R&D LifeSciences, Menomonie, WI, names David Zehendner Pres/CEO of the newly formed biotech animal health and feed solutions company. He had worked for AgriLabs.
The company offers a complete line of biotech animal health and feed products.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Dr. David Cook joins the company as Dir/Tech Svcs.
He had been with Pulse Needle Free Systems and previously with Ivy Labs and Vetlife/Ivy Animal Health.
Byline: Matthew Wilde
Aug. 25--ACKLEY -- An Ackley teenager is living high on the hog after last Saturday's Sale of Champions at the Iowa State Fair.
Chelsea Keninger, a member of the Ackley-Geneva Wellsburg-Steamboat Rock FFA, collected a record $40,000 for her grand champion FFA market hog. The gilt -- an unbred female -- just didn't break the record, the animal smashed it.
'I can't believe it. It's so amazing to get twice as much as the pig brought last year. I thought (sale officials) were joking around with me,' Keninger said.
The 15-year-old said she is still in shock the animal garnered such a hefty price. Her paycheck amounts to 80 percent of the sale price, while the remainder goes to the Iowa Foundation for Agricultural Advancement for scholarships and to help pay sale expenses. This rule applies to all exhibitors.
Northeast Iowa FFA members, at least for now, have a stranglehold on winning the grand champion banner. Former Hudson FFA member Michael Schreck won last year, earning $20,000 for the effort less fees.
The $350 Keninger paid for the champion hog in April, which weighed about 40 pounds at the time, turned out to be a pretty good return on investment. The sophomore hopes to make it pay off again when it comes time to pay for college.
However, she may make a couple of small purchases to lessen her bulging bank account once she calms down.
'Most of it will be saved for college. I haven't thought that much about (a spending spree). I'm still amazed I won,' Keninger said.
Her father, Kent, isn't. Purchasing quality animals from Van Hauen Show Pigs of Wellsburg -- the same place Shreck bought from -- is only half the equation, hard work is the rest.
Kent, a grain and livestock farmer, said every spare moment his daughter had was spent with her FFA and 4-H hogs. She made sure their feed rations were just right, brushed them to gain trust and healthy-looking coats and walked the animals to produce lean, muscular and fluid-moving bodies.
'She's worked so hard at this it's amazing. If you never worked with the pigs, it would be a disaster, Kent said.
'I almost had a heart attack when my other daughter (13-year-old Jackie) won,' he added, noting she placed fourth overall in the 4-H market hog division. 'It was a summer to remember.'
Iowa Select Farms of Iowa Falls, with IVESCO, ADM Alliance Nutrition/ShowTec, ALPHARMA Animal Health, United Suppliers, Roehringer Ingelheim, Mid States Milling, Prairieland Co-op and FC Co-op and many other local supporters, paid the record-setting price for Keninger's hog. It was the highest price ever paid for a hog at the sale. Last year's reserve champion 4-H market hog brought $38,000, also predominantly purchased by Iowa Select.
Contributors mentioned forked out at least $1,000, but Iowa Select, one of the nation's largest pork producers, provided the bulk of the funds. Each exhibitor is asked to find hometown supporters to set the floor price. The Keninger family raised $13,700.
Jeff Hansen, president and CEO of Iowa Select, said they made up the difference between the floor price and sale price, and donated another $20,000 to the foundation for four extra scholarships.
Why pay far beyond market price for a hog?
'It definitely wasn't for the pork,' Hansen quipped. 'This is a local girl near and dear to our heart. They are a good family that represents our industry well.
'This is a chance for us to give back in our area,' he added. 'Hopefully it will further the education and (keep) young people in agriculture.'
If Hansen did buy the hog strictly for the meat, he could host the most expensive hog roast in history. He's planning to donate the meat to Des Moines-area food banks.
The hog weighed 294 pounds at the sale and likely will dress out at 220 pounds of meat, Kent Keninger said. In other words, pork from his daughter's hog would cost an estimated $182 a pound.
Farmers get paid for the whole hog. On Tuesday, Iowa-southern Minnesota hogs averaged $67.18 per hundred weight. But Chelsea's animal was worth about $13,300 per hundred weight.
'I'd like to get that for all our hogs,' Hansen said.
In all, seven new individual champion record prices were set last Saturday and two all-time highs for particular species. A total of $247,500 was raised for the foundation and the 14 exhibitors of 4-H and FFA grand and reserve champions.
To Chelsea Keninger, the money is great, but the real honor is knowing her hard work paid off and she showed the best hog in the state.
'She moved so fluidly when she walked. Even though she was wide, she could handle the meat and muscle she had,' she said. 'This is what you're working for.'
Contact Matthew Wilde at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.
To see more of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wcfcourier.com/.
Copyright (c) 2007, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Name change: Iowa Veterinary Supply Co. announced that it and its IVESCO, Scholfield Veterinary Supply, IVS Animal Health, Panhandle Veterinary Supply, IVS Animal Health/WYNCO and VMS divisions are operating under the new name of IVESCO LLC. The privately held distributor of animal health products said the change will strengthen its position and help it be competitive in the U.S. animal health market.
Butler Animal Health Supply has reported signing a letter of intent to acquire Ivesco. Butler, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, is the largest U.S. distributor of companion animal products to veterinarians, distributing more than 15,000 products to more than 29,000 veterinarian clinics. Ivesco, formerly the Iowa Veterinary Supplies Co. and headquartered in Iowa Falls, Iowa, sells animal health products for livestock, poultry and other animals across the U.S.
* Rabies cases drop in 2005
SCHAUMBURG, ILL - Reported rabies cases dropped in 2005, according to a report in the December Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA).
Veterinarians continue to remind pet owners to vaccinate against the virus to avoid rabies in domestic animals,
Reported cases dropped 6.2 percent, from 6,836 cases in 2004 in the United States and Puerto Rico to 6,417 cases in 2005. One case of rabies in a human was reported in 2005, down from 8 in 2004.
Rabies continues to affect wildlife, especially raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes, more than domestic animals, but cats lead the list of domestic animals in 2005 reported rabies cases.
cases have continued to decline since 2000, mainly because of increased effort to vaccinate both companion and wild animal populations.
* Schools to create tissue bank
MADISON, Wisc. - Three universities have been selected to collect canine cancer specimens for a centralized tissue repository.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, Colorado State University and The Ohio State University will collect and store the samples at the National Cancer Institwte in Maryland as part of a new Canine Comparative Oncology Genomics Consortium. Osteosarcoma, Symphoma and melanoma are the samples to be collected.
The goal is to eventually recruit 10 samples providers to collect 3,000 samples in three years.
Because of the similarities between dog and human cancers, the collection will create a large sample bank for researchers to increase the likelihood of cancer discovery and progress, says David Vail, DVM at Wisconsin.
The veterinary medical centers involved will take tissue and blood samples from companion animal dogs as part of their diagnostic or surgical workup.
The samples will be available to researchers through an application process to ensure the tissues are being used in the best ways.
* Pets and owners stay in shape better together
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A study monitoring the success of weight loss for people and animals showed better results when owners and pets worked together.
The People and Pets Exercising Together (P-Pet) yearlong study by Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Hill's Pet Nutrition tested three groups: people, dogs, and people and dogs.
The study showed that participating in a weight loss program with your pet, rather than alone, increases the plan's success rate, improves life quality and strengthens the pet-owner bond.
* Acquisition falls through
DUBLIN, OH - Unable to agree on acquisition terms, Butler Animal Health Supply terminated a letter of intent to acquire IVESCO, a leading product distributor.
Ranking as the largest national companion animal health supplies distributor to veterinarians, Butler signed a letter of intent to purchase IVESCO in June 2006.
LAWTON, Okla., Nov. 6 -- Cameron University issued the following news release:
Cameron University's Department of Agriculture will host the 22nd Annual Beef Cattle Improvement Conference, featuring keynote speakers and exhibits pertinent to the beef cattle industry, on Thursday, November 19. The event starts at 6 p.m. in the Shepler Center Ballroom on the CU campus. To register or for more information, call 581-2275.
Dr. Dan Stein, assistant professor, livestock production, Oklahoma State University, will present 'Making Sense of the DNA-based/Molecular Technologies available to Beef Producers.' He earned his doctorate degree from OSU in animal breeding and reproduction.
Gene Parker, DVM, will present 'Comparison of Current Antibiotics to Treat Diseases in Oklahoma Beef Cattle.' Parker is a food-animal quality & health specialist for the OSU Cooperative Extension Service.
The conference will include exhibits by event sponsors Phil Perryman, ABS Global, Apache; Ag Preference ACA, Altus; Chickasha New Holland; Co-op Services, Inc., Lawton; Farmers Co-op Association, Snyder; Darren Baker, IVESCO, LLC; L&L Farm Supply, Chattanooga; Livestock Nutrition Center, Chickasha; Nutrina; Schering-Plough Animal Health; Spencer Brothers Feed-Supply/Stillwater Milling, Lawton; and Stockman-Oklahoma Livestock Marketing, Inc., Apache.
Litmus FQI said that it is introducing colorimetric sensorsindicating levels of airborne ammonia in animal facilities. LitmusAmmonia Indicators (LAI) benefit animal growers and integrators(poultry, swine, lamb, cattle, horses, etc.) by monitoring averageammonia levels over 4 and 24 hour periods.
Litmus said the new ammonia detectors are inexpensive, easy touse, effective and accurate providing more profit for growers,marketers, and distributors. Two years of collaborative R&D betweenLitmus, animal growers, academic institutions and industryprofessionals resulted in the creation of the LAI.
Jack Lewis, President of Litmus FQI, said, 'A key issue inmaintaining healthy animals is to quickly and accurately measure theaverage levels of ammonia in animal facilities. LAIs replace thevery subjective practice of sniffing or using other devices whichare expensive and inherently inaccurate.'
LAI requires no interpretation and allows operating adjustmentsto control ammonia levels. Nicole Klosterman, Bio-Mos/De-OdoraseBrand Manager at Alltech, Inc., said: 'We use LAI, the firsttechnology available that will measure ammonia levels based on a 24hour average to prove that putting De-Odorase in the feed will lowerstandard ammonia levels.'
LAI is calibrated to target measurement thresholds of ammonia of25 parts per million (ppm) and 50 ppm. Animals grown in theseenvironments are larger, healthier and a better grade of animal withbetter feed conversion. Growers enjoy more income at lower costs, asafer environment in which to work and lower aerial ammoniaemissions. Chris Sartor of IVESCO, a leader in animal healthsolutions, said: 'We are pleased to offer and distribute to ourcustomers an affordable solution to maintaining the highestintegrity of their poultry flocks in regards to ammonia levelmonitoring and presence.'
Lewis concluded: 'Litmus set out to design a new testing protocolto fulfill the unmet market need for accurately and inexpensivelymeasuring ammonia levels. That goal is a reality as LAI removes theguess work in measuring and controlling ammonia levels.'
Litmus FQI, is based in Houston, TX and a subsidiary of Litmus, aglobal technology company, located in Little Rock, AR. Litmusidentifies technologies that provide solutions to significant unmetmarket needs.