Pigs, robots, radical innovation and a young nutritionist’s drive - Dr. Annie Lerner
May 03, 2021 
"𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘨𝘴. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦-𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨." - 𝗗𝗿. 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻:
1. The Pig Counting Project;
2. How to get acclimated to the system;
3. Training key aspects;
4. Key learnings about all her research;
5. Farrowing house adaptations to reduce pre-weaning mortality;
6. Advice for students without experience in pig production.
𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁: Annie received her Bachelor's degree in ASI from Kansas State in 2015 and MS in Applied Swine Nutrition in 2016. Her passion for animal agriculture originated from family connections to livestock production and grew throughout her education in the KSU Animal Science program. Annie's Ph.D. research focuses on the impacts of withdrawing corn DDGS from swine diets prior to market, space requirements for heavyweight market pigs, and evaluating the efficacy of fatty acids as chemical mitigants for porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. She is also heavily involved in assisting with undergraduate research projects for the Applied Swine Nutrition team. She’s currently the Director of Nutrition and Research at Schwartz Farms Inc.
