The annual mid-February series of Iowa Pork Regional Conferences has been a long-standing partnership of Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa State University Extension and the Iowa Pork Industry Center. Their shared goal of bringing research and education to the field continues with this year's program, topics and speakers. There are five sessions, one each day Feb. 17 to 21, at different locations, all starting at 1 p.m.

ISU Extension specialists will offer PQA Plus training each morning from 9 a.m. to noon at that day’s regional conference site. These training sessions are sponsored by IPPA and are free for those who preregister; conference walk-in cost is $5 per person at the door. See the series brochure.

Eliminating ractopamine from rations

Locke Karriker, director of the Swine Medicine Education Center, will discuss “Best Practices for Ractopamine Elimination.” This month, all three of the largest pork processors in the U.S. will no longer buy pigs raised with ractopamine. While Smithfield made that decision several years ago, JBS and Tyson announced this past fall that they will implement February stop-buying dates. Karriker will talk about ways to eliminate that feed ingredient, while striving to increase carcass muscle mass and production efficiency.

IPIC’s associate director, Chris Rademacher, will present the latest on African swine fever. With more than 18 months of living with the knowledge that ASF is actively moving in pig populations in Asia, the U.S. pork industry has been making plans to act if the disease reaches the U.S. or even North America. Rademacher will provide an update on the movement of the virus and the preparedness activities and planning for Iowa producers.

Production, health and marketing

Lee Schulz, ISU Extension livestock economist, will present “Production, Health, Trade and Tariffs."  He'll follow the discussion of the first two speakers and talk about how those topics will impact the markets, along with how current trade and tariff issues impact the prices you’ll see.

John Patience, ISU professor of animal science, will talk on "Mycotoxins: Impact of Multi-toxin Contamination." The 2019 corn crop had to battle many weather challenges to make it through harvest. Those plant challenges also can be interpreted as pig performance challenges as Iowa pork producers should keep an eye on issues that a lower-quality corn crop may offer.

The dates and locations of the meetings follow:

Preregistration deadline is two business days prior to the location's meeting date. Materials are guaranteed for all who are preregistered. To preregister for any location or for more information, contact the Iowa Pork Producers Association at 800-372-7675 or [email protected]. You also can preregister online at bit.ly/IPPA2020Regional.

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