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BSMC VII  August 13th-14th, 2025, St. Louis, MO

DAY 1,  Wednesday August 13^th, 2025

7:30     Continental breakfast

8:00     Welcome

8:10     Some things you should know about sow farms…

Dr. Rob Knox, University of Illinois¹

 8:40     How protocols in isolation affect performance in collection

Dr. Ashley Hartman, DNA Genetics²

 9:10     Environmental impacts on boar development

Dr. Amy Desaulniers, University of Nebraska³

 9:40     Break and view exhibits

10:10   The effect of varying feeding strategies on the working boar

Dr. Taw Scaff, North Dakota State University

 10:30   What are we (and what should we be) doing about feed contaminants, e.g. mycotoxins?

 Dr. Tim Evans, University of Missouri

 11:00   Lessons learned from our boar nutrition research program

Dr. Yan Lin, Sichuan Agriculture University, Chengdu China

 11:45   Break with lunch at 12:00 noon

12:45   Hygiene in the lab: which control products we should (not) use and how?

Dr. Chris Kuster, Kuster Research and Consulting

 1:15     Ralstonia picketti: effect of Ralstonia on semen acrosome integrity with and without antibiotics

Dr. Megan Hood, Reicks Veterinary Research and Consulting

 1:45    Updating or replacing DI water systems to prevent bacterial contamination issues

Dr. Darwin Reicks, Reicks Veterinary Research and Consulting

 2:15     Sustainable use of antibiotics in boar semen

John Quackenbush, Minitube USA⁴

 2:45     Writing SOPs and having staff follow them

Dr. Kara Stewart, Smithfield⁵

 3:15     Break and view exhibits

3:45     What is the lipidome and who cares?

Dr. Kayla Mills, USDA-ARS

 4:15     Insect control in the barn (without negatively affecting the boars)

Dr. Gary Althouse, University of Pennsylvania⁶

 4:35     Transition to Boar Stud Managers Panel

5:15     BBQ, cash bar and activity at hotel

 

DAY 2, Thursday August 14^th, 2025

 7:30     Continental breakfast

8:00     What the survey says.

Dr. Tim Safranski, University of Missouri

 8:30     CASA measurements: which ones matter and how do we capture the most value from the

output?

Dr. Chris Kuster, Kuster Research and Consulting

 9:00     Biomarkers of post-thaw motility

Dr. Kayla Mills, USDA-ARS

 9:30     From Single Cells to Breeding Success: Modern Approaches in Boar Sperm Quality and

Fertility Prediction

Dr. Karl Kerns, Iowa State University

 10:00   Break and view exhibits

10:30   Summer and winter truck washing trial: PRRS and PEDv at each step of the process and

implications for trucking needs of boar studs

Dr. Megan Hood, Reicks Veterinary Research and Consulting

 11:00   When and for what to vaccinate…

Dr. Gary Althouse, University of Pennsylvania⁶

 11:30   Updating/remodeling the boar stud facility to consider boar welfare and people safety

Dr. Darwin Reicks, Reicks Veterinary Research and Consulting

 12:00   Lunch

1:00     Lessons from evaluating morphology of both live and dead sperm

Dr. Brad Didion, PIC⁷

1:15     Bulk packaging/delivery of semen

Amanda Minton, AcuFast⁸

 1:45     Why not use two-step dilution?

Kristin Foran, Magapor⁹

 2:00     How and why to store semen at 5°C

Dr. Anne Marie Luther¹, Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover, Germany⁴

2:40     Wrap up and adjourn

 

 

 

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link to reprotoxicity talk

BSMC September 2018 webinar