Balanced Dairy Rations Improve Herd Nutrition

Carrie Muehling

Each dairy farmer has different nutrition goals, based in part on what forages are available on farm. Hubbard dairy nutritionists like John Pretz help farmers with regular nutrient analysis so they can optimize the forages that are available and identify supplements that might further improve herd production, reproduction, and overall animal health.

“I think we’ve absolutely evolved over the last few years from looking at your base nutrients – just a crude protein and a starch spec – all the way down to the specific amino acid,” said Pretz. “In a lot of ways, I’d say these cows’ diets are more precise than what we’re eating as a human being, even if we’re tracking everything that’s going into our body.”

Pretz said small changes can also make a big difference, from keeping cows cleaner to trimming hooves more often. Other examples include increasing cow comfort during day to day activities from vaccinations to milking procedures. Pretz visited with producers at the 2018 World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.

Audio – Interview with John Pretz, Hubbard

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album


Content Creation from World Dairy Expo is sponsored by Content Creation from the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Alltech  Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Hubbard Feeds
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Dairy, Nutrition, Video, World Dairy Expo

2018 World Dairy Expo Explores Next Frontier

Cindy Zimmerman

Sporting a theme this year of “The Next Frontier,” World Dairy Expo is in full swing right now in Madison, Wisconsin.

Communications Specialist Katie Schmitt says there are almost 900 companies exhibiting at the expo this year. “Our trade show is really a great place for farmers to find that new technology and do some research,” says Schmitt, who says the theme of the show is about what is next on the horizon for the dairy industry. “It is looking into what is in dairy’s future, whether it’s in the genetic side of our show world or in the technology of the trade show.”

On the show ring floor, some breed champions have already been crowned, including the Grand Champion Ayrshire, Ruth, exhibited by Palmrya Farm-Evan Creek of Hagerstown, Md., who won the trophy for the second year.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Katie from WDE18: Interview with Katie Schmitt, World Dairy Expo Communications

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

Content Creation from World Dairy Expo is sponsored by Content Creation from the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Alltech  Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Hubbard Feeds
AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Audio, Dairy, World Dairy Expo

Crappie Masters National Championship Winners

Cindy Zimmerman

The winners of the 2018 Crappie Masters National Championship at Truman Lake in Clinton, MO last week were two 21-year-old Missouri natives, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead.

For the second consecutive year, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) sponsored the national fishing tournament, which highlights the use of 10 percent ethanol (E10) in all boat motors.

The team, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead, won the 2018 championship with 14 fish weighing a total of 21.19 pounds using E10 in their boat, which earned them an extra $2000 on top of their $30,000.00 top prize along with an additional $2,100.00 for the 2.11 pound big fish.

2018 Male/Female team Crappie Masters National Champions Jack and Holly Linton with RFA’s Robert White

The 2018 Crappie Masters Male/Female National Champions were the Green Machine team of Jackie and Holly Linton who eventually settled into 5th place in the tournament. The team took RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White out on the water for the youth/media/sponsor fish off last week, and they are staunch supporters of ethanol and using E10 fuel in their boat. “It’s approved for all boat motors out there and all of the manufacturers are on board,” said Holly. “People use it and don’t even know they use it. But there’s a lot of misconceptions out there and we just need to let people know about that.”

In this interview, the Lintons also talk about how they got involved with Crappie Masters – even after a disastrous first outing! Interview with Crappie Masters fishing team Jack and Holly Linton


Audio, Corn, Ethanol, NCGA, RFA

Busting Myths About Mycotoxins

Carrie Muehling

Misconceptions about mycotoxins can cause problems for cattle producers.

One of the biggest myths out there is that most mycotoxin challenges are caused by weather. And while weather can play a role, it’s more often field agronomic practice and insect damage that are the larger culprits when it comes to mycotoxin development, according to Pat Crowley, on-farm specialist with Alltech. Crowley says monitoring plant health is the key to keeping mycotoxin levels in an acceptable range.

“Evaluate plant health. It all starts with plant health. We want a healthy plant just like we want a healthy cow or a healthy child. If we have a healthy plant, it’s more resistant to challenges out in the field,” he said.

Crowley said this year’s unique weather patterns will likely make the crop more vulnerable to mycotoxin challenges.

“This weather pattern – I haven’t really seen anything like it. It’s extremely unique and this is going to be possibly catastrophic to what we’re going to see for crops and crop damage with the rainfall and the stage of maturity that it’s in,” he said.

Crowley encouraged farmers to scout fields for possible spots or molds and use resources like mycotoxin testing available at KnowMycotoxins.com/FreeTest. He said any Alltech representative can also provide more information about mycotoxin testing and they are at the World Dairy Expo this week to meet with producers in person.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Pat here: Interview with Pat Crowley, Alltech

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album


Content Creation from World Dairy Expo is sponsored by Content Creation from the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Alltech  Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Hubbard Feeds
AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Video, World Dairy Expo

BASF Arkansas Field Day

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF held a field day last week in Marion, Arkansas to meet with groups of retailer staff and talk about the what the new BASF portfolio has to offer, particularly for soybeans (Credenz) and cotton (Stoneville). There was limited in-field opportunities for the day due to rain, but there was still a lot to share.

BASF Cottonseed Marketing Manager Rachel Walters says the field days give them an offer to share their story and this year they have even more to discuss with the acquisition of Bayer assets such as Stoneville. “It’s the first time that some customers are coming in and seeing the BASF logo on the tents, the signs and even on the bags,” she said.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Rachel here:
Interview with Rachel Walters, BASF

Lance Rochelle, regional seed lead, talked about some of the new cotton varieties for this year.
Interview with Lance Rochelle, BASF

William Johnson, BASF Agricultural Solutions, gave a presentation on Credenz soybeans at the field day. Listen to that here and watch it below:
Presentation by William Johnson on soybeans, BASF


2018 BASF Field Day – Marion, AR Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, Cotton, Soybean, Video

Gene Editing is Disruptive Innovation for Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman

A disruptive innovation is one that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market-leading firms, products, and alliances. That definition fits the innovation of gene editing for agriculture and why Bayer included it in a series of Innovation Talks at the recent Future of Farming Dialogue.

Dr. Tom Adams is CEO of Pairwise, a company focused on using gene editing and leveraging natural diversity in agricultural crops to address global food challenges. “We have a relationship with Bayer to study row crops, but we’re also very interested in bringing the technology to consumer crops, making healthy food more available, convenient and sustainable,” said Adams during an interview after his presentation.

“It’s a technology that really does allow very specific changes to be made in crops in a way that you can’t do with breeding,” he added. “I think it can create a change in how (plant) breeding is done.”

Learn more about the disruptive potential of gene editing in Dr. Adams’ brief presentation and interview.
Tom Adams, Pairwise CEO, presentation
Interview with Tom Adams, Pairwise CEO

Bayer Future of Farming Dialogue 2018 Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Plant Breeding, Precision Agriculture

President Says USMCA is Victory for Farmers

Cindy Zimmerman

Out with NAFTA and in with USMCA, the initials for the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.

“This new deal is an especially great victory for our farmers,” said President Donald Trump as he announced the agreement this morning. “The deal includes a substantial increase in our farmers’ opportunities to export American wheat, poultry, eggs and dairy – including milk, butter, cheese, yogurt and ice cream.”

Under the agreement, Canada will eliminate its “Class 7” program that allows low-priced dairy ingredients to undersell American dairy products.

Audio – President Trump announces USMCA benefits for agriculture

Agricultural organizations are praising the agreement, particularly the dairy industry groups. American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) president Zippy Duvall says the USMCA includes “new provisions to provide science-based trading standards, timely review of products produced through biotechnology and gene editing and new provisions on geographic indications.” Even the National Farmers Union, which tends to be critical of most trade deals, called the agreement encouraging. “While this agreement is certainly no cure-all, it is hopefully a start to repairing our trade relationships around the world, to restoring our reputation as a reliable trading partner, and to resolving longstanding issues with discrimination against U.S. wheat,” said NFU president Roger Johnson.

Canadian officials agreed to sign the agreement late Sunday before the midnight deadline. It now goes to Congress for review.

AFBF, AgWired Animal, Audio, Dairy, International, Trade

MFA Incorporated and Adapt-N Expand Partnership

Cindy Zimmerman

MFA Incorporated has announced an expanded partnership between its Precision Advantage, Crop-Trak and Nutri-Track service platforms and the Adapt-N nitrogen recommendations and monitoring system, operated by Agronomic Technology Corp and owned by Yara International.

Thad Becker, MFA Incorporated Precision Agronomy Manager, says MFA growers will benefit from the ability to leverage field data already available within the MFA system to generate unbiased and scientifically validated in-season, variable-rate nitrogen recommendations.

“We strive to serve our members with programs that improve their farms,” said Becker. “We accomplish this by providing nutrient recommendations tailored to each farmer’s unique growing conditions through MFA’s Nutri-Track system along with critical in-season field observations by Crop-Trak consultants and our overall commitment to environmental stewardship. Everything we do has sound agronomy behind it.”

Adapt-N combines advanced crop modeling with soil-type information, field management data and weather to establish real-time nitrogen recommendations to achieve maximum yield for each field.

“The increase in MFA’s use of Adapt-N over the past several years, and the company’s commitment to expanding availability of the technology across its territory is further evidence of MFA’s commitment to driving profitable sustainability for its growers,” said Steve Sibulkin, who leads the Adapt-N solution team at Yara. “This is completely aligned with our aspiration to bring timely recommendations to farmers that help them maximize yield while minimizing environmental impact.”

Learn more about Adapt-N

Agronomy, AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture

Animal Ag Bites 10/1

Carrie Muehling

  • The Animal Agriculture Alliance is extending the deadline for students to sign up for its College Aggies Online scholarship competition due to popular demand. Undergraduate students, graduate students and collegiate clubs can sign up through October 10 at https://collegeaggies.animalagalliance.org.
  • Fuel Up to Play 60 and Chelan Fresh are increasing student access to more nutritious food choices, including dairy, in schools. Chelan Fresh, one of Washington state’s largest suppliers of apples and pears and the nation’s largest provider of fresh cherries, will provide portable breakfast/salad bar carts to 15 Fuel Up to Play 60 schools in 11 states. Fuel Up to Play 60 is the nation’s leading in-school wellness program created by America’s dairy farmers through their dairy checkoff and the National Football League, with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  • The Public Lands Council held its Annual Meeting and 50th Anniversary Celebration in Park City, Utah, where it set policy priorities for the upcoming year, elected new officers, and celebrated the organization’s historic milestone. Bob Skinner, a fifth-generation cow-calf producer from Oregon, was elected as the new PLC President during the annual meeting.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

Corn and Ethanol Partner to Educate Anglers

Cindy Zimmerman

For the second year, the Renewable Fuels Association has been co-title sponsor, with Bass Pro Shops, of the Crappie Masters Tournament Trail, with the 2018 National Championship held this week in Clinton, Missouri on Truman Lake. The corn growers were actually for first to get on board to sponsor the series of fishing tournaments held in several states.

During the sponsor, youth and media tournaments on Thursday morning, RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White and Missouri Corn Director of Market Development Bradley Schad got on the water to see who gets the bragging rights this year. The winner was White, but he gives Schad all the credit for seeing the potential this family fishing event provides for ethanol education. Listen to an interview with both here –
Interview with Robert White, RFA, and Bradley Schad, MO Corn

2018 RFA Crappie Masters Championship Photo Album

Audio, Corn, Ethanol, NCGA, RFA