Category: Articles

Foreign animal diseases to look out for besides ASF

Provided by National Hog Farmer | Written by: Attila Farkas, DVM | May 2019   African swine fever is getting a lot of coverage in the media as outbreaks continue to occur across Asia and the European Union, while other foreign animal diseases are getting less “publicity” even though the introduction of these infectious agents would have similar economic effects and cripple the U.S. pork industry and exports. In modern day swine production, free trade agreements, free trade blocks, regionalization, increased international passenger travel and

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How to optimize cost of feed per pound of gain?

Provided by National Hog Farmer | Written by: Will Fombelle, DVM | April 2019   Oftentimes while summarizing a wean-to-finish closeout report, most producers will center their attention around metrics such as percent Grade A pigs, average daily gain and feed conversion rate. These metrics are very important to a producer’s bottom line; however a finishing production metric that does not get much publicity or attention is the “cost of feed per pound of gain.” When we compare “feed conversion rate” and “cost of feed

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Hard lessons have been learned with PEDV, PDCoV

By Aaron Lower, DVM | November 2017 The industry is embarking on its fifth winter of managing porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and porcine deltacoronavirus. As we move into our seasonal epidemic, it is important to review the key exclusion and management principles that we have learned over the past five years. We have learned some hard lessons as an industry. Do not let time fade our memories and become complacent. Industry has made great progress Courtesy of the University of Minnesota and Dr. Bob Morrison’s

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Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae: Elimination or control?

By Clayton Johnson, DVM | October 2017   For decades, we’ve lived with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo) and have come to accept it as an endemic pathogen of swine. Heck, we even named it “enzootic pneumonia,” which implies this respiratory pathogen will forever hinder pig growth and producer profitability. Now is not the time to surrender and accept M. hyo as a fact of swine production. In fact, as respiratory challenges from other viruses continue to mount, the economic impact of M. hyo becomes even greater.

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2017 CVS Annual Conference-Biggest One Yet!

The Annual Conference held in Macomb, IL on Aug. 29 was the biggest one in the conference’s history. More than 689 registered. As part of the program, individuals, groups, and farms are recognized for excellence in swine operations through its Swine Awards of Excellence. This program is designed to highlight the year and provide shared enjoyment of the outstanding people we work with in the swine production business. Awards were presented by Dr. Joe Connor. Not pictured but receiving awards included: Kevin Avise (Good Neighbor), Riverview Orleans Finisher – Carie Nalley (Outstanding Finisher);

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Investing in new employees critical to success

      Taking a systematic approach to training and remaining humble can help reduce turnover and allow you to recuperate the initial investment in employee training many times over.    By Neal Benjamin, DVM | September 15, 2017   Bringing new employees up to speed quickly and giving them tools they need to succeed long term is critical to the longevity of any business especially hog farming. Unfortunately hog farmers struggle to find quality skilled workers and despite offering competitive wages turnover remains a problem across

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4 ways to manage, eliminate PEDV within finishing systems

               Uncovering the route of disease introduction into a negative population may be the most important step in PEDV elimination.    By William Fombelle, DVM | August 25, 2017 Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has continued to greatly challenge the swine industry since its introduction into the American swine herd in May 2013. As we work through PEDV introductions in our wean-finish systems, it is important for producers to recognize that PEDV elimination is possible but does not come without the

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Management strategies can mitigate impact of seasonal infertility

       Further studies on photoperiod and hormonal changes will be essential to fully understanding the impact of seasonal infertility, but interventions serve as an aid in reducing its impact.    By Megan Schnur, DVM | July 21, 2017   Though swine are polyestrous, prior to domestication they were seasonal breeders. In North America pigs would become anestrous in the summer and early fall, presumably to avoid cold weather farrowing and reduce piglet mortality. Although clear evidence is lacking, these characteristics are thought to have been

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Best practices for managing and controlling neonatal diarrhea

             It is essential that strategies of prevention and control ensure a sanitized and temperature controlled environment to achieve an appropriate balance between the environmental pathogen        load and piglet immunity.  By Attila Farkas, DVM | June 16, 2017    Neonatal piglet diarrhea is a very common and relevant problem in modern pig production. It is associated with increased pre-weaning mortality, poor growth rates and variation in weight at    weaning. The newborn pig has an immature mucosal immune

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Swine audits provide animal care scorecard

          The overarching goal of the common audit process is to provide consumers greater assurance of the care taken by farmers and pork processors to improve animal well-being and food safety.     By Dyneah Classen, DVM | May 19, 2017 Harvest facilities (packers) have started third-party auditing requirements for hog farms supplying or marketing hogs to them. The audit programs initially varied by packer and were intended to assure consumers that the animals that produce their pork are well cared for

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