processing – Swine in Minnesota

Are New Harvest Facilities Possible?: A podcast

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.

Last minute opposition threatens to derail a five-year effort by Wholestone Farms to build a next-generation pig processing plant in Sioux Falls, SD. The producer-owned company is planning a harvest facility that provides economic benefits while bringing producers closer to consumers. The At The Meeting team goes in-depth with Dr. Luke Minion (Chairman Of The Board of Wholestone Farms) to hear the project’s journey to this fall’s ballot decision by Sioux Falls voters.

What Dr. Brad Freking learned on pork processing in the last 2 weeks

‘At The Meeting’ Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison talks about COVID-19 and the impacts to key markets and the limitations of pork processors to respond.

How does giving tulathromycin at birth impact the fecal microbiota?

This week’s Science Page presents the second part of a project done by Zeineldin et al. from Dr. Jim Lowe’s program at the University of Illinois. The first part is available here.

Keypoints

Fluctuations in antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) associated with the developing gastrointestinal microbiota have not been elucidated
The swine fecal microbiota and their accompanying ARGs were diverse and established soon after birth
Results indicate that the perinatal TUL metaphylaxis has no measurable beneficial or detriment impacts on fecal microbiota structure and abundance of ARGs in pre-weaned piglets

Effect of Single Dose of Antimicrobial Administration at Birth on Fecal Microbiota Development and Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Piglets

This week’s Science Page presents the results of a project done by Zeineldin et al. from Dr. Jim Lowe’s program at the University of Illinois.

Keypoints

Early life antimicrobial prophylaxis had no effect on individual weight gain, or mortality but it was associated with minor shifts in the composition of fecal microbiota and noticeable changes in the abundance of selected Antimicrobial Resistant Genes
The shifts in fecal microbiota structure caused by perinatal antimicrobial intervention are modest and limited to particular groups of microbial taxa
Early life PPG and TUL intervention could promote the selection of Anrimicrobial Resistant Genes in herds

NHF: Processing fluids are effective for PRRSV diagnostics

This month in the National Hog Farmer, Drs. Carles Vilalta, Juan Sanhueza, and Montse Torremorell share a project instigated by the late Dr. Bob Morrison regarding the use of processing fluids to make a PRRSV diagnosis.

The improvement of sampling and diagnostics techniques has made sampling on the farm an easier task with the use of pooled serums or oral fluids samples for example.

One of the ways to get cheaper, more sensitive and quicker techniques would be to use routine chores, such as piglet processing, since castration and tail docking are part of the regular procedures in sow farms.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the processing fluids (the liquid accumulated at the bottom of the pail when farmers collect tails and testicles during routine procedures) by real-time polymerase chain reaction to assess PRRSV status in a sow herd.

The key points from the studies were:

• Using processing fluids as a diagnostic tool can help us to detect lower PRRS prevalence in the herd.
• Testicles and tails should be collected in a pail as they are potential spreaders of PRRS in the farrowing room.
• We should target young parity sows for PRRSV sampling.