Category: What’s New

Letters From Lisa – February 2021

Importance of Emerging Markets

My start with BioZyme® really came from being Bob’s wife. Both of these were very good decisions for me. I traveled with him to shows, and as a true animal lover became totally engaged, but as a business visionary who never stops thinking, I saw lots of opportunity. One of my favorite stories on this front occurred at the National Western Stock Show (NWSS). I was “working” the booth when a very nice lady stopped by to tell me how the Amaferm® Pellet had made a significant difference to her rabbit breeding operation. She was passionate about it, and I was so excited to tell Bob the story. When I did the response back was, “so how many rabbits does she have?” I excitedly shared the answer, 800. He replied, “how many Amaferm Pellets does a rabbit eat?” I replied 1 pellet. You know what came next, a mental evaluation to see if I had lost my mind.

I share this story because I am sure your initial response to this Backyard Boost® idea could be the same. So please give me a minute to explain before you immediately send me to the insane asylum.

Backyard chickens are cropping up everywhere. Nearly 1% of all U.S. households surveyed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported owning backyard fowl in 2013, and 4% more planned to start in the next five years. That’s over 13 million Americans flocking to the backyard poultry scene. A 2015 review of 150 of the most-populated U.S. cities found that nearly all (93%) allowed backyard poultry flocks.

The coronavirus pandemic is heightening interest in raising young chickens for a reliable supply of eggs, with hatcheries saying they’re seeing a flood of new customers.

“We are swamped with orders,” says Nancy Smith, owner of the Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, Missouri. “We can’t answer all the phone calls, and we are booked out several weeks on most breeds.”

“We’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been here since 1964,” Smith says, describing the spike in her business.

For families adapting to disruptions brought on by COVID-19, raising hens is seen as an answer to vexing questions about the availability of staple items at grocery stores. Starting a backyard flock could also be a rewarding project for Americans who now face the prospect of spending weeks or months at home with schools closed and workers laid off, furloughed or working remotely. Folks who are feeling cooped up, in other words, may want to start a coop of their own.

Where do I see this product line growing/going?
Through the roof.

Just one hatchery, Cackle Hatchery, supplies chicks to some 1,600 feed, farm and home stores across the country. Chickens are the hottest new backyard “pet”! It seems that every Tom, Dick and Susan wants to raise chickens in his or her backyard, whether that yard is one square foot or one hundred.

Maverick Squires Joins BioZyme® Sales Team

Maverick Squires, Dover, Oklahoma, is the new Area Sales Manager for BioZyme® Inc. As an ASM, Squires will work to develop new dealerships and build upon current dealer and customer relationships while promoting BioZyme’s numerous product lines in the state of Oklahoma. He replaces John Jeffrey, who has been promoted to Feedlot-Stocker Business Development Manager.

“I like the science behind the products. I started using them and saw how they work firsthand. The culture of the people who work at BioZyme really impressed me with their professionalism and talent. The company has good products and good people,” he said.

Squires brings a diversified background and multifaceted experiences to his new role. A graduate of Oklahoma State University, with a bachelor’s in Animal Science, he was a member of the livestock judging team. He also competed on the Butler Community College livestock judging team. He most recently worked for Animal Health International for five years, where he called on mixed-practice clinics and large-scale livestock producers. He has worked for a boar stud as well as gained other valuable experiences in the livestock industry.

“I am very excited to have Maverick join the BioZyme family! His background in the livestock industry should prove to be extremely beneficial to his own personal success as well as the success of the company. Maverick is a native Oklahoman who is a hard worker and will bring a wealth of knowledge to his customers,” said Jake Warntjes, National Sales Manager.

Squires plans to use his skills and experiences to continue to grow the business while helping customers and potential customers realize the value of the what the BioZyme products will bring to their operations, both from an economic standpoint and for their animals.

“I am really excited to work with everyone and appreciate the opportunity to be here,” he said.

He and his wife McKenzie have one son, Sterling, and will welcome a second child this spring. They raise show pigs and are anxious to become involved in his grandparents’ cow-calf operation. Squires also enjoys hunting and fishing when time allows.

For a list of BioZyme Area Sales Managers, visit https://biozymeinc.com/our-staff.

CHANGES COMING IN FEBRUARY 2021

NEW PRODUCTS

  • On February 1, BioZyme will launch a new brand, Backyard Boost™. Backyard Boost is a line of natural products that are purposefully crafted to support the health, wellbeing and productivity of poultry. Backyard Boost uses only the highest quality components and proprietary ingredients proven to support a flourishing flock. Two products will be included in the initial launch:
    • Backyard Boost Daily Essentials is a pelleted, natural protein supplement fully fortified with a prebiotic, vitamins, minerals and organic trace minerals to maximize growth and egg production and support overall flock health. Available in 2.5# and 10#.
    • Backyard Boost Defense is a liquid supplement that promotes feed and water intake during times of stress and recovery to help support digestive health and a healthy inflammatory response. Available in 16 oz.
  • Vita Charge® HydraBoost™ RTU is now available as a ready to use formula in a 2.5-gallon jug.

PRODUCT UPDATES

  • In December, the sewn in tag was changed to a printed label for all non-pelleted products.
  • On January 1, 2021, we changed from Altosid (1-fly claim) to Clarify (4-fly claim) in all of our IGR products. The registration process of the new ingredient requires product name changes to several products as well as new product numbers:
    • VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S IGR will now be 85317 VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S with Clarifly®
    • VitaFerm® HEAT® IGR will now be 10991 VitaFerm® HEAT® with Clarifly®
    • VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S CTC 3G IGR will now be 85001 VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S CTC 3G with Clarifly®
    • We have received approval and can be begin selling these products in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin. We will update the Product Center in the Online Dealer Center as we receive additional approvals.

ORDERING UPDATES

  • When submitting Customer Pickup orders, instead of defaulting to “I want it as soon as possible,” the order system now requires you to select a date that the order will be picked up. Any orders that are not picked up within 5 business days of the requested pick up date will incur additional storage fees of $10 per pallet, per day.

SHIPPING UPDATES

  • FREIGHT CLAIM REMINDER: Please remember that you MUST notate what was damaged and sign the DRIVER’S copy of the delivery receipt in order to submit a freight claim. The freight companies deny our claims when the delivery receipt is not signed, and we cannot provide a credit on denied claims.

DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS

  • On January 1, 2021, VitaFerm® Cattleman’s Blend™ CTC 3G and VitaFerm® Cattleman’s Blend™ CTC 3G IGR were discontinued due to declining sales.

NEW EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYEE CHANGES

  • John Jeffrey has moved to our Business Development Team as the Feedlot-Stocker Business Development Manager. He has been an integral part of the Superior value-added programs over the past three years and will continue to focus primarily on the stocker cattle segment to allow for more growth of the Gain Smart® and Vita Charge® product lines.
  • Maverick Squire has joined BioZyme as the new Area Sales Manager for Oklahoma.
  • Dave Gallagher will once again resume covering all of Missouri as the Area Sales Manager.
  • Blaine Rodgers has transitioned from Business Development to Sales and Outreach and is now the Western USA ASM and Show Livestock Manager.
  • Chris Kyle now covers all of Louisiana and Arkansas as the Area Sales Manager.
  • Sam Silvers now covers South Texas, West Texas and New Mexico as the Area Sales Manager.
  • Sam Norton will be supporting inventory’s efforts to continue our high standard of implementing and monitoring procedures to ensure we retain proper inventory. 
  • Caity Norton will be our Senior Manager of Environmental Health, Sanitation & Safety and continue to oversee the Housekeeping department, while taking on efforts to continue BioZyme’s commitment to safety and health.  
  • Evelyn Wyble is transitioning into the Housekeeping Manager position. 



CHANGES COMING IN MARCH 2021

NEW PRODUCTS

  • In March, BioZyme® will launch a DuraFerm® Goat Concept•Aid® Protein Tub: A breeding mineral with 16% natural protein in a cooked tub for goats specifically designed to target cycling, embryo production and conception when fed 30 days prior to kidding through breeding. Especially beneficial in A.I. and E.T. breeding programs. Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

PRODUCT CHANGES

  • Vitalize® Equine Digest More® Plus will begin shipping in a slightly different bag in late February or early March once current bag inventory is depleted. This change is due to our current bag being discontinued by the supplier.

Dealer Spotlight: Dakota Mill and Grain

Helping Others Helps Make the Sale

In a world where one size does not fit all, it is vital to provide customers with the individual information and resources they need to succeed. Paul Jons, location manager for the Dakota Mill & Grain in Murdo, South Dakota, said getting to know his customers and helping them with their challenges makes them more receptive to him. He puts forth the effort to really know his customers and understand their specific challenges.

“There’s no such thing as a cookie cutter program when it comes to feed because neighbors could live two miles apart and do things completely different. So, to be able to take the time and listen to both those guys and get them on different tracks on where they need to go, not only helps me as a dealer, it helps them succeed so they tell their friends, and their friends tell their friends,” Jons said.

Service with a smile is something Jons picked up when visiting the local feed store with his dad and grandpa as a child, and he has carried on that tradition today. However, he goes beyond that smile, to offer education and options to producers on the products that can best help them achieve their production goals. One thing he likes about being a BioZyme dealer is the wealth of information available to him to share with his customers, both from the website and the Online Dealer Center.

“I feel like I have good information to pass along to my customers. Anything I don’t know, I can go to the website and find in about 10 minutes. I also go to the Online Dealer Center all the time to fact check and get pricing,” he said.

Jons became a BioZyme dealer more than a year ago, after feeding the VitaFerm® products on his own operation for two years. As a fifth-generation dairy farmer, he was thrilled to discover a beef cattle mineral with prebiotics and chelated minerals, similar to what they had fed their dairy cows.

“I like the quality and proven performance of the product. So, when I first discovered there was a product out there that is similar to what we do with milk cows but targeted toward beef cows, I got really excited about it. Not a lot of people realize how important chelated minerals are in their breed-back program. Coming from a dairy farm, we used chelated minerals for 10 to 15 years, so being able to pass that information on to these guys Is worth a million bucks to a lot of them,” he said.

He hosted his first BioZyme producer meeting in mid-December and credits those gatherings as another great way to provide information to a group all at once from outside experts. Producer meetings also provide opportunities to learn from others and think about deeper questions that they wouldn’t think of during a trip to their feed store.

“Producers have more than ample opportunities to raise their hand and ask more serious questions that I can’t answer. Or they come into get mineral on a daily basis they are more concerned about weather, weaning calves or moving cows to a different pasture. When in a producer meeting, and we start talking about specific products, they say instead of weaning my calves this year, maybe I should try the Gain Smart® program and keep them for 45 days” Jons said.

When it comes to selling a product, Jons exemplifies care that comes full circle. He’s there to help his customers succeed before he is there to only sell them a mineral product. Here’s why.

“The reward is equal to the work you’re willing to put into it. If you don’t want to learn and read and get the knowledge behind you to be able to explain to people why this product is good for them, why this product will work for them, there’s no point in doing it. Be enthusiastic about it. People see you care, they feel that you care about them as well, and that you’re not just trying to shove a bag of mineral down their throat. I believe in this product because it is superior and is going to help you on your farm.”

Effective Easy Breeding with VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®!

Getting cows bred and keeping them bred can be a challenge, but those are the first crucial steps to herd profitability. Your customers need to consider their herds nutritional needs through every step of production in order to achieve the reproductive success they want to meet.

VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® is a line of vitamin and mineral supplements for beef cattle formulated to promote effective, easy breeding when fed 60 days pre-calving through 60 days post-breeding. Concept•Aid is a mineral specifically formulated for reproductive success that contains high levels of Vitamin E for reproductive tract repair, organic trace minerals for more stability and higher bioavailability and Amaferm®, a precision-based prebiotic that impacts intake, feed digestibility and nutrient absorption for optimum health and performance. Increased nutrient absorption and digestion leads to heavier calves that gives your customers performance that pays.

How good were your customers’ conception rates this year?

Get to Know Your Customers and Their Needs!

Be sure to understand each of your customer’s individual challenges to help them achieve reproductive success and profitability in their herd. Is their calving window longer than they would like? Too many open cows due to poor breed back? Low-quality forages available due to extreme weather patterns this past year? Find out what they are facing and recommend a VitaFerm Concept•Aid for them.

ChallengeHow to Relevantly Position VitaFerm Concept•Aid
Poor breed back rates leading to more open cows.Reduce your risk by investing in the Concept•Aid mineral program to maximize your reproductive efficiency. Leverage the power of organic trace minerals, high levels of vitamin E and selenium to promote optimized fertility and quick reproductive tract repair to ensure a faster breed back.
Constant weather challenges led to tightened budgets, and often times, mineral and supplementation programs were cut leading to thin cows, which resulted in poor conception rates and longer calving seasons.Reduce your labor and length of calving season with the help of Concept•Aid. You can trust the Amaferm® advantage to deliver more energy for reproductive success while elevated vitamin E levels lend to faster reproductive tract repair and quicker breed back to shorten your calving window, helping to maximize your efforts.
Irregular weather patterns have resulted in low-quality forages and winter pastures.Don’t let winter grazing limit your performance. Let Concept•Aid help maximize digestibility and absorption with the power of Amaferm! Choose the phosphorous level that suits your forage best to help promote milk production and higher calf weaning weights.
Soft markets and fewer calves on the ground will require higher weaning weights to differentiate and stay profitable come sale time.Allow Concept•Aid products to deliver optimal digestive health and nutrition through the power of Amaferm resulting in performance that pays. Through increased absorption and elevated levels of phosphorous, you can expect an 11% increase in calf weaning weights above the national average (Source: VitaFerm Reproductive Success Report)

Letters From Lisa – January 2021

Part of the customer experience includes product education, and it’s up to you to provide it. An educated customer is more likely to be a customer in the future. A customer desiring to use knowledge to learn about a product is entirely dependent upon how effectively knowledge is delivered to them by you, yes you.

Barring the rare customer who will dedicate significant time and effort to teaching themselves a product, most customers need guidance to help them gain confidence in using a product. Therefore, the effectiveness of the learning content provided is crucial.

Once you accept the fact that helping people get to know how to use products is a key to sales, it’s easy to see why customer education influences customer experience. Few things or products are so intuitive that they require zero instruction. All customer education efforts must remember four key points to be effective.

Accessibility

Don’t compromise access to learning your product because the content isn’t accessible enough for people without advanced computer skills. When product learning requires lots of effort and skills to access, one deprives scores of people of the ability to learn how to use the product offering. And if they can’t figure out how to use it well, they’ll simply go find another product that does provide the learning they desire.

Engagement

This is the part of the customer education process that will either cause excitement or indifference. Focused, concise bits of content that breaks the learning down into smaller pieces, makes the content much easier to follow so learners are more easily able to engage. This also helps you as you’re equally able to assess what works and what needs improvement in your learning content. People rarely stick around if they’re not engaged in what they’re learning. They’re already interested in your product (why they’re trying to learn), now it’s your responsibility to teach them in a manner that attracts their attention, engages them and delivers useful instruction in an easily digestible manner.

Care

Even with accessibility and engagement, the recipe for customer education isn’t complete. You must also deliver content that is unintimidating. Every bit of care you put into your learning content and customer education is telling your customers how much you care about their success.

Fun

Learning should be fun. Even if the learners are lacking motivation, lessons fused with laughter can be highly effective. Not only are they entertaining, but humor has actually been seen to boost retention significantly! By sandwiching humor between instruction and repetition, one can learn incredibly fast while still having a laugh. You have an obligation to your customers to be a good teacher.

You have an obligation to your own company’s success to be a good teacher. Because it’s not only about putting together a few presentations so people can get the gist of your products. It needs to be your goal to build learning content that works so well that your customers are excited about how good they are at using your products. When people are good at something, they talk about it. That team that buys your products and is excited about how great they are at using it will become product evangelists.

CHANGES COMING IN JANUARY 2021

NEW PRODUCTS

  • Vita Charge® HydraBoost™ RTU is now available as a ready to use formula in a 2.5 gallon jug.

PRODUCT UPDATES

  • In December, the sewn in tag was changed to a printed label for all non-pelleted products.
  • On January 1, 2021 we will be changing from Altosid (1-fly claim) to Clarify (4-fly claim) in all of our IGR products. The registration process of the new ingredient requires product name changes to several products:
    • VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S IGR will now be VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S with Clarifly®
    • VitaFerm® HEAT® IGR will now be VitaFerm® HEAT® with Clarifly®
    • VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S CTC 3G IGR will now be VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S CTC 3G with Clarifly®
    • To prepare for this transition, we will not be manufacturing IGR products in December 2020 or January 2021 but will have product on the floor on a first come, first served basis.

ORDERING UPDATES

  • Starting January 1, 2021, when creating an order that will be a customer pickup, instead of defaulting to “I want it as soon as possible,” the order system will now require you to select a date that you are going to pick up the order. Any orders that are not picked up within 5 days may incur additional handling fees.

SHIPPING UPDATES

  • FREIGHT CLAIM REMINDER: Please remember that you MUST notate what was damaged and sign the delivery receipt in order to submit a freight claim. The freight companies deny our claims when the delivery receipt is not signed, and we cannot provide a credit on denied claims.

DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS

  • On January 1, 2021, VitaFerm® Cattleman’s Blend™ CTC 3G and VitaFerm® Cattleman’s Blend™ CTC 3G IGR will be discontinued due to declining sales.

NEW EMPLOYEES

  • Mark Holmen has joined BioZyme as the Area Sales Manager for Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota.



CHANGES COMING IN FEBRUARY 2021

PRODUCT UPDATE

  • On February 1, BioZyme will launch a new brand, Backyard Boost®. Backyard Boost is a line of natural products that are purposefully crafted to support the health, wellbeing and productivity of poultry. Backyard Boost uses only the highest quality components and proprietary ingredients proven to support a flourishing flock. Two products will be included in the initial launch:
    • Backyard Boost Daily Essentials is a pelleted, natural protein supplement fully fortified with a prebiotic, vitamins, minerals and organic trace minerals to maximize growth and egg production and support overall flock health.
    • Backyard Boost Defense is a liquid supplement that promotes feed and water intake during times of stress and recovery to help support digestive health and a healthy inflammatory response.
    • Please watch your email for more information and an upcoming webinar on the specifics of these two great new products.

CHANGES COMING IN MAY 2021

DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS

  • On May 1, 2021, VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 10 will be discontinued due to declining sales.

Dealer Spotlight: Roy Umbarger and Sons

Focus on Quality, Family Priorities for Show Feed Manufacturer

Jackson Umbarger is the fourth generation to own and work at Umbarger Show Feeds in central Indiana. Although this family-owned-and-operated feed business has remained in the family for more than 80 years, he said it isn’t just blood that is considered family. The employees, the dealers and the customers are all considered part of the Umbarger family.

“We strive to have that feeling of family. We really do care about your kids and their show livestock. Our company has a family feel and our employee retention rate is high, with a lot of our people having been here 15 plus years. That’s how its always been, and that’s how we like it,” Jackson said.

Jackson oversees the daily operation of the feed company that places its sole focus on show feed manufacturing. A new state-of the-art mill was completed in November to better ensure a consistent, accurate product. All Umbarger feed is manufactured on-site and shipped to its dealer network on a regular basis to deliver accurate, fresh product. For dealers within a two-day driving range, the company uses its own dedicated truck line to deliver to customers. They work efficiently in their dealers’ favor since they are so specialized with low seasonal minimum orders, like this time of year for example. They will also mix products within a pallet.

One of the customer services that Jackson takes great pride in is partnering with like-minded high-quality companies with a show focus whose products they can also distribute to Umbarger dealers. That is one of the reasons their partnership works so well with BioZyme®.

“The BioZyme product line compliments ours. It matches what we believe in. We also put Amaferm® in a lot of our feeds,” he said. Umbarger Show Feeds also distributes Weaver show supplies to its dealers at no additional freight fee – another service to assist its dealers. As Jackson said, if an exhibitor is looking for a big item like a showbox or fitting chute, and his or her local Umbarger dealer can get that item for that person, that person is more likely to build loyalty to that feed dealer instead of taking his or her supply and feed business to a competitor.

One area that Jackson said he would like to focus more on is marketing; however, providing apparel that is trendy and recognizes winners has been effective over time. When he assumed a leadership role in 2008, the company awarded about 40 winners’ jackets that were personalized with the exhibitor name, show name and the Umbarger logo. In 2020, more than 1,500 jackets were awarded, showing the growth of the company and creating even more walking billboards.

Family. Quality. Customer service. For a company whose logo is “we feed champions,” it’s no wonder that they also provide “care that comes full circle.” A partnership like that is just one reason BioZyme values a customer like Roy Umbarger & Sons.