Flame That Flu Away

Chuck Zimmerman

Red Dragon Poultry House SanitizerI haven’t said much about avian flu because I just don’t really know much about it. However, when you’ve got one of these flame shooting poultry house sanitizers we may just not have to worry too much! I like propane (I just wish it were cheaper) and here’s a great use for it. In fact, if you want to see a video of Flame Engineering’s Red Dragon Poultry House Flame Sanitizer just look here (9.1MB WMV).

The Propane Education & Research Council is helping promote the flaming sanitizer.

Red DragonThe Red Dragon, a new implement from Flame Engineering, Inc. (LaCrosse, KS), utilizes six liquid propane torches that project intense, sweeping flames underneath a sturdy steel hood to kill bacteria. The heat from the flames stays constant at approximately 1400° F, which is hot enough to effectively eliminate a host of harmful pathogens.

“The use of propane to help in the sanitation process of poultry houses is important for both the poultry industry and the propane industry,” said Mark Leitman, Director of Agriculture Programs for the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). “Hopefully, growers will see these positive results from Texas and seek out flame sanitation in their area.”

I’d think there are some other uses for a unit like that. I know I can come up with some. How about you?

Ag Groups, Agribusiness

Pouring Milk Makes You Test Positive

Chuck Zimmerman

New Got Milk AdsMajor League Baseball may not be very happy about the new Got Milk tv ads but I say, “Get a life.” They’re funny and created by the California Milk Processor Board.

It’s a series of ads that look like a breaking news story about players “pouring” a performance enhancing product. I think it’s very well done. It’s all in fun says the agency. “Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Co-Founder Jeff Goodby whose agency created the campaign says Brosnan needs to get a sense of humor, “It’s just milk. Believe me, we know parody is based on a serious topic. So we wanted to make sure that it was goofy enough so that people didn’t get upset.”

They apparently did as this statement by MLB’s Brosnan shows. “There is nothing humorous about steroid abuse. I would think that the California Milk Processor Board and their advertising agency would know better regarding an issue that threatens America’s youth.”

Ag Groups, Agencies

Beef Is What Ambassadors Are Made Of

Chuck Zimmerman

American National CattleWomen, Inc.Maybe I could enter as an “old” student and be an ambassador for beef! If you read AgWired you’ll probably get the impression that I think beef is good. But if you’re a real student you can compete for some cashola.

The National Beef Ambassador Competition is slated for November 3-5 in Austin, Texas, at the Hilton Austin Airport Hotel. Students from 25 states will compete for over $5,700 in cash and scholarship awards.

National Beef Ambassador ProgramThe National Beef Ambassador Program provides leadership training for the youth beef ambassadors, who advance the interests of the beef industry through promotion and peer education. The program is funded in part by America’s Beef Producers through the Beef Checkoff Program and is administered by American National CattleWomen, Inc. (ANCW) on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.

Ag Groups, Beef

Hass Avocado Board Announcement

Chuck Zimmerman

HASS Avocado BoardThere’s some new people on the Hass Avocado Board thanks to Sec. Johannes. I thought you might want to know.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today appointed three producer members, three alternate producer members, and two importer members to serve on the Hass Avocado Board.

Robert Bednar of Valley Center, Calif., was reappointed to serve a three-year term, beginning Nov. 1, 2005, and ending on Oct. 31, 2008. Newly appointed producer members, alternate producer members, and importer members will serve three-year terms beginning Nov. 1, 2005, and ending on Oct. 31, 2008. Producer Members appointed are: Bennett R. Drake of Temecula, Calif.; and Ralph De Leon of Santa Paula, Calif. Alternate Producer Members appointed are: John D. Lindstrom of Bonsall, Calif.; Bradley R. Miles of Carpinteria, Calif.; and Kenneth J. Roth of Vista, Calif.. Importer Members are: James C. Donovan of Ventura, Calif.; and Avi Crane of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Ag Groups

What’s In The Food You Eat? ARS Knows

Chuck Zimmerman

Ag Research Service Food SearchWant to know what’s in the foods you eat? USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Food Survey Research Group (say that 3 times real fast) just introduced a new online search tool today that let’s you find out all the food ingredient information you could ask for. It’s called “What’s In The Foods You Eat.” You can run it online or download the search tool to your computer.

This assumes you want to know the answers. Let’s say you’ve just washed down a 16 oz. T-bone with a couple bottles of beer. Do you really want to know this?

Actually they introduced it to dieticians today in St. Louis at the American Dietetic Association convention. I’m sure those folks need a resource like this to provide good information to their clients.

Uncategorized

Novartis Announces Vet Winners From AABP

Chuck Zimmerman

NovartisIt’s time to kick off a new week of stories here on AgWired. Let’s start with Novartis Animal Health, US. Why? Because they were the first in the old inbox and because I thought it was interesting that they sent releases out announcing the results of the competition they held at their booth at a recent trade show.

The show was the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Two daily winners were announced:

Christopher C.L. Chase, DVM, PhD and Kim Ehlers, DVM, captured the daily high scores at the recent conference of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) in Salt Lake City, Utah.

By playing an interactive quiz sponsored by Novartis Animal Health, the top scorers earned a $1,000 scholarship in their names to be sent to a U.S. veterinary school of their choice. The quiz was part of Novartis’ “Legacy of Leadership” theme for their booth at AABP. The theme tied into the Vira Shield® Legacy of Leadership sweepstakes, which commemorates cattle producers who will buy the 200 millionth dose of Vira Shield this year. Five winners will receive $5,000 to use toward college expenses. The quiz contest was designed to allow veterinarians to help bovine veterinary medicine students continue their education.

Agribusiness

Kathy Cornett Talks About Dairy Directory Project

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast39 - Kathy CornettThis week I interviewed Kathy Cornett, CEO of McCormick Company, about a unique project her agency recently completed. They have published the first ever Southwest Plains Dairy Directory. This printed directory is also available in an online, searchable database. I thought it was interesting that a full service advertising agency created a publication but it’s not the first time McCormick Company has done something like this. Remember AgriTalk?

You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Download MP3 File

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also now find the ZimmCast on CoolCast Radio.

Agencies, Audio, Podcasts, ZimmCast

New Listing Pages On AgWired

Chuck Zimmerman

Since we’re constantly evolving around here I made a few changes that you might have noticed on AgWired. I’ve added some pages that are in the top left list of links. Several of these are categories of listings that I think you’ll be interested in. They include: Agencies, Companies/Ag Groups, Media and of course, Blogs & Podcasts. This is just a start. I will be adding to this as time permits. In the meantime, I’d like you to check them out and submit links you’d like me to include. Just email me the name and url.

Hopefully they can become a good resource for you over time.

Uncategorized

The Birth of the Global Auction Blog

Chuck Zimmerman

Global Auction GuideThis thing apparently was “born from one farmer’s struggle to find farm auction listings on the Internet.” That farmer being Dwayne Leslie, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. I’m posting this since Dwayne commented on my recent article about Sirius satellite radio. He subscribes to the ZimmCast and I’m sending him an invitation to be my guest on an upcoming program. This auction guide business looks like it has turned into serious business for Dwayne.

I also have to point out that Dwayne’s a blogger too! How ’bout them ag bloggers? We’re the few, the proud, the, well I don’t know what else we are but you get the point. Anyway, visit Dwayne on the Global Auction Blog.

The Global Auction Guide Media Group announces the launch of GlobalAuctionBlog.com to help participants keep up with new developments in the traditional onsite auction industry.

“Blogging is a new phenomenon in the Internet world ” says Global Auction Guide Media Group President Dwayne Leslie. “We wanted to be able to help the auction industry better communicate with the general public. This will give auction participants some insight into how the auction works. There is so much more to having an auction than just bid calling, that many people don’t realise. We also want to communicate with auctioneers in a better way to train them how to use the Internet and technology to it’s full advantage. There are so many snake oil salesmen trying to sell them services that they don’t necessarily need when marketing is truly what they should be concentrating their Internet efforts towards .”

Global Auction Guide Media Group first began in 2001 with the launch of Farm Auction Guide.com. This quickly grew into the largest farm advertising website on the Internet.

Global Auction Guide Media Group is the leading auction advertising network on the Internet with over 17,000 auctions listed in the past 5 years from over 300 of the most progressive auctioneers on the continent. Auctioneers are able to list an unlimited number of sales, items and photos for a very economical monthly fee.

Agribusiness

The Real IFAJ 2009 Planning Session

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ 2009 Planning CommitteeWe really did work at preliminary planning for the IFAJ 2009 Congress and got a lot done this morning. Here we are, glad that we’re done! Not everyone could make it but in attendance were:

standing (L-R): Joe Roybal, Andy Markwart, JoAnn Alumbaugh, Paul Queck, David Hest, Me, Mike Wilson
seated (L-R): Diane Johnson, Greg Lamp, Kelly Schwalbe

I’ll have a lot more to come because planning for an international gathering can never start too early.

IFAJ