DairyCast

DairyCast 0457 - What's The Status Of The Secure Milk Supply Project?

An update on the status of the Secure Milk Supply Project supplemental to ongoing Foot and Mouth Disease prevention and response planning with Dr. Pam Hullinger, currently with UC-Davis Department of Veterinary Medicine and Epidemiology. Dr. Hullinger's presentation was part of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture's 2012 Annual Meeting in Denver.
Dr. Hullinger's full presentation with slides

The importance of catching residue violations before the tank cannot be overstated, according to Dr. Karen Jordan with Dairy Farmers of America. She overviews the recent updates to the Milk and Dairy Beef Residue Prevention Manual. PDF version available here.

National Grocers Association VP of Public Affairs, Greg Ferrara offers his insight on today's social media world as he shares with the recent Stakeholders Summit of the Animal Agriculture Alliance meeting in Alexandria, VA. In the case of consumer concerns and food safety issues, "We can't wait a day or two. We've got to respond in minutes!" and when a problem surfaces, "Let the know we've taken care of it immediately." For both producers and retailers, loss of trust in food safety equates to loss of customers at the counter.

Anne Hazlett, chief counsel to the Senate Ag Committee, and Pete Thomson, senior professional staffer with the House Ag Committee, break down the significant portions of the 2012 Farm Bill negotiations as related to livestock production. The Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholder Summit in Arlington, VA marked the organization's 25th year of raising awareness of the value of animal agriculture to legislators and media.

Attorney and Illinois farmer Gary Baise once played a role in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. He tells the annual meeting of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture that the agency is now establishing regulations that will end modern agriculture.

One dairy production manager found several good bits of information to improve the Bebow Dairy operation at the recent JBS United Midwest Dairy Conference. Stephen Fenderhoff believes additional value can be created by moving to the NDFD or Neutral Detergent Fiber Digestibility index suggested by speaker David Fischer.

Nature's Farm is developing a specialized retail channel promoting liquid milk products naturally higher in Omega 3 and CLA's. Vice-president of Sales and Marketing, Jon Van Koy joins us at the JBS United Midwest Dairy Conference to discuss the dietary formulation which contributes to the Nature's Farm product.

Talking with a livestock group, House Ag Committee Chair Congressman Frank Lucas recently spent some time walking through the current climate in Washington, D.C. and gave his thoughts on the next Farm Bill, where it stands and what might happen. Please pass this one to others in your organization.

The unfolding "Pink Slime" fiasco made its entry into social consicousness via social media, then exploded onto the national scene. Here Eric Atkinson talks with Kansas State meat scientist John Gonzales to better understand what the product is and to shed light on some repeatedly reported inaccuracies.

David Fischer, retired University of Illinois extension specialist, recently shared the importance of properly managing critical periods in forage development and harvest to gain maximum value from those acres. He spoke at the recent JBS United Midwest Dairy Conference.