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MEETING HIGHLIGHT |
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Iowa State University’s Hoop Group, that began nearly a decade ago as a Leopold Center-funded research team to explore alternative swine production systems, has gone international. The group is planning an international conference September 14 about using hoop barns and bedded systems for hogs as well as dairy and beef cattle and other animal species. At the conference, participants will have the opportunity to step inside a virtual hoop structure developed at ISU as a tool for housing design. Speakers from Australia, Canada, England, The Netherlands and Ukraine will share how hoops and bedded systems are used in those countries. Other sessions will cover animal welfare, process-verified or niche market livestock production using hoop structures and other bedded systems. The conference will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Gateway Center, located at U.S. Highway 30 and Elwood Drive in Ames. To register, go to the conference web site, www.abe.iastate.edu/ABLS/, or contact Beth Weiser at (515) 294-0557 or weiser@iastate.edu. Cost is $25 before Sept. 1 and $35
after that date. The registration fee includes
lunch, breaks, all sessions, access to the virtual
reality display, exhibits and a CD and printed copy
of the Hoop Barn Manual, produced by Midwest Plan
Service. |
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