The 2015 AASV Foundation Committee dedicated this year’s auction in memory of one of the foundation’s strongest supporters, Dr Rod Johnson and his wife Jean. Rod would have been very pleased with everyone’s generous donations and inspired bidding that resulted in the foundation raising $102,585! This marked the third year in a row that support topped $100,000. This tremendous effort was aided by the generosity of Mary Lou Hogg and MVP Laboratories through the donation of a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The hog raffle raised $30,150! The funds raised support foundation programs, including student travel stipends, research projects, scholarships, student externships, summer internships, awards, and other opportunities to enhance the personal and professional aspects of swine veterinary medicine.

Auctioneer and AASV Executive Director Dr Tom Burkgren called the auction with the assistance of Dr Shamus Brown and Dr Jess Waddell. The spirited live auction raised $43,500. This was in addition to the $22,185 collected during the silent auction and $6750 in generous cash donations. The foundation thanks all those who participated in the auction by bidding on or donating items, as well as those who served on the auction committee chaired by Dr Daryl Olsen.

A special thanks goes to the ring men: Drs Butch Baker, Shamus Brown, Jeff Harker, Howard Hill, Darrell Neuberger, David Reeves, Jess Waddell, and John Waddell, who kept the bids coming. In addition, the following folks’ behind-the-scenes and front-end help were invaluable: Joel Burkgren, Wes Johnson, Kay Kimpston-Burkgren, Sue Kimpston, Karen Menz, Karen Richardson, Lee Schulteis, Sue Schulteis, Tina Smith, and Harry Snelson.

An extra-special thanks goes out to Lee Schulteis for driving the truck and trailer, containing all the auction items and meeting materials, from Perry, Iowa, to Orlando and back again.

Photo courtesy of Tina Smith

Hogg Scholarship

Dr Chris Rademacher was named the 2015 recipient of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Foundation Hogg Scholarship. The scholarship was presented by Mary Lou Hogg during the association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Established in 2008, the scholarship is named for Dr Alex Hogg, who was a leader in swine medicine and pursued a master’s degree in veterinary pathology after 20 years in a mixed-animal practice. The scholarship is awarded annually to an AASV member who has been accepted into a qualified graduate program to further his or her education after years as a swine practitioner.

Dr Rademacher earned his DVM from the University of Minnesota in 1998. Following graduation, he joined New Fashion Pork as the staff veterinarian and service manager. He became the Director of Health Services and spent 10 years with the company before joining Murphy-Brown Western Operations as Director of Production Improvement. In December, 2014 he accepted the position of Swine Extension Veterinarian at Iowa State University (ISU). He recently enrolled in the Master’s in Veterinary Preventive Medicine program at ISU under Dr Jeff Zimmerman.

Rademacher recently received a grant to study porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) vaccination and immunity. The objective of the study is to evaluate the production benefit of vaccination in an endemically infected sow herd. In addition, the project will attempt to correlate PEDV immunity with production impacts including pre-wean mortality and weaning weight.

When asked about the significance of the scholarship, Dr Rademacher said, “It is indeed an honor and a humbling privilege to be awarded this scholarship that bears the name of one of the legends of swine production medicine. Alex is an inspiration to many of us who want to give back to an industry that has so richly blessed us, and this award allows me to continue my lifelong learning as Alex so wonderfully modeled in his lifetime. I am so thankful to the Hogg family for sponsoring this award annually to swine veterinarians who want to continue their education.”

Photo courtesy of Tina Smith

AASV Foundation announces research funding for 2015

The AASV Foundation selected four research proposals to receive a total of $60,000 in funding for 2015. The research will study a wide range of topics important to swine veterinarians, including education, welfare, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), and porcine circovirus (PCV). Dr Daryl Olsen, chairman of the AASV Foundation, announced the proposals selected for funding during the foundation’s annual luncheon on March 1 in Orlando, Florida.

A grant of $7490 was awarded to Dr Paisley Canning at Iowa State University (ISU) to fund a proposal designed to help address the challenge of providing swine training to interested swine-focused students at veterinary colleges across the country. Dr Canning will develop a network of swine and production-animal medicine clubs at veterinary schools for the purpose of transmitting live broadcasts of three swine-focused seminars hosted by the ISU AASV Student Chapter to the participating schools.

Dr Trevor Schwartz at Suidae Health & Production was awarded a grant of $16,450 to assist with funding for a study on the effect of PEDV vaccination on PEDV-naive sows and previously PEDV-exposed sows in a controlled PEDV challenge model. The study will compare vaccinated and unvaccinated sow immune response and litter pre-weaning morbidity and mortality in an effort to determine if there is a significant difference between naive and previously exposed sows, and whether the measured immune response can be correlated with litter pre-weaning morbidity and mortality.

The foundation allocated $15,000 to fund a proposal submitted by Dr Carissa Odland at Pipestone Veterinary Clinic to perform efficacy testing of a novel method of euthanasia of suckling piglets. The method utilizes an aerosol canister to administer isoflurane, then carbon monoxide, into a containment chamber to achieve humane euthanasia. The ultimate goal is to gain Food and Drug Administration approval of the process in order to provide swine veterinarians and producers with a simple and humane method of euthanizing small piglets.

The fourth research grant was awarded to Eric Bumgardner and Dr Paulraj Lawrence at Newport Laboratories. The investigators were awarded $21,060 to assist with the development of a bivalent PRRSV-PCV type 2 vaccine capable of inducing broader cross-protection against PRRSV. They hope to develop vaccination strategies that can be used in commercial swine herds to protect animals against diverse PRRSV strains and to gain insight into the immunological properties of PRRSV.

Drs Peggy Anne Hawkins and Nathan Winkelman co-chaired the scientific subcommittee responsible for reviewing and scoring the proposals received for consideration, and they join the foundation in thanking Drs John Baker, Jeff Blythe, Jane Christopher-Hennings, Cate Dewey, and Tom Gillespie for their service on the subcommittee.

An overview of past and current projects funded by the foundation is available at https://www.aasv.org/foundation/research.htm. The foundation will issue its next call for research proposals in the fall of 2015.

Photo courtesy of Tina Smith

AASV Foundation Golf Outing

( PDF version available)
The 2015 AASV Foundation Golf Outing will be held Thursday, August 20, 2015 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm at the Landsmeer Golf Club, 902 7th Street NE, Orange City, IA 51041. For more information, see www.landsmeergolfclub.com and https://www.aasv.org/foundation