You are here: Home / Archives for Featured

Consitent quality the Cleary credo

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Day 1 of our Brownfield Wisconsin Agribusiness Tour on Monday and we started out in Verona and the home of Cleary Buildings. Mike Wuennemann says the company started out in Middleton in 1978 and has grown to 80 branch offices from Pennsylvania to Oregon. The company has three manufacturing plants but no matter where you are, the quality of a Cleary Building is consistently the same. While many pole building companies have fallen by the wayside over the years, Cleary has succeeded because of that consistency, attention to detail and the people. Wuennemann says Cleary does every step from design and engineering of your building straight through to the crew who builds it…they are all Cleary people.

One of the newest innovations is a three-D computer design program called Dream Maker which gives the client a three-dimensional look at their building from all directions and with any changes they may be considering.

AUDIO:Wuennemann talks about the Cleary process 4:30 mp3

Visit the Cleary website here:

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , ,

Building the future at BioVet

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Building plans are in the works at BioVet. Bill Zimmer says business has been very good and that is why they are building a new headquarters in Barneveld. The new facility will be office, manufacturing and warehouse space to meet the needs of a growing company.

Looking ahead, Zimmer says the lower milk prices and continued high feed prices are going to make dairying an even bigger challenge so management will be the key. Dairymen who raise their own forage will need to put up the best forage possible. There is also a growing interest in byproduct feeds such as distiller’s grains but Zimmer cautions those can vary greatly so “Test often.”

He also touched on the exceptional challenge facing livestock producers in the south-central plains due to the drought in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The lack of forage has forced many to greatly reduce or completely depopulate their herds. For those who have kept some animals there is a problem with high nitrates in the forages that have grown in the area. Zimmer says it is going to take some time to work out the ramifications of the drought.

Here in the upper Midwest, forage has been plentiful but there is a problem with molds, some started on the ears in the field while others flourished because of poor fermentation in the silage mass.

AUDIO: Zimmer talks about the company’s growth 12:38 mp3

Visit the Bio Vet website here:

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , ,

What keeps Renk Seed going?

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Renk family came to the United States from Prussia in 1846 and established a farm at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. In the late 1920’s the family decided to utilize some of the hybrid technology being developed at the nearby University of Wisconsin-Madison and get into the seed business. Alex Renk is one of the seventh generation Renks on the farm and while they no longer have livestock, the seed business has thrived. He says the key for Renk Seeds is testing. “You have to look at a lot of different plots in a lot of different locations. Our research alone does 50,000 plots a year and that doesn’t include dealer plots and state trials.”

Renk says the seed business has been honed-down to a science where they know what to expect when they put a combination of genetics together allowing them to develop a new trait or characteristic faster. Like many, Renk says he really didn’t know just how much genetic traits like insect or herbicide resistance would impact overall yield. We knew it would have an effect on plants infested with insects or choked-out by weeds but the unknown was the effect lesser infestations were having on yields as well. The reduction of those inhibitors affected yields substantially.

As for 2012, Renk says they are looking at a really good year for the company as many varieties are nearing “sold-out” status.

AUDIO:Renk talks about his company’s history and future 9:37 mp3

Visit Renk Seed’s website here:

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , ,

CattleFax CEO offers thoughts on 2012

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the big events at the Cattle Industry Convention each year is the CattleFax Outlook Seminar.  This year was no exception, as a large crowd gathered to hear reports on weather, grains and energy, global beef trade, cattle numbers and meat production, beef demand and economics, price outlook and risk and management strategies. 

Here is CattleFax CEO Randy Blach’s wrap-up report from the 2012 Outlook Seminar.

AUDIO: Randy Blach (21:27 MP3)

 

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: , ,

Growing Iowa’s cattle industry

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Exciting things are happening in Iowa’s cattle industry.  At the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, we sat down with Iowa Cattlemen’s Association CEO Matt Deppe and discussed some of those developments, including a Cow-Calf/Feedlot Forum taking place near Guthrie Center on February 8th. 

AUDIO: Matt Deppe (6:04 MP3)

 

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: ,

Sandhills rancher leads Nebraska group

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Jim Ramm of Atkinson, Nebraska is the president of the Nebraska Cattlemen’s organization.  In an interview with Brownfield at the Cattle Industry Conference in Nashville, Ramm discussed some of the national and state issues that his group is focused on.  He also talks about the four percent increase in Nebraska’s January 1st cattle inventory and indications that increased heifer retention might be taking place in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

AUDIO: JIm Ramm (4:26 MP3)

 

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: ,

A more tranquil cattle conference this year

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Recent gatherings of cattle industry leaders have been tumultuous affairs, with battles over organizational structure, concerns over possible breaches of the policy/checkoff firewall, and accusations of financial improprieties.

This time around, at least outwardly, there seems to be more harmony.

We talked with two key players—Rock Valley, Iowa cattleman Kent Pruismann, who sits on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board—that’s the checkoff organization—and Craig Uden of Cozad, Nebraska, incoming chair of the Federation of State Beef Councils.

AUDIO: Kent Pruismann (3:28 MP3)

AUDIO: Craig Uden (4:09 MP3)

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: , ,

Study: Beef in diet reduced cholesterol

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The beef industry has long argued that beef, consumed in moderation, can and should play an important role in a heart-healthy diet.

Now it has some solid research data from a respected institution to back up those claims.

In a first of its kind study, researchers at Penn State University have demonstrated that eating beef everyday as part of a heart-healthy diet can improve cholesterol levels by ten percent.

The research project, which was called the Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet (BOLD) study, was funded by the Beef Checkoff. 

At the 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, we had a chance to visit with one of the leaders of the research project—Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition at Penn State University.

AUDIO: Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton (3:45 MP3)

 

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: , , , ,

More on Novartis’ new BRD vaccines

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

At the NCBA Trade Show in Nashville, we stopped by the Novartis Animal Health booth to find out more about their two new BRD vaccines.

Here’s how a Novartis news release describes NUPLURA PH:

NUPLURA™ PH is a new vaccine for beef and dairy cattle that provides fast-acting protection against bovine pneumonia caused by Mannheimia (Pasteurella) haemolytica.

M. haemolytica, formerly known as Pasteurella, is a highly transmissible bacteria and a leading cause of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex. Research has shown that M. haemolytica is present in nearly 75 percent of all diagnosed BRD cases, causing more death and economic loss than any other respiratory disease.

NUPLURA PH differs from other M. haemolytica vaccines because of the advanced cellular technology used to purify antigens in the vaccine. As the first and only U.S. cattle vaccine developed with recombinant technology, NUPLURA PH contains only purified leukotoxin to deliver the strongest immune response with minimal reactivity. It is the first new M. haemolytica vaccine available in the U.S. in over 10 years.

And here’s the scoop on the other new product, BRD Shield:

BRD Shield™ is a new modified-live vaccine (MLV) developed to protect non-pregnant beef and dairy cattle against bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex.

BRD Shield provides broad-spectrum protection against leading viral diseases that contribute to BRD, including bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) Type 1 and Type 2, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), parainfluenza 3 (PI3) and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV).

BRD Shield represents a significant advance in BVD protection, offering more complete coverage than other MLVs.

We discussed the two new products with Doug Scholz, director of veterinary services for Novartis Animal Health.

AUDIO: Doug Scholz (3:32 MP3)

 

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: , , ,

The egg bill, COOL and the estate tax

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“A dangerous precedent.”

That’s how NCBA vice president of government affairs Colin Woodall describes that bill that would dictate the size of cages of egg-laying hens.  Woodall says that, if it were to pass, it would be the first time Congress has actually put, into statute, a production practice. 

In a Cattle Industry Convention interview, we also asked Woodall about COOL and the estate tax.

AUDIO: Colin Woodall (4:50 MP3)

 

Filed Under: 2012 Cattle Industry Conference, 2012 Events, Featured, Special Reports Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts