Hog Production
California Proposition 12 creates significant challenges and market uncertainty for pig farmers across the country and has far-reaching implications beyond the pork industry, NPPC notes in its latest economic update.
For 2024, USDA projects that food price inflation will be lower than that seen in 2023 and significantly lower than the rise seen in 2022.
As the biofuel industry expands in response to federal biofuel polices to reduce GHG emissions and fossil fuel usage, agro-industrial byproducts, such as corn-DDGS and soybean meal, will be more available for livestock.
The spread between cattle feeding margins and beef packer margins has now reached $500 per head as packing losses increase. Pork producer margins are the highest of the year.
A heat wave that’s smashed records in the Southwest is spreading into the Midwest and Northeast this week. Unfortunately, it’s the peak of county fair season for many and the daunting forecast has exhibitors concerned.
Annoying. Bothersome. Irritating. Inconvenience. Pest. No matter how you describe Musca domestica, aka the house fly, and its friend the gnat, one thing’s for sure – they are a nuisance and a threat to your swine herd.
“Most farms don’t have the time, capabilities, perspectives, resources or desire to do all the tasks it takes to run an operation,” says Steve Kluemper, AgriStrategies LLC founder. “A lot of growers hire to fill gaps.”
The first step to winning the war for workers is to keep your star employees happy. Here’s how three farmers retain and attract employees.
Matt and Lisa Moreland hoped at least one of their sons would return home to farm after college. What they didn’t anticipate? All three sons wanted to come back. Here are four things the family learned in the process.
There’s a $400 spread between cattle feeding margins and packer margins – now in the cowboy’s favor. Cattle harvest is lower as packers reduce hours, a signal their margins are in the red.
It’s always hard to prove the disappearance of something, says National Pork Board’s Chris Hostetler. But just because you can’t always see it happen, doesn’t mean it’s not. Feed wastage and spillage is a great example.
Sow mortality due to POP is even more relevant than a year ago because it’s no longer an issue isolated to the U.S. Sow mortality reports are increasing around the world. That’s why a new genomics study is turning heads.
The line-up of speakers and topics for the 2023 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference is out!
Do you have a plan for swine vaccination administration? Here’s one tool that can help.
China’s second-quarter pork output rose 4.6% from a year earlier to 14.4 million metric tons, the highest in at least a decade for the period, as farmers raised more pigs on hopes of better demand.
Ventilation systems that function at their best are critical for pork operations. IPIC is now offering a seasonal approach to checking the various components in an easy-to-use checklist format to help producers.
USDA’s APHIS is awarding more than $3.2 million to create antimicrobial resistance dashboards to improve access to information on antimicrobial resistance in domesticated animals.
Meanwhile, service prices and the core index (which excludes food and energy) remain high, with the core CPI descending to 4.8%.
Last week produced the lowest feed costs and lowest break evens for pigs placed in the finish barns since December 2021. Cattle feeders also saw declining feeding costs.
This slump, deeper than May’s 7.5% drop, represents the largest decline since February 2020.
Swine nutrition can be a complex beast under the best conditions. However, when you have pigs flowing from a disease challenge or with a history of a disease challenge, that can take the complexity up a notch.
The U.S. pork industry has a plan to help keep foreign animal diseases like African swine fever (ASF) out of the country, but it requires everyone in the pork industry to do their part.
Beef packers put away the red ink last week as they turned modest profits on every animal processed. Feedyard margins, however, slipped a little further away from positive.
Cattle feeding margins declined $45 per head last week, leaving average per head losses at more than $77.
The pain eased somewhat for cattle feeders last week, but losses remain more than $170 per head.
It was another ugly week for cattle feeders.
Cattle feeders added a little powder and lipstick to closeouts this week, but the ugly continues to shine through.
Cattle feeding margins took another turn south last week after a nearly $4 per cwt. decline in fed cattle prices.
Cattle feeding margins took another tumble last week after a $1 per cwt. decline in fed cattle prices.
The financial pain of feeding cattle eased again last week, but losses remain more than $125 per head.