PIC Opens New AI Research Centre
UK - Pig breeding company PIC opened a gene technology research centre in the UK on Tuesday – believed to be the first of its type in the UK and probably in Europe.

IMV Hosts Swine Fertility Day
SPAIN - Held in Huesca on 16 November, the first ever event drew more than 160 people, including the majority of the Spanish professionals and specialists involved in swine reproduction and artificial...

ASIC to File Lawsuit in Czech Republic
CZECH REPUBLIC - Absolute Swine Insemination Co., LLC (ASIC) has announced it is preparing a Patent Infringement law suit against HEMA Malšice s.r.o., a.k.a. Jarka Helclová and Ivan P. Helcl, Karla Tomáška...

Stressful Spring for Boars
UK - The hot, dry spring has highlighted the issue of heat stress in pigs which can cause fertility problems in boars as well as sows.

Conference on Boar Semen Preservation
GERMANY - The seventh International Conference on Boar Semen Preservation will be held in Bonn on 14 to 17 August. The registration deadline is 1 June 2011.

AI Catheter Winds Silver Medal for Innovation
FRANCE - The TrueGreen AI catheter from IMV Technologies and Biocath from Landata/Cobiporc have jointly been awarded a Silver Medal by the DLG.

BPEX Sets AI Standard
UK - To try and improve the competitiveness of the English pig industry, BPEX and the NPA recognised that the industry needed to focus on improving reproductive performance and spread the costs of production...

New Bolton Center Professor Shares Expertise
AUSTRALIA - Professor Gary Althouse of New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania, US, travelled 'down under' to share his knowledge about assisted reproductive technologies and stud management for the pork in...

Sex Selection Takes Step Forward
WALES, UK - A company has made a scientific breakthrough that will enable livestock breeders to pre-select the sex of pigs.

Hermitage Opens 'State of the Art' EU Licensed Boar Stud
IRELAND - According to Dr John Mabry, director of Iowa Pork Industry Centre and a professor at Iowa State University, who oversees the Hermitage genetics programme, the new Hermitage AI centre at Callan...

Novel Method for Assessing Boar Sperm Quality
LITHUANIA - Scientists at the Lithuanian Veterinary Academy and University of Helsinki have developed a simple fluorometer-based assay for boar semen used for artificial insemination.

USDA Grant to Advance Use of Frozen Semen
US - A $900,000 USDA grant will help researchers at the University of Illinois advance the knowledge and practical use of frozen boar semen in swine herds across the United States.

New Boar Quality Assurance Scheme
UK - Although AI now accounts for 75-80 per cent of pig services nationally, the boar is still a very important animal on most farms and is used extensively to provide cover for sows both naturally and...

Dwindling Research Funds Jeopardise Livestock
US – Dwindling federal funding jeopardizes important animal and biomedical research, together with the institutional research programs that focus on them, a group of Michigan State University scientists...

Genus Increases Porcine Capacity in China
CHINA - Genus, a world leading animal genetics company, is pleased to announce significant advances in its strategy for expansion in China with progress being made in both the bovine and porcine sectors....

Genetic Defect that Causes Infertility in Pigs
FINLAND - In the late 1990s the Finnish Yorkshire pig population was threatened by a genetic defect which spread at an alarming rate and led to infertility.

US Distribution Agreement with Zierke Formed
US - TOPIGS International announces a US distributor agreement with the Zierke Company in Morris, Minnesota (US).

Greek Pig Producers Benefit from AI
GREECE - Pig farmers in Greece have been offered advice on how to improve productivity from UK pig genetics company, JSR Genetics Ltd.

Hypor Records Broken in South Korea
SOUTH KOREA - More evidence that the Hypor sow is a good producer world over ... results from the first locally born litters in Korea have broken Hypor’s own records.

Dynamic Group Housing for Sows
FRANCE - Mr. and Mrs. Sergaent will be opening their farm's doors to the public on Friday, September the 19^th.

New Aspects of Boar Semen Freezing Strategies
GERMANY - Research paper published by R. Großfeld and colleagues at Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute in Neustadt, Germany. They successfully investigated ways of improving fertility after cryopreservation...

EU Parliament Votes Against Animal Clones
EU - The European Parliament called for a ban in the EU on the cloning of animals for food supply. MEPs also urged an embargo on imports of cloned animals, their offspring and products derived from these...

Genetic Associations with Sow Reproduction
GLOBAL - T. Serenius and co-workers at Iowa State University have published a paper indicating that length of productive life in sows is genetically associated with other economically important prolificacy...

Discord Between Farmers and Ag Ministry over Pork
FIJI - There is discord between some of Fiji's major piggery owners and the Agriculture Ministry, the former saying that "it is the feed and not the seed that matters."

Advanced Breeding Herd Management Seminar
IOWA - ISU Extension, Iowa Pork Industry Center and Iowa Pork Producers Association are sponsoring an advanced swine breeding herd management seminars: June 10 (Marina Inn, South Sioux City, Neb) and 11(Waverly...

The Pros and Cons of Individual and Group Housing
MISSOURI - At the Missouri Pork Expo, Tim Safranski, University of Missouri Extension swine specialist reviewed individual and group housing and described the pros and cons of each.

More Profit Through Innovative Farm Equipment
MOSCOW - In the pig breeding industry profitability gain is only possible provided productivity increases. Along with other critical indices are the following: fertility and sows insemination efficiency,...

TOPIGS and Yurun Food Group Partners in Nucleus Farm
GENERAL - Thanks to a new partnership between TOPIGS and Yurun Food Group, a nucleus farm will be set up to supply TOPIGS genetics to an integrated pig production chain producing 3 million slaughter pigs...

Swine workshop scheduled in Waseca
US - A workshop on artificial insemination in swine will take place 13-14 December at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca.

New Technology Accelerates Genetic Improvement in Swine
CANADA - A geneticist with PIC says new tools and technologies introduced over the past ten to 20 years have dramatically accelerated the rates of genetic improvement in breeding stock for swine, writes...