Swine health takes center stage at Indiana event

Jul 13, 2026

Swine health was the focus of a significant event recently at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis as swine industry partners and swine producers gathered for the National Junior Summer Spectacular (and Summer Type Conference. The event was held at the end of June in the Fall Creek Pavilion and included a swine health briefing that featured swine industry and veterinary medicine leaders including Purdue Veterinary Medicine Dean Bret Marsh, who also had an opportunity to provide an update on the College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Attending the National Summer Type Conference Swine Briefing was an outstanding opportunity to connect with leaders across the swine industry and reinforce Purdue Veterinary Medicine’s commitment to advancing animal health and supporting food animal agriculture,” Marsh said. “Representing the college in this setting highlights the important role veterinarians play in collaborating with producers, industry partners and researchers to address today’s challenges while preparing for tomorrow’s opportunities. These conversations strengthen relationships and ensure Purdue remains a trusted partner in serving Indiana and the livestock industry.”

The NJSS and STC are premier national swine shows and educational events hosted by the National Swine Registry and the National Junior Swine Association. An excerpt of Dean Marsh’s comments during the panel discussion about swine and animal health issues is available here.

The National Swine Registry serves as the purebred breed association for the Duroc, Hampshire, Landrace and Yorkshire breeds of swine. Moreover, NSR is home to the National Junior Swine Association, the nation’s largest youth livestock association. Every year, the NSR/NJSA hosts the National Junior Summer Spectacular and Summer Type Conference for junior members and breeders alike to participate. This year marked the first time the event was hosted in Indianapolis at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The event proved to be the largest in its 30 year history with 684 exhibitors from 27 states and over 1,675 head.

Click here to see more...

Video: Selling Hay for 40 Years: Fritz Trauttmansdorff, Dunlea Farms

Fritz Trauttmansdorff came to Canada from Austria in 1980, bought a 45-cow dairy farm at Jerseyville, and within two years had more hay than he knew what to do with. He sold the quota in 1986, went debt-free, and built a hay business that has kept some of the same customers for forty years. Today Dunlea Farms runs about 2,500 acres — roughly 600 of it hay, the rest IP soybeans and grain corn — and Fritz makes the case that hay isn't the crop you grow when grain doesn't work. It's the crop that makes the grain work.

"If you grow corn, soybeans and wheat, you're on a three-wheeler. If you put hay in the rotation, you're on a four-wheeler."

WHAT WE COVER • Why the hay market moves independently of the Chicago Board — and what that does for farm-level risk
• The real cost of a mistake: five bushels in grain, versus the whole crop in hay
• Getting a second job out of the same iron — planting tractors that mow all summer, tillage tractors that bale
• How a grain farmer can get hay into the rotation without buying a single piece of hay equipment
• Drilling Timothy in the fall and double-cropping soybeans into it the next June
• What it actually takes to go all-in: roughly 500 acres, good sheds, and a baler you didn't buy used
• Local, regional and international hay markets — and choosing which one you're building for
• Why 40-year customer relationships are the asset, not the equipment