When you think of Texas, you think cowboys and cattle but . . .
On my way back from Childress yesterday I saw a bunch of these off of Highway 278 so I had to stop. They were just grazing around. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a camel farm.
So that’s just one of the unique sights on this trip so far.
Meet Russell Graves, RussellGraves.com. He’s a professional photographer whose work I absolutely love. I’m on a layover in Ft. Worth, TX and he was gracious enough to take some time to meet with me to talk “shop” today.
We’re going to record an interview here in a few minutes for tomorrow’s ZimmCast. The drive up here from Ft. Worth was beautiful. It’s a little breezy today but sunny and warm enough.
We did a little drive around on some property that Russell manages and I got this shot of him there.
More to come tomorrow.
The Cattle Industry Convention is just wrapping up. Rod Smith, Feedstuffs, and I, have been sitting side by side as the CBB and NCBA conduct their annual business meetings. Some of us think we should call our table the “Rod Smith Memorial Media Table.”
My coverage has focused once again on the activities of the Beef Board as the Beef Board Blogger. If you’d like to learn more about what they did, you’ll find it on BeefBoardMeeting.com. Media are invited to download audio and pictures which you’ll find many links to there as well as committee agendas and minutes.
It’s been a great convention here in Phoenix. I’m headed on to Ft. Worth today and will be spending time at the Ft. Worth Stock Show doing a little more Drive Green blogging for John Deere.
At the CBB Dinner tonight we had a little fun with outgoing Chairman Dave Bateman.
I guess Dave was a target this past year. Here he’s showing off one of his going away presents. The exit sign is purely a coincidence.
Vice Chairman, Lucinda Williams, collected a list of her favorite “Davisms” this past year and shared them with us.
You can listen to the top 15 Davisms here: cic-09-davisms.mp3
The CBB Update Session was pretty interesting yesterday. The Beef Board voted to pass recommendations to change the Beef Checkoff and the discussion was fairly emotional and heated at times.
Basically, the Board is recommending to increase the Checkoff to $2 along with changing a number of other elements of the rule like allowing more involvement from producer groups that weren’t eligible under the original rule.
This morning I spoke with Chairman Dave Bateman who explains the process and what will happen at this point. The Board has done its duty and now has to depend on the Secretary of Agriculture and the industry to move the process for change forward.
You can listen to my interview with Dave here: cic-09-bateman-2.mp3
There are a lot of photos in the convention photo album. Check to see who you know: Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album
A new line of products going to bat from Novus International for the poultry industry is CIBENZA feed additives and other Novus enzyme and probiotic products. The coach for this special team is product manager Dr. Nasser Odetallah.
Nasser comes from Amman, Jordan, where he earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from University of Jordan specializing in enzymes. He also owned and operated a broiler production farm and held positions in academia, research and product development. Novus put him in charge of the CIBENZA line of products just this past November.
The enzyme products offer a number of benefits for the poultry producer, as well as the environment and Nasser explains it all in this interview. ipe-09-nassar.mp3
You can also download the interview here: Nasser Interview (mp3).
International Poultry Expo Photo Album
AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Speaking of NAFB, it’s always been kind of a tradition to have the members get together for a photo. We did that last night at the media reception. Of course not everyone attending was there at the time. But it’s still a group.
Thanks to Colleen Church-McDowall for taking the picture of us.
There are a lot of photos in the convention photo album. Check to see who you know:Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album
At this morning’s Producer Huddle, formerly known as general session 2, the President-Elect of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, Greg Akagi, was on stage.
The session was a sports team theme so Greg’s comments followed that line. When he was finished he got everyone to “break the huddle” by yelling “team.”
You can listen to Greg here: cic-09-akagi.mp3
There are a lot of photos in the convention photo album. Check to see who you know:Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album
The ZimmCast was done this morning in the NCBA media room and contains my first interview with Forrest Roberts in his new role as the CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. AgWired would like to congratulate him. He’s sure got some big shoes to fill coming in after Terry Stokes!
I was just one of many who interviewed Forrest today. He’s pictured here being interviewed by Mike LaPorte, KRVN.
Forrest grew up in Texas on a diversified family livestock farm that got involved in a retail venture marketing directly to the consumer. He says that has provided him with a good perspective on not only production agriculture but also consumer marketing. He says he’s always had a passion for this industry and his predecessor, Terry Stokes, was a mentor to him. He says that NCBA has a lot of challenges ahead and I love his analogy of “drinking from the firehose” right now as he tries to absorb all he has to know to do his job.
So, I hope it’s appropriate to say, “Run Forrest, Run.”
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 205 (7 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Forrest Roberts - ZimmCast 205
I also recorded his press conference this morning which you can listen to here: cic-09-roberts-press.mp3
Or you can download it here: Forrest Roberts Press Conference (MP3)
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
