The 2018 edition of the Allen D. Leman swine conference held in St. Paul, MN continued to offer a wide range of high-quality, science-driven presentations while innovating on several aspects of its program.
This year marked the second year of the DVM student session at the Leman conference but the first time that a student received the Morrison Swine Innovator Prize. Megan Bloemer, a student from the University of Illinois was truly honored to be the first recipient of this prestigious recognition. Megan received a $7,500 scholarship in addition to participating in an exclusive workshop with the other DVM students-presenters. The quality of the students’ presentations was excellent but the practicality and the innovation with which Megan treated the issue of truck wash biosecurity put her at the top.
Sunday afternoon, the new Beer and Bacon conversation series was launched. The session, during which Dr. Matthew Turner was interviewed by Dr. Marie Culhane, was extremely popular. Seating was limited so do not forget to register early if you would like to attend next year!
We celebrated Dr. Rebecca Robbins for her well-deserved recognition as the Science in Practice awardee of the year. The reception held in the Science museum in St Paul was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim.
The spread of African Swine Fever in China and Western Europe prompted us to dedicate two very well-attended sessions on this topic. The first session on Monday afternoon coordinated by Dr. John Deen included a summary of what is known about the disease by Dr. Chris Oura, then a clinical case experienced in Russia by Dr. Gustavo Lopez and a presentation by Patrick Webb on ASF awareness in the industry and beyond. On Tuesday, Dr. Scott Dee presented his latest research on the risk from feed ingredients for the transmission of ASF.
For more information, the University of Minnesota launched two webpages:
The 2018 Allen D. Leman conference continued to propose high quality keynote speakers.
Dr. Brad Freking and Dr. Deb Murray from New Fashion Pork gave the first Morrison lecture and presented their vision of pig farming. They explained how they chose to decrease their antimicrobial usage while reserving the right to treat pigs when needed and why they launched Old Fashion Pork.
Dr. Maria Pieters reminded us of the issues associated with having a Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae positive herd and challenged the swine industry to eradicate the diseases that can be eradicated so that we can focus on diseases that are harder to control.
Becca Martin and Randy Spronk gave an update on trade in pigs and the current challenges that we are facing as an exporting nation. Free trade seems to be the best option for our producers in order to maintain the market.
Dr. Michael Rahe presented the Pijoan lecture on behalf of Dr. Michael Murtaugh giving us a overview of the past 30 years dealing with PRRS. Sadly, Dr. Murtaugh passed away that very same day, from his battle with cancer.
As always, we would like to thank all of you for your continuing support. The Allen D. Leman swine conference would not exist without you and we hope to see you next year: September 14-17, 2019.