Michael Foods to close egg plant in Altura, Minn.

Michael Foods plans to close an egg processing plant in the southeastern Minnesota town of Altura, and move production to another plant in Britt, Iowa. Both egg plants are new to the company's operations, as Michael Foods' subsidiary M.G. Waldbaum acquired the two egg plants in the June purchase of Primera Foods.
"As we closed the sale and started to review the entire business with our team, the team determined expanding the plant in Britt and integrating the Altura production into our facilities was the best approach," Diane Sparish, Michael Foods vice president for communications, told the Winona Daily News.
About 40 employees at the Altura plant will be entitled to severance pay and retention incentives, and employees in Altura have been encouraged to apply for open positions within Michael Foods. The amount of employees needed for the Britt expansion is not yet known. 

Wienermobile to make an appearance at IPPE

Attendees of the upcoming 2014 International Production and Processing Expo will have an opportunity to visit the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. It will be the first appearance for the Wienermobile since the American Meat Institute joined with the International Production and Processing Expo. The Wienermobile will be on the show floor in Hall B at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta throughout the show from January 28-30, 2014.
Attendees can take photos and peek inside the Wienermobile while experiencing interactive activities and giveaways. Hotdoggers, the official drivers of the Wienermobile, will be on hand to give away toy whistles shaped as replicas of the vehicle.
Oscar Mayer crafted its first version of the Wienermobile in 1936 and has been touring the country ever since. The current active fleet includes eight Wienermobiles, six of them full-sized models and two mini models.
The International Production and Processing Expo is expected to attract more than 26,000 attendees and is a collaboration of three shows — the International Poultry Expo, the International Feed Expo and the International Meat Expo — representing the entire chain of protein production and processing. The event is sponsored by United States Poultry and Egg Association, the American Feed Industry Association and the American Meat Institute.

Benefits of bovine nutritional supplement presented at annual dairy meeting

A healthy immune system is vital to maintaining overall dairy cow health and improve milk production. Research presented at the 2013 American Dairy Science Association-American Society of Animal Science Joint Annual Meeting suggested the positive impact of the nutritional supplement OmniGen-AF from Prince Agri Products Inc. in helping to support the cow's natural immune system against multiple sources of year-round stress. Multiple abstracts were presented at the meeting, summarizing new university and field research studies, including: 

• "Evaluation of OmniGen-AF in heat‐stressed Holstein cows in lactation." Research conducted at the University of Arizona using cows housed in environmentally-controlled modules indicated animals receiving OmniGen-AF had significantly greater dry matter intake, less water consumption, reduced respiration rates and lower rectal temperatures during heat stress than control cows.
• "Milk and milk quality evaluated on a commercial Holstein dairy following an OmniGen-AF dry cow and early lactation feeding strategy." This trial, conducted at an 8,000-cow farm, showed mature Holsteins fed OmniGen-AF from dry-off through 30 days in milk had statistically higher first test day, four week and peak milk yields than cows that did not receive the product.
• "Growth and health costs used to evaluate OmniGen-AF feeding strategies in Jersey heifer calves reared on a commercial dairy." Jersey calves receiving supplemental OmniGen-AF from one to 50 or one to 160 days of age had improved growth and health, with reduced medication costs, compared to calves not receiving the product.
• "OmniGen-AF supplementation improves leukocyte responses and hematology of multiparous peripartum cows." Researchers at Texas Tech University found neutrophils (white blood cells that provide early protection against infections) obtained at calving from cows fed OmniGen-AF beginning at dry-off, compared to cells from cows not receiving the product, had higher L-selectin content, but lower oxidative burst intensity in response to E. coli. Cows receiving OmniGen-AF also had lower plasma haptoglobin concentration at 14 days after calving, versus controls. These results suggest feeding OmniGen-AF helped improve health status of cows during the transition period. 
"These studies, combined with earlier university and field research, continue to demonstrate the positive benefits of a responsive immune system in dairy cattle," says Dr. Jim Chapman, dairy technology manager for Prince Agri Products, who participated in the latest studies. "Proper immune function can help maintain healthy cows year-round, which can help lead to smoother transitions, improved milk production, fewer culled cows and greater profitability."
OmniGen-AF, from nutritional supplement supplier Prince Agri Products, can be supplemented to all classes of dairy cattle as part of their regular diet. The full abstracts are available at the website of the American Dairy Science Association-American Society of Animal Science joint annual meeting.

UK turkey producer opens new hatchery

Paul Kelly and Shane Lodge, hatchery manager, work at the new facility in Danbury, England.

The opening of a new pedigree hatchery in Danbury, England this summer marks the completion of a five-year expansion for FarmGate Hatcheries turkey breeding program. FarmGate Hatcheries is part of Kelly Turkeys.
The hatchery increases the company's output of poults to almost 200,000 a week for the traditional Christmas turkey market. The hatchery is part of the £800,000 program to develop breeding capacity, including investments in pedigree farms in Ayrshire and Essex.
The pedigree hatchery was built on the site of the original commercial turkey hatchery where Derek Kelly began producing poults in the 1970s, when he took over the River Rest Hatcheries. A much larger hatchery for commercial poults was opened alongside the site 16 years ago. Over the past year, pedigree birds were hatched by Coolen in the Netherlands while the new premises were built.
Equipped with single-stage machines, the facility can hatch commercial turkey poults twice a week in the early season before being dedicated to pedigree stock during August and September.
"We've found this year that producers are a lot more cautious about growing turkeys on spec and overall there's been around a 5 percent fall in demand," said Paul Kelly, managing director of FarmGate Hatcheries. "Dumping overproduction on wholesale markets has proved an expensive exercise in many cases.
"As well as catering for the traditional United Kingdom market, the increased capacity will provide for our expanding sales in Europe and we've plans to develop the market for KellyBronze in the United States. With our pedigree farms in Scotland and Essex, and with our pedigree sister farms in East Anglia, we have a strategically placed gene pool that reduces the risk of exports being disrupted through disease outbreak and health certification is critical."
The new hatchery is equipped with four Chick Master single-stage setters with a capacity of 40,320 turkey eggs and two hatchers. Design features include trolleys end-on to the paddle fan to achieve uniform airflow through a clear pathway over the eggs, with no air resistance even when trolleys are turned.
The modular design provides sectional control and can be configured for different capacities. High-efficiency motors and cooling coils contribute to energy savings, with molded dampers and door seals making the machines airtight to ensure correct carbon dioxide levels.

Documentary on Finnish food company wins awards

"One Hundred Meaty Years," a documentary about the 100 years of food company HKScan, received two gold awards at the 18th Aurora Awards international film competition in the United States. The documentary received gold in the Corporate Image and Documentary Historical series. The members of the judging team consisted of scriptwriters, directors, producers and other film industry professionals from all over North America.
The documentary is based on old archive material. In addition to newsflashes, old film footage and TV advertisements, the documentary contains clips from advisory films that were made decades ago and from co-op store-related propaganda films. Old footage found in the company archives was converted into digital format and the originals were stored in the National Audiovisual Archive of Finland.
The 11-minute history documentary was made by Pohjantähti-Elokuva. It was directed by Pami Teirikari and produced by Pepe Teirikari. The film was edited by Jukka Eggert and Salla Tuomi. The script was written by Ahti Taponen from Pohjantähti-Elokuva and Kari Suistoranta and Marja Siltala from HKScan communications.
Teirikari said, "Making this mini-documentary on HKScan's history was an interesting journey into the past. The company was founded in an era when Finland was still part of the Russian empire, the Finnish meat industry was taking its first steps and film was something very new. Before making the film, an extensive process of tracing material took place. The documentary includes restored parts of films, some of which have not been shown since they were completed, and some which were thought to have fully disappeared. The documentary moves from old films to TV ads which, in a fun way, show what the food trends and life were like in different eras. The documentary covers 100 years of development in the meat industry and society."
The documentary describes the growth of the provincial slaughterhouse cooperative, founded by cattle farmers from South West Finland, and its expansion into its current form. Because HKScan and its main owner, LSO Cooperative, have a shared history, they also celebrate the anniversary together.
In the documentary, the different phases of HKScan and LSO are linked as a close part of Finnish history. In the 1930s, LSO built a bacon slaughterhouse in Turku. The bacon rib made by the slaughterhouse was a hit, and at its peak, millions of kilograms were exported to the UK. At the end of the decade, the company also exported beef to Central Europe. Successful exports supplemented domestic sales and also provided good financial results for the co-op.
After the war, price relations changed permanently, exports no longer paid off, and the focus shifted to the domestic market and to expanding processing operations. In the 1950s, LSO's meat manufacture production increased sixfold from the pre-war era. The first branded products from LSO and HK were already introduced in the early 1960s, but the 1970s was the actual breakthrough in brand building and in developing consumer marketing.
The largest change in principle was in 1988, when the cooperative slaughterhouse Lounais-Suomen Osuusteurastamo incorporated its operations and marketing. The next step took place nine years later when the company was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The business functions of the co-op and the company were separated from each other, and since then the task of LSO Cooperative has been to act as the company's main owner. The listing made it possible for the company, now known as HKScan, to go international, and the company began that process in 1998 in the Baltic countries.
The full documentary can be found at HKScan's website. An English version is available on YouTube.

Mexico, Italy hit with new outbreaks of avian influenza

A new outbreak of highly pathogenic H7N3 avian influenza hit Mexico on August 12, the World Organisation for Animal Health reported. The Mexican outbreak follows another outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza reported August 11 in Italy.
An estimated 360,000 birds have been affected at a layer farm in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico, but no dead or slaughtered birds have been reported. As of August 12, measures such as low-risk poultry vaccination and nationwide surveillance were being deployed.
Meanwhile, a form of highly pathogenic avian influenza was reported at a commercial hen farm in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The grower quickly notified health officials of the suspicious clinical signs that allowed the disease to be detected in a timely manner. There are 4,000 dead birds and 128,000 more that are susceptible.
A 3 kilometer protection area has been established around the farm, as well as a surveillance area of 10 kilometers. Tracking and depopulation procedures are being carried out, and other diagnostic tests are being done.

Potential governor candidate explores turning chicken litter to energy

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, an assumed 2014 candidate for governor, visited Maryland's Salisbury University in an effort to learn how to cleanly and economically convert poultry litter into energy. Gansler wants to know how to get rid of large amounts of poultry litter without harming water or air quality but still being profitable, according to news sources.
He passed out a list of possible solutions, including credit multipliers for utility companies that purchase renewable energy from Chesapeake watershed farm waste, farm renewable energy credits and long-term state support for projects that convert chicken litter to energy on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Gansler is a Democrat serving in his second term as attorney general.
Martin O'Malley, Maryland's current governor who is also a Democrat, earlier in 2013 showed his support for energy converted from poultry litter. On January 19, he announced that the state and the University of Maryland agreed to buy up to 10 megawatts of electricity from a proposed power plant in Federalsburg, Md., that uses poultry litter as its primary fuel.