MINTREX is Poultry MVP

Cindy Zimmerman

International Poultry Expo 09The 2009 International Poultry Expo is officially underway here in Atlanta at the World Congress Center where about 900 companies representing all aspects of the poultry industry have their products and services on display at the huge trade show. According to IPE, the show is the world’s largest display of technology, equipment, supplies, and services used in the production and processing of poultry and eggs and for those involved in feed manufacturing. All segments of the industry are represented here from feed milling, hatchery, and live production to processing, marketing, and support activities.

International Poultry Expo 09The cost of feed and minerals is one of the top concerns for the poultry industry right now – and that is where Novus International hits a home run for producers. I talked with Jim Richards (center), manager of cell biology research for Novus, about one of their all-star products for poultry – MINTREX, which is a highly cost effective source of organic trace minerals designed to optimize productivity and health and is the only mineral product on the market that provides residual methionine for nutritional use.

“We’ve been quite successful in lowering total trace mineral inclusion rates in diets and still see really good performance,” Jim says. “So you can feed less and the animal still does well.”

And if you can cut your mineral inclusion by 50 percent Jim says, “That’s a really good thing, for the producers to save money, a good thing for the environment – it’s a win-win all the way around.”

Listen to that interview here: ipe-09-richards.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

IPE/IFE Photo Album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Audio, Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

CBB Budget Decreases

Chuck Zimmerman

The Cattle Industry Convention is in full swing with NCBA Cattlemen’s College going on this morning in addition to other meetings. One of them that took place yesterday was the Beef Board Operating Committee:

This committee has directed staff of the Beef Board to implement an approximate 5% cut in the budget due to projected lower income this year. That’s about $2.5 million! It’s one of the top issues on the minds of cattlemen here in Phoenix.

Ag Groups, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The readers of No-Till Farmer have weighed in on the products that performed the best in their no-till operations in 2008, citing Headline fungicide from BASF as the “No-Till Product of the Year.”
  • Successful Farming magazine and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announced that Successful Farming is combining forces with AEM’s AG CONNECT Expo to promote the new international agricultural event.
  • Asoyia announced the appointment of Bob George as the company’s chief financial officer.
  • DTN and The Progressive Farmer announced the launch of CattleLink, a new section in The Progressive Farmer publication.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Top CBB Issues

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Dave BatemanThe Beef Board Operating Committee meeting is over and before he went to dinner I caught up with Chairman Dave Bateman.

    A large part of the meeting was taken up by discussion about lower budget projections. Dave says that’s one major issue they’re facing.

    Another one is the improvements process they’ve been going through for the last year.

    You can listen to my interview with Dave here: cic-09-bateman-1.mp3

    Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

    Media Room Welcoming Committee

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Yard O Beef LadiesHere’s the Yard-O-Beef welcoming committee in the Cattle Industry Convention news room. It’s always nice to see the staff here and between chocolate and beef we’re well fed.

    The Convention will pick up the pace tomorrow. Meetings are already taking place though. I’m the Beef Board Blogger once again and have been in the Operating Committee meeting for a while. Photos are already being uploaded and you can find them here: Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album.

    So, sit back, relax and let Cindy and myself bring you all the exciting action from two of the major livestock industry conventions this week.

    Cattle Industry Conference

    All Star Theme for Novus

    Cindy Zimmerman

    International Poultry Expo 09“All Star” is the theme for Novus International at the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta this week. There’s a couple of good reasons for that.

    First and most important is the Novus all-star lineup of poultry products including Advent, DHA Gold, Mintrex and Alimet.

    International Poultry Expo 09The other reason is that the 2009 Baseball All Star game will be held in St. Louis – which is also the home of Novus International. To drive home that theme, Novus will have a special guest at their expo trade show booth this week – Hall of Famer Lou Brock.

    I talked with Novus poultry marketing specialist Michael Whitmer about the importance of the poultry business for Novus and what they have in the line-up for poultry producers this year. Listen to that interview here: ipe-09-whitmer.mp3

    You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

    IPE/IFE Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
    Novus

    Audio, Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

    Nutritional Antioxidants for Lunch from Novus

    Cindy Zimmerman

    International Poultry Expo 09Lunch was on Novus International today at the International Poultry/Feed Expos in Atlanta for the Southern Poultry Scientific Society (SPSS) meeting here. The SPSS meeting is part of the International Poultry Scientific Forum being held in conjunction with all the other poultry and feed events. It’s really kind of amazing how many events are going on here around the expos and how many people are already here from all over the world.

    International Poultry Expo 09In a relaxed atmosphere, Dr. Tara York with Novus presented some information on the “Synergistic Effects of Nutritional Antioxidants” to about 200 attendees, focusing on vitamin E, selenium, and ethoxyquin (as well as a bunch of other big words that I can’t pronounce or spell!!) Novus is pretty much the world leader when it comes to antioxidants for poultry, with over five decades of basic and applied research, development and manufacturing expertise being utilized to develop, manufacture and support multiple lines of nutritional and health products for the poultry industry.

    I recorded Dr. York’s short and informative presentation that Novus will be using in podcast form. I also interviewed Dr. York about antioxidants, poultry and Novus – you can listen to that interview here: ipe-09-york-interview.mp3

    You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

    IPE/IFE Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
    Novus

    Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

    Welcome to the IPE/IFE

    Cindy Zimmerman

    International Poultry Expo 09Welcome to AgWired’s coverage of the International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo, sponsored by Novus International. It’s just an international event here in Hot-Lanta!

    A number of pre-expo events are taking place here today – like summits, seminars and technical sessions – but the real show gets underway tomorrow here at the Georgia World Congress center. The expo is a joint effort of the US Poultry & Egg Association and the American Feed Industry Association.

    The Flickr photo album is started and can be found here. It will be updated continuously throughout the expo this week, so keep checking back for new photos.

    AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
    Novus

    Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

    Feeding RSS In St. Louis

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Bob CallananThis afternoon I got to visit with Bob Callanan and Cassandra Schlef, American Soybean Association. We talked about RSS feeds which I believe you’ll soon see ASA making greater use of to distribute information. In our session we started out looking at how RSS works from the user perspective and then moved to the publishing side. I really believe this is a great way to learn about this critical mechanism that powers a lot of today’s new media tools and channels.

    I caught Bob on my iPhone before we got started and used Twitter/Twitterfeed/Twitpic as part of the presentation. You can find a bigger Bob on Twitpic. The roads were pretty nasty in St. Louis by the time I got out of town since I had one more stop to visit with the Country Living Association and all my Drake & Company friends, including Mr. Drake himself. He’s now a Twitterbug himself so visit him and follow him. The new Country Living Association website is now up and running so check it out. I’ll have more on it later.

    Ag Groups

    Ditchin’ South Dakota

    Amanda Nolz

    Classes are in full swing, homework is piling up, I’m in my senior semester at SDSU, the snow is getting deep and I’m ditching school to head to sunny Arizona for the Cattle Industry’s Annual Trade Show and Convention. I’ll be catching up with Chuck in Phoenix as we gather with ranchers, industry professionals and friends for some good conversations and fellowship.

    cisc-06-37This will be my third time attending this convention, and without a doubt, it is one of my favorites. It’s pretty amazing that Chuck has captured my travels several times over the last three years. I enjoyed a little blast from the past by listening to this interview, “Passionate About Beef,” and reading this blog post, “Beef Ambassador Blogs.” It’s a little embarrasing to share these blasts from the past, but everyone needs a good chuckle now and again. This time, it’s just on my behalf!

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to taking part in Cattlemen’s College, the Cattle-Fax Outlook Seminar, beef industry issues forums, Cattlemen’s Beef Board Update sessions, a media reception and NCBA’s Young Producers Council meetings. Yes, it is going to be a busy week, but I’m excited for it. It’s time to get back on the road again!

    Beef