Swine in Minnesota

Litter birth weight phenotype and its influence on embryonic and placental development at day 30 of gestation

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

The Science Page this week is a collaboration between the University of Alberta and Hendrix Genetics regarding low litter birth weight phenotypes in sows.

Key points

In every herd there is a population of sows that produce low birth weight piglets independent of the litter size
The litter birth weight phenotype (LBWP) is a sow-related phenotype
Low LBWP sows show delayed embryonic and placental development on day 30 of gestation

PRRS podcast series: One or two vaccine doses against PRRS?

Podcasts are a perfect way to get caught up with new swine information! We are presenting you the latest episode from “At The Meeting… Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison” in collaboration with SwineCast.

There are already two episodes in this series. We shared the second episode last week and the first episode the week before. Feel to listen to them if you have not already!

This episode focuses on vaccination strategies against PRRS. What is best? One or two doses?
Drs. Torremorell, Spronk, and Wetzel are talking with Dr. Scott Dee from Pipestone Veterinary Services and Dr. Reid Philips from Boehringer-Ingleheim.

Listen to the podcast (17 minutes)

Effect of intervention practices to control the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) outbreak during the first epidemic year (2013-2014) on time to absence of clinical signs and the number of dead piglets per sow in Japan

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

This week, the MSHMP team shares their summary of a publication on the intervention practices put in place in Japanese herds to control Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.

Key Points

There was little to no research on factors affecting time to absence of clinical signs (TAC) and dead piglets/sow (DP/S) during PED infections.
Good external biosecurity in the form of clean transport methods and one-way truck entrances is significantly associated with lower TAC and DP/S.
The timing of feedback relative to the PED outbreak was more important than the method of feedback.

Second podcast in the PRRS series: extending lessons to other diseases

Last week, we shared the first episode in this new podcast series on PRRS. Feel to listen to it if you have not already!

This episode, is the second part of a two-part series on PRRS and raises the question of how we can expend the lessons learned with PRRS to tackle other swine diseases. Drs. Torremorell, Spronk, and Wetzel are talking with Dr. Scott Dee from Pipestone Veterinary Services and Dr. Reid Philips from Boehringer-Ingleheim.

Listen to the podcast (17 minutes)

PRRS Outbreak Management Project (POMP)

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

This week, researchers from Iowa State University and the University of Minnesota are inviting you to participate in their next PRRS outbreak management project in collaboration with Carthage Veterinary Service.