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.
She was on the program at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica’s (BIVI) Area Regional Control of PRRS seminar last week in Chicago, just prior to the start of the 2009 International PRRS Symposium. Her topic was building and executing herd plans within ARC projects.
“We do need herd plans in order to move forward on PRRS elimination,” Dr. Montse says. “A herd plan is putting in writing all the steps to take to clean up a farm or clean up an area. What we intend to do with that is to use those documents for communication purposes, to bring everybody on board, and at the same time to identify the limitations we may encounter in the future.”
Listen to or download my interview with Dr. Monste about PRRS control herd plans here:
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.”
Here is the perfect present for that tractor lover on your list – 
Only 200 of these tractors have been produced to benefit the NAFB Foundation. Numbers 1-5 were auctioned live during the Foundation Auction and Reception at the NAFB Convention – one of which was purchased by Monsanto’s Tami Craig Shilling, pictured here with Lyle Orwig of Charleston-Orwig (who also bought one, if I remember correctly.)
Products from the acquisition will align with Novus’s MINTREX® chelated trace mineral products and further expand its mineral technology. When complete, this acquisition will enable Novus to offer its customers and the animal agriculture market an expanded chelated trace mineral product portfolio to support their livestock operations.