Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
For the latest on swine development and production, Saskatoon will be the place to be on March 27 and 28, as the Prairie Swine Centre hosts its 2006 Focus On the Future Conference.
Ken Engele is with the Prairie Swine Centre.
“This conference was established back in 1999-2000," explains Ken Engele, the centre's Assistant Manager, Information Services. "We had completed a technology transfer review and, at that point in time, we had a previously established satellite conference. We dropped the satellite conference to concentrate on the Focus on the Future Conference. This will be the sixth annual conference, which rotates among the three Prairie Provinces. This year it is in Saskatoon, next year is Alberta, and the following year, it’ll be in Manitoba.”
The whole idea of the Focus on the Future Conference goes back to the technology transfer review, says Engele. It’s a high-level technical conference that highlights the research carried out at the Prairie Swine Centre over the past calendar year. The conference is held over two days. Day 1 is actually a Pre-Conference Swine Health Seminar.
“It focuses on PWS and PCV2 viruses," says Engele. "These are diseases that some of the Quebec and Ontario hog producers are currently facing. They are at the root of the mortalities that they are seeing in their nursery barns. We have entitled Day 2 as Optimizing the Production Systems."
One of the issues that will be covered on Day 2 is how to maximize returns by incorporating field peas and pulses into the diet. The speaker will be Dr. Pascal Leterme, the PSC's new research scientist on nutrition. Dr. Leterme comes from Belgium by way of Columbia and France. He has a very extensive pulse development background from his time in Europe. Engele says he is almost a global expert on the incorporation of peas and pulses into the diets of swine.
Also presenting at the conference will be Harold Gonyou, PSC's swine behaviourist, who will discuss a pig’s perception of space, and how this knowledge can benefit a producer’s operation. He will take a retrospective look at his past research as well as describe some of his ongoing projects. He will provide producers with a bottom line on how understanding a pig’s perception of space will drive economic returns.
There will also be two breakout sessions. One looks specifically at large group housing and auto-sort systems. There seems to be a trend in the industry to focus more on group systems. In the past, finishing pigs had been housed in pens in groups of anywhere between 20 and 40 pigs per pen. Now, some producers are running anywhere from 100-pig groups to 1000-pig groups. Producers nearer the 1,000-pig end of the spectrum tend to incorporate auto-sorters into their systems. This is not a new technology, but it is constantly being refined.
Also on the agenda is Dr. John Patience, who will speak about addressing variability within the finishing barn. He will be exploring with participants how this affects the profitability of an operation.
“One important thing to note is that the conference is about tying a piece of research to actual practices," says Engele. "We try to make people think of how they can incorporate this type of research into their operations."
Based on past surveys, approximately 50 per cent of people in attendance will be pork producers, and the other 50 per cent will be feed company representatives, veterinarians or government/industry people.
“In the past, we have had between 100 to 120 people in attendance," says Engele. "We strive to attract the top pork producers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. We are looking for the top 100 innovators among pork producers and leaders from the industry—from feed companies, genetics companies and associated pork industries—anybody who supplies product to the pork industry.
“Prairie Swine really tries to concentrate on near market growth finish research. Once we come up with the final research results, the producers can actually implement the research in their operation within anywhere from six months to two years of the final report."
The conference will be held at the Travelodge Hotel in Saskatoon. To find out more about the event, you may download the agenda at: www.prairieswine.ca
For more information, contact:
Ken Engele
Prairie Swine Centre
(306) 373-0922
www.prairieswine.ca
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