joel Brandenberge, President of the National Turkey Federation.
The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 217-203 to pass the agricultural appropriations bill for fiscal 2012, cutting $2.7 billion in discretionary spending, including funds for USDA’s proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) regulation.
The National Cattlemens Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), both opposed to the proposed rule, are pleased that the appropriations bill could put it on hold. “The National Pork Producers Council is grateful that the House is requiring USDA to take a time out on the GIPSA rule, which as proposed is bad for farmers and ranchers, bad for consumers and bad for rural America,” said NPPC president Doug Wolf of Wisconsin, who adds that the rule would cost the pork supply chain about $333 million a year.
NCBA past president Steve Foglesong of Illinois says their beef cattle producer members are thrilled with the vote in the House. “When we had our annual meeting back in February, the priority coming out was this GIPSA rule,” Steve said. “It was one thing our members said absolutely cannot happen.”
Other organizations pleased with the action include the National Turkey Federation, National Chicken Council and American Meat Institute. The appropriations measure still must go through the Senate and is likely to change substantially.
Controlling enteric diseases caused by ileitis and Salmonella can help both keep food safe and pork producer profits growing. “Enteric diseases are sometimes below the threshold of detection,” said Kent Schwartz, DVM with Iowa State University. “Feed is the largest input into the cost of production and anything that comprises intestinal function has a propensity to cost money and among many other factors are infectious diseases.”
Dr. Schwartz recommends that producers keep good records on animals and determine whether they are achieving their potential. “Lawsonia and Salmonella are very common infections,” he said. “These agents can cause disease that are not necessarily visual but can impact feed to gain and we do have for those two agents very effective vaccines that can take them out of the equation.”
Listen to or download an interview with Dr. Schwartz here: Dr. Kent Schwartz
Since control of Salmonella is a food safety concern, BIVI senior veterinarian John Kolb says it is is something producers can and should address. “Salmonella’s always going to be there,” he said. “One more thing that we can do to reduce the amount of Salmonella in the pig itself, is use vaccination.”
Dr. Kolb recommends producers get their vet involved and determine when exposure to Salmonella starts and make sure the vaccine gets in ahead of it.
The crowd formed early and eagerly awaited the Novus International hog cooked by Lynch BBQ. Just before slicing and picking the pig the team gathered for a photo.
It only took a few minutes to get this hog into trays and ready for serving. I sampled and can’t say enough about how tender, juicy and tasty this pork was. It was just the right way to finish off a long day at World Pork Expo.
So we’re now on location for the final day. Check out the our photos. They’ve been freshly updated this morning.
The folks at Automated Production Systems led a peaceful pig protest at the 2011 World Pork Expo Thursday with their 60s-themed roast pig.
With cries of “Fork More Pork” in different languages, the AP team really outdid itself this year. The company, which specializes in swine production equipment such as feeders, ventilation and flooring, has a different theme for their pig every year. Previous years have included Mexican Fiesta and Elvis, but this one will be hard to top.
Notice that the roast pig is sporting peace sign earrings and shooting a peace sign with its cloven hoof! The video shows just how much the AP folks really get into their theme.
BBQ is what’s cooking at World Pork Expo. This is the best smelling show I’ve been to this year! Here’s Scott Beaton, Lynch BBQ. He’s been cooking this hog since about six o’clock this morning. I visited with him but all I got on the spices side was, “our secret seasonings.” Okay. This pig will be served this afternoon at the Novus International tent.
It’s the sixth year for Scott to be cooking at World Pork Expo. He’s a big Minnesota Vikings fan and has had a chance to cook for them which was a real highlight in his cooking career. Scott also says that the pork industry is vital to their business and to the state of Iowa. Scott Beaton Interview
The Korean ambassador to the United States says “time is running out” for Congress to approve pending free trade agreements and “the stakes are high.”
Ambassador Han Duk-soo was the keynote speaker at the National Pork Producers Council Strategic Investment Program luncheon at World Pork Expo on Thursday. He encouraged pork producers to “not let up” in urging Congress to ratify the FTA with South Korea, which is pending along with those for Colombia and Panama. “The disagreements in Washington that have delayed the FTA’s ratification are ironic, in that it enjoys almost unanimous support,” he noted. “America’s pork producers have been among the most vocal and active proponents of these agreements.”
Like those here in the U.S. who want to see the agreements passed, the ambassador is concerned that if they are not approved by end of summer, the presidential campaign will effectively delay them even longer.
Thanks to the efforts of the Pork Checkoff, pork producers now have a tool that will allow them to calculate their carbon footprint.
The “Live Swine Carbon Footprint Calculator” was unveiled today at World Pork Expo by the National Pork Board. Pork producers Randy Spronk of Minnesota (pictured) and Roy Henry of Kansas did the introduction, as well as Rick Ulrich with the University of Arkansas, which actually developed the program.
Randy was one of the first to test the carbon footprint calculator and shared what he learned with the media and later during an educational session with producers. “The impetus for this came from producers,” Randy said. “The original intent was to identify ‘hot spots’ for energy use, areas where they could have the most impact on cost of production.”
Randy says the calculator is very simple to use and clearly shows how inputs, such as feed, energy use, manure and pig performance, are all related to the carbon footprint of a barn. Due to privacy issues and the tremendous size of the computer program, it is only available to producers via disc and cannot be downloaded from the web. Copies are being distributed here at World Pork Expo and can be ordered on-line at pork.org/sustainability.
With all the hog farmers and swine vets gathered in Des Moines for World Pork Expo this week, it was a perfect opportunity for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) to host a PRRS Area Regional Control (ARC) seminar.
“It’s a very good opportunity to have a peer-to-peer meeting,” said Dr. Laura Batista with the BIVI PRRS Solution Team, who says there are two projects underway now in Iowa of the 25 nationwide. “More and more it is countywide, rather than the whole state.”
Laura says producers are starting to see a return on investment by implementing the PRRS control program.
Listen to or download Laura’s PRRS ARC update here: Dr. Laura Batista
BIVI’s Dr. Reid Phillips says the PRRS ARC project is a work in progress, so meetings like this are very important. “It’s an opportunity for the working groups to get together and share their information, identify areas of challenges and restraints, and that’s a valuable thing.”
Reid talked about the value of communication and coordination, as well as research that can help with PRRS control.
Listen to or download my interview with Reid here: Dr. Reid Phillips
Missouri hog farmer Everett Forkner is the new president of the National Pork Board. He is owner and president of Forkner Farms Inc., which has 550 purebred sows and markets 7,500 hogs per year. With members of his family, he also raises corn, soybeans and wheat on 2,000 acres in west central Missouri.
Everett takes the helm of the 15 member pork board as the checkoff celebrates its silver anniversary and anticipates golden opportunities for the industry. “I think we live in some very challenging times but we also live in some very exciting times in the pork industry,” Everett said during the NPB press conference at World Pork Expo Wednesday.
He was pleased to announce that the board voted to spend some extra advertising dollars this year. “We’ve seen first hand the results of the new campaign ‘Pork Be Inspired’ and with some additional funds we were able to vote to continue this project into the fall with an additional $5 million to be put into the Be Inspired campaign.”
“People who already eat pork just have to eat a little more, and that’s our target audience,” he added.
The pork board also added $1.2 million for export marketing efforts and another $265,000 is allocated for cooking temperature education. The pork industry is really excited about new cooking guidelines for pork just released last week by USDA officially confirming that the other white meat is perfectly safe when cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
National Pork Producers Council leaders conducted the traditional first day World Pork Expo press conference this morning to discuss issues of importance to the industry.
Among the bigger issues is expanding international markets for U.S. pork by getting Congress to pass the three pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama. “We need new and expanded markets,” said NPPC immediate past president Sam Carney of Iowa. “These FTAs combined would add more than $11 to the price producers receive for their pigs and would generate about 10,000 U.S. jobs.”
Carney says they hope to get the FTAs passed before summer recess or right after. “We’re frustrated but yet we’re hopeful we’re gonna get it done,” he said.
The 2011 World Pork Expo is starting in Des Moines, IA. Welcoming the media was Doug Wolf, President, National Pork Producers Council. Doug is a producer from Lancaster, WI. He says there are over 450 exhibitors from eleven different countries and attendees from 33 countries. He says they’re expecting over 20,000 producers to attend.
Attendees will find business seminars on profitability, animal health and current issues. They can see the newest products, services and technologies offered by more than 450 commercial exhibitors. They will have the opportunity to watch junior showmen and swine breeders exhibit some of the best market hogs and breeding animals available, as they compete for top prizes. And throughout the event, they can feast on great food and enjoy family entertainment.
I can attest to feasting on pork. At the media reception we had about six different pork choices! Here’s a welcome message from Doug: Doug Wolf Interview
Now Dr. Pearse Lyons can say, “There’s an app for that.” That app is the Alltech iPhone App. It was just announced this morning during the Alltech International Symposium. I’ve got it on my iPhone.
The app:
Helps pig producers search for information about swine health issues, environmental concerns and pork quality. Includes customizable commodity listings and local weather forecasting.
I love bacon. No really. So much so I have even contemplated giving it up for Lent. I thought I was being cute a few years ago when I’d tell people to support their local pork producers because everything is better with bacon. Apparently, I wasn’t off the mark – in recent years bacon has become sexy. A pop culture icon. And now – You can always have bacon (of some sorts) at your fingertips. There’s bacon ice cream, chocolate covered bacon, bacon vodka, bacon flavored lip balm and even a bacon air freshener for your car (I’m not sure of that one – but people keep giving them to me as gifts – I’ll have to try it out eventually). You can even celebrate your love for bacon with thousands of your closest friends.
There are bacon celebrations scattered all over the United States. In 2008 Andre Vonbaconvitch (not kidding – that’s his real bacon loving pseudonym) and two other friends came up with the idea to bring Baconfest to Chicago. This year the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) became the presenting sponsor of Baconfest Chicago. What a partnership – the people that are responsible for makin’ bacon presenting the festival that honors the absolutely deliciously sexy food that so many people adore. How much fun is that?
But here’s the serious stuff… Not only were the volunteers from IPPA able to interact and continue to tell the message of the Illinois pork farmer with the 2,000 attendees of this years Baconfest – they were able to raise more than $1,600 in donations alone from their highly popular Peace. Love. Bacon. t-shirts for the Pork Power program. Attendees were asked to bring a food item to donate for the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) and IPPA would match the donation pound for pound with pork. The GCFD food drive collected 1,653 lbs of food. Illinois Pork Producers will be donating nearly 2,500 lbs of pork to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (1,653 pounds of pork – matching the food collected PLUS 850 pounds of pork that they will purchase with the $1,622 raised from the t-shirt donations).
All in all a pretty amazing feat from some of the nations best pork producers. One other “fun” thing from the weekend – my friend Tim, Director of Public Relations with Illinois Pork Producers, recites this years winning Ode to Bacon written by Joel Chmara called “Johnny Baconseed: A Poem For The Hopeless Romantics”.
So many great things came from this partnership – Afterall.. Everything is better with bacon.
I learned a lot during Boehringer Ingelheim’s (BIVI) 2011 Swine Health Seminar, but maybe my biggest take away was that there are three diseases that seem to be a problem for the swine industry: mycoplasma, flu and PRRS. I also learned some other valuable information: BIVI has a triple threat for swine disease control called 3FLEX.
This I learned more about from Tim Bettington, BIVI’s Executive Director of the Swine Division who told me that as an animal health company, PRDC is a critical component of their business because it is one the biggest challenges they face in the swine industry. That is what drove them to create their 3FLEX product, which addresses three of the four key critical pathogens that comprise PRDC (Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex): circa virus, mycoplasma, PRRS and influenza. 3FLEX consists of three vaccines: Ingelvac CircoFLEX®, Ingelvac MycoFLEX® and Ingelvac® PRRS MLV in one 2 mL shot.
Bettington said at this time 3FLEX doesn’t address the flu, but that is an area of opportunity that they are working on.
The FLEX concept has dual meaning for the industry. The speakers all noted that oftentimes when a pig contracts one disease, it becomes more susceptible to others. This vaccine helps to address that issue. Second, each of the veterinarians mentioned that they have used the 3FLEX product in different ways with success so it is important to work with your local veterinarian on the best ways and the best times to integrate this new product into your sow management strategies.
A very engaging session during the 2011 Swine Health Seminar hosted by Boehringer Ingelheim was the practitioner panel focusing on Emerging PRDC Control Opportunities. It came as no surprise that PRRS, or Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, was a hot topic among the attendees. The three panel experts include veterinarians Mike Eisenmenger with Swine Vet Center, Tom Gillespie with Rensselaer Swine Services and Randy Jones with Livestock Vet Services.
Randy Jones is located in Eastern North Carolina and practices in a very pig dense area and PRRS is the number one disease that he deals with. He said it is a very frustrating disease to deal with from a control perspective. I asked him about the cycle of PRRS and he said that his area had been dealing with it, then circa virus came along and overwhelmed PRRS and to some extent it was forgotten about. Then once a vaccine became available for circa virus and they were so effective in protecting the pig that now they’re back fighting the same diseases again such as PRRS.
Jones also noted that because viruses change and mutate they are hard to control so diagnostics is key. “The core of our program is diagnostics. You’ve got to do diagnostics to know what you’ve got, when you’ve got it. Because the timing makes all the difference in the in world in what type of control program you put in place.”
Mike Eisenmenger practices in St. Peter, Minnesota but travels throughout the upper Midwest and like Jones, PRRS is the most prevalent disease he sees. He notes its a very smart virus and it stays one step ahead of the industry’s control programs. However, he believes that in general, they have been able to develop methods to manage sow farms where they’ve been able to consistently make negative pigs even though the sow farm would be considered positive for the virus.
Also, like Jones, Eisenmenger promotes consistent diagnostics strategies and he stresses that pigs need to be tested frequently, for example at least one a month. If the pigs are negative, then he suggests vaccinating them shortly after weaning them with the PRRS virus. Then after they are sent off to go live in the “real world” tissue samples can be done to test to see if they continue to be PRRS negative. Should a finishing site become infected with PRRS, Eisenmenger said there are strategies, such as antibiotics, that can be taken, to mitigate the problem. If not treated, pigs will become much more susceptible to other bacterial diseases.
You can learn more about PRRS diagnostics, and control and mitigation strategies in my full interview with Mike Eisenmenger here: Mike Eisenmenger Discusses All Things PRRS
Did you know that just like humans, pigs can get the flu too? To learn more about how to treat and prevent the flu in pigs, I spoke with Tom Gillespie, DVM, with Rensselaer Swine Services. Gillespie, a veterinarian who lives in northwest Indiana, participated in the Emerging PRDC Control Opportunities Panel as part of Boehringer Ingelheim’s 2011 Swine Health Seminar.
What happens when a pig gets a flu? Gillespie explained that the flu virus is very similar to what happens in people. In 1918 the classic H1N1 flu strain caused a lot of death in humans. It was thought for many, many years that the virus jumped from pigs to humans and infected them at that time. What we know today is that humans, more than not, affect the hog units. So we have biosecurity programs in place. “That’s been the biggest change in the past three years in how we’re looking at influenza,” said Gillespie.
Flu symptoms in pigs are similar to those in humans but don’t usually last more than 3 or 4 days. I asked Gillespie how to diagnose if your pig has the flu. He said that you can do nasal swabs. Once you’ve determined that the flu is in fact what your pig is suffering from, then you treat the secondary bacterial infections. From there, you go into a preventative type program where you determine if there are any commercial products available to help. He noted that these are now becoming multi-strain so they provide better cross protection.
Mycoplasma is found in pigs all over the world and whether or not they cause disease is really multi-factorial. To learn more about mycoplasma, treatments and swine management strategies, Boehringer Ingelheim brought in Erin Strait, DVM, the section leader for molecular and viral diagnostics at Iowa State University, to speak during their 2011 Swine Health Seminar. One of Strait’s area of expertise is mycoplasmas and she has been conducting extensive research in the area.
There are many strains of mycoplasma and four pathogenic strains believed to cause the most disease. She noted that a pig can be positive for any one of these and not have problems or you can be positive and have a lot of problems. Strait explained that various things can cause a tipping point, for example co-infections. So if you have a pig with PRRS and mycoplasma, they both will be worse.
Strait said it can be really hard early on to detect mycoplasma especially hyopneumoniaes. Some percentage of pigs are infected from sow to piglet transmission and then those piglets go after weaning and then mix with all the other piglets and then become a source of infection for everybody else. In most cases, if you don’t have a lot of pigs infected early on then it takes longer to circulate through the system and then most likely you don’t see problems quite as severely but if you have a lot of pigs infected early on, then you might have a lot of problems.
I asked Strait what the best way was to test your pigs for mycoplasma. She said serology is the best way to test the hyopneumoniaes but its really going to tell you after the fact.
“So really the only thing you can do is PCR and most people will test for PCR in nasal swabs because that’s an accessible sample to collect but multiple studies have shown its not very sensitive because it doesn’t colonize in the nose, it colonizes lower down in the trachea and lower airways,” said Strait. “So ideally you’d get samples from the large airway. So we discussed the potential of doing a trachea bronchial swab would be very reflective and very reflective of the status of the individual pig.”
There are several ways to treat your pigs once they have a mycoplasma as well as ways to manage your sow to lesson problems that include antibiotics and vaccines. In addition, Strait said she and her team are available to assist if major mycoplasma problems arise in your sow herd.
After a great day of learning about key issues in the swine industry during the 2011 Swine Health Seminar sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI), the attendees headed out to have a little fun. Nearly 300 people descended on the Phoenician Resort in Phoenix, AZ at sundown for a spectacular sunrise, amazing food and great entertainment.
BIVI brought in some native Indian dancers that just lit up the stage. The Yellow Bird Indian Dancers have been wowing audiences throughout the country for 25 years and they wowed the BIVI’s guests and employees as well. In this video Doreen Duncan and her husband Ken Duncan perform the Apache Rainbow Dance. Following this dance, several of their sons including Alan, Sky, Kevin and Tony, perform variations of the Hoop Dance. Each one of the sons has won national competitions.
You can learn more about the Yellow Bird Indian Dancers on their website. And special thanks for BIVI for bringing us such an amazing opportunity to experience part of the local culture first hand.
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
Chuck and Mike often wind up at the same events all over the country so it seemed like a good idea to do a little AgriTalking about the changes they've seen in the ag media landscape.
Our good friend is being celebrated today for 20 years of service to America’s pork industry. As Mike notes, Cindy “helped guide the pork industry through the price collapse in 1998 and through the H1N1 disaster in 2009. She’s also helped the industry avert a few thousand other crises — large and small — in between and since. And crisis management is just a small part of her job description. We all can be thankful she has chosen to dedicate these past 20 years to serving pork producers.”
Last time, it was Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) who had negative comments about USDA’s controversial Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard’s Administration 
The 
NCBA past president Steve Foglesong of Illinois says their beef cattle producer members are thrilled with the vote in the House. “When we had our annual meeting back in February, the priority coming out was this GIPSA rule,” Steve said. “It was one thing our members said absolutely cannot happen.”
Controlling enteric diseases caused by ileitis and Salmonella can help both keep food safe and pork producer profits growing. “Enteric diseases are sometimes below the threshold of detection,” said Kent Schwartz, DVM with Iowa State University. “Feed is the largest input into the cost of production and anything that comprises intestinal function has a propensity to cost money and among many other factors are infectious diseases.”
Since control of Salmonella is a food safety concern, BIVI senior veterinarian John Kolb says it is is something producers can and should address. “Salmonella’s always going to be there,” he said. “One more thing that we can do to reduce the amount of Salmonella in the pig itself, is use vaccination.”
The folks at 
Ambassador Han Duk-soo was the keynote speaker at the National Pork Producers Council Strategic Investment Program luncheon at World Pork Expo on Thursday. He encouraged pork producers to “not let up” in urging Congress to ratify the FTA with South Korea, which is pending along with those for Colombia and Panama. “The disagreements in Washington that have delayed the FTA’s ratification are ironic, in that it enjoys almost unanimous support,” he noted. “America’s pork producers have been among the most vocal and active proponents of these agreements.”
The “Live Swine Carbon Footprint Calculator” was unveiled today at World Pork Expo by the National Pork Board. Pork producers Randy Spronk of Minnesota (pictured) and Roy Henry of Kansas did the introduction, as well as Rick Ulrich with the University of Arkansas, which actually developed the program. 
With all the hog farmers and swine vets gathered in Des Moines for World Pork Expo this week, it was a perfect opportunity for 
Missouri hog farmer Everett Forkner is the 
Among the bigger issues is expanding international markets for U.S. pork by getting Congress to pass the three pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama. “We need new and expanded markets,” said NPPC immediate past president Sam Carney of Iowa. “These FTAs combined would add more than $11 to the price producers receive for their pigs and would generate about 10,000 U.S. jobs.”
Now Dr. Pearse Lyons can say, “There’s an app for that.” That app is the 
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
