January 15, 2009

Cover Story

Gilt Multiplier Closes In On 30 Pigs/Sow/Year

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

Increasing pigs/sow/year (p/s/y) is a worthwhile goal as it translates to more pigs out the door, lowers cost of production and drives profits....

This Month's Focus: Building Better Gilts

Making the 30 P/S/Y Dream Come True

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

There is a quiet revolution taking place in today's pork industry....

Calculating Payback Parity For Replacement Gilts

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Ken Stalder Extension Swine Specialist Iowa State University

The run up in feed costs has impacted the profitability...

What is Net Present Value?

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM

Net Present Value (NPV) analysis is the process of taking a current investment (in this case the replacement gilt), and projecting the future net income...

Sows in Groups Preferred

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

Electronic feeding system Just over 10 years ago, Bryan Ruwe decided it was time to move his breeding herd from dirt lots and the hot and cold temperature extremes common to northeast Nebraska to a more controlled environment. The options ranged from individual sow stalls, the most popular choice of the day, to...

Building Better Gilt Management Systems

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

Successful placement of gilts into the breeding herd and their ability to remain there through at least three parities has three basic...

Environmental Steward Nominations Now Open

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Dale Miller Editor

Pork producers have a long-standing record of environmental stewardship. To recognize some of the top environmental management programs in the U.S. swine...

Concerned About the New CAFO Rules?

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Eldon McAfee Beving, Swanson & Forrest, P.C. Des Moines, IA

In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued rules in what many hope will be the last chapter for the overhaul of federal rules regulating concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)....

Track Age, Weight to Boost Sow Lifetime Performance

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, Joe Vansickle

Gilt development programs are often complex and conflicting because the research does not conclusively reveal the impact of gilt growth on lifetime sow productivity....

From My Perspective

Real vs. Ideal – Reality Usually Wins

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, by Dale Miller Editor

Most everyone at one time or another has probably uttered: My life would be perfect...

News and Views

Pork Groups Respond To Welfare Concerns

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By Joe Vansickle Senior Editor

The National Pork Board is confident that its voluntary educational animal welfare...

Veterinarians on Call

Health Rules for Replacement Gilts

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM, By John Waddell, DVM Sutton, NE

The problem with gilts is that they have to be gilts before they can be sows....

Gilt Research Roundup

Trait Interactions Offer Clues to Sow Lifetime Performance

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM

A 10-year snapshot of PigChamp data shows the average culling frequency of breeding females in U.S. commercial herds is 45%, while mortality rates stand at nearly 8%....

Sow Housing Affects Offsprings' Growth, Puberty

Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM

Fetal programming is a phenomenon by which a significant or constant stimulus in the sow's uterus establishes a permanent response in the fetus that impacts physiologic function later in life. It has been reported that pregnancy rate was 15% higher...