A Summary of the 13th Discover Conference on Sow Productive Lifetime

In 1997, the American Dairy Science Association established a conference series designed for open communication among academic and industry professionals on important topics in animal agriculture. Past conferences have discussed the need to preserve animal germplasm and the relevance of antibiotics in food animal production. Several past Discover Conferences have been related to milk production or the dairy cow in large part because the organizing staff has more experience with the dairy industry and could identify timely topics more readily that fit the Discover Conference concept. The 13 DISCOVER Conference focused on improving sow productive lifetime through all aspects of production. Future topics of research needed to improve sow productive lifetime were emphasized at the conference and are discussed further under each heading below.