He’s the man behind the YouTube hit, “Water and Poo,” and now he’s also the new chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee. In this episode of the Milking Parlor, we meet Will Gilmer, a third-generation dairy farmer from Alabama, whose operation milks about 230 holsteins. And when those chores aren’t enough, he’s racking up more than 14,000 (and counting) views of his clever ditty sung about what to do with the waste from his cows, as he spreads that nutrient management across his pastures.
And if all that isn’t enough, Gilmer maintains a Web site, www.gilmerdairyfarm.com, along with The Dairyman’s Blog, in an effort to reach out to the public about modern farming practices. Gilmer also is active on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter under @gilmerdairy.
You can hear more of Peoria farm broadcaster Meghan Grebner’s interview with Will in this episode of the Milking Parlor in the player below. And if you haven’t seen Will’s hit, “Water and Poo” (and even if you have seen it!) it’s available right here:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, click here. Listen to or download this episode in the player below.
Posted: March 4, 2010 at 2:08 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Pioneer director of alfalfa research, David Miller, discusses Pioneer brand alfalfa varieties, traits and testing to help producers put the right product on the right acre.
Listen to the podcast here:
David Miller on alfalfa varieties (4:00 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: February 26, 2010 at 8:47 am
By John Davis
The USDA has issued the final rule on organic access to pasture. This rule amends the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations to clarify the use of pasture in raising organic ruminants.
USDA officials say the final rule provides certainty to consumers that organic livestock production is a pasture based system in which animals are actively grazing pasture during the grazing season. The majority of organic dairy and ruminant livestock producers are already grazing animals and maintaining pastures that meet the requirements of this rule. These standards contain clear requirements that will provide greater assurance that all producers are being held to the same standards.
This episode of the Milking Parlor podcast features Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan, laying out out the terms regarding the final rules and telling how this underlines the ag department’s commitment to organic agriculture.
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, click here. Listen to or download this episode in the player below.
Posted: February 11, 2010 at 8:10 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
Bill Rutherford, Pioneer research coordinator, discusses in situ analysis. In situ testing allows Pioneer researchers direct analysis of inoculant performance and fiber digestibility, providing producers additional product information.
Listen to the podcast here:
Bill Rutherford on in situ testing (6:30 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: February 7, 2010 at 6:19 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Dairy farmers are also beef producers and their representation on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board which administers the $1 per head beef checkoff was at the very top level this past year in chairperson Lucinda Williams, a dairy producer from Massachusetts. Despite keeping up a hectic schedule of meetings this past year, Lucinda still managed to find time to make checkoff-themed quilts for the staff and other board members, which she presented during the recent Cattle Industry Conference in San Antonio where she ended her term.
This episode of the Milking Parlor podcast features some comments from Lucinda about how the industry needs to address threats from animal activists, as well as from incoming Beef Board chairman Dan Dierschke about Lucinda’s work on behalf of producers, and from Ted Greidanus, a California rancher who breeds Holstein calves for the beef industry.
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, click here. Listen to or download this episode in the player below.
Posted: January 27, 2010 at 9:47 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
New technologies make data sampling easier and more efficient. Bill Curran, Pioneer research scientist, discusses some of the technologies that measure silage traits. Curran also talks about how this information benefits producers.
Listen to the podcast here:
Bill Curran on new technologies for data sampling (5:00 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: January 15, 2010 at 10:48 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
Understanding how inoculant organisms interact with other organisms can have a large impact on how well an inoculant organism affects the organisms in the silage. Hear more about the cutting-edge microbial ecology from Pioneer research coordinator Bill Rutherford.
Listen to the podcast here:
Bill Rutherford on Microbial Ecology (5:00 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: January 12, 2010 at 11:26 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
A dairy farmer who is a YouTube hit with his original “Water ‘n Poo” song is the new chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee.
Will Gilmer of Alabama was elected as by the committee as chairperson for 2010 and will take over those duties in February to serve for one year.
Gilmer owns and operates Gilmer Dairy Farm, which includes a herd of 450 Holstein cows, heifers and calves, as well as more than 500 acres of pasture and forage crop production.
In addition to his daily farming duties, Gilmer maintains a Web site, www.gilmerdairy.com, along with The Dairyman’s Blog, in an effort to reach out to the public about modern farming practices. Gilmer also is active on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter under @gilmerdairy.
And if you have never heard or seen Will’s funny YouTube hit about nutrient management – viewed over 9,000 times – here it is. Heck, even if you have seen it – worth watching again so you can be singing “Water ‘n Poo” all day long!
The face and voice of the U.S. Grains Council in Egypt is Dr. Hussein Soliman pictured in the center of the USGC Corn Mission group I traveled with last month. He has been working on behalf of U.S. grain producers for almost 20 years and has not only seen Egypt become one of our top importers but can take a lot of the credit for helping make it happen. You won’t find anyone more passionate about what he does. All of us on the team are very appreciative of his assistance and guidance while visiting this week.
I spoke to Dr. Soliman while we were at one of the Mirhom Farag Farms, owned by Suzanne Basilios, also in center of the photo. She treated us to a wonderful meal at her dairy and I’ll have a video clip of it coming up soon.
Dr. Soliman provides a very good summary of the work the USGC has done in Egypt and the results he’s seen over the years. The market is far from mature and in fact will grow tremendously, especially when the poultry sector gets back to normal. In the meantime, the biggest opportunities lie in beef and dairy production.
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Soliman below:
The Chairman of the Egyptian Buffalo Producer’s Association is Dr. Saad Alhayani (pictured left). He also owns and operates a very new open water buffalo feedlot and dairy. The U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team I recently traveled with visited. These cute, sweet, little creatures are very different than your average bovine.
Dr. Alhayani says he imports frozen semen to assist in breeding better quality animals which is something relatively new to the country. He’s raising thousands of buffalo and feeding them corn and ddgs as well as other ingredients. We saw lots of bags of ddgs at his feedlot. That looked very positive for American corn growers! He says sometimes they blend as much as 25% ddgs in the feed.
His goal is to produce a few thousand pregnant heifers for local producers and maybe even to export. He appreciates the assistance he’s received from the USGC.
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Alhayani’s below and watch a video clip of him showing us his operation as well:
While I was participating in the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission in Egypt we received another presention on the Cattle Information Center at Cairo University by Dr. Samy Abou-Bakr.
He describes that there are two different water buffalo dairy and feedlot systems. One is old and one is new. In the older model, the herd size is small, handled with lots of labor and very little if any records are kept. In the new, the herds are larger commercial operations of over 50 head of animals. Records are being kept and animals are being bred for desirable characteristics.
What this all means for American grain growers is that as the beef and dairy sector grows in Egypt it continues to become a growth market for our products.
I had the honor and pleasure to participate in a U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission trip recently. We visited Morocco, Egypt and Jordan to see how efforts to create new markets for corn are going. The dairy industry in these countries played a key role in our meetings and tour stops. I’m going to post some of the stories of what I found for you over the next several days starting with this one.
The first stop for the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team in Egypt was Cairo University and specifically the ag school. Our first presenter was Dr. Rabie Ragab Sadek who gave us an overview of the Cattle Information Systems Center of Egypt. The project was created to develop a cattle information system that would provide statistically representative, adequate data for cattle breeding research and for the future development of a national breeding program. The goal to create genetic improvement of both milk and meat producing cattle and buffalo.
He introduces our other presenters who would speak about specifics about the accomplishments of the University’s dairy herd improvement unit.
It sure sounds like Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica did very well in the cattle market with their acquisition of a portion of Ft. Dodge Animal Health. To tell us about is Tim Bettington, Director Livestock Marketing. I spoke with him at their recent media day in St. Joseph, MO. He says that although BIVI has been a long standing player in the cattle business it has only been in certain segments like the stocker and feedlot sector. But now he says they have great opportunities in the cow/calf and dairy sectors.
According to Tim, the stand out products will be Cydectin, Today and Tomorrow Mastitis Tubes and newer vaccines like Triangle. He says that although there is an integration of staff, customers will see the same look and feel of the products and deal with the same representatives they were dealing with.
With the acquisition of Ft. Dodge Animal Health products and facilities, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica has really expanded their business in the dairy industry. The head of the U.S. cattle business is Colin Meyers. He spoke at the media event I attended in St. Joseph, MO.
Colin says the main thing the acquisition of Ft. Dodge Animal Health means to the company is that they now have a much broader range of products to offer. For the dairy sector they now offer Pyramid, Triangle, Presponse, Today and Tomorrow mastitis therapy, Cydectin and more.
Colin says they’ll have a larger sales and veterinarian force to reach out to customers and a bigger distribution network. They’ve spent the last three weeks bringing in new staff, distributors and others to help enable a smooth transition for customers.
Now that Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica has taken over a significant portion of Ft. Dodge Animal Health you may be wondering what it means to the company and dairy producer customers. To help us find out, BIVI brought a group of media representatives into St. Joseph, MO to hear the story.
I spoke with BIVI President, George Heidgerken (pictured on left), about changes in the company after the acquisition. He says the purchase is a big deal for BIVI here in the United States and globally since it essentially doubles their business including their ability to innovate in the future. While merging the two company cultures he says they will maintain the BI vision and mission and how they achieve them.
George says they can take the best of both companies, put them together and get excited about what they can achieve. They’re calling it the “new BIVI.” He says that full integration may take a couple years although they hope to achieve that sooner. The products they’ve acquired fit in perfectly with their existing portfolio and expand their cattle, dairy and pet business. The vision for the future of the company he says, is “value through innovation.”
Posted: November 19, 2009 at 4:07 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Have you ever wondered where the heat comes from in silage?
This really cool infrared camera can read the temperature of a silage bunker and provide a color picture of the variations in heat levels on the face. The camera has gotten cheaper since it first came out a couple of years ago, but it still retails for several thousand dollars.
A great way to measure silage heat, but not practical for most producers, so Pioneer ruminant microbiologist Scott Dennis suggests using a thermometer to quickly and easily determine whether heat is physiological or microbial.
Dennis explains more about this topic along with management techniques to reduce heating in this edition of Forage Forum, recorded at the Pioneer Forage Media day held in September at the Livestock Nutrition Center in Johnston, IA.
Listen to the podcast here:
Scott Dennis on Silage Heat (5:00 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: November 19, 2009 at 10:33 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
As we prepare for the holiday season, the Beef Checkoff is reminding people to give thanks for our abundant food supply.
In giving thanks, you may also receive. Leaving a message of thanks for our farmers and ranchers on the Pasture to Plate website enters you into a drawing for an Omaha Steaks Ideal Gift Collection of steaks and burgers valued at $135.
At the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting last week, Massachusetts dairy farmer and Cattlemen’s Beef Board chairman Lucinda Williams talked about giving thanks and the simultaneous campaign to get producers to be active in telling the real story about food production in this country by engaging in the “Food Fight” effort.
She says they are encouraging producers to get out an tell that story on Facebook and Twitter and email, (as well as traditional methods like actual face to face communication!) and encouraging everyone to give thanks for the safe and abundant food supply we enjoy in this country. Lucinda has just started on Twitter and you can follow here here @mcwillclan.
Listen to an interview with Lucinda from NAFB here:
Posted: October 29, 2009 at 3:44 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
Dr. Bill Mahanna, nutritional sciences manager for Pioneer, discusses ideal moisture percentages for high moisture corn. Mahanna says high moisture corn and snaplage benefit digestion. He also comments on corn particle sizes and inoculants for high moisture corn.
This edition of Forage Forum was recorded at the Pioneer Forage Media day held in September at the Livestock Nutrition Center in Johnston, IA.
Listen to the podcast here:
Bill Mahanna (4:45 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:24 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) has closed a deal with Pfizer to acquire a significant portion of the Fort Dodge Animal Health business. The acquisition, which includes products in the U.S., Australia, Canada and South Africa, as well as two manufacturing and research facilities located in Fort Dodge, Iowa, significantly increases the size of Boehringer Ingelheim’s companion animal and cattle portfolios and strengthens the company’s position as a leading vaccine supplier.
“We’ll be expanding our business significantly, in fact, doubling our sales in the United States,” said BIVI president George Heidgerken. “The product assets we’ve acquired from Fort Dodge are a broad range of strong brands in the cattle vaccine business. This is part of our long term strategy to improve our product offerings and our capabilities for the U.S. cattle producers and the U.S. cattle market.”
The cattle vaccines included in the acquisition include the Triangle®, Pyramid®, and Presponse® vaccine lines. Pharmaceutical products being acquired include Cydectin® (moxidectin) for cattle and sheep as well as Polyflex® (ampicillin sodium). The dairy portfolio includes the key brands Today® and Tomorrow®.
Listen to or download an interview with George Heidgerken here:
He’s the man behind the YouTube hit, “Water and Poo,” and now he’s also the new chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee. In this episode of the Milking Parlor, we meet Will Gilmer, a third-generation dairy farmer from Alabama, whose operation milks about 230 holsteins. And when those chores aren’t enough, he’s racking up more than 14,000 (and counting) views of his clever ditty sung about what to do with the waste from his cows, as he spreads that nutrient management across his pastures.
Dairy farmers are also beef producers and their representation on the 
Will Gilmer of Alabama was elected as by the committee as chairperson for 2010 and will take over those duties in February to serve for one year.
The face and voice of the 
The Chairman of the 
While I was participating in the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission in Egypt we received another presention on the Cattle Information Center at Cairo University by Dr. Samy Abou-Bakr.
I had the honor and pleasure to participate in a 
It sure sounds like 
With the acquisition of Ft. Dodge Animal Health products and facilities, 
Now that 
This really cool infrared camera can read the temperature of a silage bunker and provide a color picture of the variations in heat levels on the face. The camera has gotten cheaper since it first came out a couple of years ago, but it still retails for several thousand dollars. 
A great way to measure silage heat, but not practical for most producers, so 
As we prepare for the holiday season, the Beef Checkoff is reminding people to give thanks for our abundant food supply.
At the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting last week, Massachusetts dairy farmer and 
