Held in Huesca, Spain, on the 16th of November, the first occurrence of the event drew more than 160 people. The majority of the Spanish professionals and specialists involved in swine reproduction and Artificial Insemination was present.
The topics discussed addressed current and future challenges faced by the AI industry and how new technologies could play a critical role in helping overcoming them.
Dr Alfredo Martin de la Rosa, from the Spanish Agriculture Ministry described in detail the new regulations for commercial AI centers.
A round table, including representatives form 5 majors AI organizations in Europe presented their production organization and debated about their current and upcoming challenges. New national or European regulations for semen production combined to a depressed market situation are pushing them to be ever more efficient and looking at all technologies that can help. The need for more automation for all steps of semen production to improve labor efficiency has come up as the most important improvement for the industry in the near future.
Dr Johannes Kauffold for the University of Leipzig (Germany) talked about semen contamination and strategies to limit its effects: “As bacteria become more resistant to antibiotics and their use in animal production more and more questioned, we have to look at alternative solutions to reduce or eliminate antibiotics in semen extender”.
At last Dr Jordi Roca of the University or Murcia (Spain) and Dr Jessika Van Leeuwen from IMV Technologies presented the status of new technologies and current development in semen analysis.
Benoit Bouvier, marketing director for IMV Technologies was pleased with the turn out and the quality of the presentations: “This was a first but not the last technical days that will be organized in Spain. The success of this event is a token of the dedication and professionalism of the IMV Technologies and Humeco teams to service and support the Spanish market”.