Posted: October 6, 2008 at 2:20 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
After the virtual farm tour that BASF Plant Science sponsored at World Dairy Expo, I spoke again with Jerry Weigel, Global Nutrition Manager, about their Nutridense silage product.
He says there’s a real distinction between what they’re doing and what other companies are doing. “We are focused in two different directions. We are focused on a grain direction and a silage direction.” He says that other companies develop a hybrid for grain and if it doesn’t make it that way they just plug it into the silage market. He says BASF Plant Science stays focused on each market separately.
Jerry wants producers to know that they’re developing corn silage that’s all about fiber digestibility. He says that’s what they’re going to continue to focus on and that in the future they’re going to have to look at bringing gmo technology into play but that would be years down the road.
You can listen to my interview with Jerry as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
Posted: October 5, 2008 at 2:51 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
The main presenter at the SUNY Cobleskill virtual farm tour was Tom Poltynski, farm coordinator. He talked about the school’s facility and says it’s unique because they’re very far north for using a flush system. He says they have good student involvement as evidenced by the fact that more students apply for jobs than are available.
One of the things he spoke about was their feeding trials. The tour was sponsored by BASF Plant Science and he said they planted half their corn in 2006-2007 with Nutridense and half with traditional hybrids. They saw very good results and plan to plant all their corn next year with Nutridense.
The advantage of Nutridense that he saw was, “With Nutridense corn, the #1 thing I see is the higher percentage of protein. With high grain prices I could back out a pound of grain and increase corn silage, my forage ration, and not lose anything on the nutrient profile of the diet.” He said they were able to save 19-25 cents/cow/day as a result.
You can listen to my interview with Tom as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
Posted: October 4, 2008 at 2:49 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
One of the features of World Dairy Expo is the virtual farm tours. BASF Plant Science sponsored one by State University of New York – Cobleskill.
Jerry Weigel, Global Nutrition Manager, says these tours allow producers to look at some of the top dairies in the country and they also allow those same dairies to showcase their innovative ideas. He says that the SUNY utilized their Nutridense silage.
If you haven’t been to one of these tours and wonder how they work, basically the presenter utilizes a computer and projector to show slides and/or video of their operation to demonstrate various elements of their dairy like equipment, cows and milk and feed regimes.
You can listen to my interview with Jerry as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast:
To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.
Posted: October 8, 2007 at 9:30 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
I’m slowly lowering my cheese intake this week after the massive amounts served to us at World Dairy Expo last week. The picture is of one of the outside vendors. I took it when I was leaving late one night.
Here’s some official summary information from the World Dairy Expo staff that I thought you’d be interested to know:
Total Attendance: 67,143 (Last year’s attendance was 65,563)
International Guests: * 2,862 from 89 countries (2006: 2,131 from 80 countries)
Top five countries of international attendance: Mexico (273); Canada (269); Germany (201); Argentina (184); Japan (146)
* does not include International Dairy Short Course attendees as of 10/06/07
Commercial Exhibitors: 707 companies from 24 countries
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 9:12 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
The 2007 World Dairy Expo is over and it ended with a great Parade of Champions. You can see pictures of all the action in my photo album. There’s 242 of them in there!
Here’s your Supreme Champion, Indian Acres Mm Pistachio Pie, Ashley Elise Sears, So. Deerfield, MA . Jersey was the Reserve Supreme Champion, Llolyn Jude Griffen-et, Peter Vail & Budjon Farms, Lomira, WI.
You can listen to the announcing of the Reserve and Supreme Champions of the 2007 World Dairy Expo here:
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 2:46 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
I couldn’t pass up this picture.
If I’m a cow needing a little breeze to cool me down then give me a Big Ass Fan.
That’s what I’m talking about. One of these would be very nice over by deck too I’ll bet.
Here’s what they say about them on their website: “We don’t know about California, but we’re darn sure happy cows come from Big Ass Fans. How so? Well, you try doing your job under Africa-hot conditions. Bet you wouldn’t perform at your best level either. The same applies to cows. Keeping them comfy keeps them eating, which is the key to optimum milk production. Even better, your herd won’t bunch up in one area to keep cool. No matter where cows are in your barn, our Big Ass Fans moves air over all of them. Plus, they cost just pennies-per-hour to operate, meaning energy bills won’t milk your wallet dry.”
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 2:40 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
When I saw a booth that posed the question, “How is a cow like an ethanol production plant?” I had to stop for a visit.
Manning the booth is Nick Baker, U. S. Dairy Forage Research Center. Nick says that basically the cow’s rumen uses microbes to break down forage and feed into the energy it needs much like an ethanol plant which then converts the sugars produced into alcohol. ‘Nuff said.
I asked him his take on the whole food vs. fuel debate and he believes as I do that there’s plenty of biomass available to not only meet food production needs but energy as well. He’s working on a project to utilize switchgrass in the production of ethanol and says the technology is available now to do so.
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 2:33 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
The National Dairy Shrine is having a great year according to board member Tommy Martin. Tommy is an old friend of mine (he’s not old) from my home state of Florida. He works for Merial. I found him in the trade show this morning and asked him to give me an update on how the National Dairy Shrine is doing.
Tommy says the banquet they had here at Expo was very well attended. In fact, he thinks attendance at the show must be up since it sure seems busy. He says that at the banquet they honored their 2007 Distinguished Dairy Cattle Breeder of the Year, Bob Miller and Distinguished Guest, Dr. H. Duane Norman.
Here’s how the National Dairy Shrine benefits the industry: “National Dairy Shrine annually provides more than $35,000 in awards and scholarships for college students, dairy producers and industry leaders. Funds for these scholarships come from membership fees, interest on a $1 million endowment fund, and voluntary contributions. National Dairy Shrine also provides financial support for World Dairy Expo and National 4-H Dairy Conference.”
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 2:20 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
When you go to Hawaii you get a nice lei of flowers when you get off the plane. When you go to Wisconsin it’s bratwurst and cheese. It’s the Original Wisconsin Lei.
The Lei’d Back inventor is Steve Rheaume. He says he’s sold over 3,000 of these so far and they’re becoming very popular for football games and wherever you want to show your Wisconsin pride.
Steve’s an agricultural tax consulting expert who says he took a sabbatical to Hawaii for a couple years to unwind and get relaxed. When he got back the idea for the Wisconsin Lei just came to him as something he could give to friends and family who would come all the way to north Wisconsin to visit. Now he’s got a great side business going.
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 2:12 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Kay Zwald is a Wisconsin dairy producer doing some promotional work here at Expo. She’s been on the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for about a year.
This morning she’s here promoting Wisconsin dairy and cheese to consumers and talking with producers. Kay says that producers are most often asking what’s being done with their funds to promote the industry.
She says that everyone seems to be happy. That’s a theme of almost every conversation I’ve had here this week.
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 11:41 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
It’s a beautiful day here at World Dairy Expo. The sun’s shining and the crowd is growing.
I’m going to be here all the way through the parade of champions which is scheduled for 5pm this evening. Today’s schedule looks like this:
7:15 AM 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl
8:00 AM International Holstein Show - cows & groups
11:00 AM Education Seminar
Noon Virtual Farm Tour
1:00 PM Education Seminar
5:00 PM Parade of Champions and Selection of 2007 Supreme Champions
6:00 PM World Dairy Expo 2007 Closes
The grown up dairy producers aren’t the only ones who are happy here.
This little guy was obviously enjoying the trade show where I found him when I was out walking around.
I haven’t had an opportunity to interview many producers yet so I’m going to wander around and see what who I can find that would like to talk.
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 11:00 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
Dairy producers are looking at precision agriculture equipment to help them become more efficient according to Mid-State Equipment’s Chuck Endres. Chuck is exhibiting here at Expo and says that the farmers he’s been talking with are in a very optimistic mood.
When it comes to precision equipment he says the biggest benefit to dairy producers is dealing with moisture when making haylage. He says the equipment they’re selling includes moisture sensing and yield monitoring on their John Deere Choppers. This not only allows the producer to quickly and easily measure moisture content but saves the time of having to run loads to a scale. Producers can learn more about what John Deere is doing with precision agriculture on their Precision Pays website (ZimmComm New Media helps manage this site).
I asked him how this will return the investment and he provides says it could mean the difference between having spoilage and turning cows off feed and that’s a cost no producer wants to deal with.
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 10:44 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
The International Forum for Women in Dairying will be holding its global dairy conference prior to the 2008 World Dairy Expo according to Kathy LaScala, chairperson.
Kathy was on hand for our media talk session so I asked her what this is all about. She says you can find out more on their website. The dates are September 28 & 29, 2008 at the Madison Concourse Hotel.
Kathy says the conference will feature many speakers and plenty of opportunities for women to network with each other since they face the same challenges regardless of what country they’re from.
Posted: October 6, 2007 at 10:33 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
Paula Maebon is on the Dairy Checkoff board. She was on hand here at Expo to talk about what the Checkoff is doing for dairy producers.
For one thing she says they’re working hard to make sure the public has a good image of dairy producers. For that reason they created the DairyFarmingToday.org website. It provides consumers with lots of information about dairy farming.
She says that dairy producers should go to DairyCheckoff.com to get information about the work and activities of the Checkoff.
Posted: October 5, 2007 at 3:43 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Cindy says that I need to get more pictures of cows on here.
I’m trying. Things have been busy working with our sponsors and with interviews with people who have been around the media room.
This afternoon I got to spend a couple hours wandering around on a photo shoot so you can find more in the photo album. I’m going to try to get more tomorrow, including some producer interviews.
I’m not doing a lot of coverage of the shows because there’s so many and Expo is posting the results on their website. Feel free to check them out since they update them each day.
Posted: October 5, 2007 at 3:38 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
We’ve got to say that we’re really happy to see Schering-Plough giving away an iPod (Booth 3817). That’ll be one more dairy producer who can subscribe to our Milking Parlor podcast.
The beauty of the podcast and iPod is that you can subscribe to our interviews from here at Expo and ones we do in the future and receive them on your computer, sync to your iPod or other MP3 player and listen when and where you want!
Posted: October 5, 2007 at 11:17 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
We’re already looking forward to the 2008 World Dairy Expo and we’re not done with this one yet.
As is usually the case, the media got a preview of next year’s theme, “Building Bridges Making Connections.” The dates are September 30 - October 4 and of course we’ll be in Madison, WI again.
It provided a great opportunity for networking and we had a program too. On hand was Leigh Rubin, syndicated comic artist. As you would expect him to do, he conducted his presentation using an overhead projector to do some doodling.
We were welcomed by chapter President, Betsy Francoeur, Bader Rutter. If you’re interested in NAMA here’s where you can find out how to join.
Posted: October 5, 2007 at 10:33 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
The World Dairy Expo Dairy Industry Person of the Year is Steve Larson (pictured on the left talking Orion Samuelson). Steve is the managing editor of Hoard’s Dairyman Magazine. He’s been in that position since 1998 and started with the publication in 1969.
Steve says that two of his predecessors have received the award and he feels very honored to join their ranks. He says that Hoard’s has long been a supporter of World Dairy Expo and he likes to say that this is a time “when the world comes to see us.” Steve thinks that although the dairy producers are becoming more business like it’s still a great way of life. He’s looking forward to the future and says that you can now search past articles of Hoard’s online.
Posted: October 5, 2007 at 10:15 am
By Chuck Zimmerman
The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board has kept us media types supplied with lots of cheese while we’ve been here at Expo. They also brought in Chef John Esser again this year to prepare some great snacks during our news talk session.
I talked to John while he was working. I think the best thing he had for sampling was the beef brisket pizza - with cheese of course. John describes some of the things he had on display.
After the virtual farm tour that BASF Plant Science sponsored at World Dairy Expo, I spoke again with Jerry Weigel, Global Nutrition Manager, about their Nutridense silage product.
The main presenter at the 
One of the features of World Dairy Expo is the 
I’m slowly lowering my cheese intake this week after the massive amounts served to us at World Dairy Expo last week. The picture is of one of the outside vendors. I took it when I was leaving late one night.
The 2007 World Dairy Expo is over and it ended with a great Parade of Champions. You can see pictures of all the action in my photo album. There’s 242 of them in there!
I couldn’t pass up this picture.
When I saw a booth that posed the question, “How is a cow like an ethanol production plant?” I had to stop for a visit.
The 
Here’s how the National Dairy Shrine benefits the industry: “National Dairy Shrine annually provides more than $35,000 in awards and scholarships for college students, dairy producers and industry leaders. Funds for these scholarships come from membership fees, interest on a $1 million endowment fund, and voluntary contributions. National Dairy Shrine also provides financial support for World Dairy Expo and National 4-H Dairy Conference.”
When you go to Hawaii you get a nice lei of flowers when you get off the plane. When you go to Wisconsin it’s bratwurst and cheese. It’s the 
Kay Zwald is a Wisconsin dairy producer doing some promotional work here at Expo. She’s been on the 
It’s a beautiful day here at World Dairy Expo. The sun’s shining and the crowd is growing.
The grown up dairy producers aren’t the only ones who are happy here. 
Dairy producers are looking at precision agriculture equipment to help them become more efficient according to 
The International Forum for Women in Dairying will be holding its global dairy conference prior to the 2008 World Dairy Expo according to Kathy LaScala, chairperson.
Kathy says the conference will feature many speakers and plenty of opportunities for women to network with each other since they face the same challenges regardless of what country they’re from.
Paula Maebon is on the Dairy Checkoff board. She was on hand here at Expo to talk about what the Checkoff is doing for dairy producers. 
Cindy says that I need to get more pictures of cows on here.
We’ve got to say that we’re really happy to see 
We’re already looking forward to the 2008 World Dairy Expo and we’re not done with this one yet.
The 
The World Dairy Expo Dairy Industry Person of the Year is Steve Larson (pictured on the left talking Orion Samuelson). Steve is the managing editor of 
The