More in Reproduction

In a national effort to assess the role of genetics in determining pig resistance/susceptibility to PRRS virus infection and related pathology and growth effects, the PRRS Host Genetics Consortium (PHGC) was formed. By collecting data on large numbers of PRRS virus-infected pigs, researchers aim to identify and verify important genotypes and phenotypes that predict resistance, tolerance or susceptibility to viral infection....More

An international consortium made up of more than 50 university, industry and government laboratories in the United States, Europe and Asia worked for more than 10 years to produce a detailed annotation of the pig genome....More

National headlines are proclaiming a bacon shortage and grocery stores and bacon-burger restaurants may already be raising prices, according to a post Wednesday by Illinois blogger Stu Ellis. In short, the headlines may push consumers away from even checking prices in the meat case, assuming that bacon is too expensive to afford for a family trying to survive the recession.  But what is the real situation with regard to the availability of pork products?...More

In the last few months, we have fielded numerous calls and reviewed a lot of farm data to take a hard look at why there is so much variation in farrowing rate between farms and weeks of the year....More

University of Missouri study shows only 17 percent of sows in open pen gestation locations....More

In this fourth in a series of articles on the impact of artificial insemination (AI) technicians on farrowing rate and total pigs born, we have separated out information on the effect of female returns to estrus on total born and number of pigs born alive...More

  The Midwest Boar Stud Managers Conference Aug. 9-10 in St. Louis will explain the newest advancements in academic and industry research to better manage male pigs....More

  The U.S. sow herd experiences a greater than 50% replacement rate annually, an average parity at culling of 3.5 to 3.8 and fewer than 40 pigs produced during a sow’s lifetime, according to Ken Stalder, an Iowa State University animal science professor, who has reviewed available databases. The five most common reasons sows leave the herd are: 1) Reproductive failure 2) Feet and leg soundness 3) Age 4) Mortality 5) Postweaning issues  ...More

  The National Pork Board's six producer-led science and technology committees recently met in Dallas, TX, and reviewed research proposals to select projects that the Pork Checkoff would fund in 2012. In all, the groups reviewed more than 100 proposals, ultimately selecting those that would be of greatest benefit to the overall industry....More

Swine Management Services (SMS) launched the farm benchmarking program in 2005 with about 150 farms, totaling 250,000 sows....More