SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The University of Illinois Extension Building was the site of the Illinois Swine Reproductive Health Conference on Dec. 16.

Sponsored by the Illinois Pork Producers Assoc. and the pork checkoff, Dr. Rob Knox of the University of Illinois Department of Animal Sciences said there were more than 60 attendees registered and 10 exhibitors on hand.

Conference exhibitors included Advance Trading, Inc. from Stanford, Illinois; Agra Placement from Lincoln; Alpharma Animal Health of Springfield; AP Automated Production Systems of Assumption; Ausgene International LLC of Gridley; Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica of St. Charles; Fort Dodge AH of Chatham; IMV International Corporation of Maple Grove, MN; Land O’Lakes of Smithton; LSG Healthsystems of Bricelyn, MN; PathoGen Diagnostics, Inc. of Newman; and PIC USA of Bloomington, Ill.

“It was a great turn out. We have a lot of breeding herds represented,” Knox said. “The conference brought in swine producers from Illinois and Iowa with many driving over three hours to get the specialized information available at this conference.”

As a swine reproductive specialist, Knox indicated that assisting sow producers maintain healthy breeding herds so they can farrow large numbers of healthy pigs is the purpose of informational conferences like this one.

Knox added, “One of the number one priorities are health needs. Producers need the experienced professionals and the right supplies. They come for the information to help them make sound business decisions.”

Speakers of the day covered a variety of health topics. Topics included, Protecting the Breeding Herd: When Vaccination Becomes Immuni-zation, Putting Real Biosecurity to the Test, Is Your Herd At Risk For One of These?, A Prairie Vet’s Perspective of Health Consider-ations for Replacement Gilts and Minimizing the Risk of Disease From Semen.

The speakers provided a lot of takehome lessons that producers can use at home on the farm. Questions about the conference can be directed to Robert Know, PhD, at 217-244-5177.

Published in the January 11, 2006 issue of Farm World.