Vaccinating pigs against disease can be a time-consuming, back-straining process for humans and an unpleasant experience for the swine – but it doesn’t have to be that way. “Oral vaccines pamper people and they also pamper pigs,” Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) Technical Manager Dr. Greg Cline said during an event at World Pork Expo last week. “It certainly is a …
Bayer Celebrates 150 Years
The Bayer 150th Anniversary Celebration activities were held this morning at the Bayer CropScience headquarters in RTP, NC. On had were local dignitaries and stakeholders in the agricultural community. We were welcomed to the event by Phil Blake, President and head of Bayer in the USA. He made some opening remarks I’m sharing with you as well as taking time …
Novus Promotes Water-Delivered Organic Acids
We’ve all seen and many of us drink the popular types of vitamin- and mineral-enhanced water products on the market for humans. Now Novus International is promoting water-soluable organic acids to enhance pig performance. At World Pork Expo last week, Novus Technical Services Manager Dr. Karen Lehe gave a talk on adding the Aliment-based Activate WD US Max to drinking …
Farmer Cooperatives on the Hill
It’s a great week for the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives to be holding its annual Washington Conference with all that is going on in the nation’s capitol impacting the agriculture industry. GROWMARK Executive Director of Corporate and Government Relations Chuck Spencer called me from DC this morning to talk about what they are discussing on the Hill and of …
Senate Farm Bill Comments
There was not much discussion as the full Senate considered and voted on the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 Monday evening, but a few senators had some comments. Prior to the vote, Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) talked about the hard work the Senate has done to pass the second farm bill in two years …
Construction & Agriculture Together at New Holland
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This is episode #399! That’s a lot of interviews with leaders of the industry to share with you. Cindy and I have enjoyed every minute of it. In this week’s program we’re going to delve into the integration of the construction side of New Holland’s business with the agriculture side. To do this I …
Farm Bill Attention Turns to the House
The Senate passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 by a vote of 66 to 27 on Monday evening, putting even more pressure on the House of Representatives to complete its work to get a bill to conference and passed by the end of summer. Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), a member of the House agriculture committee, is …
Benefits of Mintrex Cu on Pigs & Mode of Action
Mintrex Cu (copper) has benefits on pigs and mode of action. Dr. Yulin Ma, who works on Novus International’s research and development team, gave a presentation during the 25th Anniversary of the World Pork Expo about seven trials pertaining to the company’s new product Mintrex Cu. Ma explained that when adding the product to premix, the copper sulfate helped the …
The Infection Chain of Swine Diseases
We first heard about the Infection Chain concept in managing swine disease from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) back in March at American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting. We learned more about it during World Pork Expo. “BI is very dedicated to understanding the diseases overall,” explained Swine Technical Manager Brian Payne. “We’ve done a great job with the PRRS …
National Pork Board Provides PEDV Research Funds
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) was a big topic of discussion at the World Pork Expo this past week and the National Pork Board announced the investment of $450,000 in Checkoff funds to help speed research into finding answers to this new disease threat facing the domestic pork industry. This amount, coupled with funds just approved by the Iowa Pork …