OK, so it’s not exactly how I remember boot camp from my days in the Air Force, but our good friends at PIC give out a lot of excellent information in their one-day seminars to help hog farm managers (without anyone making you drop and give them 20 push-ups!).
I recently attended the session they put on in Danville, Indiana, videotaping the speakers for later use.
During the program, entitled “Best Cost Production – Key to Success,” much of the focus was on how to optimize pig operations to make sure farmers are getting the most out of every dollar they put into it.
In between sessions, I caught up with Casey Neill, a PIC nutritionist who talked about reducing sow herd feed costs and nutrition programs that maximize performance. He told me that with today’s tight margins, no one can afford to spend too much without getting any more performance.
“With high feed costs you need to know exactly what kind of nutrient specs are in those diets,” said Neill.
He went on to tell me that overfeeding just a half pound too much to sows could cost a producer an extra $50 per sow. He believes the tips the producers get here could make the difference between operating in the red or counting your profits from the black.
“I think everybody can get at least one good idea to help save some money on their operations.”
I’ll have more to post, but in the meantime, you can listen to my conversation with Casey.
Dr. Bob Rowland with Kansas State University (left) and Dr. Max Rodibaugh (center), a swine practitioner from Indiana, were the last two speakers at the 
Her name is Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, but most people just call her Dr. Montse (mont-see). She is an international expert in swine health at the University of Minnesota, joining the College of Veterinary Medicine earlier this year as the Al Leman Chair in Swine Medicine. So, she definitely knows her stuff when it comes to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better known as PRRS.
The largest integrated dairy producer in Jordan is Hamoudeh Group and the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team visited their largest facility northeast of Amman which houses about 4,000 cows. Before getting a tour we heard a presentation from Marwan Hawari, pictured center showing some grain test results to team members, at their feed mill. I’ll have a video clip from that location to post soon.
The National Poultry Company in Jordan is managed by Mousa Wakileh who met with the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team. Mousa would like to see more education of traders and producers in order to increase imports of corn from the U.S. He’s also predicting a 50 percent increase in poultry consumption per capita in Jordan over the next five years which would also increase demand for American feed grains. According to Mousa, America is the preferred supplier of corn in Jordan.
“BASF and the NAAA are each devoted to sustaining and improving the field of agricultural aviation,” said Jim Gaffney, BASF Technical Market Manager. “This scholarship presents an opportunity for us to work together to help foster scenarios in which new pilots are provided with a foundation for success in the field of aerial application.”