New Holland Roll-Belt Balers at NCBA Trade Show

Chuck Zimmerman

During the NCBA Trade Show I visited with New Holland which was just releasing new and improved Roll-Belt Round Balers. Improvements came from a recent Penn State University study on “Bale Density Effects on Baleage Quality.” I talked to Curt Hoffman, New Holland and Jessica Williamson, Extension Forage Specialist, Penn State. Jessica was one of the authors of the Penn State study.

A recent study completed by Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences confirms round bale density leads to improved cattle nutrition and producer return on investment. In the study, New Holland Roll-Belt™ round balers produced the highest-density bales in all tests compared to three leading competitors.

“This research affirms the many benefits of denser bales we have discovered through years in the field,” says Curt Hoffman, hay and forage crop packaging and marketing manager for New Holland, North America. “Not only does higher bale density improve feed quality and lower costs, it improves producer ROI through a variety of efficiency gains.”

The study found that denser bales had greater total acid production and stayed cooler through the fermentation process. This increases the whole-bale bunk life of round bales through reduced spoilage, allowing for the feeding of larger-diameter bales to the same number and size of cattle without waste. Penn State observed up to 25 more hours of bunk life due to higher bale density.

“What research has shown in the past is that with any fermented forage or any ensiled forage, typically the denser you can pack that forage, the better fermentation you’re going to have,” says Jessica A. Williamson, Ph.D., extension forage specialist for Penn State University. “[Better fermentation] overall is going to give you a better-quality product to feed your animals.”

Higher density equates to up to 39 percent fewer bales, resulting in less twine or net wrap used as well as plastic silage film, reduced labor, and less overall baling and bale-moving time in the field.

Learn more in my interview with Curt and Jessica here: Interview with New Holland

2019 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photo Album

Official Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show virtual newsroom

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference, New Holland

Ag Retailers Have Busy Week on the Hill

Cindy Zimmerman

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) held its annual Board of Directors and Committee Meetings in Washington, D.C. this past week, which included an intense day of visits with Congressional representatives.

ARA also presented its Legislator of the Year award to members of Congress who champion legislation important to the agricultural retail industry and this year the organization recognized Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) with its 2018 Legislator of the Year award. Sen. Wicker is pictured here receiving his award from ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock (left) and chairman Troy Johnson of Wilbur-Ellis.

“We are pleased to honor two very deserving Senators this year with our Legislator of the Year award,” said Coppock. “We are grateful for their dedication and continued support of the agriculture industry.”

Senator Wicker was honored for his support on important industry issues, such as promoting precision agriculture and rural broadband deployment. Sen. Grassley was recognized for his leadership as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A longtime supporter of agriculture and agriculture retail, this is the second time Sen. Grassley has been honored as ARA Legislator of the Year.

The big news of the week for ARA was the formalizing of an alliance between ARA, The Fertilizer Institute and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to enhance workplace and community safety. “Safety is much larger than one person or one company,” said Coppock. “Safety also means being a good steward – a good steward of the land, business, employees, and the communities in which we operate. This alliance is a positive step for ARA, TFI, and OSHA to work together on an issue that is top of mind for ag retailers.”

Coppock talks about the new alliance and ARA’s week on the Hill in this interview.

Interview with Daren Coppock, ARA CEO
AgWired Precision, ARA, Audio, Precision Agriculture

2019 IFAJ and Ag Media Summit Registration Open

Chuck Zimmerman

Registration is now open for the 2019 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress. This year the theme is “Global Connections in America’s Heartland.” The location is Minneapolis/Bloomington, Minnesota and the dates are July 27-31. You can find information and register here.

Once again the international event will overlap the annual Agricultural Media Summit in the same location and hotel venue. This allows some fantastic networking time between U.S. ag journalists and their counterparts throughout the world. You can just register for the Ag Media Summit if you so choose or better yet do a combined registration from the page I linked to above.

This is an action packed agenda with tours, professional development sessions as well as business meetings and award ceremonies for the participating organizations – AAEA/LPC/IFAJ.

I’ve written about the value to an agricultural journalists that comes from attending an IFAJ Congress before. Nothing has changed. Even though we’ll be right here in the U.S. of A, I have learned so much from interaction with other journalists not only on a professional level but also a cultural one as well. If you have not attended please consider doing so this year. You don’t even have to be a member to register!

So, take a look at the budget and get your registration in for a memorable experience.

ACN, IFAJ, LPC, Media

Zimfo Bytes 2/8

Carrie Muehling

  • Agricultural Research Service (ARS) molecular biologist, Elizabeth Ainsworth, is receiving the National Academy of Science’s Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced that the USDA, in cooperation with the Office of the United States Trade Representative, is accepting nominations for new members to serve on its agricultural trade advisory committees. Nominations received by Friday, March 1, 2019, will be considered for the next round of appointments.
  • EFC Systems, Inc. announced that Jeremy Wilson has joined EFC Systems as Senior Vice President, Field Data Solutions effective February 1st. In his role Jeremy will lead the division of EFC Systems responsible for the FieldAlytics and AgSolver solutions.
  • UnitedAg, a leader in providing healthcare for the agricultural industry, has officially announced Mike Davidson as the new Associate Vice President of Sales.
  • Evogene Ltd. announced the appointment of Dr. Adrian Percy to its board of directors.
  • The American Soybean Association is now accepting applications for the Ag Voices of the Future program, sponsored by Valent USA. For more information, visit the Ag Voices of the Future page under the “Learn” tab on the ASA website.
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation recently announced Heather Gieseke as managing director, business development. In this role, Gieseke is responsible for establishing and building industry partnerships with agriculture companies and associations, leading the IDEAg sales and marketing teams, and building industry recognition of the various programs and brands brought forth by AFBF.
  • National Farmers Union (NFU) announced the opening of the application period for its Beginning Farmer Institute program class of 2019-2020. NFU encourages new farmers of any age from operations of any size, type or geography to apply for the class.
  • The Farm Credit Council joined with the Rebuild Rural Coalition in sending a letter to Congressional leadership on behalf of rural communities, U.S. agricultural producers, rural businesses and rural families urging them to “move quickly to pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen our nation’s infrastructure.”
  • The Association of Equipment Manufacturers will continue its participation in Commodity Classic, now as a partner and member of the event’s new management committee.
  • This week the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) recognized Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., with its 2018 Legislator of the Year awards.
  • Oklahoma farm broadcaster Mike Dain passed away February 2. He was 71 years old.
Zimfo Bytes

ZimmCast From Cattle Industry Convention

Chuck Zimmerman

This week’s program contains some audio from last week’s Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show.

After looking at what’s coming up on our calendar I share a couple of excerpts from the press conference with Secretary of Ag Sonny Perdue and then from Terry Bradshaw’s speech. Sonny talks trade and Terry talks cows. I had no idea he had cattle and horses.

After that you can listen to my wrap up interview with Kendall Frazier, CEO, NCBA. Kendall reviews the process NCBA goes through during the year for the business of the organization and talks about priorities for the coming year as well as how this year’s convention wound up. 

I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 608 - Cattle Industry Convention

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, ZimmCast

Merck and Beef Checkoff Sponsor Stockmanship & Stewardship Events

Cindy Zimmerman

Five 2019 sessions of the Stockmanship & Stewardship program were announced at the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show last week. The events are made possible through sponsorship from Merck Animal Health and will be coordinated by the producer education team at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and local host organizations. Additional funding and support for the program is provided by the beef checkoff-funded Beef Quality Assurance program.

The dates and locations are:
Tulare, Calif. March 20-21
Ames, Iowa June 28-29
Fort Collins, Colo. TBD August
Manhattan, Kan. September 20-21
West Monroe, La. October 4-5

“For the third year, we’re thrilled to be able to hold these sessions that focus on proper cattle handling and stewardship,” said Chase DeCoite, director of BQA at NCBA. “Producers who have attended these events in the past have gone home with greater understanding of the best practices in working with cattle in their particular area of the country.”

Stockmanship & Stewardship events include live cattle demonstration and hands-on opportunities. They also include BQA training and classroom sessions highlighting issues that affect cattle producers in each region. In addition to cattle handling and effective stockmanship, possible elements of regional sessions include sustainability and environmental stewardship, animal health and regional issues and hot topics.

Learn more in this press conference from #CattleCon19 with DeCoite, Angela Baysinger and Amanda Welsh with Merck Animal Health Merck Animal Health/NCBA Press Conference

2019 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photo Album

Official Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show virtual newsroom

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Audio, Beef, Beef Checkoff, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

USDA Tracking Farm Bill Implementation

Cindy Zimmerman

Now that the federal government is back at work, USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky says they are moving as quickly as possible to implement the new farm bill.

During a Farm Foundation Forum on the realities of implementing the 2018 farm bill, Censky said USDA is using a “Fitbit” type of approach to tracking goals. “We have our own ‘FBit’ we call a Farm Bit at USDA and it’s a Farm Bill Implementation tracker,” said Censky.

Censky chairs USDA’s Farm Bill Implementation Working Group that includes representation from each of the agency’s mission areas. “We have asked all of our agency’s to fill out this ‘FarmBit,'” said Censky. “We look forward to sharing more details of what the timelines are going to be in the next few weeks.”

The Farm Foundation Forum also comments from Senate Agriculture Committee chair Pat Roberts (R-KS) and a panel with Barry Flinchbaugh, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University; Tara Smith, Vice President of Federal Affairs with Michael Torrey Associates; and Alan Bjerga, Senior Vice President of Communications with the National Milk Producers Federation.

Listen to Censky’s comments here:
USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky at Farm Foundation Forum

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Farm Bill, Farm Foundation, USDA

Retrieving Deer With a Can-Am Defender

Chuck Zimmerman

Although the 2018 deer season in central Georgia was not the best we’ve ever had it was not the worst. We harvested deer. Saw more deer and got a lot of work done to make a growing pine forest easier to hunt in.

This is my last post from the season since I had to show what one of the most important benefits of having a good utility vehicle with the right accessories is. Besides getting you to and from your deer stand there’s the issue of bringing a large animal out of some of the worst conditions possible. In our case that was a buck in 6 to 10 feet high pricker vine thickets that are covering a hillside and across a creek bed. My bother Paul got the deer down the hill to the creek somehow. I got the Can-Am Defender we had the honor to be using as close to the creek bed as I could. From there we let the WARN winch do the rest. That last 40 yards may not have been possible without it!

I had hoped to shoot a lot more video this season but conditions were mostly rainy, windy, muddy and filled with scratches and learning how the pine growth and intense weed growth has changed patterns and paths for the deer. We learned a lot and have some very high hopes for the next season and sure hope we can do it with a Can-Am!


Photos from Crystal Pig Hunt Club 2018 Hunt

Can-Am, Hunting, Video

Precision Ag Bytes 2/6

Carrie Muehling

  • UPL Limited announced the completion of its acquisition of Arysta LifeScience Inc. from Platform Specialty Products for $4.2 billion.
  • Airbus launched an innovative service called Verde that delivers detailed crop analytics from satellite imagery, perfectly clipped to the field and accurately de-clouded. Served as plug and play API to any precision agriculture portal, Verde provides reliable and quantified measures of the vegetation, consistent over time and space, whatever the satellite used.
  • The National Conservation Foundation, in partnership with the National Association of Conservation Districts, launched the Next Generation Leadership Institute, a program to develop opportunities for the next generation of conservation leaders.
  • The Farm Services Agency (FSA) and the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition (ADMC) collaborated to quantify the effectiveness of saturated buffers to reduce nutrient loading from tile drainage waters. The full research report and videos pertaining to saturated buffer systems can be viewed here at www.saturatedbufferstrips.com.
  • The National Association of Conservation Districts signed a memorandum of understanding with Ducks Unlimited, Inc. during the organization’s 73rd Annual Meeting. The MOU between NACD and DU establishes a formal commitment between both organizations to enhance the productivity of wildlife habitats on private lands.
  • After a record-breaking 251 startups from 53 countries applied to be part of The Pearse Lyons Accelerator, the class of 2019 has been selected to work with Alltech and Dogpatch Labs to accelerate their business development. The class of ten startups focus on all aspects of agriculture, including animal welfare, meat quality, crop health and increased productivity.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

CrystalBlox™ at the #CattleCon19 Trade Show

Cindy Zimmerman

CrystalBlox™ is the newest block form developed by Crystalyx Brand Supplements. It combines the economical nutrient delivery and fortification of compressed blocks with the consistent and predictable intake of low moisture block technology. CrystalBlox will fit a wide variety of feeding situations, where protein delivery is critical.

CrystalBlox is designed and formulated to provide supplemental protein to help improve forage utilization by increased forage intake and improved fiber digestibility. In situations where forage crude protein levels are low due to drought or with advanced maturity such as fall and winter forages, CrystalBlox can provide the supplemental protein to help extract more energy and nutrients from your forage supplies.

We sat down with Mark Robbins, Crystalyx, during the 2019 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show to get the scoop on the benefits of CrystalBlox. Listen to the interview or watch the video below:
Interview with Mark Robbins, CRYSTALYX® Brand Supplements


2019 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Livestock, Nutrition, Video