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Tips to improve pen gestation for sows
Many pork producers successfully manage sows in group gestation pens after completing breeding and pregnancy checks in crates. Here are suggestions to help maximize sow productivity in pen gestation.
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Lowering pre-wean mortality starts at day 1
Pre-wean mortality continues to be a challenge to producers across the industry as genetic improvements allow sows to be more prolific and achieve higher total born.
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Michigan switches to pen gestation April 1; Ohio is next
Hog operations in Michigan face an April 1, 2020, deadline for switching from individual stalls to pens for sow gestation.
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Strategies to move more pigs from birth to harvest
Litter sizes on US hog farms have steadily increased, but that’s a good-news/bad-news development as those large litters often come at a price, which is more low-birthweight piglets.
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Strategies to move more pigs: Low weight piglets have trouble surviving
Watch Part 1 of the interview on moving pigs from birth to harvest.
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Strategies to move more pigs: Importance of nutrition
Watch Part 2 of the interview on moving pigs from birth to harvest.
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Researchers tackle survivability issues head-on
One in three pigs born on US farms fail to reach market, according to Jason Ross, PhD, a professor of animal physiology at Iowa State University and director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center.
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Mycoplasma elimination possible, but more difficult on farrow-to-finish sites
With the right program in place, eliminating mycoplasma pneumonia is possible on many hog farms.
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Sow pads show promise for reducing shoulder sores, related infections
During farrowing and lactation, sows can easily develop shoulder sores, which in turn become infected. Could a little padding help?
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Positive interactions with sows reduce piglet crushing
Encouraging staff to have more direct involvement with managing and handling sows can have positive impacts on herd welfare and mortality rates, say scientists.
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Processing fluids hold promise for PCV2 testing on sow farms
Understanding the pathogen status of a sow herd helps determine the prevention, control and treatment options to protect piglets as they grow. For PCV2 there is no treatment; however, vaccination is...
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Perineal scoring first clue to pelvic-organ prolapse in sow-mortality project
A large research project involving 104 US sow farms and 400,000 sows is expected to identify factors related to the recent increase in sow mortalities caused by pelvic-organ prolapses.
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Why did sow-mortality rates jump to 15%?
The spike in sow-mortality rates over the past decade has prompted the US pork industry to hunt for answers.
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Inflammation, stress put pressure on sow longevity
In recent years, producers have focused on pigs per sow per year and number of pigs weaned to maximize profits, but increased litter size puts pressure on sow longevity.
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Carthage vets focusing on ‘regional’ IAV-S vaccination strategies for breeding herds
As influenza viruses evolve, is there a more effective way to manage vaccinations for influenza A virus in swine?
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Mycoplasma control starts with stabilizing sow herd
Economic losses caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae run between $3 to $10 per finishing hog due to reduced pig performance, according to Elise Toohill, DVM, Carthage Veterinary Service.
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Why sows leave the herd: Biological priorities and productivity
When it comes to sow productivity, culling and mortality issues, “the simple answer is there’s no simple answer,” John Deen, DVM, University of Minnesota swine epidemiologist, told Pig Health...
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Connor: No clear winner in pen- versus crate-gestation debate
Sow housing during gestation continues to draw debate as some hog operations make a switch from crates to pens for gestation. The results are mixed.
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Yeske: Multiple factors contributing to rising sow-mortality rates
The spike in sow-mortality rates in recent years has everyone in the US pork industry searching for answers. Don’t expect any simple solutions, however.
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Streptococcus suis leads SHIC’s Swine Bacterial Disease Matrix list
Viruses tend to get first priority when it comes to monitoring swine diseases and herd health, but bacteria can wreak just as much havoc.
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Needles & Sins: Sloppy vaccination protocols can jeopardize herd health, welfare, returns
Nick Zanger learned a few tough lessons about vaccine protocols shortly after he started managing three 2,500-head nursery-to-finishing buildings near Loraine, Illinois.
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Strep suis resurfacing to challenge high-health herds
What’s old is new again — or at least that’s what some high-health herds are finding with Streptococcus suis (Strep suis).
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Seven tips for fine tuning sow feed efficiency
Want to know what’s really impacting your bottom line? Get down to slat level, says a sow-management specialist. That’s where the less obvious feed-related factors could be stealing your ROI.
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Immunocastrated pigs eat less, convert more efficiently, so what’s holding them back in the US?
Imagine a corn field twice the size of Chicago. That’s what the pork industry could potentially save annually if it adopted an alternative to conventional castration. With about 55 million male...
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Two tactics to reduce stillborns and improve piglet survival
Two midwestern sow operations recently discussed how each achieves high piglet-survival rates by using different techniques to attend farrowing.
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Piglets are key subpopulation in keeping IAV-S circulating
When it comes to influenza A virus in swine (IAV-S), the relationship between the sow’s immune status and piglet protection remains perplexing.
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Yeske: Mycoplasma elimination ‘always a good strategy’
Eliminating mycoplasma from a herd works well with a fast payback, even in hog-dense areas, according to research conducted by Paul Yeske, DVM, Swine Vet Center, St. Peter, Minnesota.
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What’s driving the surge in sow mortality?
Sow mortality in US herds has trended upward in recent years, and identifying the reasons has frustrated producers and veterinarians alike.
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IPIC targeting losses from sow mortality
Healthy and productive sows help ensure profitable and efficient herds. So, when the sow mortality rate due to pelvic organ prolapse started to increase throughout the industry for no apparent...
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PRRSV in finishers may contribute to the disease on sow farms
It’s time to consider the role finishing pigs play in the spread of PRRSV to sow farms.
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Batch farrowing offers smaller sow farms improved disease control
Independent sow farms grouped together and using batch farrowing may be able to capture the same health advantages as a 5,000-sow farm with all-in, all-out production.
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Cull-sow market endangers foreign animal-disease prevention
The US cull-sow market could threaten containment plans if a foreign animal-disease (FAD) outbreak occurred in the US, according to Jim Lowe, DVM, associate professor at the University of Illinois.
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Colostrum intake at birth sets up pig for life
How much colostrum a piglet consumes on day 1 impacts the pig’s performance for the rest of its life, according to a North Carolina State University study.
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Future vaccines rely on other pathways for delivery
What developing technologies and products will make vaccine administration and compliance easier in the future?
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Pig vaccination 101
Employees can make a big difference in herd health by properly administering vaccines. But employees don’t always know the correct protocols and why vaccinations are so important.
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How long do mycoplasma-negative herds stay negative?
Most hog farms successfully stamp out mycoplasma pneumonia when they work with their veterinarian to eliminate the disease. The challenge is preventing reinfection.
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Boar stud requires high health status, zero tolerance for biosecurity errors
A boar stud producing semen for thousands of sows needs to maintain excellent health with the highest level of biosecurity possible.
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What you need to know about CSI auditors
Anyone who owns hogs or hog buildings should expect a visit someday by an auditor who will conduct an animal-welfare and food-safety audit. Usually a packer or processor requests the audit, which is...
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Urine-sampling options make it easier to evaluate gilt and sow health
Urine samples are an effective but underutilized diagnostic tool for evaluating the nutritional, physiological and health status of gilts and sows.
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Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae: ‘Fix the gilts, fix Mycoplasma’
There’s a lot we think we know about M. hyo under field conditions, but there’s a paucity of peer-reviewed literature to support much of the conventional wisdom we swine veterinarians apply to...
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Scientists aim to breed out sow aggression
Scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) are hoping to help pig producers improve herd welfare thanks to a $1 million project aimed at finding ways to breed out sow aggression.
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IAV-S elimination in breed-to-wean herds is challenging — but possible
Influenza A virus in swine (IAV-S) continues to present an ever-changing health challenge in breed-to-wean populations.
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Routes of Senecavirus A transmission identified in breeding herds
A study of the way swine breeding herds were likely infected with Senecavirus A (SVA) underscores the importance of encouraging adherence to biosecurity procedures.
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Colostrum may be best sample for PCV2 on sow farms
Colostrum may be the best sample to test for determining whether porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is present in sow herds, according to researchers at Iowa State University (ISU).
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Time to reboot disease surveillance
US pork production has gone through dramatic changes over recent decades, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the challenge that infectious disease presents. Swine veterinarians, researchers and...
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Oral fluids offer practical on-farm disease surveillance
Monitoring the spread of a pathogen is one part of disease surveillance. But early identification is another part — arguably with growing importance as millions of pigs move across state lines each...
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