- During the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) virtual Winter Reboot conference, NCBA CEO Colin Woodall and NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane discussed the state of the industry and priority issues in Washington, D.C. that could affect cattlemen and women.
- RealmFive announced the release of its Barn View product suite, a new product lineup for use in swine production facilities. Barn View product suite utilizes a wireless system of hardware that records data generated by feedlines, flowmeters, and environmental monitors and sends the data to the cloud through a cellular gateway network, with more sensors and data sources coming online quickly. A single RealmFive gateway can service dozens of monitors in multiple barns at remote sites. The data is then available to the producer through the R5 Click online platform or to partner platforms. Inside R5 Click producers can access the data from any browser-equipped device.
- The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards – celebrating its 10-year anniversary – is seeking nominations for its Class of 2021. The farmer-founded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, which unites the industry through a shared social responsibility platform, launched the awards to honor exceptional farms, businesses and partnerships for their socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound practices and technologies that have a broad and positive impact. The deadline for award submissions is March 26 and they can be submitted at www.USDairy.com/2021Awards.
- A Chicago-based start-up has launched GoodSport, a sports drink that is 97 percent dairy and aims to compete nationally against leading brands. This first-of-its-kind natural sports drink made from the goodness of milk and backed by science will be available this month at Amazon.com and www.goodsport.com. Broader retail distribution is planned for later this year. The product launched with support from the dairy checkoff and other industry groups.
- The National Dairy FARM Program has published its 2020 Year in Review. Serving as the annual summary of the achievements and program developments of the FARM Program, the Year in Review showcases successes and challenges during a year of change and uncertainty.
- The Public Lands Council announced their 2021 Legislative Conference is being held virtually March 23-25, 2021. This is the perfect opportunity for livestock producers to learn more about the federal policymaking process, with no cost to attend.
- People wanting to support the newly-chartered Center of Excellence for Bison Studies now have an opportunity to double the value of their contribution, thanks to two generous donors committing challenge grants to support fundraising efforts last week. Following a presentation on the Center’s activities at the National Bison Association Winter Conference last week, an anonymous donor offered to match up to $50,000 in new donations in support of the Center. Immediately after that announcement, John Flocchini of the Durham Ranch in Wyoming announced that the ranch would match the $50,000 commitment and would pledge an additional $50,000 as a new challenge grant. Conference participants stepped up with pledges of $23,000 toward that second $50,000 challenge. The next $27,000 in pledges will continue to be matched by the Durham Ranch. Those pledges can be submitted to the National Buffalo Foundation.
