Central Montana Times

MSU Extension and Montana Pork Producers Council are hosting the first annual "Montana Small Pork Producer Conference" in Great Falls on Saturday, April 29 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. The conference is an opportunity for pork producers, 4-H members, FFA members, and others to come together to learn about swine genetics, pork production, herd health, and pork recipes. Local chefs will prepare pork dishes for all attendees after a morning of learning and education.

The conference schedule is as follows: 9:30 a.m. Registration  10:00 a.m. Randy Shipley, Shipley Swine Genetics   11:30 a.m. Pork Lunch  12:30 p.m. Anna Forseth, DVM; National Pork Producers   1:30 p.m. Pork Processing Panel   2:30 p.m. Food Stations  3:30 p.m. Adjourn 

Featured speakers are Randy Shipley and Anna Forseth, DVM, MS. Randy Shipley is the owner of Shipley Swine Genetics and Shipley Genetics Boar Studs in Ohio. His farm has 150 sows and 60 head of boars. Randy sells 850 to 1000 bred gilts and 7,000 boxes of semen a year as well as ships semen from coast to coast. Randy started his business in 1968 and married his wife, Sandi, 7 years later. Sandi and Randy’s daughter with their son-in-law joined the business in 2008. Anna Forseth, DVM, MS is the Director of Animal Health with the National Pork Producers Council. She oversees foreign animal disease prevention and preparedness, antibiotic use and resistance, welfare issues, and other pre-harvest topics. A Montana native who grew up on the family’s farrow-to-finish swine operation, Forseth received a bachelor’s degree in animal science from MSU, her DVM from Colorado State University, and a master’s in veterinary preventive medicine from Iowa State University.

The conference is available through the MSU Extension Innovation grant and Montana Pork Producers Council. Email rose.malisani@montana.edu for a registration form.

Original source can be found here.