The fifth Boar Stud Managers Conference (BSMC) will be held August 3-4 in St. Louis, Mo.
In the 1990s artificial insemination of hogs was embraced rather quickly, but most of the training offered focused on sows and gilts.
“We found that as AI became popular more semen came out of studs,” says Tim Safranski, University of Missouri Extension State Swine Specialist. “These studs were basically boar farms and so all the folks did was manage boars and there was really no training for them.”
The first BSMC was held in 2000 through collaboration between the University of Missouri, Purdue University and the University of Nebraska. Safranski says because there is very little turnover in boar studs compared to sow farms, they decided to hold the conference every four years. BSMC draws attendees from 18 states and four or five countries. About 80 percent of the nation’s boars are represented by the managers in attendance.
Speakers from both academia and the industry will address a wide variety of topics including health management, semen management, non-antibiotic semen extender options and water quality. A topic that has been getting a lot of attention is sexed semen. It’s a technology that has been embraced by the cattle industry and there will be an update on sexed semen of boars, where the technology and is it going to be available for the swine industry.
Safranski says anyone who wants to learn about boars or semen would benefit from Boar Stud Managers Conference.
“Our target audience is the stud manager,” Safranski says. “That ranges from the folks that have four or five boars on the farm and do their own collection and processing to those who manage a stud farm.”
The fee for the two-day conference is $200. It has been one of the goals of the organizers to keep registration costs from being prohibitive to someone attending.
“Realistically this is the only management training offered for boar stud managers and it’s only once every four years,” Safranski says.
For more information and to register, visit http://bsmc.missouri.edu.