August 15, 2007

Cover Story

Sow Housing Debated

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

A University of Illinois animal scientist offers support for individual stalls, while a Canadian scientist provides an overview of group sow housing research....

Features

Exercise Improves Bone Density

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

Trials of encouraged-exercise in gestating stall-housed sows improved bone density, bone-breaking strength and piglet survivability, but it had no real...

One Size Does Not Fit All

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

The variation in body size of sows needs greater consideration before gestation stalls are abandoned altogether. Pork producers should ask themselves...

Pen Gestation Isn't Complicated

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

The general manager of the country's largest pen gestation system says producers shouldn't fear group sow housing. Bob Ivey wanted to leave the standing-room-only...

Accident Response Plan

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

North Carolina's largest integrator has formalized a means of dealing with live hog-hauling accidents to ensure animal well-being. Murphy-Brown's Animal...

Apparatus Eases Pig Moving Chore

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Suzanne Deutsch

Canadian producer's invention makes moving pigs a one-person job. Mary Haugh was desperate. Her husband had just suffered two heart attacks in three days,...

Parity Distribution Will Affect Your Bottom Line

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ken Stalder Iowa State University Ames, IA

This third article in the benchmarking series focuses on productivity differences among sow parity groups and the cost of a PRRS outbreak. We continue...

Carthage Group Expands Outreach Services

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

Plans are to improve office space and add training and educational facilities for visitors from the United States and abroad. Carthage Veterinary Services...

Making ESF Work

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

Field studies at the University of Pennsylvania track application and performance of electronic sow feeders (ESF). Consulting veterinarian Tom Parsons...

My Perspective

Stalls or Pens? Ask the Sows!

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

Is the move to abandon stalls for gestating sows a done deal? Not in some people's minds. Listen close and you'll hear a murmur spreading in the pork...

Vets on Call

Lameness, Arthritis Challenges Persist

Aug 15, 2007 12:00 PM, By Bill Minton, DVM Chickasaw, OH

Look beyond disease for solutions to structural issues. Most hogs are raised on some type of concrete flooring. These hard surfaces place structural demands...