June 15, 2016

The fifth annual Iowa Swine Day on June 30 at Iowa State University will feature experts on pork industry topics including antibiotic use, water quality, risk management, sustainability, gene editing and trends in facility management.
Iowa State, the Iowa Pork Industry Center and the Iowa Pork Producers Association present Iowa Swine Day, which begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 4:35 p.m. with all sessions in the Scheman Building on the Iowa State campus at Ames. Participants will include owner-operators, sow and grow-out supervisors, managers of production companies, representatives from the feed, genetics, equipment and pharmaceutical sectors, researchers and students.

STALLS vs. PENS: At Iowa Swine Day, Noel Williams of Iowa Select Farms will share his experience in converting from individual gestation stalls to gestation pens for sows. Based on demand from pork customers for pen gestation, Iowa Select is in the process of converting existing herds from stalls to pens.
Timely topics, interesting speakers on swine industry issues
Morning sessions tackle issues such as antibiotic resistance, ground water quality, industry sustainability and future economic prospects. Afternoon sessions address practical issues such as restrictions on the use of antibiotics in feed, new genetic technologies and a producer’s experience with the adoption of group housing of sows.
One concurrent session will provide updates on research at Iowa State, including manure handling and using fat in the diet effectively and economically. Speakers include:
Sandra Vijn, director of food sustainability at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C., who will address the issue of how to feed people while conserving natural resources.
Dr. Michael Agerley, a veterinarian with SwineVet in Denmark, who will discuss the ways in which the reduction of antimicrobial use in Denmark has affected his clients’ farms and their productivity.
Dr. Cameron Schmitt of Pipestone System of Independence, and Wayne Cast of Nutriquest of Mason City, will provide a veterinarian’s and a nutritionist’s view of getting pigs off to a solid start at weaning when respiratory disease is an issue.
Dr. Noel Williams, chief operation officer with Iowa Select Farms in Iowa Falls, will discuss open-pen gestation with drop feeding, including design implementation and management practices.
Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m. Lunch and refreshments are included in the registration fee, which is $60 until June 17, and then increases to $80. Students can register at no cost until June 17. To register and view the full program, topics, speakers and presentations visit www.aep.iastate.edu/iowaswineday/registration.html. Following the program on June 30 a barbecue will be held featuring Darren Warth of Smokey D’s of Des Moines. He’s ranked in the top 10 of competitive BBQers in the United States.
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