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: bi-nc-08-jones.mp3
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.
I couldn’t be there for my good friend, Mike Gustafson’s retirement party but that doesn’t mean there aren’t 
After talking with Dr. Steve McOrist I’m betting that the United States could win a gold if there was a swine competition in the Olympics. That’s because he says that the U.S. has a number of advantages over other countries when it comes to pig production. For example, he says we’ve got a good backup system for vaccines and technological and nutritional support as well as breeding programs.
Dr. Mike Roof is Executive Director of Bio-Research for Boehringer Ingelheim. His job today was to provide an overview of where the company is on the PRRS issue (Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome). He says it’s still the big problem disease and he wants producers to know that BI hasn’t given up on it. He also wants producers to know, “There’s no magic bullets for PRRS. There’s going to be incremental progress over the next few years.” 
The Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar is more than just a conference for producers. It includes their families. So while they are learning more about their industry, other activities are taking place like t-shirt tie-dying.