Articles

There are several ways to evaluate feed cost and feed performance in wean-to-market pigs. Each method can provide a very different answer for the producer on what is the “BEST” way to feed a pig. In a perfect world we find the ideal marriage between biological performance and feed cost.

As swine producers, you all pay a health tax at the end of the year, whether you know it or not. This tax is paid on every pig and reflects the cost of less-than-perfect health in an operation.

The #1 key to preventing African Swine Fever virus (ASF) breaks is improving biosecurity. Be flexible. Use the sites and infrastructure around you to optimize health and production in ways you may not have attempted thus far. Use feed mitigants. Depopulating continuous flow sites with viral health challenges is key to recovering performance.

Personal Background: I come from a very humble family that had to immigrate from Zacatecas to Jalisco in search of opportunities. I am the fourth of seven siblings. I have always been involved in agriculture.

20 years ago, PIPESTONE started consulting in China. Consultation then turned into management, and later, ownership. Today, PIPESTONE is a minority owner in Riverstone, the operations group in Shandong Province. PIPESTONE oversees day-to-day operation for Riverstone, and Dr. Luke Minion serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.

Pork is the most consumed meat in the world. As a result, pig farming is a global pursuit. While the USA exports a significant portion of the pork we raise (nearly 30%), most pork is consumed within the country where the pigs were raised.

There are many items to remember as winter ventilation is upon us of how we want barns to operate. Here are a few to think of as you are braving the cold. Set Points: This is what you are telling the barn to maintain temperature at.

 The 2021 supply chain issues are well known. Various news publications speak to the challenge of logistics via air, ocean, road and rail, as well as the lack of labor and materials.

African Swine Fever (ASF) is an inevitable topic as we talk about the global swine industry, especially after August 2018 when ASF was reported for the first time in China, the world’s largest pig producer and consumer.

African swine fever (ASF) was diagnosed on Hispaniola in the Caribbean this summer, the Dominican Republic in July 2021, and in Haiti in September 2021. This is the first time since the 1980s that the virus has been found in the Western Hemisphere. It has never been diagnosed in the United States.

I’m an optimistic person by nature, but I’ve had to become more of a realist. This is truer than ever when preparing our business, and our clients, for the potential of a foreign animal disease entrance into the U.S.

Do you think you can impact the health of your piglets in the nursery by what the sow is eating at the sow farm? We had the very same question, and set out to conduct a research trial to test the idea.