Our emcee for the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium was Dr. Klaas Okkinga, Brand Manager, Ingelvac CircoFLEX.
He says, “The goal of the symposium is to really bring the latest information that we find in trials we recently conducted, to share those with our customers, who in the past asked questions that these trials are hopefully answering.” Klaas was a little surprised that the attendance was even higher than they expected. He says they try to pack a lot of information in a short time frame, making it worthwhile for their customers to invest their time in attending.
He also presented the PCVAD Research Awards and says, “The goal of the award is to stimulate practical applied research in the field by researchers and veterinarians to help us find answers in the field of PDVAD management.”
Attending the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium from the corporate marketing group was Dr. Petra Maas. She is the Technical Manager for Ingelvac CircoFLEX.
Her presentation was focused on a behind the scenes look at the research and development of Ingelvac CircoFLEX-MycoFLEX. She says the other speakers presented all the data, she just wanted to let attending veterinarians know more about the science behind the vaccines and why they’re working so well in the field.
“Qualifying Animal Responses to Various Immunization Protocols.” That’s the title of the talk given at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium by Dr. Keith Bretey. He’s a professional services veterinarian for BIVI. He says that basically means comparing the negative side effects of different vaccines.
The BIVI products Ingelvac CircoFLEX and MycoFLEX were used in the study and he says they were much less impactive on the pigs compared to other products.
Dr. Ernest Sanford came to the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium from Canada. He had some of the hottest new research to present. The title of his presentation was, “Impact of PCV2 Vaccination on Subclinical PCVAD Cases in Canada, France and U.S.”
He says this topic has come up fairly recently and they’ve now got some new research data with some interesting results. For one thing, he says the research showed that “. . . obvious thing would be that you probably need to vaccinate pigs against circovirus whether or not you believe you have a circovirus problem.” Another finding that he says came as a big surprise was regarding carcass characteristics with the vaccinated pigs showing more desirable characteristics compared to the pigs that weren’t vaccinated. He says it was significant enough to pay for the vaccination.
One of the speakers at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium was Dr. John Kolb. I met him at the company’s Animal Health Seminar last month.
His topic was “Pig Performance with Ingelvac MycoFLEX vs. Two-Dose Vaccines.” At the Flex Symposium he presented research data that compared using this new single dose product vs. some of the competition’s that required two doses. He says the research not only showed that it works well but it also works well over the long run, which had been a question for many veterinarians.
The opening speaker at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium was Dr. Edgar Diaz, DVM. He’s a technical manager for BIVI. His task was to provide a scientific overview of PCVAD (porcine circovirus associated disease).
Dr. Diaz says that they’ve found the focus to be on vaccinations recently so he was on the agenda to talk about some new research in this area. The research, he says, shows that vaccination is a very effective tool to reduce the impact of the disease on the farm.
The other winner of the Boehringer Ingelheim PCVAD Research Awards was Brad Leuwerke, DVM. Brad is an Iowa State University graduate. Brad (center) is pictured with Klaas Okkinga, Boehringer Ingelheim (left) and Dr. Edgar Diaz, DVM, technical manager for PCVAD at BIVI (right).
BIVI is providing Brad with a $25,000 cash grant for his research project:
* a study to determine the influence that maternal porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) antibodies have on the interference of circovirus vaccination efficacy in young pigs.
Brad says he’s going to get started on his new project as soon as possible. He was very impressed with the Flex Symposium that was held in advance of the annual Allen D. Leman Swine Conference and says that he’ll be taking home information from the presentations to use in the field. I’ll have more on those presentations coming up soon.
You can listen to my interview with Brad here:
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There were several PCVAD Research awards presented at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium. A double award recipient was Tanja Opriessnig, DVM, PhD, seen here in front of the attendees.
BI is providing $25,000 cash grants to the winners of the PCVAD Research Awards for their projects. Tanja will be working on two different studies as follows:
* a study to determine the prevalence of PCV2 viremia and persistent infection in conventional piglets at birth.
* a study to evaluate the influence of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus viremia on circovirus vaccine efficacy in conventional growing pigs.
Tanja is from Austria (I just got back from there a week ago!) and is currently working as a veterinary pathologist at Iowa State University in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. She says she feels “really good” about the awards and hopes to have her work done within the next year.
You can listen to my interview with Tanja here:
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The Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium is underway in St. Paul, MN.
We’ve got several presentations taking place right now and I’ve already interviewed all of them. I’ll probably be posting them by Monday since I’ll be traveling home on Sunday.
We had to bring in more chairs because the attendance at this year’s Symposium is larger than expected. Now isn’t that what you want?
I’ve been learning new things about Flickr today. For example, they now supply an embed code for a slideshow of a set. Let’s take this one from the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar. Now this is cool!
One of the key people involved with the Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Seminar was Gary Robertson. He’s the brand manager for Ingelvac MycoFLEX. You can actually see him sitting in the back left part of this picture during the presentations.
Gary says they’ve been very fortunate to obtain CircoFLEX in ‘06, MycoFLEX in ‘07 and just recently, Ingelvac CircoFLEX-MycoFLEX in ‘08.
Since this “combo package” is brand new I asked him what makes it possible. It’s all in the adjuvant which is also part of the FLEX platform. It’s called IMPRAN FLEX. Gary says this is an aqueous-based polymer adjuvant which is very safe and easy to use. He says it’s been very successful and refreshing to the industry to have a safe product for two problem diseases. He also says they’re working on new FLEX products, so I’m sure we’ll hear more about that in the future.
You can listen to my interview with Gary here:
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A very important component of a swine herd management plan is nutrition. Boehringer Ingelheim’s Swine Health Seminar featured nutritional consultant, David Funderburke. He and his wife have their own business, working with large producers domestically and internationally.
In his presentation, David said that producers need to apply the technology that’s available and “push the limits” so they can capture as much value from feed as possible. Since his clients have different commodity positions and are different in the types of risks they’ll take, he says he tries to fine tune their feeding programs to fit both their personality and what’s going on inside their operation as far as costs and budgets.
Looking forward he says the cost of energy to produce a pig is going up so he says we need to find more ways to release energy from feed. He encourages producers to look at alternative energy sources.
You can listen to my interview with David here:
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You know that any company with national sales/technical support services looks at their folks as all “on the team.” According to Doug Nold (left), Boehringer Ingelheim has been team building.
Doug has 32 years experience in agribusiness and joined the BI team recently. One of the reasons he says is because he likes their commitment to the industry which he thinks is “outstanding.”
He says that BI has tripled the sales force they have in the field while also adding to the veterinarian group. Many of those people are experienced talent from within the field. Doug says they all have a common “passion to succeed, which mirrors BI’s intent.” This growth in their team, he says, has allowed them to do more work one on one and establish relationships with customers and their businesses.
You can listen to my interview with Doug here:
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Dr. John Kolb is a professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim. He was on the program to talk about Ingelvac MycoFLEX.
John says it’s a unique product designed to be a single dose member of the FLEX family. Because it’s part of the FLEX platform, he says it’s easy to combine with another product like CircoFLEX. This is due to the special adjuvant used by the platform.
He says that this product provides producers with a good single dose option to treat mycoplasma hyopneumoniae while allowing other treatment options to be included if needed.
You can listen to my interview with John here:
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Ingelvac MycoFLEX offers the flexibility to be administered to pigs as early as 3 weeks of age (weaning), providing protective immunity throughout the grow-finish period. Depending on your vaccination schedule, Ingelvac MycoFLEX also may be administered later in the nursery. Appropriate timing of vaccination is dictated by the exposure patterns of mycoplasma in your herd. Vaccination with Ingelvac MycoFLEX should be placed at least 2 weeks prior to onset of exposure to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae or at least 5 weeks prior to the onset of seroconversion. It is recommended that you work with your veterinarian to determine the optimum timing of vaccination for your herd.
In addition to pork producers, a number of veterinarians attended the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar. I spoke with Dr. Randy Jones who has been in practice in eastern North Carolina for 23 years. I first asked him if he thought his local BI Rep, Dan Johnson, was doing a good job and he said “He does a great job.” Dan has played a big role in putting this event on, along with a lot of other people and I would echo that.
Randy says “I think it’s always good to get all the segments together.” He says this event has been growing and it sure sounds like it has. He says that the impact of the global marketplace has become an issue that all producers face here in the U.S. Input costs are the number one issue but disease is also big on the minds of producers with PRRS still the top of that list.
When it comes to advice for producers he says, “You have to have a plan and stick to it.” He says “you’re going to fail,” but it’s his job to minimize those failures. When it comes to looking ahead he says people have to eat and there’s more and more of them so he thinks the industry will work its way through the current tough times.
You can listen to my interview with Randy here:
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The numbers man on our program at the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar was Dennis DiPietre. He specializes in consulting with the swine industry and is a “headliner” for SwineCast.
Dennis was here to look at trends that are developing like the shifting global marketplace. He sees changes happening in the advantages producers have had in both the low cost of feed stuffs and the intrusion of governments that are taking away feed stuffs for other purposes like biofuels. When it comes to handling diseases, he says BI has had some spectacular success with some like Circovirus which is extremely devastating not only due to economic loss but also since it’s so demoralizing. Until recently there was nothing that could be done. He also is seeing an increase in concerns for the welfare of the animals.
When it comes to what producers are talking to him about, he says it’s mostly the high cost of feed grains. He says, “We really have record high pork prices right now but it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s profits in the industry.” He says it’s a very unusual time. So going forward he says the name of the game is “risk management.” Producers want to protect a margin regardless of the level of prices.
You can listen to my interview with Dennis here:
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Participants in the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar had options today to play golf, go fishing or a couple of others. I chose fishing.
Early this morning our first stop was netting some live bait before heading out off the beaches of Carolina Beach. We fished for several kinds of fish but what we caught in our boat was grey sea trout. Others got flounder, mackeral and even a snapper.
You can see photos from this morning’s water activity in the photo album.
The Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar is about over for the day. We’re getting ready to break after all the presentations. I’ll have more of them in the coming days.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a real family affair. One of the activities available was manicures and pedicures. I walked by the rooms where these were set up and found that they were pretty busy. Lots of customers.
I know that the folks at Boehringer Ingelheim feel like they get as much from the opportunity to interact with their customers here at the Swine Health Seminar as they hope their customers get from them. Several on the BI staff have made that comment.
So, I’ve made sure to interview a few of them, like Bill Van Staaldvinen (left) speaking here with Dr. Dennis DiPietre (more on him later). Bill is a production manager for a large operation and he’s based in Washington, NC. He really likes this seminar. It’s his fourth one and he says he always takes something away with him.
When I asked him about being able to interact with other producers he says that’s one of the best parts of the event. He says, “When you hear that someone else tries this and it works, you’re willing to try it.”
You can listen to my interview with Bill here:
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Our emcee for the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium was Dr. Klaas Okkinga, Brand Manager, Ingelvac CircoFLEX.
Attending the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium from the corporate marketing group was Dr. Petra Maas. She is the Technical Manager for Ingelvac CircoFLEX.
“Qualifying Animal Responses to Various Immunization Protocols.” That’s the title of the talk given at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium by Dr. Keith Bretey. He’s a professional services veterinarian for BIVI. He says that basically means comparing the negative side effects of different vaccines.
Dr. Ernest Sanford came to the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium from Canada. He had some of the hottest new research to present. The title of his presentation was, “Impact of PCV2 Vaccination on Subclinical PCVAD Cases in Canada, France and U.S.”
One of the speakers at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium was Dr. John Kolb. I met him at the company’s 
The opening speaker at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium was Dr. Edgar Diaz, DVM. He’s a technical manager for BIVI. His task was to provide a scientific overview of PCVAD (porcine circovirus associated disease).
The other winner of the Boehringer Ingelheim PCVAD Research Awards was Brad Leuwerke, DVM. Brad is an Iowa State University graduate. Brad (center) is pictured with Klaas Okkinga, Boehringer Ingelheim (left) and Dr. Edgar Diaz, DVM, technical manager for PCVAD at BIVI (right).
There were several PCVAD Research awards presented at the Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium. A double award recipient was Tanja Opriessnig, DVM, PhD, seen here in front of the attendees.
The Boehringer Ingelheim Flex Symposium is underway in St. Paul, MN.
This afternoon 
One of the key people involved with the Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Seminar was Gary Robertson. He’s the brand manager for Ingelvac MycoFLEX. You can actually see him sitting in the back left part of this picture during the presentations.
A very important component of a swine herd management plan is nutrition. Boehringer Ingelheim’s Swine Health Seminar featured nutritional consultant, David Funderburke. He and his wife have their own business, working with large producers domestically and internationally.
You know that any company with national sales/technical support services looks at their folks as all “on the team.” According to Doug Nold (left), Boehringer Ingelheim has been team building.
Dr. John Kolb is a professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim. He was on the program to talk about 
In addition to pork producers, a number of veterinarians attended the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar. I spoke with Dr. Randy Jones who has been in practice in eastern North Carolina for 23 years. I first asked him if he thought his local BI Rep, Dan Johnson, was doing a good job and he said “He does a great job.” Dan has played a big role in putting this event on, along with a lot of other people and I would echo that.
The numbers man on our program at the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar was Dennis DiPietre. He specializes in consulting with the swine industry and is a “headliner” for 
Participants in the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar had options today to play golf, go fishing or a couple of others. I chose fishing.
The Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar is about over for the day. We’re getting ready to break after all the presentations. I’ll have more of them in the coming days.
I know that the folks at Boehringer Ingelheim feel like they get as much from the opportunity to interact with their customers here at the Swine Health Seminar as they hope their customers get from them. Several on the BI staff have made that comment.
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