Are You an Olympian?
The Olympians are the summer’s bright spot — each striving to achieve a “personal best” in their sport of choice. Pork producers are facing Olympic-caliber challenges, too Skyrocketing feed costs will require each to hone his/her personal skills in a battle scored in the profit/loss columns of Excel spreadsheets.
Geothermal Design Banks on Tempered Air
Agricultural engineers at the University of Minnesota have spent the better part of a year capturing a snapshot of the energy-saving capabilities of a one-of-a-kind, 900-sow, breed-to-wean facility fitted with matching sets of five geothermal heat exchangers on both sides of the structure. The relatively simple design allows outside air to be pulled through each of 10 heat exchangers to temper air (heat in winter, cool in summer) as it enters 8-ft.-wide hallways that serve as inlet air-mixing chambers.
Be Proactive or Perish
The damn-the-data attitude of anti-meat groups has permeated the attitudes of the general public and too many members of Congress. The lackadaisical attitude about the science of food production is setting dangerous precedents that will haunt livestock producers for generations to come.
Reshuffling EU Sow Counts
Sow numbers in the European Union (EU) are down slightly from 13 million sows, 2010 vs. 2011. “A number of big countries have seen limited change, while in a number of eastern and central European countries the change is massive,” points out Peter Kristensen, DVM, former general manager of animal health for Boehringer Ingelheim in the Ukraine, Belorussia and Kazakhstan.
‘When Crates Go Away’
Done poorly, the loss of sow performance and the increase in sow mortality will explode.” That is the learned observation of Peter Kristensen, DVM, a native of Denmark, who most recently served as general manager of animal health for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. in the Ukraine, Belorussia and Kazakhstan.
Sow Body Condition Caliper Guides Feeding
Most of the 5.8 million sows in the United States are fed to a subjective body condition target. Yet the majority of barn workers, farm managers and service staff are not highly trained in estimating body composition. And, on some farms, the task of scoring body condition may fall to more than one individual, thus compounding the variation.
Feeding the World
That is the rhetorical — and practical — question hanging over meetings and conferences associated with agriculture these days. In the livestock sector, the long-term health and sustainability of our production systems will require sensible laws and guidelines to meet that goal. The key word being — sensible. Hardly a week goes by that the livestock and poultry industries aren’t beaten up over some generally proven management or processing practice. Commonly, the red flag-wavers are affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) or other anti-meat advocates. Two of their favorite targets include the use of low-level antibiotics in livestock diets and housing gestating sows in stalls.
2012 Master of the Pork Industry Dianne Bettin
2012 Master of the Pork Industry Dianne Bettin is an unwavering advocate for the pork industry. Bettin believes her pork industry involvement has benefitted their hog operation in several ways. “When you’re involved in the industry, you have the opportunity to see and hear about how others do things on a day-to-day basis. It makes you a better person, and your hog operation will be better because of all of the things you’ve learned,” she explains.
2012 Master of the Pork Industry Steve Pollmann
National Hog Farmer's Masters of the Pork Industry are professionals, entrepreneurs, and family-based men and women whose dedication and wisdom are sure to inspire young and old as they tackle the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in an ever-changing, global pork industry. 2012 Master Steve Pollmann went from a modest FFA pig project to managing one of the nation's largest hog enterprises.
New Digs, Old Files
A couple of months ago, word came down that we would be moving from the third floor to a smaller space on the sixth floor in the same office building. Being a bit of a pack rat, I was faced with the daunting task of paring down the contents of a cache of filing cabinets to a “more manageable” number. So, for the last month or so, I set aside a few hours each week to pore through pork industry files that dated back to the early 1970s.
Untangling the Iodine Value Riddle
Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) has become the go-to ingredient to substitute for higher-priced corn in swine diets. Some packers have put producers on notice that the excessive iodine value levels in carcass fat that result from DDGS inclusion in the diets will be met with price penalties.
Keeping a Lid on Iodine Values
Iodine value pressure points have pushed producers and their nutritionists to learn more about iodine values, what affects them, and what can be done to meet packer restrictions.
A Pig is What it Eats
A recent press release announced that the ethanol industry had overtaken livestock as the largest consumer of the nation’s corn supply. The release, citing data from North American Risk Management Services, Inc., explained that ethanol production had nearly quadrupled between 2005 and 2011, now gobbling up 5.02 billion bushels, more than 40% of last year’s harvest. Corn use for livestock and poultry feed fell 22% during that period and now accounts for about 4.79 billion bushels of the 2011 crop.
