The Worm Farmer

Chuck Zimmerman

Pfizer CattleI have never met someone who grows worms for a living but that’s what Dr. Patrick Meeus is doing for Pfizer Animal Health. He’s a parasitologist and specializes in worm research. So at the Pfizer VMRD facility he works on the development of de-wormers.

They call his part of the facility the “Worm Farm.” You can hear him tell how they do the research in my interview with him. He says they are constantly looking for the latest parasites in the field which they bring into the lab to do tests with. There are only about a half a dozen people working in his facility and they have a pretty tough schedule since as he puts it “worms don’t take a day off.”

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Meeus here: pfizer-vmrd-07-meeus.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FileDr. Patrick Meeus Interview

Animal Health, Audio

Wait to Re-Treat Cattle For BRD

Chuck Zimmerman

Pfizer BeefDr. Merlyn Lucas is Associate Director, Pharmaceutical Clinical Development, VMRD for Pfizer Animal Health. At the recent Pfizer media event he spoke to us about some of his research that focused on single-dose therapy, specifically on Excede and Draxxin. These products are used to treat cattle for bovine respiratory disease.

He says that producers are starting to learn that these products have really changed their need to treat cattle frequently. In fact, the research he’s done makes it pretty clear that waiting to re-treat cattle after using these products is cost effective. Who doesn’t want to save some money?

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Lucas here: pfizer-vmrd-07-lucas.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FileDr. Merlyn Lucas Interview

Animal Health, Audio

John Deere Product Launch Overview

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere RevealAfter the big show at the John Deere product launch all the dealers were invited down to the floor and the next room to see all the new equipment up close and personal.

While I was wandering around the floor I met Chris Whitehead, John Deere Manager of Advertising and Marketing Communications. He provided me with an overview of what John Deere has been showing their dealers. Besides dealers he said that they’re also bringing in customers for to see the same demonstrations and product reveal here at the end of the last week of the introduction.

Chris says the product introduction this year is one of their biggest ever and that it focuses on all the customer segments their dealers have.

You can listen to my interview with Chris here: launch-07-whitehead.mp3

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Audio, John Deere

Seth Crawford Talks John Deere Combines

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere Combine & Corn HeadThe big combines just have that “wow” factor when it comes to a show and this week’s John Deere product introduction was no exception. The marketing manager for combines for John Deere is Seth Crawford. I interviewed him right after the field demonstration portion on combines. The one in this picture is one of their new 70 Series with the easy to adjust 600 Series Corn Head.

You can learn all about the these new items in the following interview.

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Corn, John Deere, Video

Sprayers and Spray Controlling From John Deere

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere Product Launch Field DayHere’s where we got to see new sprayers in action at the John Deere product introduction. We had three presenters including Iowa farm brothers Brent and Lee Madden and Adam Hart. They also talked about how some of the new John Deere precision ag equipment works with these sprayers to more precisely apply product.

You can watch a portion of their presentation here and learn more. They did fire up the equipment like the 4830 sprayer in the background.

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Video

Getting Precise With John Deere Upgrades

Chuck Zimmerman

Kayla ReynoldsKayla Reynolds works in the John Deere Ag Management Solutions area just like Mike Park. She was our teacher in the “classroom” part of our media/analysts session this week at the John Deere product introduction.

Kayla focused on 4 main topics related to precision ag. They are long range RTK, shading optimization, GS2 rate controller expansion and Swath Control Pro for planting. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with what these mean. She explains it in an interview I did with her after her presentation.

It appears that John Deere has made some significant strides in the area of precision ag. For example the new long range RTK allows a grower to operate their equipment with sub inch accuracy at up to 12 miles from the base station instead of the 6 miles previously possible.

You can listen to my interview with Kayla here: launch-07-reynolds.mp3

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Scalable Accuracy in Precision Ag Products

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere 9630TAt the John Deere product introduction we got to see some big iron in action. One demo involved this 9630T which has an amazing stability functionality built into it including a new AirCushion walking I-beam suspension system.

While I was at this field station I interviewed Mike Park, Factory Marketing Manager, Ag Management Solutions. Mike talks about John Deere’s precision ag products including their new APEX 2.0 software. He says that although not every customer is ready to invest in some of these tools he highly recommends they talk about them with their local representative. When I asked him if a grower can stair step into the precision products he says they call it, “scalable accuracy,” meaning that there are different levels of investment that will all utilize similar components.

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Video

John Deere Recommends Biodiesel

Chuck Zimmerman

Don Borgman Being InterviewedThe Director of Ag Industry Relations for John Deere is Don Borgman. Here he is getting interviewed by Mike LaPorte, KRVN.

Don says that although biofuels isn’t a real focus for John Deere at their product launch what’s going on in the development of biofuel products is having a real impact on their business. He highly recommends that producers use a blend of biodiesel in their John Deere equipment.

You can listen to my interview with Don here: launch-07-borgman.mp3

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Audio, Biodiesel, John Deere

Sesitivity Surveillance By Pfizer Animal Health

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff WattsDr. Jeff Watts is the associate research fellow, head, Laboratory Sciences, Microbiology Support Laboratory at the Veterinary Medicine Research and Development facility for Pfizer Animal Health. That’s a long title and he’s in charge of some pretty serious research. At the recent media event held at the VMRD he spoke about, “antimicrobial susceptibility testing of BRD pathogens.”

Wow. You may not think you will understand something that sounds that complex but you’d be wrong. He put what he does in easy to understand language which I needed when I interviewed him. First he reviews the type of research he’s done. To start with he focuses on their products and checking for resistance. Since Pfizer has several products to treat for BRD which have different modes of action he says the producer has choices which they can use if a resistance problem were to show up.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Watts here: pfizer-vmrd-07-watts.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FileDr. Jeff Watts Interview

Animal Health, Audio

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • AgriLabs announces the addition of Dr. Joel Ehrenzweig to its Technical Services team. David Cunningham, Executive Vice President, announced the appointment of Dr. Joel Ehrenzweig as Technical Services Veterinarian focusing on companion animal products. Cunningham said, Joel has an excellent background in the companion animal industry both as a practicing veterinarian and in management. We are looking forward to his contribution and guidance as AgriLabs continues to increase its presence in the companion animal market. Ehrenzweig comes to AgriLabs from FLAVORx where he was Vice President of the Veterinary Division and Technical Services Director.
  • AgriMarketing Magazine points to industry sources that say that Helena and Agrium, are working together to buy crop protection products. View the story to see what else their sources tell them about this story.
  • Pennsylvania‘s tobacco farmers will receive $11 million from tobacco companies after a North Carolina court ruled in Pennsylvania’s favor in a case that stems from a 1999 agreement between states and the nation’s largest tobacco companies. “After working for nearly two years to secure payments, this settlement is a victory for Pennsylvania’s 500 tobacco growers,” said Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff. Payments were delayed due to tobacco manufacturers’ concerns about their obligations under the federal Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act, which was passed by Congress in 2004. The federal act provided for a tobacco quota buyout for most growers, but not Pennsylvania and Maryland. The North Carolina court’s decision makes clear that the tobacco companies still have an obligation to continue payments to the tobacco trust through 2010, which was established to help Pennsylvania and 13 other states. When the act passed, the companies stopped making payments and Pennsylvania and Maryland took action. Maryland farmers received a $13 million settlement, which is to be paid through 2010.
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