productivity – Swine in Minnesota

An estimation cost calculator to assess the economic impacts of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae disease

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.

Today’s Science Page takes a look the Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae Cost Calculator developed by researchers Kaydance Hinn, Paul Yeske, and Maria Pieters.

Best of Leman 2024: Jay Johnson – Heat stress in sows: Impacts and strategies for improving production and welfare

This is our most popular series on the blog. Once a month, we are sharing with you a presentation given at the Allen D. Leman swine conference, on topics that the swine group found interesting, innovative or that lead to great discussions.

You can find all of the presentations selected from previous conferences on the blog here.

This presentation was given by Jay Johnson of University of Missouri during the 2024 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, recorded September 24, 2024.

Surviving Inflation: a podcast

Thank you for your interest in this archived blog post. The link below may not work anymore, but you can access older episodes of “At the Meeting” at the podcast’s website!

Increasing efficiency and productivity are keys to surviving the current inflationary economy–and many producers are well-positioned. The ‘At the Meeting’ team discusses the details with Brett Stuart, a founding partner of Global AgriTrends.

Turnover events of animal caretakers and productivity in Ohio swine farms

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, we are sharing the results from a recent study conducted under the direction of Dr. Andreia Arruda at Ohio State University. In this project, researchers are looking at the impact of labor turnover on farm productivity.

Key Points

The US swine industry faces critical labor supply issues and is plagued by high rates of employee turnover.
This study investigated the association between employee turnover and productivity using a sample of eleven farrow-to-wean farms in Ohio.
There was a considerable amount of variability in the turnover rate for the year among the participating farms.
The occurrence of an involuntary turnover event (employee was terminated) was significantly associated with improvements in monthly number of pigs weaned per sow and pre-weaning mortality 2-months after the event.

Science page: Troubleshooting poor litter size using the National Swine Reproduction Guide

First, we would like wish you the happiest of holidays from all of us at the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine.

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 we are sharing how to troubleshoot poor litter size within a production system using the National Swine Reproduction Guide, a report by Sarah Bloomer at North Carolina State University.

Key points:

The National Swine Reproduction Guide (NSRG; U.S. Pork Center of Excellence, Des Moines, IA) is a valuable tool to help producers utilize data analysis to troubleshoot reproductive problems in a herd or farm.
Analysis of farrow-to-wean farms within a North Carolina production system revealed extended wean-to-service interval of first-parity sows and poor performance of second-parity sows. NSRG recommendations include reviewing lactation diet composition and first-parity sow lactation feed intake.

Reproductive data from nine farms within one production system from 2011 to 2015 were obtained. Average Total Number Born (TNB) for the production system was 12.4 piglets born per litter, yet litter size was lowest in second-parity sows. Greater than 24% of second-parity sows failed to achieve the decision boundary criteria of 11.5 TNB. Within first-parity sows, 73% of the contemporary groups had greater than 10% of their sows failing to return to estrus within 10 days of weaning.

NSRG recommendations.gif

The following recommendations to improve TNB and reduce Weaning-to-Service Interval (WSI) were created following consultation of the NSRG:

Limit cross-fostering onto first-parity sows
Review lactation diet composition, particularly amino acid content;
Identify methods to promote first-parity sow lactation feed intake. If economically
feasible, farms may also consider breeding sows displaying estrus 7 and 8 days post-weaning on their next cycle.