Livestock Forum Networking Day conference will focus on animal health

Issues such as food safety on farms, the use of antibiotics in the treatment of certain diseases, epigenetics in animal breeding and changes to animal genomes will be addressed at the Livestock Forum Networking Day conference, which is set to take place on 10 May at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via exhibition centre.

The all-day session will feature international experts including Dr Marion Koopmans head of the Viroscience Department at Erasmus MC Rotterdam, who will give the opening address.

Other experts scheduled to speak at the conference include Jan Venneman, director of the European Forum of Farm Animal Breeders (EFFAB), who will speak about new genetic tools for animal breeding; Professor Sandra Edwards of the University of Newcastle who will speaking about animal nutrition and well-being; Dr Sandra Blome, director of Germany's Friedrich Loeffler Institute, who will explain future trends in animal vaccines, and Bruce Whitelaw, Head of Division of Developmental Biology at the Univeristy of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, who will explain the latest advances in disease resistance through genetic selection.

Speakers who have already confirmed their participation in the Livestock Forum Networking Day include Isabelle Oswald, head of the mycotoxicology team at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA); Jamie Newbold, professor at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales and one of the most highly regarded researchers into animal nutrition and intestinal microbiology, and Kent Weigel, expert in genetic selection and genomics of diary cattle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the United States.

The Livestock Forum Networking Day conference is organised by Fira de Barcelona with the collaboration of the Agri-food Research and Technology Institute (IRTA) of the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture and the support of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama) and major industry associations such as the Spanish Animal Health and Nutrition Industry Business Association (Veterindustria),the Spanish Business Federation Additives and Premixtures for Animal Health and Nutrition (ADIPREM), the Catalan Association of Pork Producers (Porcat), the Catalan Feed Manufacturers Association (ASFAC) and the Spanish Association Meat Products (ANAFRIC).

April 6, 2016 - Livestock Forum