News Desk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Generic or name-brand herbicides:
Is there a difference?
Find out at TSCRA's
School for Successful Ranching
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 14, 2008—Participants in
Texas and
Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association's 2008
School For Successful Ranching will have the opportunity to join the
great debate and decide for themselves what's in a name when it comes to
generic versus name-brand herbicides.
Dr. Wayne
Hanselka, professor of ecosystem science and management at Texas A&M
University and range specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service,
will lead a session on herbicides designed and labeled for rangeland use
at the school, to be held March 14-15 at the American Bank Center in
Corpus Christi.
Hanselka is
quick to point out that, whether good or bad, a generic product is not
necessarily a carbon copy of the original.
"Just because
a [new] chemical has the same active ingredient as one we've had a long
time, doesn't mean it’s the same herbicide," he says.
"First of all," Hanselka explains, "the
active ingredients are naturally important because that’s what works on
the plant. But, how it’s put together and what the carriers are also
contributes to the total package.
"It's a synergistic effect. It's not just
the active ingredients. So, just because we've had a chemical that has
been tried and true for years and a new one comes out with the exact
concentration of active ingredients in it, that doesn't mean it is the
same thing.
"That raises
questions on efficacy."
Knowing there is no one-size-fits-all
approach when it comes to rangeland herbicides, Hanselka will still
focus on addressing as many issues as possible at the School for
Successful Ranching.
"We'll take
the various herbicides, particularly by mode of action—what I mean by
that is we'll start with the soil-applied herbicides, then go through
what's available, what their strong points are and just tell people the
differences between, say, [what] Arsenal® will do and Velpar® will do.
"Then we'll
go into the basal or cut-stump efforts and talk about them. Then we'll
talk about the foliar and the various combinations that we can use.
We'll also have a section on weed control—the herbicides available
there—and then we'll end up with a little section on adjuvants and
carriers... The blue dyes, the mentholated seed oil, etc."
"[We hope to]
clear up some of the confusion on names and formulations so that they
can make better decisions on what to invest in," he says.
This year marks TSCRA's 14th
annual School for Successful Ranching, a two-day program featuring three
educational tracks—animal management, the business of ranching and
range management. TSCRA has brought in experts from the Texas
AgriLife Extension Service, King Ranch
Institute for Ranch Management, Welder Wildlife Foundation, NRCS and
Oklahoma State University to lead the sessions.
Registration is $60 for TSCRA members or
$100 for nonmembers and includes two hot meals and free admittance to
the TSCRA Trade Show, featuring more than 150 exhibitors. Space is
limited, so pre-registration is encouraged. For additional details
including a complete schedule, or to register, visit
www.texascattleraisers.org.
The School for Successful Ranching is held
in conjunction with the 2008 TSCRA Annual Convention and Trade Show,
Brand the Future.
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association is a 130-year-old trade organization whose 15,000 members
manage approximately 3.7 million cattle on 96.5 million acres of range
and pasture land, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma. TSCRA provides law
enforcement services, livestock inspection, legislative and regulatory
advocacy and education opportunities for its members.
TSCRA–05–2008
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