Cattleman Blogger

Chuck Zimmerman

Nichols FarmIt almost seems like today’s cattle producer needs to be part IT professional. I’m guessing that the beef from these animals will be traceable no matter what happens down the road.

Guess what else is cool about Nichols Farm? A blog. That’s right new ag media fans. As long as they keep at it they’ve now got a mechanism to communicate directly with the public and their customers. Very cool guys and I applaud you.

MerialNichols Farms will enter a new era of beef production November 29, 2006, as Dave Nichols hosts a feeder calf sale at the Creston Livestock Auction, Creston, Iowa. At 1 p.m., buyers will have the chance to purchase 1,000 calves sired by Nichols’ bulls from approximately 20 consigners. Not only will the calves feature superior genetics, but they will be:

Certified through the MERIAL SUREHEALTH Calf Preconditioning Program
Source- and age-verified through the eMerge Process Verified Program (PVP)
DNA-analyzed by the comprehensive IGENITY profile
Electronically identified

Agribusiness

Swine Transportation and Handling Program

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry Siemens

In its first year of delivery, enrollment in the Assiniboine Community College’s Swine Transportation and Handling program in Brandon, Manitoba has topped 200. The College launched the program about one year ago and so far, over 200 drivers have completed the training. The course has two components, the National Pork Board’s Trucker Quality Assurance program in the United States and a Canadian component developed by the ACC.

Deanne Miller, Assiniboine Community College’s course instructor says the U.S. manual includes chapters on the drivers’ attitude, using animal behavior and natural instincts, the flight zone and point of balance, and aggressive handling. It also includes loading and unloading of pigs, the fitness of the hogs, facilities and equipment, the conditions of the truck and environment, things like space, weather conditions, transporting issues, biosecurity, laws and regulations and an emergency response plan. Read More

International

Bioheat Your Home

Chuck Zimmerman

BioHeatIf you’re using oil to heat with you might as well do it the enviro-friendly way with Bioheat. It’s also United States and farmer friendly.

Bioheat fuel is made from a combination of biodiesel and generic heating oil, making it a superior product for the environment, as well as for the overall operational enhancement of the heating system. Biodiesel, made from vegetable oils or animal fats, must meet the ASTM specification of D 6751 and can be used in pre-existing diesel engines and heating systems. To make Bioheat home heating oil, fuel dealers blend it with ASTM D 396 heating oil.

The National Biodiesel Board secured the term “Bioheat®” for use in identifying home heating oil blended with biodiesel, and sublicensed it to the National Oilheat Research Alliance so it can also help broaden the use of the fuel and its identity. Both will share use of the trademarked term and logo. A sublicense agreement for dealers is available on the NORA Web site on the “News” page.

Oilheat distributors blend Bioheat fuel, mostly in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states, as blends from B2 (two percent biodiesel and 98 percent diesel) to B20. Inclusion of five percent biodiesel in oilheat, or B5, will be the overall objective of both NBB and NORA as the market progresses.

Biodiesel

Zimfo Bites

Chuck Zimmerman

  • FMC Corporation and Dow AgroSciences LLC announce the companies have entered into a long-term supply agreement, whereby FMC will have access to cloransulam-methyl and Dow AgroSciences will have access to sulfentrazone for the commercialization of premixes involving the two active ingredients for weed control in soybeans. Each company will launch their own brand of herbicide for the 2007 growing season, Dow AgroSciences under the Sonic brand name and FMC under the Authority First DF brand name.
  • CNH AMERICA LLC, announced today that a majority of its employees belonging to the International Association of Machinists in Fargo, North Dakota voted to ratify a new five and a half year contract, effective November 1, 2006 through April 27, 2012. The agreement was reached by the company and the union on October 30, 2006, and ratified by a majority of its 520 IAM represented employees today.

    • Read More

Zimfo Bytes

More Meatrix

Chuck Zimmerman

Meatrix II 1/2The next installment of The Meatrix is out. It’s called Meatrix II 1/2.

I know this is going to bother a lot of people but try to have a sense of humor and rejoice in all the (hopefully) wasted time and money spent on this misguided effort.

In this installment Moopheus winds up in a packing plant and hears the soon to be immortal line, “What’s a little E.coli between friends?”

It’s coming to you from Participate.net where you can find other video projects like this.

Food, Video

ISU Vet Students Earn Scholarships

Chuck Zimmerman

Kafer & SmithHere’s a couple of ISU students who got the win while playing in St. Paul.

Amy Kafer and Eric Smith captured the daily high score at the recent two-day conference of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners in St. Paul, Minn. By playing an interactive quiz sponsored by Novartis Animal Health US, Inc., the top score earned Kafer and Smith a $1,000 scholarship in their name to be sent to a U.S. veterinary school of their choice.

In addition to honoring the top daily scorers with a scholarship in their name, the quiz also helped raise $2,700 for the Amstutz Scholarship Fund.

Agribusiness

New Record for Monthly Visitors

Chuck Zimmerman

October was another record month for traffic on AgWired. Our statistics show over 15,000 unique visitors and almost 100,000 page views.

I am not only amazed but thankful to all the people who visit, comment, share, email ideas and provide their support. I don’t know where we’ll wind up in the future but I promise to keep bringing you all the information I can.

I’m sure you know we haven’t done any formal advertising of AgWired. Other than my periodic email to those of you who are in my personal contact database I’ve got to believe that good old word of mouth is spreading the message that we’re doing something unique and I hope valuable to a growing audience.

We’re going to keep on making AgWired a more and more valuable online destination for anyone involved in, or interested in agricultural marketing. Keep an eye on us.

Uncategorized

New Grain Scale

Chuck Zimmerman

OhausAs long as nobody wants to weigh me I’m okay. However, if you want a pure grain weighing product, here’s a new one. I imagine a lot of these are in use right now.

The Ohaus Corporation, a leading manufacturer of balances for specialty, industrial, education, and laboratory markets and worldwide, has announced the addition of the new Adventurer™ Pro Grain Scale to its line of measurement products. The Adventurer Pro has been designed as a durable and accurate grading scale for use in commercial grain weighing applications.

The Adventurer Pro offers the capacity and precision needed in the grain weighing operations that prepare the product to be sent to the marketplace. Farmers and grain purchasers use the scale to sample grain in the purchasing process to determine grain purity percentages of shipments for pricing.

Agribusiness

Global Forces Shaping Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast91 - NAMA Agribusiness Forum With Chairman Jessica LamkeyThe NAMA Agribusiness Forum is just around the corner (November 14-15) so I interviewed this year’s chairman, Jessica Lamker, Director of Member Development & Communications, CHS-Land O’Lakes Member Services.

Jessica gives us the rundown on the program which is focusing on the Global Forces Shaping Agriculture. A big part of the program will be looking into the future from the eyes of several of the people doing presentations. This is a common element of the annual event.

Download this week’s program: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 91 (13 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast91-11-1-06.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.

Agribusiness, Audio, NAMA, ZimmCast

Think Small

Chuck Zimmerman

Next year’s NAMA Conference theme may be “Think Big” but starting tomorrow you can think “small” as in the 14th National Small Farm Trade Show & Conference.

It’s going to be held at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Columbia, MO. They have heated buildings in case you’re worried about that.

Some of the sessions on the agenda include, Native plants as cut flowers, Fruits, nuts & medicinal herbs, Crop diversification options, 10 Ways to make money from trees, Ethanol from waste fruit and Legal matters. There’s quite a few more too.

According to the show organizers, last year, over 4,400 people and over 150 exhibitors attended.

Show Hours: Thurs, Nov 2: 9 am-5 pm, Fri, Nov 3: 8 am-5 pm, Sat, Nov 4: 8 am-5 pm. Call 800-633-2535 to register.

Farm Shows