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Wisconsin Farm Technology Days media day was great! I have known the Crave Brothers for years but had never been on their farm before. This is one of the most advanced operations in the state. They milk about 1,200 cows, have their own cheese factory and also an anaerobic digester which produces all of the electricity for the farm and more which the sell to the grid.
-Bob Meyer
U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack made his first visit to Indiana on Tuesday, June 2. The first of his three stops was in Terre Haute where he made a couple of announcements. From Terre Haute the Secretary traveled to Indianapolis where he held a news conference at the National FFA Headquarters, where he talked about the Obama Administration’s recovery efforts for auto communities and workers. The final stop was a Rural Communities Forum at the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds at Danville.
-Dave Russell
Brownfield’s Dave Russell attended the Terre Haute and Hendricks County stops and interviewed the ag secretary.
May was Beef Month, and Joe Milledge, President and General Manager of KIIC-FM, Thunder Country Radio at Albia, Iowa knows how to celebrate it. Joe teamed up with the Iowa Cattleman’s Association and the Monroe County Beef Producers to serve over 400 burgers to truck drivers dumping corn at the Cargill Grain Processing facility in Eddyville, Iowa.
Joe issued an invite to Brownfield to be a part of the event. So I jumped in the SUV and traveled to Eddyville, not really sure what to expect. But never one to turn down a great burger I arrived at the plant with camera and appetite in hand. WOW, about 475 trucks were expected through the probe station that day. The truckers loved it, some just took their burger and continued through the station, while others dumped their corn and came back to relax at the tables and visit.
KIIC a Brownfield affiliate had speakers set up at the site and truckers were able to listen to many of the Brownfield programs KIIC carries. Milledge carries nearly every program Brownfield offers and had high praise for the programming.
Thanks Joe, I will be back next year.-Jerry Passer
Bob Meyer sat down with House Ag Committee member Steve Kagen on Wednesday to talk about a number of ag issues. The Congressman does not think they will reopen the farm bill to change payment caps. He says the House Ag Committee will be able to get the indirect land use provision for ethanol out of the climate bill but he is not sure cap-and-trade is the best way to go with carbon emission standards. The Democrat says Congress may have to use the Treasury to get the needed credit to dairy farmers to help them through these low prices and he believes we must have a national animal identification system. Kagen, a medical doctor, continues to push for reform of health care in this country and sees a three-tier approach as the best route to go.
His ranch situated in northern Illinois, James Milligan runs one of the largest Hereford breeding operations east of the Mississippi River. He’s well established there. His place is one of the oldest single ownership ranches in the country. He talks about its history back to 1836, including stories of the original homesteader who met his demise at the hands of roaming bandits.
From his ranch in Oregon, Bob Harrell manages to get genetics to most parts of cattle country – 14 states – as far east as Minnesota. He gets noticed. The Beef Improvement Federation saw fit to name Harrell their Seedstock Producer of the Year.
The friends I made on the Herefords, Heterosis and Headlines Tour impress me because they’re humble, but at the same time proud of their breed. It’s been decades since Herefords have been at the top of the cattle breed list, but American Hereford Association staff and board of directors make no apologies for what the white-faced animals bring to the table, figuratively and literally. They make a compelling argument for including purebred Hereford bulls in a breeding program. It makes for some gentle, excellent performing, low maintenance, and good tasting critters.
After spending a couple of days exploring feedlots and seedstock providers in the Sunflower State with people who raise and promote them, I’ve learned that Herefords, because they’re easy to get along with, are a “family breed.” It doesn’t take a big cow poke to handle one in the show ring and many a lasting friendship between families has been forged on the circuit.
The next time you’re in the market for beef, you might look for the label announcing that Certified Hereford Beef is in the package. It’s excellent meat, but it’s also likely that those responsible for getting it there are nice people who raise good cattle.
-Tom Steever
When asked why Kansas City’s Hen House food stores stock Certified Hereford Beef, meat director Jon Wissmann declares, “because it’s the best beef that we can get.” One look at the meat counter in one the 13 Hen House locations and it’s obvious Wissmann knows how to retail beef, pork, lamb and poultry.
David Breiner speaks easily about the Flinthills of Kansas. He raises cattle there and is keenly aware of every type of grass that the thin layer of topsoil can produce. It takes a pretty lush river bottom to grow a crop of corn where Breiner runs his Herefords, so much of his feed, co-products of corn ethanol production, he buys.
One has to press to get performance figures from Sandhills Farms’ Kevin Schultz. He and his wife Vera seem to come up with some of the top performing Hereford bulls and females around, but humility keeps them from talking about it too much. It’s likely that one will have to check American Hereford Association statistics to find out exactly how good his Central Kansas breeding stock is.
Lorna Marshallhas an eye for bulls. That comes in handy when she’s looking to acquire a good one for ABS, the world’s largest bovine genetics company. They come from anywhere, but they’re going to produce a good healthy calf that gains well and carries a good carcass. “A multi-trait bull” is what she considers the best.
Colorado cattleman Marshall Ernsthas put his background in the meat industry to good use. He currently chairs the Certified Hereford Beef program and also maintains a herd of about 30 cattle. What pleases him most is to see the CHB label in a grocery store.
The U.S. Grains Council communications department recently launched a new blog. “The Grain Board” was created to serve as an open forum to discuss the latest trade developments, U.S. agriculture, Council happenings and whatever else comes to mind.
Check it out: http://www.thegrainboard.com/.
Point at any given pen of cattle at the Ford Country Feed Yard in Ford, Kansas, and chances are Danny Herrmann can tell you within a pound or two how they perform and whether or not he’d buy another load of them. It’s not bad for being surrounded by 50,000 cattle munching their way to finishing weight. In peak season they eat as much as 700 tons of feed every day.
One might think that most cattle raised in Wisconsin would come upholstered in black and white. Not so, says Jerry Huth, who raises Herefords in America’s Dairyland. By his estimation he’s making the best use of the land, which he says is well suited to grow feed for cattle, whatever the type.
Whether the cattle market is up or down, to Jimmie Johnson, it’s all relative. The Clinton, Oklahoma cattleman takes it in stride and hopes he has some to sell when the price is high. He’s curious about how other cattlemen raise and market their stock and talking about his operation comes easily. Maybe that comes from a background in the tire business and as a radio talk show host. In fact, Jimmie talked about his first experience of hosting a radio talk show and the pressure that goes with filling an hour of airtime.
Until recently, Denny Hoffman has been a northern California cattleman. He imagined better prospects for an operation in Nebraska and so far the move has not disappointed him.
Wes Hudson says Hereford cattle are good and productive, everything a good English breed should be. He acknowledges that Herefords have had their ups and downs, but firmly believes that they’re still around because “they’re so family oriented.”
When Bill King was a youngster in New Mexico he thought his best chance of winning a judging contest trip was to compete in the dairy cow division. He learned from a copy of Hoard’s Dairyman what a decent dairy animal should look like and sure enough, his team won. Now he serves Hereford breeders as President of the American Hereford Association.
I had a great time in Austin, Texas, covering one of the USDA’s NAIS listening sessions. This was the third of several meetings where anyone with an opinion on the National Animal Identification System could voice their concerns and suggestions. It was a diverse group, from the small farmer who direct markets his beef to the medium-sized hog farmer to the large-scale rancher and feedlot operator. Everyone had a chance to speak and their comments will be transcribed by the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) as part of the official record. Once all the NAIS listening sessions are held, and USDA tells me more are being planned, all comments will be combined and given to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack for his consideration.
I had the good fortune to be able to stay with relatives while in Austin and get an up-close look at this awesome capital city. My cousins, Erick and Trevor Allen, who grew up in Austin, showed me the sights. I also got to see Trevor’s nine-year-old daughter Katie play two volleyball games and Erick’s son Foster play the trumpet in the middle school band concert. Let me tell you - Trevor, Amy, Langley, Katie, Erick, Marshall, Foster, and Riley - these are good people!
-Julie Harker
Alice in Dairyland? Don't you mean Alice in Wonderland? No. If you are a Wisconsin, you know that Alice is one of the most recognizable spokespersons of Wisconsin agriculture. Alice in Dairyland is a public relations professional working for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. She travels throughout the state, nation and world to promote Wisconsin products to audiences of all ages, educating the media, youth and civic groups about the many facets of the state's agricultural industry.
Brownfield's Bob Meyer has worked with the Alice program for many years. When Wisconsin selected a new Alice in Dairyland last week, Bob Meyer was there. I asked him to tell us a little bit about his involvement over the years:
I have been involved with the Alice in Dairyland program for a long time. Over the years, I have interviewed “Alice” on numerous occasions. I have been on the preliminary selection panel once and the final selection panel once. I have emceed the finale program twice. Counties bid to host the finals so it moves around the state each year. This year we were in Racine County, next year it will be in Rock County.
In 1993 we decided to do our morning “Daybreak” program live from the Alice in Dairyland finals and feature the then-ten finalists. Starting at 5 a.m., the candidates sat down to the microphone to talk about themselves and why they wanted to be “Alice”. That first broadcast originated from the headquarters hotel on Friday morning of the finals and the judges listened to the live broadcast in their hotel rooms. In 1998, the broadcast was moved to Thursday morning to accommodate an on-the-farm dairy breakfast scheduled for Friday morning. Over the years, the broadcast originated from hotels, radio stations and even the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture one time. Because of some logistics problems in 2006, the interviews were pre-recorded on Wednesday for airing on Thursday morning of the finals. With the end of the “Daybreak” program in June of 2008, this year the interviews were recorded on Wednesday and posted on the Brownfield website.
One of the great aspects of this program is these are people who become heavily involved in agriculture which means in most cases, you will see them often down the road. Just to give you an idea of where some of the former Alices are now: Debbie Crave and her family will host Wisconsin Farm Technology Days this year on their farm. Lisa Behnke runs the media room at World Dairy Expo, Shari Hicken is the P.R. person for Wollersheim Winery, Jill Makovec is an account executive for Learfield we have even sent some to other states in an effort to upgrade the world, Amy Fischer is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
-Bob Meyer
The new Alice in Dairyland is Cheryl O’Brien of Eastman, Wisconsin.
Driving across Illinois on I-70 last week, I spotted field after field with what I thought I recognized as Wild Mustard weeds growing among last fall's corn stalks. As I drove further east into Bond County and then on through Effingham County, I almost had myself convinced I was seeing blooming canola fields. From the Interstate, the thick growth of yellow-flowered plants appeared to be planted in rows.
But alas, I called a farmer friend from the area and he assured me the yellow "fields" were indeed what many refer to as Yellow Top, or Wild Mustard.
The weeds appeared to be growing in rows because they had come up from seed in no-till corn fields and had grown tall enough that you could not see the buckled corn stalks. Wet conditions had kept farmers out of the fields so burn down had not yet begun.
I asked my farmer friend about burn down and he said, "Well, we're going to have to look at them for a while because they are a big plant and it takes a while to go down."
I pulled off at the Vandalia, Illinois exit to photograph a field of wild mustard that will - hopefully - be a soybean field later this year.
William Pape of Longmont, Colorado, was one of the 15 entrepreneurs at the Ag Innovators Showcase this week in St. Louis. When I introduced myself seeking an interview about his new business, TraceGains, Pape’s face lit up and he told me that he listens to Brownfield when he drives through Iowa. Interestingly, Pape, who currently has interest in a couple of cattle operations, was formerly an owner of VeriFone, the electronic system that made possible the worldwide use of credit cards. Pape was also the developer of (and for this, I give him my humble thanks) the spell checker, which, he says was eventually adopted by all word processing platforms except for one. That one, he said without naming it, no longer exists.
TraceGains is technology that allows trace back of food and ag products to “first mile” producers. Pape is typical of the innovative spirit among the presenters at the Showcase. This was the first Showcase and organizers seem confident there will be more. Presenters, the entrepreneurs invited to the event, were each given a few minutes to make pitches to potential investors and then networked with them individually. It was held in the impressive Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.
-Tom Steever
A few weeks ago, Tom Steever hit the road for a close-up view of Hereford cattle. The American Hereford Association, staff and board members hosted members of the ag media on the Herefords, Heterosis and Headlines Tour.
Since 1881, the American Hereford Association has served breeders, mostly from its Kansas City headquarters (it was briefly headquartered in Chicago). During a recent tour of Kansas feedlots and seedstock providers, association CEO Jack Ward talks about the breed and its heritage.
-Tom Steever
Tom shot this video during a visit to Sandhills Farm in Central Kansas.
Dave Russell was drinking milk and having lunch with Indy 500 rookies Tuesday at the Brickyard!
For the 35th year, the American Dairy Association of Indiana honored the Fastest Rookie in the Indianapolis 500 during at lunch at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year’s fastest rookie is a 27-year old Brazilian, Raphael Matos. Raphael’s 4-lap average speed was 223.429 mph. As the fastest rookie, Raphael received a check for $5000 and his name on a trophy that will be displayed at the Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum.
In addition to the Fastest Rookie award, the American Dairy Association of Indiana, represented by dairy farmers and Milk Promotions Services of Indiana Board members Sam Schwoeppe and Franklin Weaver, will again this year be in Victory Lane to hand the winner of the Indianapolis 500 a cold bottle of milk, at tradition that goes back over 50 years.
We are so proud of Megan Russell (Brownfield Indiana Dave Russell's daughter.) The University of Indianapolis Lady Greyhounds played in the Midwest Super Regional (Sweet 16) this past Friday and Saturday. They played Saginaw Valley State in a best 2 out of 3 series for the right to advance to the Division II College World Series in Salem, Virginia. Guess what? THEY WON. Dave Russell is a proud dad:
The Lady Greyhounds are going to Salem, Virginia. YES! They are in the Division II College World Series. I am so excited for these young ladies!
-Dave
Congratulations from Brownfield Ag News. We'll be rooting for the Lady Hounds!
Jim Henry, Executive Editor of Illinois AgriNews and Indiana AgriNews along with Whitney Cole and Katie Nickas, Field Editors, welcomed me to the Indianapolis Indiana AgriNews headquarters today.
I've been writing a column for Illinois AgriNews for almost 7 years now and we see the AgriNews editors out covering many of the same agricultural events that we cover for our listeners and web viewers in Illinois and Indiana.
Stay tuned, there could be another partnership in the works. . .
I 'm spending the week in Indiana with Brownfield's resident Hoosier, Dave Russell. We spent some time today at Indiana Farm Bureau offices in Indianapolis where we visited with Public Relations Team Leader Andy Dietrick. We also stopped in to see Mike Baise, Director of Issues Management for IFB.
Mike is an old friend to both Dave and me. He was the Assistant Director of Agriculture in Illinois from 1986 to 1994, serving with Directors Larry Werries, Jack Rundquist and Becky Doyle. I was farm director at WJIL in Jacksonville and later at WTAX in Springfield during Mike's tenure at Illinois Department of Ag.
Mike and I both grew up on family farms in neighboring counties in west central Illinois.
We were pleased to get a visit Thursday from American Soybean AssociationPresident Johnny Dodson and ASA Communications Director Bob Callanan. We showed them around and then talked to Johnny concerning a wide range of soybean industry issues. The reason he was able to get away is that rain has stalled his field work where he farms north of Memphis, Tennessee. After getting 400 acres of corn planted, he hasn’t been able to plant the remaining 100 acres. He’d usually have all his cotton planted, but hasn’t started that nor has he planted any soybeans.
-Tom Steever
