Five pork industry experts weigh in on what technologies they want to see in a barn someday.
“I am most excited about technologies that can help train and improve caretaker quality. We have a shortage of labor in our industry and challenges with retention, leading in some cases to limited institutional knowledge on-farm. Some emerging technologies can identify sick pig symptoms that an inexperienced or overworked caretaker might overlook, or narrow down which sows are most likely to be in heat so the worker only has to check a percentage of the herd. These kinds of tech not only make the caretaker jobs easier, they offer a form of on-the-job training to help new workers get up to speed more quickly.”
–Suzanne Leonard, assistant professor and Extension specialist at North Carolina State University
“Technologies that can identify sick pigs both at the population and individual pig level.”
–Caleb Shull, director of research and innovation for The Maschhoffs
“Although I don’t know that it exists now, I fully expect ‘smart mortality management’ to emerge. Not only is this more in line with enhanced biosecurity, but it will also help cut down on manual labor to remove deads such as a rail system that can be used to hoist a dead pig versus anyone having to lift/drag it.”
–Benny Mote, swine Extension specialist and associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“I’m excited about adding artificial intelligence to lactation feeding so we can tailor a sow’s diet to her needs. We tell customers to maximize feed intake, because we win either way — heavier litter weight and increased sow backfat to re-breed quicker. However, there are some inefficient sows who we shouldn’t give maximum feed to because they aren’t going to convert it. This type of technology will save us money because before now, we couldn’t tell who was inefficient.”
–Brian Strobel, USA business development coordinator for Gestal/Jyga Technologies
“The technologies that excite me most have a return on investment whether that’s in throughput or labor savings (that could even be biosecurity).”
–Shaun McGinn, chief operating officer with Carthage System Professional Swine Management LLC
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