Hog Production
“Let’s hope that USDA has an alternate plan,” says Ohio farmer and chairman of rural Voices USA Chris Gibbs during AgriTalk’s Friday Free-for-all discussion on the recent pork plant line speed ruling.
You spend time implementing best management practices on your farm – shouldn’t you do the same for your succession plan?
As much as our children may enjoy being out in the barn working with their animals, there are going to be some days where it’s hard not to groan about it a little. Here’s how one mom tackles grumbling in the barn.
Putting time into on-boarding greatly increases employee confidence and ensures they feel like they can help the farm and be seen as a contributing member of the team. Here’s how on-boarding has improved retention.
Iowa State graduate student Jamie Studer is studying immune cell profiles and circulating biomarkers in sows at farrowing to determine if they are predictive of future agalactia, or the absence of milk production.
A lot of attention has been directed toward keeping the employees you can’t afford to lose. However, sometimes there are employees on your farm that you can’t afford to keep because of various reasons.
It’s hard when sows die, says Luis Lopez, a breeding team lead at New Fashion Pork. The reality that you can do everything right and still experience loss on a farm is hard to deal with day in and day out.
With so much technology out there today, determining what products to use can be paralyzing – especially when your plate is already overflowing with things to do. Here are a few things we’ve learned at The Maschhoffs.
When one of us fails, we cause failure across the whole system. We can’t do it without each other, says Jose Santiago of Tosh Farms, winner of Carthage Swine Conference’s production tips competition.
The strategy for pig production is pretty simple, says Clayton Johnson, DVM. But we have to call out our challenges. How do producers manage execution and sustainability in a world of distractions?
Every detail matters when you’re talking about preventing a bacteria or virus from walking onto your sow farm. Here’s a look at why employee turnover may be one of your greatest biosecurity risks.
Mark Lyons is a little reticent about saying, “Let’s get back to normal.” That’s not where we want to go, says Alltech’s president and CEO. He shares his views on leadership strategy and the future in PORK Perspectives.
John Waddell, director of swine key account veterinarians at Boehringer Ingelheim, shares his views on mentoring, leadership, strategy and what he’s learned during his career in this exclusive Farm Journal’s PORK Q&A.
It may seem early, but it’s time to dust off the winter checklist. Josh Maschhoff is normally not one for lists, but with the sporadic Midwest weather, he says lists help prevent things from falling through the cracks.
The 44th annual World Ag Expo 2011 will take place Feb. 8 to 10 at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, Calif., with 1,600 exhibitors on 2.6 million sq. ft. of show grounds.
With new features, John Deere has added options specific for hay, livestock, commercial and other operator categories.
When it comes to biosecurity in the swine industry, have we made progress? Montserrat Torremorell doubts pork producers would have believed her 20 years ago what we are doing today to keep disease off the sow farm.
It’s no secret that the days of small hog operations have decreased over the past several decades. But, how much have these numbers really changed? Here’s a look at the trends by number.
From swine health and human resource development to personal growth and financial success, day one of the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, covered a wide range of topics. Here are a few things that are worth repeating.
While high-throughput pig phenotyping remains labor intensive and costly, a recent study set out to determine valuable, heritable traits while using less people and the addition of one camera.
With the extreme volatility the pork industry has seen recently, Steve Malakowsky poses the question: How do you not only survive the unknowns but thrive?
As group housing systems for gestating sows continue to increase in the U.S. swine industry, strategies to manage social interactions have become increasingly important. Here are three ways nutrition could help.
Traditional breeding, which relies on existing, natural genetic variation within a population, can produce pigs with enhanced robustness to disease in a subsequent generation, Topigs Norsvin said in a release.
Don’t underestimate what you do each and every day as a pig farmer – feeding your family as well as everyone else’s, says Heather Hill, president of the National Pork Board and an Indiana pig farmer.
New research shows soybean meal has more energy content than originally thought. This is good news for pig farmers and soybean growers. Here’s why.
From time to time, producers may experience an issue within their barns and suspect that feed may be playing a role. Here are a few key points to remember when gathering information to assess diets.
This is one of the biggest pieces of news the pork industry has had in regard to disease control in years, says Scott Dee regarding real-world proof linking virus transmission in feed to an outbreak of disease in pigs.
What is the prevalence of viral co-infections in swine herds? How are multiple viruses co-evolving? Those are just two of the questions Mariana Meneguzzi, a University of Minnesota Ph.D. student, is trying to answer.
Why should the U.S. pork industry continue to pay attention to Japanese Encephalitis Virus in Australia? Here’s a look at how JEV compares to West Nile Virus and what makes the U.S. a concerning environment.
From outrunning bears to riding a bucking horse, the Carthage Swine Conference equipped pork producers with great perspectives to consider. Here are a few I keep coming back to that might inspire or encourage you.