Pork Quality Assurance (SM) — September and October, 1997
AASP Pork Quality AssuranceSM activities |
In April 1997, the AASP became a Pork Quality Assurance
(PQA) PartnerSM. As a new PQA PartnerSM, the AASP
has a commitment to actively promote the PQASM program.
The first activity undertaken by the AASP was to update our booth photo
display to include veterinarian involvement in PQASM; a photograph
of Dr. Lisa Tokach (Abilene, Kansas) explaining the PQASM program
to swine producer Roy Henry was added to the display. The AASP also participated
in the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC)
"special recognition" program for PQASM Level III producers
who stopped at the AASP booth during the Work Pork Expo. Each PQASM
Level III producer received a magnetized refrigerator message board that
displayed the AASP and PQASM logos. We awarded over 650 of these
message boards, but more importantly, we had excellent opportunities to
interact with these producers, to promote the PQASM program,
and to introduce and explain the mission of the AASP.
Our involvement with the PQASM Partner program greatly increased the traffic to the AASP booth. We distributed nearly 1000 reprints of presentations from recent AASP Annual Meetings proceedings and other conferences, such as the Allen D. Leman and George A. Young conferences. We also distributed over two cases of educational videos and AASP brochures.
Another new idea that attracted producers to the AASP booth was having AASP members who spoke at the World Pork Expo stop by the booth after their presentations to answer questions. Drs. Scott Dee, Ralph Vinson, and Rick Tubbs did a tremendous job and a huge "thank you" goes to these three members.
A huge "thank you" also goes out to Drs. Max Rodibaugh and Jeff Harker and the other Indiana practitioners who helped line up volunteers for this year’s booth. Special thanks to Dr. Tom Burkgren for coordinating booth setup and printing of the magnetic message boards. Thanks also to the AASP Public Relations Committee (Drs. Teddi Wolff, John Kolb, Doug Kern, Mike Senn, Bruce McClain, and Tim Martin). Your hard work paid off.
–Brian Roggow, Chair
AASP Public Relations Committee