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The NIRS
Forage and Feed Testing Consortium (NIRSC)
Our Mission:
The NIRS Forage and Feed Testing Consortium Leads the Industry
in unifying knowledge, accuracy, and application of NIRS technology.
Our Vision:
The NIRS
Forage and Feed Testing Consortium is the leading global association to
increase the accuracy and availability of NIRS by supporting its needs
in agriculture.
We strive to support
excellence if forage and feed testing for the farmer. We support our members in promoting
knowledge and accuracy of NIR by being a central point for uniformity,
standardization, and good practices.
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 Board Members for
2008-2009
President
Doug Harland
AgSource
Cooperative Services
ph:715-758-2178
dharland@agsource.com
Vice President
Chuck Kahl
Mycogen Seeds/Dow AgroSciences
ph:317-337-3533
cjkahl@dow.com
Treasurer
Steve Fransen
Washington State
University
Extension- Prosser
ph:509-786-9266
fransen@wsu.edu
Jerry Dekan
Dairyland
Laboratories, Inc.
ph:608-323-2123
jdekan@dairylandlabs.com
Tim Hoerner
Agri Analysis,
Inc.
ph:717-656-9326
timhoerner@comcast.net
Neal Martin (Ex Officio)
US Dairy Forage
Research Center
ph:608-890-0050
Neal.Martin@ars.usda.gov
David Sevenich
Pioneer, HiBred
DuPont
Agriculture & Nutrition
ph:515-334-6421
david.sevenich@pioneer.com
Glenn Shewmaker
University of
Idaho
Forage Research
ph:208-736-3608
gshew@uidaho.edu
Dan Undersander (Ex Officio)
University of Wisconsin-
Agronomy
ph:608-263-5070
djunders@wisc.edu
Dennis Walker
Samual Roberts Noble Foundation
ph: 580-224-6770
dwwalker@noble.org
Paul Williams
Forage Genetics
ph: 515-292-2454
pwilliams@foragegenetics.com
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For more information contact:
Patty Laskowski
NIRS Consortium
pmlaskowski@mwt.net
ph:608-489-3960
fax: 608-489-3961
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Greetings!
We had a
great conference in San Antonio this year. We were down in numbers by about 10
to 15 people but we still had some of the best presentations and
discussions ever. We will be
posting all of the presentations on the NIRSC website so watch for
those! If you couldn’t make
the conference we missed you and the whole group understands the
budget cuts that are going all around right now. But we are lucky to have so many
dedicated people who are willing to participate in our consortium
whether you could come to the conference in person or not. Watch soon for more information on
committees if you have agreed to serve on one. We look forward to the next year!
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Review of
February 18th & 19th Annual Conference
Presentations We started the conference
with several research or theoretical presentations. These talks were all directly
related to NIRS and consortium members because of the connections to
reference chemistry or how we connect to the end user. We also had a large block of time
dedicated to reviewing our own consortium. The Board of Directors began a
process in 2007 of Strategic Planning so that we may look at the
current status and the future vision and direction of our
consortium. Discussions
focusing on the internal work of our committees were
highlighted. Committees showed
how specific points produced within the strategic planning process
were listed, assigned to particular committees, and addressed. Some of the points are long-term
goals such as increasing visibility and education for NIR. The strategic planning process will
also continue so that our consortium will strive to meet new demands
and innovations of the industry we serve.
Workshop Sessions Even
though some members may have seen basic or “NIRS 101” discussions
before, we always have new discussion and questions in the workshop
sessions. Because NIRS is
always relating to some new parameter or product, we are always
adjusting to the demands. Of
particular interest this year was instrumentation. Some of our members have already
taken the leap to new platforms and NIRSC is working to support all
of our members.
Setting San Antonio was a nice break from
winter for most of the attendees.
Quite a few attendees also took some time either Wednesday
night or after the conference to see the sites such as the Alamo or
San Antonio’s River Walk. We
had good feedback on the location of the city as well as the hotel
facility. Thanks to all who
attended and we hope you enjoyed the conference!
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Starch in Corn Silage and Sugar in
Grasses Equations Available!
Starch in Corn Silage This equation for starch in fermented corn silage was
released in December of 2007.
It is available at no charge for all eligible NIRSC members
until the next update of Commercial Equations, when an annual fee
will be determined. All
eligible NIRSC members are those outlined in our membership
categories to receive equations.
You can still receive this equation to try out and see how it
fits into your lab’s needs.
Sugar in Grasses
This equation for sugars in grasses was released in October of
2008. This equation is
available to all eligible NIRSC members at no charge. We expect and hope to continue to provide
this equation at no charge.
Through collaborative work with the Forage & Range
Research Laboratory, USDA, ARS in Logan, Utah, we have this equation
available to us and look forward to continuing work with this USDA
lab. Parameters and statistics
are available for review on our website under NIRS
Consortium Product Equation Packages. Further information on how the
equation was developed was presented by Neal Martin during the
conference last week and will be available for review under the Proceedings,
Meetings, Trainings, and Conferences link on the NIRSC website.
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NIRSC Membership List –
UPDATED for 2009
VISIT
the NIRSC Directors and
Members page to see our current members and how you
may contact them. Also
available here is contact information for NIRSC personnel.
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NIRSC Able to Accept Credit Cards
for All Invoices
The NIRS Consortium is able to accept credit
cards (VISA and MasterCard) for all of your payments. You may use a credit card to pay
for annual dues, equation fees, annual conference registration,
etc. Typically we will run the
credit card information through the NIRSC’s bank, but for our
conference last week we used a second-party service. All you need to know is that the
capability is available to you.
The invoices or forms sent to you will have instructions on
how to submit credit card information.
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Upcoming
Events
Getting More From Forages Conference
July 29 & 30, 2009 at
the Monona Terrace | Madison,
WI.
Go to the US
Dairy Forage Research Center website to find out more. This conference follows the XVth International
Silage Conference, which is being held in Madison, Wisconsin in 2009 and
is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the U.S. Dairy
Forage Research Center of the USDA, Agricultural Research Service.
The
Getting More From Forages Conference will be held at the same
location as the ISC. Just
click on the Dairy Center link to learn more.
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NIRSC Business Office | E17995 Western Rd,
Hillsboro, WI 54634
608-489-3960
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