The opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention featured welcoming remarks from the Bill Donald, President of NCBA, as well as Wesley Grau, Chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Wesley quoted CBB CEO, Polly Ruhland, from last summer’s meeting saying, “We are truly blessed.” He encouraged everyone to take full advantage of all the opportunities this convention provides. He …
NCBA Applauds Child Labor Rule Decision
Just prior to the opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention, the U.S. Labor Department announced that a proposal which would have barred children from many on-farm tasks will be revised to allow broader exemptions for parents who own or run agricultural operations. “I have got a news flash for all of you,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) …
Better Beef Sales Launched at Cattle Convention
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Beef Checkoff have partnered with Merck Animal Health to launch new online retail-training program for Better Beef Sales. The need for more training of meat-counter employees became evident after Merck Animal Health conducted a series of consumer panels that revealed consumers identify the staff behind the counter as experts. “The consumer that goes …
NCBA Hoping for Permanent Dust Fix
Agriculture won a few battles in the dust-up over farm dust regulation last year, but it remains to be seen who will win the war. Farm dust regulation ranks high on the list of policy priorities for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in 2012, with the goal of getting the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act that was introduced last year …
Previewing Beef Board Activities
To get a look at the work of the Beef Board during the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention I spoke with Polly Ruhland, CEO. Once again I’m the Beef Board Blogger and will be mostly posting on the CBB MyBeefCheckoffMeeting.com blog, something I’ve been doing since January of 2006! Polly says there are two main governance issues being dealt with by …
The Novus Triple S Bottom Line
At the International Poultry Expo, Novus International announced a new enzyme “candidate,” the first from their collaboration with Verenium. I spoke with Gary Hayen, Global Business Director for the fermentation products division. Gary says that by bringing these two companies together they will bring a strength to the industry to bring solutions to their customers. He says that because of …
Products To Improve Poultry Production
Enzymes are a key word heard a lot during the International Poultry Expo. You would also hear a lot of that word in the Novus International booth. I visited with Jared Hux, Product Manager for Enzymes, about CIBENZA®, a “game changing” dietary enzyme formulated to give poultry producers control over their feed ingredients and rations. Jared says that with rising …
Novus Commitment to Sustainability
During the Animal Ag Sustainability Summit 2012 held in conjunction with International Poultry Expo, Scott Hine, Vice President – Product Management and Operations, Novus, spoke about the company commitment to sustainability. Scott says the Summit was an opportunity for Novus and his message was that “if you want to be engaged in sustainability, which Novus believes is core to the …
Wrapping Up International Poultry Expo
The 2012 International Poultry and Feed Expo exceeded expectations. Here are some statistics on this year’s event. The 2012 International Poultry Expo and International Feed Expo drew over 20,500 poultry and feed industry leaders from all over the world. In addition, the show had 895 exhibitors as compared to 900 last year. Sponsored by U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and …
Waiting For Massive New Feed/Food Safety Regulations
The feed industry is facing “the mother of all laws,” the Food Safety Modernization Act. That’s according to Richard Sellers, American Feed Industry Association, one of the sponsoring organization this week for the combined International Poultry Expo and International Feed Expo. Pictured are staff members from AFIA including Richard on the left. Richard says this law, which has not yet …