Wisconsin may be known as the dairy state, but ties to swine production in Wisconsin run deep. Historically, immigrant populations demanded pork for the manufacture of sausage and other products, leading to as much as 80% of all Wisconsin farms having pigs on the farm in the early twentieth century. Pig farming looks different today with less total farms that have pigs on them, but raising pigs continues to be an important part of agriculture in Wisconsin.
The seventh annual Badger Swine Symposium is being held virtually Thursday, November 5, 2020. With the shift to virtual this year due to the pandemic, we are restructuring the program to run around the lunch hour from 12 pm to around 2:15 pm. The program is free to attend, but you must be registered by November 3. In acknowledgement of the change to format for the symposium this year, some research updates will be pre-recorded and available for viewing on Monday, November 2. Pre-recorded sessions can be found at https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/programs/badger-swine-symposium/.
The live portion of the symposium will kick off at 12:00 pm. The day will start off with a market update from Brenda Boetel, Professor and Agricultural Marketing Specialist with UW-River Falls. Following the market update will be a panel discussion of industry stakeholders on how COVID has affected their operations, markets, and management. To wrap up the discussion, Jeff Swenson of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, will talk about how Wisconsin has developed additional plans, resources, and community connections in response to the potential need to implement mass euthanasia of swine due to limited slaughter plant capacity. Please note that these live sessions are not being recorded.
Additional speaker information, a registration brochure, and other details can be found at https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/programs/badger-swine-symposium/. You may find the registration link here, or you can register directly at http://bit.ly/20BadgerSwine. This program is sponsored by the Animal and Food Science Department at UW-River Falls, School of Agriculture at UW-Platteville, Animal and Dairy Science Department at UW-Madison, the Extension Swine Team and the Wisconsin Pork Association.
