Wayne Singleton
To be called a “pioneer” in any field or discipline requires high marks from many who are willing to make such a designation. The term seems suitable...
Focusing on Reproductive Efficiency
This quarter's benchmarking article will concentrate on two areas. We will begin by comparing production records from the previous quarter and previous...
The Waldo Family
“For better or worse, we're still here.” The proclamation — commonly reserved for marital occasions - comes from Max Waldo, vice president and manager of Waldo Farms, Inc...
Birth Weight Effects on Postnatal Growth
In the existing commercial sow populations, variation in postnatal growth performance of their offspring may be already preprogrammed before birth. Because...
Assessing Sow Removal
Support system offers objective tool to help make culling decisions. Removing sows from the breeding herd for reproductive problems becomes a relatively...
Parity's Impact On Productivity
Parity structure of the breeding herd can have a significant effect on efficiency and profitability. The objective of this first in the 2008 quarterly...
Don't Mix Sows 10-14 Days after Breeding
As pork producers take up the challenge to house gestating sows in groups vs. individual stalls...
‘Skip-a-Heat’ Plan Helps Avoid Second-Parity Slump
Breeding Parity 1 sows at their second postweaning estrus has been shown to increase the number of live embryos detected at Day 30 of gestation. This increase in embryo viability may negate the effects of the second-parity dip in reproductive performance...
Litter Size Impact on Growth Rate Studied
Gains in sow productivity are one of the most impressive areas in pork production. Currently, some units are exceeding 30 pigs weaned/sow/year (p/s/y); 28 or 29 p/s/y are no longer considered unusual...
Structural Soundness in Commercial Gilts Studied
The objective of this study was to estimate leg soundness and body conformation trait variance using 1,449 gilts in a commercial sow unit. The gilts were from two commercial lines...
