Brian Nesvik confirmed as FWS director

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) congratulate Brian Nesvik on being confirmed as the next director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Aug. 1.

“While the Trump administration is making huge progress reforming the Endangered Species Act and alleviating other regulatory burdens, ranchers need a permanent FWS director, and this afternoon, the Senate confirmed a qualified, experienced leader. Nesvik has led western engagement on complex wildlife and natural resource issues, and we expect he will continue to be a decisive leader in Washington,” says Kaitlynn Glover, NCBA executive director of natural resources and PLC executive director.

John Deere launches enhanced digital self-repair tool

On July 31, John Deere announced the launch and availability of a new digital tool designed to enhance how equipment owners use, maintain, diagnose, repair and protect their equipment. Operations Center™ PRO Service delivers new, industry-leading support capabilities for both connected and non-connected machines across John Deere’s agriculture, turf, construction and forestry equipment portfolio. New and enhanced features include the ability to install software when replacing electronic components or controllers, also known as reprogramming.

Operations Center PRO Service was developed with customers at the center and adds to the suite of existing digital support tools available to John Deere equipment owners today, including the John Deere Operations Center, Equipment Mobile, and Shop.Deere.com — providing customers even more control over how they use, maintain, diagnose, repair and protect their machines. The increased functionality of Operations Center PRO Service also replaces John Deere Customer Service Advisor™, which will be phased out over the next year.

“Importantly, our development of these tools reaffirms John Deere’s support of customer self-repair,” says Denver Caldwell, vice president of aftermarket and customer support. “We view continuously enhancing self-repair as consistent with our mission to ensure John Deere customers have the best machine ownership experience possible.”

Local service providers can also use Operations Center PRO Service. With the owner’s permission, independent providers can gain access to diagnostic and repair information to support the equipment owner’s needs.

“Our message to our customers is clear,” continued Caldwell. “Whether you want the support of your professionally trained and trusted John Deere dealer, to work with another local service provider, or to fix your machine yourself, we’ve created additional capabilities for you to choose the option that best fits your needs.”

Operations Center PRO Service is based on foundational capabilities that are available at no additional cost upon purchase of John Deere equipment through Operations Center Service Overview and Equipment Mobile, including:

• operator’s manuals
• active and stored diagnostic trouble codes
• secure software updates
• JDLink^TM information
• warranty information

The new service delivers digital repair content filtered by year and model number, providing users with additional relevant machine information to help efficiently and accurately troubleshoot, diagnose and repair their equipment.

The service capabilities of Operations Center PRO Service are available through an annual license starting at just $195 USD per machine for customers. Specific features now brought together in a single customer interface include:

• machine health insights and diagnostic trouble codes
• PIN-specific machine content, including manuals
• software reprogramming for John Deere controllers
• diagnostic readings
• diagnostic recordings
• interactive diagnostic tests
• calibrations

Equipment owners can access the service through the John Deere Operations Center. Once connected to the platform, owners will add their equipment into their account using the machine’s serial number. An electronic data link may be required for more advanced features, including software reprogramming. Certain interactive tests, calibrations and reprogramming limitations will exist at initial release. John Deere will deliver additional capabilities in future updates. See JohnDeere.com/PROService for further details.

NCBA endorses legislation to support livestock haulers

On July 28 the NCBA urged support for the Hauling Exemptions for Livestock Protection (HELP) Act introduced by Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO). This legislation supports livestock haulers by protecting drivers from burdensome hours of service (HOS) and electronic logging device (ELD) mandates.

“When you are hauling cattle, you are dealing with livestock that must be protected from the elements and cannot be easily unloaded until you get to your destination. Livestock haulers need flexibility to complete their trips free from government mandates,” says NCBA Policy Division Chair Skye Krebs, an Oregon rancher who hauls livestock and holds a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). “During the COVID-19 pandemic, haulers and ranchers like me were granted additional flexibility on hours of service and electronic logging devices. In that time, we proved that we could safely transport our livestock and also support the overall supply chain.”

The HELP Act codifies HOS and ELD exemptions that were issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for about two years during the pandemic. Since then, America’s livestock haulers have been subject to HOS rules again. This legislation would reinstate permanent exemptions, providing the flexibility necessary to safely transport livestock.

In late July, FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced they are withdrawing a proposed rule to mandate speed limiters in trucks. This announcement was welcome news for livestock haulers, but HOS and ELD mandates continue to pose a threat to drivers.

Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 17, No. 8-A