Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Farm Credit Services of Illinois and the Illinois Pork Producers Association are teaming-up to provide free grilled pork burger meals during the sixth annual “Harvest Lunch Tour.”
  • ANIMART, Inc. announces the recent addition of Kayla Buske as marketing associate of the large animal dairy and livestock division which provides animal health products and supplies to producers.
  • Public Lands Council held its 2010 Annual Meeting in Pendleton, Ore., on Sept. 13-14. At the meeting, new leadership was elected to the executive committee and PLC members adopted new and interim policies.
  • Milk producers and dairy industry organizations from around the country will meet to “Create a Path to Prosperity” in Reno, Nev., on Oct. 26-28, 2010, at the joint annual meeting of the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, and the United Dairy Industry Association.
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Everything But The Squeal

Melissa Sandfort

About 20 years ago, my grandfather wrote a book about our family history. He had it printed, and as we unpacked at our new house, I came across that family story, neatly bound and stored amongst my set of office books. I later sat down with him to hear about one such experience contained in the book, and am now debating about eating that 150 pounds of pork in our freezer. (Ah, but I’d never let good meat go to waste!)

Here are some excerpts from his book: Hogs were raised for family food and for market. Butchering was done in the late fall or winter so that the carcass could be chilled … The hog was scalded in the hot water; judgment was used in leaving it long enough to loosen the hairs in its skin but not long enough to cook the outside of the flesh … The innards were removed, with the heart, liver and small intestine saved for future use … Some of the meat was kept in salt brine in a wooden barrel; the bacon and some sausage was cured over a smoking hickory wood fire in a small closed building; some sausage patties were kept in a container of lard … The small intestines which had been saved were thoroughly cleaned and washed, turned inside out and washed again and soaked overnight in salt water. They were used as casings for some of the sausage that had been ground. Mother cooked the feet, removed the toenails and made pickled pig’s feet; the jowls of the head were made into jowl bacon … the brains were removed for a special treat.

Someone has said that when a farmer butchered a hog, he used everything but the squeal.

This makes me wonder: first, cooking with all that lard, how did people in the 1930s stay so thin? Second, how did they ever clean up the kitchen table after slapping hog halves down to be cut? And lastly, what kind of treat is brain?

This picture is a hog scraper, used to scrape the hair from the hog when butchering. I think I prefer eating great-tasting pork, and living with my ignorance of not knowing how it’s butchered. I’m going to pretend I didn’t read this part of the book.

Until we walk again…

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Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • In an effort to offer real-world experience to future agriculture professionals, Novartis Animal Health US, Inc., will offer grants to eight high school students of the National FFA Organization as part of an ongoing partnership.
  • The National Milk Producers Federation announced the launch of its
    Foundation for the Future website: www.FutureForDairy.com.
  • Two e-learning modules, K-Mag High Yielding, High-Quality Crops and Positioning K-Mag to Growers are found at www.kmag.com under the “Retailer Tools” tab at the top of the home page. The convenient, interactive, online training courses each require about 40 minutes to complete and are available 24/7. Certified Crop Advisor credits are available.
  • DeLaval has been awarded the EuroTier Gold Medal for its industry-first automatic milking rotary.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Getting Ready For NAMA Trends In Agriculture

    Chuck Zimmerman

    If you’re not going to make it to this year’s NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference then don’t despair. Thanks to the folks at Quarry Integrated Communications I’ll be there with coverage right here on AgWired. In case you’re still wondering why the conference is in Minneapolis instead of Kansas City you can get the full story from a recent ZimmCast with Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO.

    Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

    NAMA

    AAEA Has New Website

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) has a new website and it is a major improvement.

    “For our members and prospective members, it’s more reader-friendly, interactive and informative, with much of the same content that was in the previous site plus some additions,” said Den Gardner, AAEA executive director. “Behind the scenes, it is much more efficient for the AAEA staff to manage.”

    “A big part of the update was building a site that better organizes AAEA’s online resources. I think we’ve accomplished that,” said Steve Fairchild, AAEA president. “Plus, we’ve incorporated some little things, like the Twitter feed, that help our members stay in touch with what AAEA is doing as an organization.”

    The site incorporates Twitter feeds from @AgEditors and @AgMediaSummit, in addition to the related hash tags #ageditors, #AgMS for the association’s annual conference Ag Media Summit, and #ifaj for the affiliated organization the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.

    The website was designed by Aha! Digital.

    ACN

    National Potato Council Awards Scholarship

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The National Potato Council has awarded their 2010-11 NPC Academic Scholarship to Yu Chen.

    Chen is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is conducting research towards controlling Potato Late Blight – a disease that affects potato production worldwide – while simultaneously reducing pesticide applications. NPC believes that her work will ultimately be a boon for the potato industry. Chen stood out in a field of qualified applicants, all of whom are helping to push the industry towards a strong future.

    Every year, NPC awards a scholarship to one graduate-level student conducting research for the benefit of the potato industry to aid them in their studies. The winner is selected based on a number of criteria, including academic achievement and leadership ability. Thanks to all of the supporters who help fund the scholarship program, and to all of the applicants working for the betterment of the industry.

    Ag Groups, Potato

    Osborn & Barr Adds 21

    Chuck Zimmerman

    You know we like to post pictures here but sorry Osborn & Barr. 21 new employees?! Wow. Guess business is growing. If you’ve got photos of all of them we’ll link to your online photo album. LOL.

    O&B, a leading marketing and communications firm serving agricultural and rural markets, announces the addition of 21 new employees to assist with growing business from long-term client Monsanto and AGCO, among others. The new hires will join O&B’s various practice groups as well as the media, public relations, production, creative services, digital and financial departments.

    The O&B Cultivate Practice Group saw the largest expansions with six new hires. Jonathan Bloom, Rob Niccolai, Susan Luke, Eileen Jensen, Cassandra McCloud and Nicola Freeman bring varied backgrounds in advertising, brand management, brand planning and agriculture to the practice group.

    The O&B Animal Practice Group also is expanding with the addition of Rebecca Terry in the Kansas City office, and Emily Dameron joins the O&B Equipment Practice Group to assist with the growing AGCO business.

    O&B also saw new hires across a number of departments. Lauren Althoff, Susan Ratz and Rhonda Meier join the media department to assist with buys and placements. Erin Nash is a recent addition to the public relations team in the Kansas City office and Meghan Fullington joins the St. Louis public relations team. Members of the production department welcome Jamie Bedwell to their team. Mark Renusch, in the Kansas City office, and Alyson Carter, in the St. Louis office, have joined O&B’s creative services department. Jeremy Alms and Christine Birke are the newest additions to the O&B digital team. The O&B financial department expands with new hire Annette Shockley. Gina Skjerseth joins O&B as an executive assistant, and Jessica Swan is the new Kansas City office services manager.

    Agencies

    Reining Lesson Couresy of John Deere At WEG

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Visitors to The John Deere Place at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are treated to scheduled reining demonstrations each day. This week the media had their own opportunity that included being able to sign up to try it yourself. Although I do enjoy riding occasionally I stayed on the ground with my camera and took a picture of Sarah Jenkins, Horse & Hound magazine, getting a lesson from the experts.

    Sarah says she had never ridden in a western saddle before and she was surprised at how easy it was. Part of that was being on a well trained horse too I’m sure. Sarah says she’s in “horse heaven” here at the WEG. You can listen to my interview with Sarah: Sarah Jenkins Interview

    Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
    is sponsored by: john-deere

    Audio, Horses, International, John Deere, Media

    Full Line of John Deere Equipment on Display at WEG

    Chuck Zimmerman

    You might think that an equipment company exhibiting at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games would only display equipment to use on horse farms. You might think wrong. In fact, WEG sponsor, John Deere, is displaying their full line of equipment from consumer to ag to commercial.

    Earlier this week I spoke with Barry Nelson, Manager, Media Relations, about what the company is displaying and why. He says “this is a branding effort” and therefore they wanted a full range of their equipment to show the extent of the brand. There are 40 pieces of equipment on display and 60 Gators “running around the grounds” as well as some other tractors and implements being used in the arenas. This is a very international crowd attending the grounds and the company has someone on location who is multi-lingual even though many of the visitors do speak English. You can listen to my interview with Barry: Barry Nelson Interview

    Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
    is sponsored by: john-deere

    Agribusiness, Audio, Horses, John Deere

    NAMA and ARC and Public Relations Content

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The Agricultural Relations Council and the National Agri-Marketing Association just announced that they have entered into an informal partnership focused on developing enhanced public relations content for upcoming industry events. We’ll see the results of this at the Agri-Marketing Conference next April with the joint creation of PR-track content.

    As part of the agreement, an ARC board member – Mike Opperman of Charleston|Orwig – will serve on the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference planning committee.

    National Agri-Marketing Association“We are continually looking for ways to strengthen the content of our conferences,” said Jenny Pickett, executive director of NAMA. “With this new partnership with ARC, we have a great opportunity to drive a more meaningful discussion about the role and utility of public relations in agri-marketing, and how our members can more effectively use PR to support their own business goals.” Pickett noted that the partnership between NAMA and ARC, each an independent organization, fits in with NAMA’s goal of forming alliances with industry organizations to help strengthen professional development.

    Ultimately, ARC will contribute to developing two tracks of “ARC-approved” PR sessions that will take place during the 2011 conference, said Den Gardner, executive director of ARC. “This new partnership with NAMA gives ARC a bigger platform from which to promote the art and science of agricultural public relations,” Gardner said. “It also fits with our mission to give ARC members who attend allied meetings a great opportunity to stay connected to ARC’s timely and relevant PR programming throughout the year.

    ARC, NAMA