Feeding Cull Cows

Laura McNamara

North Dakota State University’s Hettinger Research Extension CenterCull cows and their feeding habits are at the center of research underway at North Dakota State University’s Hettinger Research Extension Center. The study is being done in cooperation with South Dakota State University. The Center’s Michelle Stamm says the multi-state southwest feeders project is monitoring the feeding of a group of cull cows for 100 days and then will send the cows to slaughter. The cows will be fed in one of three ways: some cows have a self-feeder type diet of commercial product with grain, some cows are being fed with local barley silage and barley grain and the last group of cows is being fed a corn and hay diet. Michelle says the project is tracking the input costs going into the feeding of the cull cows and is also looking at what the producer would earn when the cows go to slaughter.

Cull cows make up around 16 percent of ranch income. Michelle says she has talked to feed industry producers in Iowa in the past and they indicated they finished rather well with the cull cow market.

Agribusiness, Farming, Livestock, Research

Urban Farming gives Chicagoans Second Chance

Laura McNamara

Growing Home Inc.Farming is hard, rewarding work and Growing Home Inc. is giving Chicagoans in search of a job a chance to reap the rewards of work in the field. But, this field will be farmed in the city.

Hoop houses are erected on the site and collards, kale, mustard greens, salad mix and spinach are a good example of the crops that will be grown year round. Graduates from the job training program are working on site.

Growing Home is a six-year old certified organic agricultural business with a social mission of providing transitional employment for homeless and low-income adults. Program participants are difficult-to-employ people, most of whom have criminal backgrounds. Growing Home also operates a 10-acre farm 75 miles southwest of Chicago at Marseilles, Illinois and a half-acre urban farm on the south side.

In 2007, Growing Home harvested fifty crops (130 varieties) and four animal products — honey, worms, worm castings, and eggs and had sales of over $70,000. Growing Home’s current customers include some of Chicago’s most well-known restaurants: Bistro Campagne, Lula Cafe, Blackbird, First Slice Cafe, Green Zebra, North Pond, Soundings, and Vie.

The U.S. organic sector is expected to grow from $13 billion in 2003 to over $25 billion in 2007. However, less than 3% of organic produce available in Chicago is grown locally.

Environment, Farming, Food, Organic

Happy Thanksgiving

Chuck Zimmerman

Turkey DinnerHappy Thanksgiving from ZimmComm New Media and AgWired!

Just in case you’re in need of some help in the kitchen I thought I’d point you to some resources.

You can find all you need to know here courtesy of the National Turkey Federation.

Me, I’m smoking mine.

Ag Groups, Food

Funky Tricia Wins Excellence Award

Chuck Zimmerman

Tricia and John BlockHere’s Tricia Braid-Terry and former Secretary of Agriculture John Block at last week’s NAFB Convention. We didn’t know it at the time but we were in the presence of greatness.

Tricia Braid-Terry of Funks Grove was recently honored by the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) as the winner of its 2007 Excellence in Broadcasting Award. The award was presented at ISA’s Awards Program at the 2007 Illinois Commodity Conference in Bloomington on November 20.

As news manager for the Illinois Farm Bureau RFD Radio Network, Braid-Terry provides comprehensive reports on a wide range of soybean topics. She was formerly agribusiness director for WMBD and field editor for Prairie Farmer and Illinois AgriNews.

“Spreading the word about soybeans is critical in our efforts to promote our crop,” said Teutopolis farmer David Hartke, ISA chairman. “Tricia’s coverage of soybean issues has given her listeners a better understanding of the challenges facing our industry.”

Cindy can’t believe I didn’t use the chocotini picture Tricia but it’s still in the photo album.

NAFB Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Media

Steve Drake named Agri-Business Leader of the Year

Melissa Sandfort

image.gifThe St. Louis Agri-Business Club named Drake & Company President and CEO Steve Drake as its Agri-Business Leader of the Year. Since 1981 the St. Louis Agri-Business Club has been recognizing outstanding leaders in agriculture by honoring them as Agri-Business Leader of the Year. The award recognizes the individual’s service to agriculture through personal accomplishments and outstanding leadership, a willingness to serve others and a passion for the future growth of agriculture. Furthermore, the individual must display community leadership through participation in civic, church, and other organizations and public service activities.

Drake was raised on a bull farm in Ohio, and attended Ohio State University, where he earned degrees in agricultural economics and international Journalism. He moved to St. Louis in the late 1970s to become Vice President of Public Affairs for the American Soybean Association. In 1992, he founded Drake & Company, an accredited association management company. Based in Chesterfield, DrakeCo manages nine non-profit organizations and foundations, several of which have an agricultural focus.

Through his organization, Drake and his team have brought the national headquarters of the Alpha Zeta Fraternity and Foundation, the National Christmas Tree Association and the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association to the greater St. Louis area. Drake was also instrumental in founding the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and the Country Living Association, both of which are managed by his firm.

Drake has been recognized by the Public Relations Society of America with its Silver Anvil four times. He has also received the Agricultural Relations Council Founders Award twice. Drake has served as the President of the Agricultural Relations Council and currently serves as the Vice President of the AMC Institute.

Agribusiness

Zimfo Bites

Melissa Sandfort

  • The American Angus Association® Board of Directors has selected five individuals for induction to the Angus Heritage Foundation. The 2007 inductees include John Barton, Kansas City, Mo.; Bob Hartley, Vinita, Okla.; Blanford Pierce, Creston, Ill.; and T.D. Steele, Roanoke, Va. Fred Francis, formerly of Wilmington, Ill., will be inducted posthumously. A special recognition of the inductees was held during the American Angus Association’s Angus Annual Banquet, Nov. 12 in Louisville, Ky.
  • The 2008 American Agriculture Calendar is ready. This 13-month planning calendar is available free of charge, while quantities last. Just email your mailing address to sales@ncmsonline.com, “Calendar Request” in the subject line, and this beautiful full color, 13-picture calendar will be on its way to you.
  • Osborn & Barr adds extensive knowledge and varied experience to its media department with the appointment of Pat Rosner to vice president, director of integrated media. Rosner brings more than 20 years of media experience to her new role at O&B, having worked with both business-to-business and consumer media. As director of integrated media, Rosner will oversee the strategic planning and media execution of all O&B accounts, including Monsanto, the United Soybean Board, Intervet and Michelin Ag Tires.
Zimfo Bytes

The Marantz PMD 620 is Now Available

Chuck Zimmerman

Marantz PMD620I gave a heads up to all the farm podcasters out there recently about the Marantz PMD 620. It’s now on the market and my order is in. So you can expect to see this bad boy connected to the golden ZimmComm microphone soon.

One of the cool things about this unit is the speaker built into it which is a very handy feature some of the other small form digital recorders we use doesn’t have.

I’m looking forward to it. So now you know another great gift idea for the farm broadcaster/podcaster on your list! Here’s where I got mine.

Media

Cheese Fuel

Laura McNamara

thenorthwestern.comA Wisconsin entrepreneur says producers don´t have to rely on corn, or even cellulosic waste, to create ethanol. Joe Van Groll, Owner of Grand Meadow Energy, LLC, says he can create ethanol from cheese water waste. Joe says this new method for creating ethanol is a great alternative. He points out that the ethanol industry is the target of negative publicity because critics say the use of corn takes water out of the water table and the food supply and shifts it to the energy market. But, Joe says water
is already a waste byproduct of the cheese making process, with 75 percent or greater water. Joe says using that waste to create ethanol removes that water, purifies it and puts it back into the environment.

Joe also uses canola oil for the production of biodiesel. He says there is no one “silver bullet” for creating renewable fuels. You can read more about Joe´s alternative production of alternative fuels at thenorthwestern.com.

Corn, Ethanol, Farming, Food, Technology

Managerial Insights With Moe Russell

Chuck Zimmerman

Managerial Insights With Moe RussellOne of the projects I’ve had an opportunity to play a part in this fall has been a series of video presentations with Moe Russell, Russell Consulting Group. They’re for Farm Industry News and sponsored by Asgrow. It’s called the Business Skills Series. Here we are in our last recording session.

In this monthly episode Moe talks about risk management. The production has been done locally here and I’ve also worked with Joel Jaeger, YourFarm/Commodity Update on the project. You can watch the latest episode here:

<a href="http://www.yourfarm.com/slideshow/r/?00213">Agriculture presentation provided by YourFarm.com</a>. You may need to install or update the <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player</a> plugin to view this content.

We’ll be taping two more episodes later this morning.

Agribusiness, Farming, Publication

Farm Broadcasting’s Future

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-146 - Future of Farm BroadcastingSome highlight audio clips are featured in this week’s program. I asked past NAFB President, Pam Fretwell and new NAFB VP, Greg Akagi, what they think is the future of farm broadcasting. I think you’ll hear that both are certain there is a good future.

I’m also including the full presentation that Paul McKellips made at one of the NAFB convention luncheons. Paul is a great guy and his story is fascinating.

Because it’s Thanksgiving week the program concludes with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This week’s song is “La Vida – Live in Turkey” by the Steve Kercher. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 146 (23 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:zimmcast146-11-20-07.mp3

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Audio, NAFB, ZimmCast