Hog Production
Anticipation of a return to normal is in the air, CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange said in its latest quarterly report. But for the economy and rural industries, there will be no going back to pre-COVID conditions.
Biosecurity ranks high on the list of concerns for swine veterinarians who want hog units tightened up to reduce disease. Improvements can be expensive but the cost of not making those improvements could be much higher.
The adage that “knowledge is power” is especially true when it comes to understanding mold and mycotoxins. Lon Whitlow, professor emeritus at NC State University, offers five reminders to help livestock producers.
If you want to improve animal well-being and human safety on the farm, start by looking at the overall structure of the facility. Here are five safety and animal care tips to ensure your facilities remain sustainable.
“The wild hog is very possibly the most dangerous animal in the wild. And he knows no enemies and he knows no fear,” says Hank Berdine of the Mississippi Levee Board in a new video series, Feral Swine in America.
How will Proposition 12 be enforced? If I invest a lot of money to change my barn to be compliant, what’s coming next that I’ll need to adapt to? There are more questions than answers about Prop 12 implementation.
Taiwan has begun testing hog herds and putting in place movement controls near where a dead pig infected with African swine fever washed ashore over the weekend.
A wave of ASF outbreaks this year has wiped out at least 20% of the breeding herd in northern China, industry sources said, exceeding expected losses and raising fears about the potential impact in the south.
Each year, several thousand dogs enter the U.S. for resale or adoption. In a recent Hogs on the Hill article, NPPC chief veterinarian Liz Wagstrom wrote that it’s time to sound the alarm on importing rescue dogs.
Commodity prices have producers revisiting strategies to reduce feed costs and preserve profits, says Ryan Strobel, DVM, with Swine Vet Center.
Corn is the most commonly used cereal grain in diets for pigs and it can easily be grown. Innovation in corn genetics has resulted in a new cultivar that contains more oil than conventional hybrids of corn.
Eight years of research has led to a disquieting scenario for swine producers: Feed and feed ingredients could potentially serve as means for the introduction and transmission of foreign animal diseases of swine.
A shocker. A game-changer. A surprise. In USDA’s March 1 Quarterly Hogs & Pigs Report, analysts agree this very bullish report changes the outlook perspective.
The USDA’s March Hogs and Pigs report estimates represent the first March-over-March reduction since 2014, says Jason Franken, Western Illinois University ag economist. Here’s his perspective on the pork outlook.
Vaccines are the most important tool we have to control influenza, says Montserrat Torremorell. That’s why her team continually studies how it is transmitted and how vaccines can help prevent transmission.
Agricultural economists shared their forecasted prices for the next several quarters following the March 25 announcement of the March 1 Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report.
USDA revealed COVID-19 is still impacting U.S. pork supplies. The latest Hogs and Pigs Report showed a surprise reduction in overall numbers, including sows.
Solar energy falls into the renewable energy category, and its growth has skyrocketed over the last few decades due to lower installation costs and consumer demand for more sustainable energy.
Early detection is critical to control and eliminate transboundary diseases that threaten the U.S. pork industry. Dr. Jeff Zimmerman of Iowa State University says it’s time for a new approach to detect these threats.
China is taking in record amounts of soybeans from the U.S., Brazil as its hog population recovers from ASF that began nearly three years ago, but import expansion into the next marketing year might be minimal.
Swine transportation plays a big role in spreading infectious pathogens. Researchers investigated if thermal-assisted drying and decontamination can effectively inactivate ASF virus in the presence of organic materials.
Pseudorabies virus is ranked fourth in the SHIC Swine Disease Matrix due to the potential for the introduction of highly pathogenic PRV into the U.S. from Asia - an event which would have a major impact on pork exports.
Giving pigs the ability to digest more nutrients in their grains could help reduce the pork industry’s environmental impact, says new research published in eLife.
Extension launches an online platform for exchange of carbon sources needed by livestock producers hit hard by COVID-19.
Smithfield Foods aims to go beyond carbon neutrality and remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits and will achieve this goal without purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions.
The pivotal moment in the journey to more sustainable livestock production is now, says Brett Kaysen of the National Pork Board. Here’s a look at how the pork and poultry industries are driving progress.
British pig farmers have reduced their carbon footprint by almost 40% over the last 20 years, according to a new study led by the Institute of Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced a new protocol to help ensure bilateral trade will continue if African swine fever is detected in feral pigs.
It’s easy to identify the price of something, but it takes work to understand the value. Gene Noem says that couldn’t be more applicable to the $15-million investment made to fund the Swine Health Information Center.
A new variant of African swine fever in China has analysts weighing a range of scenarios that could play out in the year ahead.