D2-L«nca«ter Farming, Saturday, April 1, 2000
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Mid-Atlantic Agri Systems Wins Honor
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SEATTLE, Wash. At the annual meeting of J. Houle
and Sons, manufacturers of liquid manure equipment, Mi
d-Atlantic Agri Systems, Quarryville, Pa., received the top
volume dealer award for North America.
Shown presenting the award for high scales to Scott
Bristou of Mid-Atlantic is Michel Houle, president of J.
Houle and Sons.
Houle maintains a network of more than 150 dealers in
Canada and the U.S. J. Houle and Sons manufacturers
equipment at its Quebec, Canada, plant.
Pennfield Feed Mill
Project On Schedule
SOUTH MONTROSE (Sus
quehanna Co.)-Construction is
on schedule in the expansion
project of the Pennfield Corpo
ration’s new livestock feed man
ufacturing plant near here.
“All of the main systems for
pelleting, crimping, and mixing
are in place,” said Bob Buehler,
Pennfield Feeds senior vice pres
ident, ag products division. “We
are now installing the support
systems and will begin testing of
the electrical and other compo
nents.”
Buehler also said that the
boiler room is almost complete
and that construction of the
warehouse is proceeding well.
He noted that Pennfield hopes
to have the new plant in opera
tion by late spring, but cau
tioned that no livestock feeds
Aid Fights Stress
KNAPP, Wis. - Vets Plus, Inc.
presents Probiotic Plus Paste™,
an aid for all types of stress.
Probiotic Plus Paste™ is
designed to increase the good
bacteria in the animal’s gas
trointestinal tract and stimulate
appetite, which may be sup
pressed due to the introduction
of stress. Such stress would
include, but is not limited to
shipping, adverse weather con
ditions, overcrowding, parturi
tion, weaning, antibiotic treat
ments or ration changes.
Probiotic Plus Paste ™ con
tains Lactobacillus acidophilus
DDS-1 and six other naturally
occurring microorganisms,
antioxidant vitamins, chelated
minerals, as well as other essen
tial elements needed to ensure
adequate nutrition. It is an
exceptional product with out-
would be distributed to area
farmers until extensive testing of
feeds could be completed.
“Today’s livestock feeds must
be produced according to exact
ing formulas and, at Pennfield,
we will not sell the first ton of
feed produced at South Mon
trose until we are absolutely sure
we can produce livestock feeds
that meet our superior quality
nutritional standards,” Buehler
said.
Pennfield Corporation broke
ground for this $6 million
project in April 1999. The plant
will produce mainly dairy feeds.
There are more than 287,000
dairy cows in the new plant’s
marketing area of northern
Pennsylvania and southern New
York. Sales are projected to be
$8 million for the first full year
of operation.
froiUßJh: H
Probiotic Plus Paste™, is
designed to increase the good
bacteria in the animal’s gas
trointestinal tract and stimulate
appetite, which may be sup
pressed due to the introduction
of stress.
standing results.
Probiotic Plus Paste™ is
available in both 300 cc and 80
cc tubes. Vets Plus is proud to
say that Probiotic Plus Paste™
is all natural and causes no
withholding.
GOLDEN VALLEY,
Minn.-Novartis Seeds, Inc.-field
crops is bringing soybean farm
ers five new NK® Brand soy
bean varieties in time for 2000
planting.
Each of the varieties, which
range in maturity from Mid-
Group 0 to Mid-Group 11, in
cludes the popular Roundup
Ready® gene, and all combine
high yields with strong disease
resistance packages.
Based on excellent perform
ance in company field trials, No
vartis Seeds fast-tracked the
release of these varieties, provid
ing farmers with earlier access
to the improved soybean lines.
However, despite the early re
lease, Novartis Seeds’ Mark
Schmidt says that a good quan
tity of each of the varieties is
available.
The five new varieties are the
latest products from Novartis
Seeds soybean research pro
gram-an effort that spans 30
years and has produced more
than 247 improved varieties.
Like their predecessors. No
ARA Releases E-Commerce,
Product Stewardship White Paper
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - With the
advent of e-commerce as an
increasingly common manner of
conducting business, the
Agricultural Retailers Associa
tion (ARA) has produced a policy
position paper for ag retailer
members on e-commerce and
product stewardship.
“Today’s ag retailers doing
business via e-commerce, either
directly or indirectly, face an
increasingly wide and new
range of product stewardship
questions and issues. The White
Paper is designed to help ag
retailers effectively work with
this relatively new form of busi
ness,” said Paul Kindinger, pres
ident and CEO of the
Agricultural Retailers Associa
tion.
“E-commerce has been a
growing concern with ag retail
ers. They are particularly con
cerned about the stewardship of
the products that are bought
and sold through this new trade
channel. AHA is concerned that
such products are still handled
and applied in a manner that
meets all federal and state regu
latory requirements,” Kindinger
said. “For example, California
has introduced legislation to
study Internet sales of agricul
tural crop protection products to
evaluate the potential impact of
such products that are not
labeled or registered for use in
the state.”
Misapplied or mishandled
products could result in damage
to crops or cause environmental
hazards that will prompt state
and federal agencies to consider
tighter use or application
restrictions. In addition, retail
ers may be reluctant to custom
apply crop protection products
that they did not sell because of
uncertainty about whether the
product was properly labeled or
was in the proper container.
Furthermore, concerns exist
regarding whether products are
shipped with required label
rates, material data sheets,
application restrictions, and
Novartis Seeds Releases Five
New Soybean Varieties
vartis Seeds anticipates strong
demand for the new offerings.
“These varieties share the
three characteristics our cus
tomers consistently request: top
yield potential, Roundup Ready
herbicide tolerance and compre
hensive disease protection,” said
Schmidt, the company’s soy
bean product manager. “Even in
challenging growing environ
ments like cool, no-till soils,
these varieties have demon
strated their ability to perform.”
Key characteristics for the
new NK Brand Roundup Ready
soybeans include:
• Variety SO4-El, Mid-Group
0. This variety is widely adapted
to northern fields and high pH
soils, with very good tolerance to
iron deficiency chlorosis in first
year trials. In addition, it resists
Phytophthora root rot with both
Rpsl-c gene and moderate field
resistance, and includes moder
ate resistance to Sclerotinia
white mold.
• Variety SO9-Y9, Late-Group
0. Excellent emergence makes
this soybean a good choice for
early planting, even in cooler
other regulatory requirements.
In reviewing several e-com
merce sites, however, there
appears to be numerous safe
guards in place relating to the
purchase or sale of such crop
protection products.
Included among the safe
guards are that users of the sites
must provide a dealer/distribu
tor license number, commercial
applicator license number, and
specific state licensing.
Pathogen Not Resistant
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -
According to a scientific review
given at the annual American
Association of Swine
Practitioners meeting, pork pro
ducers may have one less thing
to worry about when it comes to
herd health- antibiotic resis
tance by Lawsonia intracellu
laris, the bacterium that causes
ileitis.
This is big news because
researchers have found L. intra
cellularis present in 96.2 per
cent of all herds. Researchers’,
calculate the financial impact
from actual cases of ileitis to be
as high as $1.7 billion, or $22.19
per pig in the United States,
even when using a more modest
86-percent infection rate.
Dr. Steven McOrist, an inter
nationally known veterinary
pathologist from Australia, pre
sented research results from
studies that searched for antibi
otic resistance in the widespread
pathogen. He said, “Bacteria
such as L. intracellularis don’t
possess some of the critical cell
components needed to allow
resistance to occur. In addition,
numerous studies continue to
show this particular bacterium
is still as susceptible as ever to
antibiotics such as tylosin.”
Despite scientific evidence to
the contrary, some producers
and veterinarians may assume
soils. It provides moderate re
sistance to Sclerotinia white
mold, and resists Phytophthora
root rot (Rpsl-C gene, plus
moderate field resistance.)
• Variety Number: 523-03,
Early to Mid-Group 11. This va
riety combines strong stress tol
erance with a comprehensive
disease package, making it a
good choice for tough environ
ments such as no-till drilling. It
has moderate resistance to
Sclerotinia white mold and
brown stem rot, and resistance
to Phytophthora root rot (Rpsl
c gene).
• Variety Number: 524-K4,
Mid-Group 11. Superior stress
tolerance helps this variety give
very high yields, even in drier,
more variable growing condi
tions. It features Rpsl-a gene for
resistance to Phytophthora root
rot.
• Variety S3O-P6, Mid-Group
11. This variety provides the
most complete protection
against Phytophthora root rot
with Rpsl-k gene. It also resists
brown stem rot and includes
moderate resistance to SDS.
Furthermore, the e-commerce
site must validate licensing
information with the state
licensing agencies.
More information concerning
the safe stewardship of various
ag .related products, including
crop protection products and
services, can be found in the
White Paper. Members who
would like additional copies or
more information should contact
ARA at (800) 844-4900.
they’ve seen pigs exhibit antibi
otic resistance to products such
as Tylan®. McOrist explained,
“This may be due to misdiagno
sis because of a similarity
between the characteristics of
ileitis and other diseases, inade
quate dosing, or pigs simply not
eating enough medicated feed
for efficacy.”
Producers and veterinarians
concerned about antibiotic effec
tiveness and long-term viability
may take comfort in McOrist’s
conclusion: “The findings of this
study underscore the impor
tance of challenging assump
tions about antimicrobial resis
tance. By understanding the
uniqueness of bacterial organ
isms and how they interact with
antibiotics, pork producers can
continue to use approved prod
ucts in a prudent and effective
manner.”
As McOrist explained to
those attending the meeting,
continuous exposure of L. intra
cellularis to products such as
Tylan has yielded no evidence of
antibiotic resistance. Because of
this reality, the product’s effec
tiveness has not diminished and
veterinarians still recommend it
for the prevention and control of
ileitis.
Tylan Premix is the only
product approved in the United
States for the prevention and
control of ileitis.