Hey everybody, welcome to another installment of A Week in Geekdom and today we're going to be taking a look at all that over there. My anime collection for 2019. Alright everybody, welcome to a very long video. Get yourself a drink, get yourself a good snack because we're going to be talking about all the anime in my collection and there's a lot. I don't have the biggest collection whatsoever but I do have a lot of titles that are very awesome and near and dear to my heart and this was suggested by a number of people. The last one I did was last year and I'm very excited to do another one this year because who doesn't like to talk about their favorite collection, right? If you're watching this for the very first time and you don't know what this channel is about I basically talk about anime, manga, comics, and just geeky stuff in general when I get the chance and I'm very happy that you could be here. If you want me to review a specific anime that you see here, Blu-ray and DVD because I do have a lot of DVDs, old school fan right here, old school collector, let me know in the comment section down below. So let's get this thing started. Okay, first one here is Attack on Titan Season 1 Part 1. I absolutely love this series. Basically these two volumes complete the first season of season 2 right here. Here we have season 3 Part 1. Next up one of the most interesting world building exercises in anime I think and it is the index and rail gun universe. Here we have index season 1, index season 2, certain magical index, the movie, the miracle of Endymia, certain scientific rail gun season 1, and a certain scientific rail gun S basically the second season so I cannot wait for the rest to be collected in Blu-ray form as well. A silent voice, the movie, Barakamon, The Essentials Edition, Black Lagoon, Roberta's Blit Trail. I only have one. This is the first set for Bleach. I had the DVDs but I'm slowly going to upgrade these. Hopefully they do end up releasing everything but I do have the first set. Boruto the movie, we'll get to his dad in a couple minutes. The Boy and the Beast, Klannad and Klannad Afterstory also known as the Tier Jerker anime. It's Code Geass, one of my all-time top 10 shows. We have Code Geass R2, second season, and of course Akito the Exiled. A classic, actually two classics, here we have Cowboy Bebop and Death Note. Death Parade, gonna grab this whole stack. Digimon Adventure Tri, the whole thing. I could have just gotten the complete movie collection thing. It was just one disc or one case I should say but I wanted to pick it up as it was coming out. So all six of them are here. I think this was my first Aniplex purchase and I was so happy to get this for cheap because you know about Aniplex, it is Dura Dada, one of my favorite shows. Actually I'm gonna be saying that a lot but you guys know what you mean. You love all your shows but sometimes you have a favorite amongst all of them, right? So yeah, this is one of my all-time favorites, Dura Dada, the complete first season. Here we have Dura Dada X2, I only have the first volume. This is something that I want to collect eventually but they are pricey because there are single editions unlike the first season's box set. This is going to take a little bit to collect but I do have the first one right here. Eden of the East, I do have the movies which I'll show you in a bit. One of my all-time favorite shows ever, this is Eureka 7 on Blu-ray. I also double-dipped and I have this on DVD as well. Here is the not-so-great sequel, Eureka 7 AO and the first of the high-evolution movies. Sort of recap with alternate takes on the Eureka 7 world, the first one. Next up I do not own the Evangelion DVDs but I do have the Rebuild movies, this one's signed by Spike Spencer. Here is the second one and the third one. I'm really excited that we finally have the fourth one coming out in 2020. Next up, the Fate series which is pretty interesting. I had the DVD versions for this one, the original Fate's Day Night series and I gave those away to a friend so I could upgrade to this. So I did, cool. I also wanted to collect the Unlimited Blade Works and the Fate Zero stuff, the UFO table stuff and when I finally got ready to get them because they are expensive, Boxhead 1 for Unlimited Blade Works went out of stock and suddenly went out of print just as quickly so I was only able to grab the second Boxhead which is pretty freaking fantastic and you're probably wondering what happened to that first one. I do have it here but on DVD. So yeah, unfortunately half on DVD and the other half on Blu-ray. I don't really mind but I do have some peeps that get annoyed by that so just thought I should mention it for a quick laugh. Next up we got Heaven's Feel, the first of the three movies. Flying Witch and Food Wars Season 1 and Season 2 or Second Plate. Full Madagamist Brotherhood, this is set 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. These are terribly out of print. Funimation let the license expire I guess and now Aniplex has them but I'm very happy to own the series in this format because I love these sets. Here we have Full Madagamist, the Sacred Star of Milos, Ghost in the Shell, the 25th Anniversary Edition, Salt Case, Ghost in the Shell, Arise, and Arise Part 2. We're actually Part 1 and 2 and this is Part 3 and 4. So there you go. Ghost in the Shell, the new movie which is a sequel to the Arise material. Golden Kamui, Season 1, Haikyuu, Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 is coming up. It's pretty exciting. Ombleray and Season 4 on TV. This is Helsing, the ultimate series, the ultimate OVAs. This was the Chipmort box. At the time we didn't know if we were going to get volumes 9 and 10 made, you know, the actual movies but eventually, you know, they made them so the Chipmort, unfortunately, only fits the first 8 movies and you had to get this one later on. This is Volume 9 and 10, a movie 9 and 10, I should say. High School of the Dead, High School of the Dead, Drifters OVA, Himoto Umaru-chan, the Complete Edition, our collection. Hozuki's Cool Headedness, Season 1. I still need to get Season 2 and 3. Next up, my all-time favorite, Shonen Jump, anime, manga, whatever you want to call it. It's still an amazing piece of art, Hunter x Hunter. And yeah, I am going to show every volume because why the hell not? That's Volume 2. Here we have Volume 3, Volume 4. I really wish I could have shown the entirety of the series but unfortunately, it's not solicited so we only have up to Volume 6 right here. It should be one more and then we're done. I do have the movies here, Phantom Rogue, and what was this called again? The Last Mission. Pretty good. Phantom Rogue, not so great. It looks fantastic but not a great story. This was a ton of fun. I enjoy watching this over this. But the series itself, I love it to death. Next up, Hiyoka, Part 1, and Hiyoka, Part 2. Infinite Stratus. By the way, this was the very first anime blu-ray I ever got. It was on sale or for cheap and I looked at it.  Why not? Turns out I didn't really love it that much but here it is, Infinite Stratus. My first anime blu-ray out of everything. Next up, a classic that I'm currently watching. This is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Set 1, Set 2, and of course, Set 3. I don't have Set 4 as of this video because there's no rush. We still need another one for Part 4 and then two more sets for Part 5. So we're going to be collecting Jojo's for a while. This little gem, I am so happy that this is getting reprinted so I can finally own it. This is Kill the Kill. I got this last year from Aniplex, the limited edition, Volume 1 and Volume 4 because this is all they had left. And I said, you know what, they were going for sale for cheap and I got them. At least I'll have something. But this year we got the announcement that for Christmas we are getting the Kill the Kill, complete reprinted box set, all in one box, all that stuff. Really excited about that. Over here we got Love, Chinevio, and other delusions. And the same title, Take On Me, the sequel. And the third legend of Fujikomine, this is such a shame that it's an out of print title. I'd love this series so much. And all the Lupin stuff is in canon to each other but you sort of like separate them via whether it's Lupin's jacket or the tone of the anime. In the case of this series, it's a lot more grim and noir heavy. And if you want to follow that style, then you need to get Gigan's Gravestone and you need to get Goemon's Blood Spray. Lupin the third, part four, the Italian adventure. Now this is an oddity because I thought we were past this but apparently if you want to collect part four, this only has the English dub and the opening and closing songs were removed due to licensing issues. So what they did was they re-released this Blu-ray box with the sub only and the original opening and closing later on.  Unless I find it for dirt cheap, I really don't see myself getting this again. It's still a fun series. I love Lupin and I hope to collect the whole series, the whole franchise one day because I really do need to pick up the OVAs and the older series and stuff. But I am mostly excited about part five. I really want to get part five on Blu-ray whenever that's released because it looks pretty spectacular in my opinion. Made in Abyss, Makia movie. And yes, this is an anime, Mass Effect Paragon Lost based on the video game franchise, one of my favorite video game franchises. Michigo and Hachin, a huge Watanabe fan, so I am trying to get all his works on Blu-ray. Ms. Hokusai, one of my favorite animated movies ever. I love this so much. Ms. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Mob Psycho 100, season one. Mary Edd, Colors, Phantom World. This is the Essentials Edition. Just have the cover flipped. My Hero Academia season one, season two part one, season two part two, season three part one, season three part two, the two heroes movie. Only two one-piece movies, one-piece film Z and one-piece Strong World. I was going to try and collect one-piece, but it's too much content with just collecting the manga instead. One Punch Man, season one. Here we have Overlord. I like that it says Complete Series because they didn't know they were going to get a season two, but here's season two or part two and part three of Overlord. Pat Labor or Pat Lever, however you want to say it. The Mobile Police Force. The Complete Television Series, the OVAs and the movies all in one awesome package. Prison School, Red Line, the movie. Here is Re Zero and here's part two for Re Zero. Saga of Tanya the Evil. The original Genie Unreleased for Samurai Shampoo Blu-ray. Now Funimation has this in their catalog, so it's sort of a rare item if you will. Not pricey, just a little bit rare. Space Dandy, one of my favorite space anime ever. Space Dandy, the first half and this is the second half. Sengoku Basara, Safe Edition. Shiki, Safe Edition.  Space Brothers, a whole lot of Space Brothers. This was insane. When this was coming out, this was pretty expensive. I was able to snag these bad boys. I think it was a Black Friday or Christmas Sentai sale for like five bucks each. So I wasn't going to pass that up. Plus Space Doggy right there. Love it. Spice and Wolf, Steins Gate. Here we have the movie. What's this called? Load Region of Deja Vu. I don't have the other series. I will get that eventually. The Ancient Magus's Bride. Complete. Everything inside right there. The Girl Hold Up Through Time. The Melancholy of Haruhizu Sumiya, seasons one and two. And The Disappearance of Haruhizu Sumiya. The movie. Do you guys remember when this came out on Blu-ray? Not on Blu-ray. When this came out on DVD. And then Bandai went out of business. So every single, I think it was Bandai. Every single release went out of print. And super hard to find. I was so ticked off because I couldn't get it. I only had this because Funimation got the license for it again. But they didn't have the movie. So eventually they did. So that was awesome. I was able to complete the series. Here we have the Squid Girl. Complete series with the OVA's. Wolf Children. And here it is. Your name, the weird deluxe edition. This next section is in no particular order. Just two massive collections. And a random assortment of miscellaneous Blu-rays. Here we have the Studio Ghibli collection. Starting with Nozaka. Castle in the Sky. Grave for the Fireflies. My neighbor Totoro. Kiki's Delivery Service. Princess Mononoke. Whisper of the Heart. Here we have Pompoko. Ocean Waves. Porco Rosso. Only yesterday. Ponyo. Tales from Earthsea. Housemoving Castle. The Cat Returns. Spirited Away. My neighbor, the Yamadas. Seeker World of Arieti. From up on Poppy Hill. The Wind Rises. When Marnie was there and the tale of Princess Kaguya. So that's all the Ghibli stuff. And here is something really badass that I love. And I think every mech fan should try to assemble this at some point. That's just my honest opinion. It is the Universal Century Gundam. Yeah, I love Gundam. I have watched a lot of them. A lot of the series. But originally I thought I wanted to collect all the Gundam Blu-rays. But when I started looking at them, especially with some of the series that aren't so great, I'm like, do I really want that when I can use that for something else? I can use that space for something else. I don't know. I decided instead to just collect the Universal Century. And I do have other Gundam shows that I will show you later in the DVD section that I do want to upgrade to Blu-ray because they're my favorites. My favorite non-UC stuff. But for the most part, yeah, Blu-ray wise, I'm just collecting whatever is out there for the Universal Century. So we begin our journey with the Movie Trilogy. I don't have the series, but I do have the Movie Trilogy Blu-ray. Zeta Gundam Part 1 and 2. There's Part 2 right there. Double Zeta Part 1 and Double Zeta Part 2. Here we have Sharr's Counter Attack. There we go. This thing, 0080, which is getting a Blu-ray release. Thank goodness for that. I'm so excited because this was the only thing in here that's DVD. Gundam F91. Gundam 0083. 08th MS Team. Gundam Unicorn. We have here Gundam The Origin. And that was the first four. This is Episode 5 and 6 of the OVA series. And the Thunderbolt adaptation. Thunder Sky and Bandit Flower. Why couldn't we have gotten black cases for this? Who knows? Miscellaneous Blu-rays. Okay. Here we have Darling Into Franks, which I know gets a lot of heat, but I dug it, whatever. This isn't supposed to be on this pile, but this is XAMD, the complete series DVD. It hasn't been released on Blu-ray that I know of. Here we have Toradora. It's on a regular DVD case, but it's the combo. You get the Blu-ray, you get both. You get the Blu-ray and the DVD inside. So, there you go. It counts. So, Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Toradora. Again, this wasn't supposed to be on this pile, but still, one of my all-time favorite series that Annie Plex for some reason did not care to release on Blu-ray. Maybe it was a licensing thing, or maybe... No, it's not a licensing issue because you are releasing it. This is Silver Spoon Season 1 and Silver Spoon Season 2. I really don't understand why they did not release it on Blu-ray when Europe has some really cool Blu-ray sets for this show. But this... I love this set so much, and it's just a damn shame that we don't have it on Blu-ray. And then continuing the DVDs, we have Akira the Movie. I do not have the Blu-ray because I'm waiting for the recently announced 4K edition that's going to come out in 2020. So, yeah, Akira or Akira, however you want to say it. Here we have Big Wind-Up, Black Lagoon Steelbook. We got a couple of Bleach Seasons and Movies. Sorry for the glare. That's Case Closed. The Viridian sets, if anybody remembers that. We have the Count of Monte Cristo, Gan Kotsu. Darker than Black. The Blu-ray sets as well. Digimon the First Season. I really do need to get Seasons at least Season 2 and 3. The rest I really don't care for. The Anangio, Ego Proxy. The original Full Metal Alchemist with Conqueror of Shambala. And the OVA Collection. Oh, there's a Blu-ray set. That's the OVA Collection for Brotherhood. Ghost in the Shell. I never got the second movie on Blu-ray for some reason. And Stand Alone Complex. It's my favorite Ghost in the Shell thing ever. But I do believe that the Blu-rays are faulty and they're not like the best versions of that series. So, I don't know. Correct me if I'm wrong on that. But from what I hear, it's not the best version that you can get. So, I'd rather stick with these releases, the Bandai anime legends. Then over here, yeah. Naruto, I know. Kids on the Slope. Last Exile. Le Chevalier de On. I should get that anime save edition. You know, it saves you a lot of space. But these sets are just gorgeous, in my opinion. Some of my favorite singles. They shine and they look fantastic. Moribito, Mushishi. Please teacher or RuneGuy teacher. Reader Die, the OVA. You got Scryde Complete Collection. Waiting in the Summer. Yu-yu Hakusho. They're all banged up because I bought them dirt cheap used. Because, you know, the condition was terrible. But I do want to get those commemorative steel books, eventually. Gurren Lagann, the DVD version. I do not have the Blu-rays on that. I'm going to spear you going through each volume. But I do have Naruto, you know, the entire Naruto series. One of my favorite anime of all time. So, from the uncut box at one, you can see the top there. To the end of the fillers. To the movies. And then Shippuden. All of Shippuden. All the way up to 38. Couple movies here, the last. Volume 38 being the final Naruto DVD. And good lord. I hope they don't put them out on Blu-ray. Because I will probably double dip again. Over here we have the Dragon Ball Z Kai section. Which is pretty funky looking. But that first edition right there, that season one. Then the rest are missing their slipcases. But they're all in there. I'm missing the boost up. I don't know if I want to get the Blu-rays. And then upgrade everything. Or just, you know, get the DVD versions. Because I doubt there's that much of a difference anyways. But you know, there's that. Broly. I have the original Broly movie. That's the only non-canon film from Dragon Ball that I like. Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. I do not have Super yet. Because, I don't know, I'm burned out from all the Dragon Ball stuff. I really do not care. I do want to get the Broly movie though. Because Broly is my favorite Dragon Ball villain. So I probably get that. Couple random Sayuki volumes. Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust on DVD. Trigun, Batlands Rumble. Backwind, Roni Kenshin with Samurai X. Couple Beast Wars. Couple random things like Pokemon DVD. Those aren't the elves. Roni Kenshin, the Kyoto Saga. Witchblade. There we go. Monster. Eden of the East. The King of Eden and Paradise Lost. Eureka 7 on DVD. The first Eureka 7 movie. Random Yasha DVD and Blood Plus Complete. And if you're wondering, over here. There's a random Taku Viva. But over here, that's the first season of Roni Kenshin. This is Romeo and Juliet. Samurai 7. Wolf's Rain. Speed Graffer. Summer Wars. Yes, this is a bootleg because it's terribly out of print. So whatever. Hopefully I do end up upgrading when the Blu-rays are accessible for Tokyo Godfathers and Millennium Actress, but Perfect Blue just came out with a Blu-ray that I really need to get. Paprika as well. Here we have Godaner, the thin pack edition with the whole series. Turn A Gundam. And since we're talking about Gundam, this is one of the series that I do want to upgrade. The Gundam Seed Stuff, which I adore so much. I know it's not everybody's favorite, but I love Gundam Seed Destiny and Gundam Seed. So there's another shot of Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny and of course Gundam 00. The two main Gundam series that I want to upgrade. Aside from that, I'll just keep collecting the Universal Century stuff on Blu-ray when it's released. So there you have it, folks. That was a lot of Blu-rays and DVDs that I just mentioned. I do have some other randoms that I did not show. They're in a closet somewhere, tucked away, but that was a good 99.9% of the collection. I don't have a lot compared to some of those wonderful collections that you see here on this platform on YouTube, but I am excited with what I have. I delayed the collection as long as possible because, one, I wanted it to feature all of Hunter Hunter, but that couldn't happen. We don't know when that will end being released, I mean. Also, I would have wanted to have upgraded a bunch of the DVD series, but I couldn't do that. But eventually I'll do. It's not something that's on the priority list. I'm just focusing on getting all the series that I watched that I like and all the new stuff that is coming out and whatnot, like the Fate series. And I'm really excited about Fate Zero, which I did not talk about. I couldn't get that because those were out of print, those two boxes, so they're releasing it in one new reprinted box. And I'm really excited about that. I can't wait to get my hands on that. So yeah, leave a comment down below what you thought of my anime collection. If you're new to the channel, thank you again for watching. I really, really freaking appreciate you tuning in and watching me go through all of the titles that you saw. Really awesome stuff that I enjoy watching. Anime is a passion and hobby. Been collecting since, I'm going to say, 2002, 2001. Something like that. So yeah, it is a passion of mine to watch anime. And yeah. As always guys, thank you for subscribing, commenting, liking and being a part of this channel. Thank you so very much. Follow me on your favorite social media platform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that fun stuff. Thank you once again. I have got to go. I've got more anime to watch, more stuff to review, and I will catch all of you on our next episode.


I think early weaning is one tool in the toolbox to be used in several applications if you want to market your cows early or in a drought situation especially that we're in this year I think early weaning is absolutely an option to be on the table and you talk about early weaning everyone's interpretation of early is very broad you know you can go from we've done it as young as 30 days all the way up to 120 and you know ideally probably at 90 to 100 days is probably quote-unquote early weaning but it works just fine well the benefits of for early weaning is depending on the situation for your pasture or time of year for us we're we also farm as well so our time frame really gets busy we have a lot of row crops so our fall once we start harvesting tends to go late into November December sometimes on on corn harvest so we'd like to get the calves weaned early they'd be in the lot and we don't have to worry about getting them from pasture so for us our early weaning is before row crops start and get them off also gives a chance for that cow to gain back you know getting good condition for over the winter so we are seem like we get double benefit for that. I think another advantage is once you pull that calf off that cow her nutritional requirements get cut in half and on if you're in a situation drought or otherwise and feedstuffs is tough it is beneficial to get that calf off that cow but that cow on a maintenance diet instead of a lactation diet and you'd be amazed at the cost difference. And what part of that too is if you have them weaned, growing, and you can pull that trigger any time to send them to market so if the market takes off you are able to truck and you know get them back and if they wanted to be... Hi everybody I'm Jana Block I'm a livestock system specialist with North Dakota State University Extension and I'm here today with Brett Henderson who is a producer in the Headinger North Dakota area. Brett we're here today to talk about early weaning as part of a drought management strategy this pasture we're in looks pretty good right now but there's others around that have been hit a little bit harder by the drought and you've implemented early weaning as a management strategy on your operation regardless of drought status so can you tell us a little bit about why you do that and kind of the experience you've had over the years? At some point 40 years ago we started weaning in October and then about 20-25 years ago we pushed our calving date later we used to calve in March now it's predominantly April-May and we weaned the first week of October and I guess for us it fits what we want to do we do background them at this point for 90 days after that weaning but it it gets the cows in better condition for us going into fall after paging and weaning getting ready for winter and it takes some stress off pastures. So you're weaning those calves right around five months some of them might be a little bit earlier? Yeah I would be the youngest the youngest of them would be about 135 days the oldest calves on our cows are probably pushing 180-185 yeah that's that's probably the spread. Okay so in a drought year have you ever moved that up even further? We have in 2017 and I guess this year is yet to be seen but it's a possibility we weaned everything mid-September the pastures were heading the wrong direction and and so we weaned them all then for our operation the cost benefit of early weaning is just less less requirements from in a pasture from that mature cow is we're trying to get their body condition back up for the winter months it's it's tough to put on condition in the middle of winter so that for us is the biggest thing just to get them get them weaned and get them get them out of here let the cows get back to getting ready for winter. To me you want to make sure and give them plenty of space to eat comfortably early weaned calves or weaned calves generally circle in a pen so you try to put that feeder and water in some place where they're going to stumble across it literally stumble across it just to say oh this is what I'm supposed to be doing here and and that seems to help a lot. We always put in a lift hub so that would be something that they would always seem to find whether they found the feedbunk or the creek feeder at any time they would always seem to go to that lift hub so we do usually a mineral tub or you can do a stress tub in there something to give them a little bit of energy but get that licking action would create saliva get their keep their stomach working keep the buffering in their stomach going so then they'd be thirsty and then they would go to feed instead of getting too shrunked down so they wouldn't know what to be looking for or even hungry. And I truly believe that salvation production increases appetite so anytime you can stimulate appetite on these young calves they've got a rumen but it's not necessarily functional so we've got to get that rumen functioning and going and with that being said you know there's several opportunities several products out there for for a ration for these early weaned calves um we personally like a complete feed and there are several out there but I like it when that calf takes a bite of something everything that calf needs is in that is in that product and you know it's probably going to cost you over a dollar a day to do that but I'll tell you what you know when we're talking about early weaning to me it's it's not so much what it costs it's we want a healthy functioning rumen calf moving forward to put on feed I think that is so critical I think sometimes cost enters into it and I don't think it should be you know the the complete feed program is probably only going to be 10 days in 10 days on that window of that calf that's the most critical 10 days of that calf's life and I don't think we can forget that and sometimes I think that's overlooked on price so sometimes and I personally have done it if you try to skimp on costs through those 10 days it will cost you more money in the end so just keep that in mind I'm not promoting any one product but I just think a complete feed with a lick tub access to clean water is very critical once you get past that 10 days it seems like that calf is is is eating and ready to move on to any kind of diet the other reason I like that starter program is even if you're crib fed in those calves doesn't mean every calf is eating and we don't know that you know and I've learned that probably the hard way so when we get them into a lot confinement area and we can see each calf in there we know what those calves are eating or not so it's so critical to get every calf eating not just the top end when we wait for the first seven seven to ten maybe even 14 days it's a long stem grass hay nothing grain based for us nothing without falafel if we can find it and that's just free choice and then the salt block and we do use some lick tubs and it's an easy to get to source of water so the younger smaller calves can can get to it at some point it's not too high for them and that's for the first few weeks that's that is what they they give with us so some of the things that that we have found to be beneficial is just to make sure that they have ample access to water so some of those fountains are set for much taller calf than what these are so you know we've gone to putting mineral tubs below the drain hole so you pull the plug on that water fill that tub several times a day it just seems like once that calf figures out there's water in that tub all of a sudden they lift their head a little bit more and they realize that there's water up above um tire tanks even on a dry lot situation you know whether in a drought situation or not I think access to clean water it goes back to animal science at ndsu it's it's uh not set enough we need access to clean water so oftentimes you got to put fill in there and make sure that that calf can get access to that water if it comes up um I just think that's so critical we bunk feed we do have bunks um after they're done after we finish up and they've stopped balling and you know get on a round of shots into them we do use a you know uh early calf creep pellet and try to work with them getting a bunk ready bunk broke probably one of the challenges uh worth early weaning on the health side of it is is dust ammonia you know and we could fight dust ammonia in the drought year even you know I think sometimes on some of these pasture areas you know where the grass gets short there's dust and those calves are picking it up but for sure in a dry lot situation you know we fought dust ammonia before and and uh our vets know it and when we work closer with them when we try to be proactive on that um but it's absolutely something you have to watch and in all fairness I've run into dust ammonia and fall weaning calves too so you know sometimes we don't want to wean when the weather's going to be bad and and so I think some of the same health issues that you experienced during a normal weaning period you're going to experience with the early weaning period that's the other thing you fight sometimes whether you wean early or later in the fall oftentimes it could get hot in that lot and those calves aren't used to that black dirt and that heat so if we can get some kind of grass area that's secure so you don't have jail breaks I think that's very important even if not spreading straw on you know in the lodge or something just cut that black out and get it to have something so it's not bouncing the heat of the sun off of it help you know lower that temperature just get those calves a little bit more comfortable disadvantages you've got to make time to do it you've got to be set up to do it I am not talking to anybody out of doing it you just you just got to go do it get in contact with NDSU extension veterinarian come up with a plan that's probably the biggest thing is is develop a plan you want to plan on herd health you want to plan on nutrition you want to plan on a facility and and the more eyes on that the better I mean everyone can bring something we like to talk about teams you know as diverse as we are we have a lot of team members and and the more eyes the better you don't want to overlook something on here and it's an awesome tool in the toolbox but it's definitely worth looking into just to look at all the variables that are out there this gives us an opportunity to look at something that probably we haven't looked at and so maybe not look at it as a negative but as a positive we are we always have opportunities around us and maybe we don't take advantage of them and this is is now a new opportunity facing us so look at it and explore the options that are out there and just the different markets we hear some people are trying to find grass you know further away that's an option look at so early weaning that's an option just to be open to explore different ideas that might help your operation just develop a plan get your team members together think through all options don't close the door on any one option not any one plan will work for every beef producer out there it just won't but little bits and pieces of everyone's plan will absolutely incorporate into everyone's plan early weaning is is a is an excellent tool especially in drought years and it's worth your consideration with your team members when you have these early wean calves what is your strategy as far as marketing do you go ahead and feed them out to what you would consider a normal weaning weight and then sell them or are you retaining those calves or what does it kind of change depending on the year it changes we've we've done a little of well we've done a fair amount of different things over the years we've you know we've weaned them we've fed them for a while and then finished them at a feedlot and now we wean them background them and try to shoot for that first week of January sale so roughly 90 days if you wean them early you're looking at a hundred five hundred and ten days the replacement heifers the red and black females will keep the whole time you know and then try to get them back in our herd so I guess for us it's it's less about targeted way more about time just shooting for that early January sale and at times if we're worried about it and we have like a a steer or open replacement heifer something that's not lactating we'll we'll put them in the pen with young calves it's it's kind of a you know an adult or you know parent figure for them to latch on to because once it's uh once your yard is quiet and they've done balling then everything spooks calves unfortunately so it's good to have something in there I think that they can automatically gravitate to in times like that um because you don't you don't want them to spook and injure themselves so for somebody that hasn't early weaned in the past but might be thinking about it this year what would be your advice to them as far as how to prepare or things to think about well I think I think you'd you want to make sure you'd have the feed stuffs lined up um I mean we've we found it incredibly important with long stem grass versus alfalfa I mean that's it's alfalfa is fairly common and it's common in a mix but if you can find just just grass hay it it works way better um you less chance of fighting blow especially in young calves whose rumen is still working on developing and everybody kind of approaches a different some guys sell off the cow and some guys sell calves that have been weaned and what we found I think the weaned calf is a good product to sell kind of everybody has their approaches and in their you know what they can and can't do but it's not it's not something people should be afraid of if you're not used to it because it's not a bad process I mean you're going to fight a little sickness varying on conditions and even if your conditions are perfect you're going to fight some of that and you want to have the feed around to do it but it's not it's not something that people should shy away from you know just because they're not they're not used to doing it it's it's not bad you're going to need help because you're going to run into stuff that you don't understand and and you know I'm not a cattle nutritionist I can guess and I can use what people have done for the last 50 plus years but you know I mean at some point you get to evolve beyond that um and same with the health same with uh you know you put your cattle on a health program that starts with shots either at birth or branding and you know we do two rounds of false shots but that's not everybody but everybody seems to have an approach or a a way they handle vaccinations and that's that's a good way to do it I mean you want the professionals there to help you we're here with Pete van bedef from van bedef dairy and he's going to talk a little bit about how they handle young calves and and work their way towards early weaning as we know dairy operations thrive on on utilizing early weaning strategies a big thing for us was having a starter that entices calves to eat it so in the beginning we started with a palleted starter similar to this and the calves didn't really like the taste so they would stay away from it longer and we've switched to a starter that's got a cornflake plus it's got some molasses in it so that's really entices them more to start eating that and once they start eating it they'll on their own start to increase that daily and then as their milk as we cut back their milk they'll increase their starter intake even more at that point so a bit of a textured feed of it yeah that seemed to make a big difference for us yeah once they get to this stage here three three to four months old they they go to a palleted it's still starter pellet really and then with some hay and then from that point they'll transition to a tmr and then we top dress with that same starter pellet this is an 18 percent I believe and the starter that we start with is also an 18 percent it just has some corn flakes in it and the molasses is the biggest it's a textured feed like you said up until about four months old when they switch to the tmr it's all they can eat we put as much out there as they will eat there they don't go they don't won't have empty buckets in the hutches and the the bunks never empty here the only other thing we've touched on a little bit is fresh water make sure that they have clean water available to them all the time that's a big thing too when they're not getting milk anymore they need to drink water and if they don't have fresh water they're not going to drink it so we we provide clean water twice a day for our calves in the hutches and we're cleaning water bowls on a regular basis


My name is Ram Aguka and of course this is a Woman Crush Wednesday on this fine Wednesday morning the 6th of July 2022. We are coming to you live from the broadcasting house here in Nairobi, Kenya. We are also streaming live through our website and that is www.kbco.co.ke4-y254. It is a pleasure if you are just joining us, you are just in time for the next conversation of the day and this is a strength of a woman. Let's talk about how women are doing, what women are doing to break that glass ceiling and how they are standing out in this era and this age and time and of course to help us in this conversation I am with a very interesting person joining us today. This is none other than Christine Mussoli. Now Christine is a CEO of Kapu Africa joining us today. How are you feeling today? Doing well. Thank you so much for coming. I appreciate your presence and of course I also invite you all to join us in this particular conversation from wherever you are. The hashtag as always is why in the morning take me at Ram Aguka and the official station handle which is at Y254. My colleague at Valentine One Boy and of course let's kickstart this conversation and of course let me start with Kapu Africa. What is Kapu Africa all about Christine and even as you tell us more about that, tell us a bit more about what you do. So Kapu Africa is an NGO here in Kenya, it's a registered NGO and our mission is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Malnutrition being a very big issue in this country. We say statistics show that over 25%, around 25% of young children are affected by malnutrition and stunting. So us as an organization we want to be able to come in and partner with other organizations to see how we can alleviate malnutrition but also hunger in many parts of this country. Yes. So your target is mostly the drought prone areas? Our target is the drought prone areas but on top of that in terms of malnutrition we target areas that are impoverished. So we even work in Nairobi, we work in areas in Kibira, in Madari because and we partner as an organization what we do we partner with other organizations so we partner with a school in the informal settlements, informal settlements of Kenya and then we see how those children can be able to get nutritious food because other than just hunger in some informal settlements when the children go to school the reason why some of those schools were started because sometimes that is the only meal they get that day so it's an enticement for them to come to school because they are able to get food and when they get food they stay in school. We say without good nutrition children are not able to learn well. So in terms of there is something called stunting, stunting means it affects your physical development so a child is much smaller than they are supposed to be but it also before even you see the physical development it affects their brain development. So it's so sad because sometimes some children you know it's not because they're not smart you know we talk about in places like the lake areas you know where they have fish you know they eat fish, fish is very good for the brain omega 3 and all that and so when children don't have good nutrition it's not because they're not smart it's because they reach a ceiling. It's just the food. Yes it's just the food. The brain does not get the nutrition it needs and the body does not get the nutrition it needs then it affects their brain development so then the child doesn't perform well in school so yes. And it's sad that at this age and time would you say that we ought to have crossed the border we ought to have done away with some of these challenges that you're facing in terms of malnutrition in the country? It would be wonderful if we had but we say we haven't gotten there yet and so us as an NGO then we are saying what can we do to help out so we haven't gotten there yet. It would be wonderful if we have us being a lower middle income country it would be wonderful if we have but nutrition even education about nutrition is very important people to realize the importance of good food healthy nutritious food protein you know iron you know vitamin A vitamin D all those things that are important so it's if we should have gotten there but there's a long way to go but there are many organizations that are trying to see what they can do to help. Now what inspired you to be at the forefront at this kind of a job from the beginning? So what inspired me is first just the encouragement that women can do it men can do it and women can do it you know when we say we can do it not we also we also want the boy child to do well but also the girl child to do well and just then confidence that I can do it the men can do it too but I can do it too and seeing how actually what motivated me the most is because I care. You know you see the need that's out there the need is great and you know when you're asked to step up and you're told can you do it can we as an organization be able to do start something in Kenya with our partners to be able to help the needy in Kenya those who need it the most in terms of food and malnutrition alleviating hunger and then just to say you know what I can do it I've been given the skills that are needed to be able to work in the position that I am in but you know we say women sometimes they have this thing where they when men a position is available the men are more confident to go and the women say can I really do it but you know just as a child I was raised up to be told you can do it the men can do it but you can do it too the boys can do it but you're able to. And I'm glad that you can say you can do it because you are raised to you know be a go-getter. You have a master's from Texas? Yes I have a master's from University of Texas at Darlington so my master's actually was in biology and I studied viruses and this is real virus. Real virus yes I studied viruses this did stuff on microbiology but you know when I came back here came back to Kenya I think for me education and I think for many people education is about getting the skills then you're able to apply them in different ways you know so I'm getting the skills and then education is about then you're able to apply them and I was able to apply that and even the work that we do you know it will it deals a lot with nutrition and the sciences so so you're able to balance between the knowledge acquired yes over time and and and brought it to to Kapu yes now the name Kapu sounds I was looking at your logo is it connected to a basket yes so Kikapu is a small basket so Kapu is a big basket okay so our vision is to be the big basket of Africa of course we start with Kenya being the chosen country but we say it's a big basket our vision is to be the big basket of Africa so what we do as an organization is we do we have two terms of how we do things one of the ways we do things is we go to companies we go to manufacturers we go to producers and we ask them can they give us things to help the people in need can they give us food I'll tell you a story when in a real story but sometimes when things are about to expire manufacturers things are about to expire and maybe a supermarket says we cannot take them not I'm not saying it to expire the next day but I'm saying maybe it has six months to expire it's still good food edible food and allowed by the government to be used but maybe the supermarket will say we want something in the store for a longer time we as an organization we go and say give us give it to us so we can help those in need registered organizations we work with registers organizations we go on the ground to check and see what they're doing and so we can we say please do not waste it sometimes companies manufacturers they incinerate products just because you know they'll be like well maybe we have too much product and so they incinerate meaning they burn it up you know in a you know incineration so us as an organization even to say let's say they have short expiry something short expiry that is still good for human consumption and allowed by the government and we say please do not dispose of it we'll come and get it at no cost to the donor but on top of that we tell the manufacturer your come see where it's going you know so they are able to but at no cost to them that we say that there be no waste as a country but mostly they the incineration is is very common that they do it happens it happens yes it happens it happens it happens yes and and and how do you manage to convince them you know so so that it doesn't appear to be like yet another business venture because someone may say you know what how can you trust that it will reach the target that you are talking about you know because yes money has been spent it is something that has been acquired through a particular procurement procedure so first of all the terms of donation that are signed but on top of that the company it's an open door policy proceed so that they're able to come see where the food is going we don't us as an organization when we work with a donor we tell them they are it's very open for them to see whether where the food is going come see you know not the you give it to us then we say okay bye they are welcome to come see at any time you move you move around with them yes yes we move around with them but also on top of that their terms of donation that are signed even with the donor recipient that says the food cannot be sold the food cannot be traded it cannot be battered you know that the food will be used the right way so we as an organization we investigate even how the food is being used but we also invite the company to investigate how the food is it's very very open door policy so there are no secrets no hidden things and so for how is the reception on the ground I know you've managed to reach out to the needy I know those who are suffering in one way or the other you know tell us the feel on the ground once you get there the reception you get the mood you you're quiet and of course it must have some effect on the other person doesn't it absolutely you know when you go to a children's home you know maybe we're giving me Siri or we're giving milk by a company yeah you know or tender muscle when we take the food to a children's home and you have a five-year-old come and tell you it is such a blessing so to me the best part of my job is actually on the ground to be able to be there you interact with the people who are in need and actually to be able for the recipients to be able to get the donations and see the impact because a lot of times you know it's not just only receiving food we say as much as we focus on food we focus on other things that can be used for their livelihood so if a company would give us my body we'll take it to a children's home that needs my body to for their shelter but on top of that just the impact that it has because you know someone would say with food we gave you food today the next day you're hungry you know someone will say what's the impact of food I gave you food today you're hungry the next day right the food of course will help your body on that day but on top of that the organizations that we partner with are doing great jobs so if if the children are receiving an education and we are able to help an organization get that organization get food you see and education will change the child's life because at the end of the day you are also looking at both short-term and the long-term effect on these children yes yes yes so we're looking at the long-term and the the short-term and the long-term because education will change a child's life you know so that at the end of the day there'll be a productive citizen of this country yeah and and what are some of the most touching moments you've had while going to the ground and and of course this could be either before you do the donation or after or during the donation process or are some of those touching moments that you remember that I've made you know have that aha moment you know yeah you know like we've gone to give a donation like in Kilipe area Kilipe County and when the residents we first of all do this old old old grandmother you know old and you know we gave her food and it was in Agunia it was a tender tendermasis bail which we'll talk about later we gave her the bail and we're like how you gonna carry it she said we're way I'm doing it one and John you look one and just sat here to cool and keep out of quibbe back when she done that after and yeah you know just it's so touching that's in Kilipe yes in Kilipe County that someone receives food and they're like you don't worry we are happy we got food and how we'll be able to carry it you don't worry we will be able to carry it but just the difference that it makes you know we've had comments where people have said each a kule lili saidi amwili because of good nutrition how someone can say a kule lili saidi amwili sana you know so I'm just to talk about this our food there's a company called soyafric limited yeah that makes unimix porridge and many other products so soyafric also helps we partner with them actually even as part of the CSR to be able to make some food called tendermasis what is what is tendermasis all about so tendermasis I have something here a packet so tendermasis is a prepackaged food because as much as sometimes we ask for maize we ask for beans and we have to source for that it's a prepackaged food let me let me see that so all right I'm seeing distributed by Kapoor Africa yes tendermasis all right so is it something that's already cooked or how is it in terms of the food so tendermasis when you are working with you know for things called disaster relief disaster relief is where you go and these droughts these hunger we wanted a prepackaged food that could just cook where you don't go sourcing for maize then you go source for beans so it has rice it's a raw product it has rice it has lentils it has fractured cowpeas it has vitamins and minerals and it has salt so it's 34% protein per serving wow can see that 34% protein per serving so if when we take this this is what we take for disaster for disaster relief it's also used in the children's homes so when it's a prepackaged meal that already has all the nutrients because again our organization doesn't focus on your food but also malnutrition so we wanted a product we formulated a product that was we packed in as much nutrients as possible so that now if for this now this food that I was talking about these are these are someone else a man a non-man who said he chakula imeni saidi asana and they said nika madawas you're down it's just but then it's good nutrition you know how good nutrition really helps you there's a way it it it brings some some relief yes in somebody to eat this kind of food absolutely so like organizations like symbol of hope cancer organizations use this a lot today they've used this product and they say it has really helped in terms of someone was down I hate cancer patient was really down and then when they had good nutrition as again I said just good nutrition they were able to come back up of course with also the cancer treatments and I'm glad that you've managed also to look at the governmental procedures this I'm seeing the cabs mark of quality absolutely lazima so so Africa wouldn't make sure they wouldn't produce a product that is not kept approved it had to be kept approved but even the product is used by HIV patients you know the product you know it really helps again good nutrition if a HIV patient is able to feed well then they able to it really helps their their body on top of the other medication that they take you know so just nutrition along with all those other things that I needed if it's a patient with all with their treatment it helps with just nutrition or just palliative care and but it's very important so we just talk about how it makes a difference we had during our in events that we had you know to hear a cancer patient who's a cancer patient but also a HIV patient talking about how the food has really helped and they say look at me I'm healthy I'm strong I know that must be very inspiring yes yes something else there is it still from a tender can this this yes this is for or this is a different thing yes yes also in this is in terms of finances so yes yeah because doing all these things doesn't come cheaply yes it does not come cheaply that's what you say that's where we're here KBC and we're so thankful that you invited us to come thank you for coming thank you for coming so so you receive donations yes I'm looking at sponsorship which has reminded me you had an event on 3rd of July 3rd of June 3rd of June yes 3rd of June and and you are trying to get resources from people yes that's a bit more about what that event was all about so Kapua Africa had a fundraising event to raise funds to purchase this food Kapua this food tender masses because we actually have to purchase the food even though so I Africa really helps us a lot in terms of partnership and seeing how in their CSR they can put in as much as possible but we were raising funds to purchase the food so this food like this amount of this bag sorry that is this bag feeds six people this one bag this one bag feed six people and people will be surprised because in a food it swells up you know it swells up with the amount of water that's needed to cook it it swells up because if we use is almost 1.9 liters of water to cook you know initially I thought you had said that it was already cooked and its package is there so no no it's raw it's raw food so once you start cooking this is the way it can feed six people so if you had ten of those yes yes so then we say we just we we did on the 3rd of June we did a fundraiser but actually the fundraising is just continuing you know to raise awareness that even as we reach out to our people you know we say let our people we want our people to participate in it in reaching out to our people they need is great and we say they can donate to us we asked that they can donate to us but the wonderful thing about our organization other than just donating you know some organizations you donate and then we say donate but also come and see where the food is going yes we say come and see where the food is going how is the reception on that day the turnout and the number of people that that came up was it as expected it we wanted it to be more I can say we wanted it to be more but it was it was a good amount it was a good amount we had a fundraiser for about a hundred and maybe 80 people 70 people showed up but we say we want to raise awareness because as much as we're an organization sometimes you have to ask people say who are you again you know so when we come here we say um this is who we are this is what we do and we say we ask we're asking for support support and of course guys check them out Kapu Africa are you found online and on social media yes so that we people know who and Kapu Africa is all about because they have something called Operation Jazz a Kapu fundraising dinner yes that took place on 3rd of June yes so how come people find you and locate you on social media online so on social media our sponsor organization the people that really help us at Midwest Food Bank is an organization in the US that helps us yeah so if on the website it will be www.kapuafrica.midwestfoodbank.org they will post it on the on the on social media but also we can be reached at 0798 6899 59 one more time 0798 6899 59 and if someone is able to send a donation they can send to the M.P.S.A. pay bill 4089 759 touch a soul man touch a soul touch a soul touch somebody's heart you know because people are dying of hunger here say that pay bill again the pay bill number is 4089 759 one more time 4089 759 4089 759 and of course the account number is your name yes Kapu yes the account number is our for its Kapu Africa okay yes yes all right and of course this this is a good thing I love the fact that you came up with this and you managed to do something so far but now Christine let me get from you what are some of the challenges you faced in this project ever since you you you know you started venturing in this particular area with Kapu Africa and going out to the needy no touching lives there some of the challenges you faced even on the ground one of the challenges we faced is that people don't know who we are so then maybe when you go and you take to try to tell who you are and you're asking for donations part of the challenge as Kenya is that resources sometimes people don't use resources well you know we are these people are given a donation we had a story of a donor who at first when went to the donor they received a donation so they don't give a donation and some a man was said he was helping a children's home and at the corner they found him selling what they had given him and just at the corner of the street they found him selling what they had given them so those are the challenges we face and that is why we say for us it's challenging but yes so I so you went gave the donation to person X no not us not us our donor was telling us a story not us or not you yes so I don't know was telling a story so they said why should we trust you and we built a relationship with them since 2015 they have been donating to us since 2015 okay yes so but then at first you know they didn't know who we are so you know when you're trying to introduce yourself they're like how can I trust you but the good thing we say it's an open door thing come and see where it goes you know come and see not even when we go with you you can even even after we've given you can go back and see where did they go and take the food it's very open and even with the people we donate to it's a very strict way that it's done with terms of donation if if an organization would be found that they were selling something that an organization maybe a children's home that we partner with we would cut the relationship off yeah it's very strict and since 2015 we have not had an incident of anybody saying that you or even a report or even even when we investigate the food has not been sold oh so you're saying that we have such kind of possibilities where you you can receive something from Madonna only for they don't have to come and find that you know the person was received these things is not selling yes for other organizations but not for us not cap we think that's a challenge because people need to know more about what you do yes once you've created that awareness and people know about you you know that perception and suspicion is eradicated yes so it's not a closed door policy when it's open it's very good and then just challenges of yeah awareness who are you you know that's why we're here just saying who are you what you do never had a view so then when they know about us and they've seen us you know we would love to engage more with them but we say just as an organization even seeing us as Kenyans being able to help our people you know not waiting for the people in the West to be able to help these their resources here that's the amazing thing their resources here it's just that we hope the resources can be channeled in the right way but their resources here to help and we say please don't destroy your product you know the challenges of please don't destroy your product let's have a conversation find out more about what we do can we come and meet you if it's a manufacturer an exporter a donor you know can we be able but we need support so can we be able to engage and see how we can help our people any upcoming projects that we will need to look out for from couple right now we just have the fundraiser we will look we will update KBC when we have the next so since we just had it last month but the fundraising for this is ongoing it did not end on third no it did not end on still continues because the need is great the children's homes are still there you know so the need is still there and the need is great right now you hear this drought in Kenya these drought in some parts some parts some parts it's raining but some parts you know you hear where they'll say maybe we haven't had rain in maybe they have rain once or twice a year you know as much as there are parts that are green in Kenya there are parts where you'll hear someone will say you know maybe train twice at that year have you ever been discriminated in terms of gender yes I have yes I have because you interact with people you meet people you know you try to pitch in your idea and of course there must be those instances where there have been some form of biasness and discrimination towards you or couple I have I have experienced it and maybe it's not outright let me put it that way something it's not outright someone who just feel maybe that's why is a woman doing this you know you know maybe someone may feel this is a man's job or the challenges you may face where maybe you see there's more pushback if it's in a project or something but you just push on so yeah so sometimes they say discrimination may not be outright you know sometimes it's more covert it's just like they say tribalism it may not be outright but it just somehow it's pipping yes it's but then you just you just continue to push on and be confident and yeah sometimes maybe yeah just you push on I love I love what you're doing Christine thank you thank you so much for coming keep doing what you're doing and I would like to give you time to have a final word and talk to Kenyans or watching you today what was your parting shot and you can look at that camera there as we finish this conversation and wrap it up with a very nice knot and a cherry at the top okay I say we can make a difference you can make a difference no matter how small it is whether you have no money someone can come and volunteer with us come and see come and be a part of it with no money we still need volunteers to be able to come as we go to these organizations so we say come but for those who are able to I'm talking to manufacturers producers exporters we say please be able to help us please support us we would we really need your help we would love to engage with you again I said our number is<PHONE_NUMBER><PHONE_NUMBER> our impassability is 4089759 4089759 engage with us but let's make a difference in our society and the beauty about us if someone gives a donation we don't tell them now move away you don't need to know what happened to it we say come come be a part of it like for companies manufacturers produces CSR for companies you know for even you know they can come with us be let the employees be a part of it you know create a program where the employees can be a part of the CSR as we go out to the children's home you see where the company the money that was given what the difference is being that's being made so we say let's see how we can engage and please support us support is what we need and we can do together thank you that is Christine Christine Mutsoli CEO of Kapu Africa Christian thank you so much for coming thank you keep doing what you're doing and and I know at the end of the day their lives being changed and people will remember the the mark that you've left in their lives thank you thank you God bless you so much thank you and of course it's a good thing you know it's all about being human be human caring and loving somebody loving your neighbor just as you love yourself and of course it has been the strength of a woman conversation right on why in the morning powerful woman there are you inspired are you touched what are you doing as a woman to bring change to the society and to change this world to break that glass ceiling and to live a mark what is your strength my name is Ram Maguko it has been a pleasure being with you with that business to the end of this conversation but remember we still have more coming up your way right on why in the morning