Hundreds gathered in St. Paul this past week to learn about the latest Science-Driven solutions for the swine industry and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference. Over a hundred renowned speakers covered dozens of topics, including the swine microbiome, sow longevity, ASF management strategies, Salmonella updates, and H5Nx influenza.
The pre-conference sessions over the weekend continued to be a crowd favorite. On Saturday, the George Foxcroft Reproduction Workshop, planned in collaboration with the University of Alberta, focused on managing the breeding herd in a changing environment. Attendees learned how to take into consideration a variety of lenses impacting the dam, including physiology, housing, regulations and new technologies.
The Carlos Pijoan Swine Disease Eradication Center session focused on identifying knowledge gaps and breaking down barriers for disease control. In the afternoon, attendees got to listen to the seven finalists for the Morrison Swine Innovator Prize. Savannah Thomson, a second-year student at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, won by sharing her project to find a means of collecting data that could potentially be used to prevent sow deaths caused by pelvic organ prolapse that occur soon after giving birth.
Audience members at the Beer and Bacon Conversations session got to hear the conversation between Dr. Lisa Tokach and Dr. Marie Culhane, in which they discussed private practice, farm management, and staying focused on what’s important– personally and professionally. The Opening Reception and Poster Session sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim mixed science and socializing as attendees interacted with an all-time record number of poster presenters while enjoying delicious food at the InterContinental Hotel.
On Monday, the conference was opened by Dr. Laura Molgaard, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine University of Minnesota and Dean Bev Durgan, of University of Minnesota Extension. Our first keynote Patrick Hord, of Hord Family Farms and National Pork Producers Council, talked about adapting to change and building a sustainable future. Dr. Noelle Noyes of the University of Minnesota gave the Pijoan Lecture on engineering the microbiome, and what it would take to harness this hidden hero of livestock production. In the evening, the Merck Animal Health reception celebrated Dr. Matt Allerson as the Leman Science in Practice awardee for 2024, this year at the Science Museum of Minnesota!
On Tuesday, Brian Buhr, Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota gave an overview of Leman, covering fifty years of the network effect, from an economic perspective. Then our panel of experts, Drs. Marie Culhane, Carol Cardona and Montse Torremorell, provided a broad overview of influenza across species as well as practical considerations to control the virus within swine farms! Our wrap-up session featured a pork-cutting demonstration accompanied by a discussion on modern pork marketing with experts from Hormel Foods and the University of Minnesota Extension, Meat Laboratory.
We want to thank all of you and our sponsors for the continuing support! The Allen D. Leman swine conference would not exist without you. Mark your agendas for the 2025 Allen D. Leman Swine conference: September 20-23. We are looking forward to welcoming you back to St Paul.