UGA Poultry Extension

UGA Held the 2024 Georgia Layer Conference UGA Poultry Science Extension team held a successful annual Georgia Layer Conference virtually on September 23, 2024. This year's conference had?about 230 registrations from 25 countries. The event was sponsored by USDA-NIFA and USDA Rural Development programs. PAACO (professional animal auditor certification organization) will approve 5 hours of continuing education for conference attendees. ? We greatly appreciate all the speakers for providing valuable updates on various topics, including poultry and egg production, research and education, egg safety, policies and regulations, animal welfare, laying hen breeding, poultry diseases, nutrition management, and egg production costs, among others. Program agenda: 2024 Georgia Layer Conference-Virtual September 23, 2024: 08:30 AM – 3:00 PM (US Eastern Time) Program Coordinator: Lilong Chai, UGA Poultry Science Morning Session 8:30 AM????????Welcome and Poultry Federation Update ??????????????????????Mike Giles, President, Georgia Poultry Federation 8:40 AM?????????Welcome and UGA Poultry Science Update ??????????????????????Todd Applegate, Distinguished Professor & Department Head, UGA Poultry Science 8:55 AM?????????UGA Poultry Extension Update ??????????????????????Casey Ritz, Professor & Extension Coordinator, UGA Poultry Science 9:05 AM?????????Egg Quality and Safety Management ??????????????????????Deana Jones, Director of US National Poultry Research Center, USDA ARS 9:50 AM?????????U.S. Egg Production Update ??????????????????????Chad Gregory, President, United Egg Producers 10:35 AM??????Best practices and innovations for ensuring optimal laying hen welfare and management ??????????????????????Marisa Erasmus, Associate Professor, Purdue University 11:20 AM???????Genetic Selection for Sustainable Laying Hen Production ??????????????????????Kaylee Rowland, Pedigree Geneticist II, Hy-Line International Afternoon Session 1:00 PM???????Laying Hens Bone Quality Management by Nutrition ?????????????????????Woo Kim, Professor, UGA Poultry Science 1:40 PM????????Poultry Diseases Update ?????????????????????Emily Pittman, Veterinary Director, Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network 2:20 PM?????? U.S. Egg Markets and Costs Update ???????????????????? Maro Ibarburu, Research Scientist, Egg Industry Center 3:00 PM???????Program conclusion

UGA held a successful "2024 Georgia Precision Poultry Farming Conference" The Poultry Science Extension team at UGA held our 4th annual Georgia Precision Poultry Farming Conference virtually on May 1st, 2024. This year's conference received about 380 registrations (e.g., poultry farmers, producers, service company managers, researchers, and students) from over 20 countries. We greatly appreciate the wonderful talk from each speaker and the support from UGA Institute of Integrative Precision Agriculture, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and Watt Global Media (Watt Poultry). Program agenda: 2024 Georgia Precision Poultry Farming Conference -Virtual May 1, 2024 - 09:00-16:00 US Eastern Time Coordinator/Moderator: Dr. Lilong Chai, UGA Poultry Science Welcome & Updates 09:00 AM????Welcome and Poultry Science Department Update Dr. Todd Applegate, Assistant Dean, Department Head & Distinguished Professor, UGA Poultry Science 09:15 AM????Welcome and Georgia Poultry Federation Update Mr. Mike Giles, President, Georgia Poultry Federation 09:30 AM????UGA Poultry Extension Update Dr. Casey Ritz, Associate Department Dead, Professor, & Extension Coordinator, UGA Poultry Science Morning Technical Session 09:40?AM??Monitoring & managing poultry welfare and behaviors with technology Dr. Janice Siegford, Professor & Associate Chair, Michigan State University 10:25?AM??Robots for monitoring poultry welfare on commercial farms Dr. Theo Demmers, Senior Scientist, Royal Veterinary College, UK 11:00?AM??Challenges and opportunities in precision poultry breeding Dr. William Herring, Vice President for Research & Development, Cobb 11:45 AM??Audio sensors for monitoring poultry health and welfare Mr. Tom Darbonne, CEO & Co-Founder, AudioT/Sound Principals Afternoon Technical Session 1:00 PM??Modern poultry processing technologies Dr. Brian Kiepper, Associate Professor, UGA Poultry Science 1:40 PM??Monitoring broiler welfare with imaging technologies Dr. Hao Gan, Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee 2:20 PM?New approaches to managing animal carcasses during disease outbreaks Mr. Gary Flory, Founder & Director of Operations, G.A. Flory Consulting Panel Discussion 3:00 PM??Implementation of Precision Poultry Technologies Moderator: Mr. Colin Usher/Dr. Doug Britton, GTRI Panelists: Mr. Colin Usher, Senior Research Scientist, GTRI ???? Dr. Sueng-Chul Yoon, Research Electronics Engineer, USDA ARS ????????????????Dr. Martin Zuidhof, Professor, University of Alberta, Canada ????????????????Dr. Konrad Ahlin, Senior Research Scientist, GTRI 4:00 PM????Conference Conclusion