Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
4/5/00
Contacts:
Tom Baas, Iowa Pork Industry Center, (515) 294-6728,
tjbaas@iastate.edu
Sherry Hoyer, Iowa Pork Industry Center, (515) 294-4496,
shoyer@iastate.edu
Ultrasound Certification Conference Set For May
AMES, Iowa -- Registration is now under way for a national swine ultrasound training and certification conference to be held May 22-23 at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames. The conference, which offers separate ultrasonic training and certification sessions, is the only one of its kind in the country. Last year's program was attended by producers and other pork industry professionals from nine states.
Tom Baas of the Iowa Pork Industry Center (IPIC) organizes the conference, now in its fifth year. Baas, also an assistant professor of animal science at ISU, said there are two reasons for offering this certification program, established by the National Swine Improvement Federation (NSIF).
"First, it provides a way to assess the accuracy of technicians who use live ultrasound to measure breeding swine backfat, loin muscle area and loin muscle depth," he said. "And second, it offers an educational forum for discussion on standardizing live animal measurement to improve measurement accuracy."
Although participants may attend just the training portion, Baas said most choose to complete the testing and certification portion as well. During the first day, participants spend several hours in a variety of educational settings. Session topics range from pig anatomy to carcass evaluation, and include demonstrations of ultrasound scanning and image interpretation. A hands-on scanning session ends the training portion of the conference.
To become certified, participants must pass a written exam and favorably complete a scanning practicum, involving ultrasonic scanning and estimation of backfat and loin muscle area and/or depth on 50 pigs, done twice during the second day of the conference.
All are notified of their results after carcass evaluations are done on the scanned pigs. Those who successfully complete the process will be certified for two years by the NSIF. A link to the Web site that lists currently certified ultrasound technicians is available at this URL under the heading of "genetics & swine breeding": http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ipic/otherlinks.html.
Cost of the program is $300 for certification and training sessions or $50 for the training session only. Registration and payment are due May 1. For more information or a registration form, contact Baas at (515) 294-2240 or use this URL: http:www.extension.iastate.edu/ipic/news/usbrochure.pdf.
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