Getting piggy with it

May 18, 2023

Iowa Swine Day 2023 will be held on June 29.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image via Iowa State University

The 2023 Iowa Swine Day program will focus on what it does best: provide widely regarded speakers who will share information on topics vital to today's pork producers.

The 12th annual event will be held on Thursday, June 29, 2023, at the Scheman Building on the Iowa State University campus in Ames.

Registration for the event begins at 7:30 AM, and the official program starts at 8:30 AM.

Registration costs US$65, although students may attend at no charge as long as they register before the deadline of midnight, June 22. No walk-in registrations will be accepted.

There are four plenary session speakers:

Eric Potterat of the Los Angels Dodgers baseball team will explain key performance optimization factors of high-performing individuals and teams;
Joe Kerns from Partners for Production Agriculture will help audience members understand the carbon market and how to apply it to their businesses;
Banks Baker, with PIC, will describe genetic improvements in a sustainable food system;
Jack Bobo of The Nature Conservancy will explore whether animal agriculture can save the planet.

The afternoon is organized into four concurrent sessions: sustainable pork production; production strategies for foreign animal disease and health; the future of pig farming; and Iowa State University research.

Each session has four presentations, and attendees are welcome to listen to all speakers in one concurrent session or choose to move between sessions.

New this year is a pre-conference ISU Swine Networking Social sponsored by TechMix, AB Vista, and Lynch Livestock.

This new social replaces the post-program barbeque held in previous years. It will be held at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center, 2508 Mortensen Road in Ames, from 5:30-7 PM. All attendees registered for Iowa Swine Day are welcome to join.

The full program, information, registration forms, and directions to the venue are available on the Iowa Swine Day conference website: www.aep.iastate.edu/iowaswineday/

Video: Breeding Millions of Modern Pigs - Automatic Pig Farm Management System

Pigs are raised in a hygienic and safe barn environment to ensure a healthy living environment for pigs and reduce the risk of diseases. A healthy growing environment will contribute to increasing the amount of pork production that the farm can supply annually to the market.

When sows reach the stage of calving, they will be moved to another breeding area to ensure reproductive safety for sows and piglets. The farrowing area is designed separately, with conditions to ensure safety and hygiene for the mother and piglets during farrowing and rearing.

It is very important to keep piglets with sows in the early stages to ensure healthy growth and strengthen the resistance of piglets. In the early stages, piglets need to be provided with breast milk to ensure their digestive and immune systems develop well. Being with the mother pig also helps the piglets learn and develop natural behaviors, helping them better adapt to their environment and increasing their survival.