pig – Page 5 – Swine in Minnesota

COVID-19 and pig viruses – what can we learn?

Drs. Marie Culhane and Montse Torremorell, swine influenza experts at the University of Minnesota have been taking a closer look at COVID-19, the human coronavirus impacting our lives around the globe and comparing it to the swine viruses we are all familiar with. How does it compare? What can we learn?

Article originally written for pig333.com and in Spanish on the 3tres3 website.

Implications of early-life indicators for survival rate, subsequent growth performance, and carcass characteristics of commercial pigs

This week, we are presenting a summary of an article published by faculty in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural resources Sciences regarding the impact of early-life indicators such as birth-weights on the life of a market pig.

Key Points

As litter size increases with the industry’s drive to increase pig production, the number of pigs with low birthweights increase too
Preweaning growth rate is a critical indicator of a low birthweight pig’s likelihood to reach desired market weight on time
High birthweight is associated with faster growth at all life stages, earlier marketing, and better carcass quality

Growing African swine fever virus raises risk considerations

Dr. John Deen fron the University of Minnesota recently wrote a column in the National Hog Farmer about African Swine Fever virus and what the recent reports about virus spread mean for the industry.

Influence of pig gut microbiota on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae susceptibility

In this open-access article from the MycoLab, Dr. Maria Pieters’ team explores the influence of pigs’ gut microbiome in modulating their susceptibility to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae.

Shedding light on the epidemiology of Senecavirus A

PhD-candidate Guilherme Milanez Preis, working with Drs. Cesar Corzo and Fabio Vannucci on the epidemiology of Senecavirus A. In an article for the National Hog Farmer, Preis shares the latest results of his work on Senecavirus A prevalence in the USA.