fbpx
Sign up now!
Don't show this again
Download the report!Continue to Site >
or wait 7 secs

Thank you for confirming your subscription!

(And remember, if ever you want to change your email preferences or unsubscribe, just click on the links at the bottom of any email.)

We’re glad you’re enjoying Pig Health Today.
Access is free but you’ll need to register to view more content.
Already registered? Sign In
Tap to download the app
X
Share
X

REPORTS

Collect articles and features into your own report to read later, print or share with others

Create a New Report

Favorites

Read Later

Create a new report

Report title (required) Brief description (optional)
CREATE
X
NEXT
PORK POULTRY
follow us


You must be logged in to edit your profile.

Favorites Read Later My Reports PHT Special Reports
Pig Health Today is equipped with some amazing (and free) tools for organizing and sharing content, as well as creating your own magazines and special reports. To access them, please register today.
Sponsored by Zoetis

Pig Health Today | Sponsored by Zoetis

.
Featured Video Play Icon

‘Coopetition’ healthy for pork industry

Teaming up to share ideas and troubleshoot swine-health issues can be good for pork producers and the industry, said Joel Nerem, DVM, a swine veterinarian with Pipestone Veterinary Services, Pipestone, Minnesota.

This form of collaboration is known as “coopetition.” Although the word itself may be new to the pork industry, veterinarians, producers and others have long practiced it, said Nerem, who moderated a panel discussion on the topic at the 2017 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference.

He cited the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Program  (formerly the Swine Health Monitoring Project) created by the late Bob Morrison, DVM, University of Minnesota, as an example of how this kind of collaboration can benefit pork producers. Over the years, the program has enlisted the participation of many of the nation’s largest pig producers to cooperate in sharing health-status information, especially on the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus in breeding herds.

Today nearly 1,000 sow farms from more than two dozen companies are enrolled in this project. Each week the companies share the health status of these farms. This helps them track new infection rates of PRRS, Nerem said.  He called it a good first step in trying to understand the epidemiology of PRRS in sow farms.

Another good example of coopetition is the Pipestone System, which has allowed pork producers to pool their resources on breeding and farrowing while maintaining their independent grower-finisher operations, Nerem said. Similar programs have emerged elsewhere in the pork industry.

“I think one of the keys with coopetition is that we find it easier to cooperate with competitors when we are all looking at getting the same return from it. If your farm has bad health and my farm has good health, you’re putting me at risk,” he said. “So, it’s in my best interests to help you get better whether it’s related to biosecurity or improving your [herd] health. We all have a vested interest in improving the health of all of our farms because the worst health is a risk to everyone.”

Nerem said this shared interest extends to other areas, including communicating with consumers, strengthening public perception and research. Coopetition can be helpful in telling the story of pork and the pork industry to consumers, he said.

“It’s all in our best interests to keep pork as a product of choice, as something that is desirable to our society,” he said. “We need to make sure we are working together to communicate and promote our product as safe and wholesome and [demonstrating] the things we are doing on our farms are sustainable and in the best interests of our farms and our society.”

He added that coopetition can also strengthen the knowledge base for producers and others in the industry. For example, he cited a session at the Leman conference where representatives from two competing companies presented the outcome of tests they’d conducted separately on weaning ages in baby pigs and subsequent performance.

“That kind of collaboration and sharing is good for the industry,” he said. “It’s good for all producers and helps us build that knowledge base we can work off of together.”

 

 

 

 




Posted on April 9, 2018

tags: , ,
RELATED NEWS



You must be logged in to edit your profile.

Google Translate is provided on this website as a reference tool. However, Poultry Health Today and its sponsor and affiliates do not guarantee in any way the accuracy of the translated content and are not responsible for any event resulting from the use of the translation provided by Google. By choosing a language other than English from the Google Translate menu, the user agrees to withhold all liability and/or damage that may occur to the user by depending on or using the translation by Google.