The theme for the 27th Alltech Symposium was “The Game Changers.”  The idea behind the theme was to focus on new technologies and research to improve animal health and nutrition.  I was fortunate to be able to attend, as it was held right in my backyard, here in downtown Lexington, KY.  Speaker sessions covered several species including Dairy, Beef, Swine, Poultry, Equine, Companion Animals, and Aquaculture.  There were even special sessions on marketing and agricultural networking for business and media professionals.  I attended the beef speaker sessions.  You can find my overview of some of the speakers in my latest post on NCBA’s Young Producers Blog, The Cattle Call.

The Alltech Symposium was not only a great place to listen to speakers discuss some of the latest research that is going on to improve animal health and nutrition but also an excellent place to network with industry professionals from across the globe.  For example, during the last evening of the Symposium dinners were held for attendees.  Each attendee was assigned to a dinner with others interested in the same species.  I attended one of the Beef species dinners, where ironically we had chicken for dinner!  I ended up at a table with Bennie Welgemoed of Karan Beef Feedlot from Heidelberg, South Africa.  He manages the largest feedlot operation in South Africa.  Needless to say, I learned a lot about South African beef production that night and enjoyed every minute of it.  I think it’s really important to learn about how things are done in other countries and even just in other parts of our own countries.  Sometimes the knowledge we gain can be useful for us to improve our own production systems.

For more information about the Alltech Symposium you can visit Alltech’s Blog.