If you want to make change in the pork business, it has to be practical and executable, said Clayton Johnson, DVM, before a standing-room-only crowd at the 2023 Carthage Swine Conference in Quincy., Ill., on Aug 29. Not only did the conference equip producers with great perspectives to think about when it comes to making changes in their pork operations, but it also provided an opportunity for networking and collaboration. Here are some of the quotes that caught my attention and got people talking.
“Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up.”
– James Pflum, Professional Swine Management, in “Long Distance Gilts”
“The best thing for the owner-contract grower relationship is pig health. What are we doing at the sow farm level to give growers a healthier pig and make their job easier?”
– Phil Borgic, Borgic Farms, in “Sustainable Contract Grower Relationships”
“We absolutely need to evolve our tactics to stay true to our principles. In many ways we have to embrace change in our tactics to stay true to our principles. As our resources, service providers, products we use get better and better, we need to embrace those that make us more efficient producers.”
– Clayton Johnson, DVM, Carthage Veterinary Service, in “Innovating Your Business”
“How do we make money? 1. Meet customer needs. 2. Manage controllable costs. 3. Operational excellence. 4. Provide superior service. 5. Innovate. 6. Create value through differentiation.”
– Jesse Dohlman, Tyson Foods, in “Sustainability from a Packer Perspective”
“Biocontainment is as important as biosecurity.”
–Joe Connor, DVM, in “Leaving Health Better”
“This evolution of genetic improvement offers the ability to accelerate positive change through precision improvement. Gene editing, especially when utilized for loss of function edits, is well aligned with evolving priorities and demands of the global marketplace. This is the first, but not the last, practical example of precision genetic improvement being a proactive benefit towards advancing a quadruple bottom line – people, pigs, profit and planet.”
– Matt Culbertson, PIC, in “An Update on the Path to a PRRS-Resistant Pig”
“Going to the farm and making a list doesn’t make farm better. It’s the execution of the things on the list.”
– Clayton Johnson, DVM, Carthage Veterinary Service, in “Wean to Finish Auditing: Keys to Success”
“Lineages may be a more predictive PRRS classification system. Get to know them.”
– Chris Rademacher, DVM, Iowa State University, in “PRRS Outbreak Management: Leveraging the POMP Database”
“Post-weaning E. coli cases have increased at the ISU VDL. Isolates are more likely to have virulence factors.”
– Marcelo Almeida, DVM, Iowa State University, in “Post-weaning E. coli Trends at the Diagnostic Laboratory”
“Fast, easily read and understood records allow you to better manage your operation’s gilt progress over long distances without having to always be there.”
– James Pflum, Professional Swine Management, in “Long Distance Gilts”
“We are in a survival mode right now and we need to do everything right when it comes to health.”
– Rob Brenneman, Brenneman Pork, in “Leaving Health Better”
Read More:
Top Things People Said at the 2022 Carthage Swine Conference
