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Swine Health Blackbelt #1 - PRRSV classification tool by Dr. Derald Holtkamp animal health health health monitoring systems pig health pig production swine health blackbelt May 11, 2022

Disease classification is a very important aspect for both swine producers and veterinarians. It helps provide a roadmap for how to manage viruses within herds, and PRRSV has been a major problem for the swine industry for many years. In the first episode, Dr. Derald Holtkamp shares with me Dr. Clayton Johnson about the many years he has spent developing his swine herd PRRS classification system. Listen to this short episode to learn more about it!

Meet the guest: Dr. Derald Holtkamp is a ...

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#144 – The pork market and the beef market: What can we learn from each other? with Dr. Jim Lowe future of pork pig diets pig production pork pork consumption May 10, 2022

Market demands change with every single generation. The types of products we want today will not be the type of products our kids or grandkids will want when they get older. With the current demands from consumers today, how can the pork industry better create an efficient future for itself tomorrow? In this episode, Dr. Greiner talks with Dr. Jim Lowe about similarities with the beef industry and the pork industry and how we as producers should be marketing our products to best help our retaile...

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Feeding the gestating sow sow sow longevity sow productivity sow research May 06, 2022

Over the last several decades there have been several suggestions on how to feed the gestating sow, and recently several of those practices have been debunked and have actually shown to have more detrimental effects than they do beneficial effects.

I think part of the reason we have been making these discoveries is that we now have a greater understanding of the sows’ physiological processes.

For starters, one main theory that has been backed up by several studies is that the sow prioritizes...

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Swine Nutrition Blackbelt #13 - Dr. Tsungcheng Tsai: What other options are out there to reduce the prevalence of E. coli in the nursery? animal research facts in pig research pig diets pig production swine diets swine industry May 05, 2022

Since 2019 some farms have been struggling with E.coli infections in nursery pigs that have been fairly resistant to antibiotic treatment. This has led some people, like our guest today, to look into alternative options for treatment and prevention. In this episode, I talk with Dr. Tsungcheng Tsai about his lab group studying the effects of lactylate and Bacillus subtilis on pig performance while measuring the effects on gut microbiome E. coli prevalence. Listen to find out the results!

  

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When is more not always better in swine nutrition and, inversely, when is it actually better? pig diets pig production swine diets swine nutrition swine nutritionist May 04, 2022

Hi - when it comes to swine nutrition, if you take a step back and look at it as a whole, you may think “More nutrients = faster growth”. Right?

Well, it’s not quite that simple. That may be the case for some nutrients but in this lesson, we will share with you 2 instances where that is not always the case and 2 instances where it actually is.

I was drafting some thoughts with Clayton Chastain (the host of the Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast) yesterday and this is what we arrived at.

First,...

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#143 - Chris Bomgaars: Integration and execution - advancing technology in the swine industry major challenges in the pig industry pig production technologies May 03, 2022

The swine industry is in need of applied & novel technologies to save money for both producers and consumers. In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Chris Bomgaars about different ways we can begin to implement technology into the barns and ways we can use it to get the most out of both our pigs and our employees.

 

 

What you will learn:

1. The biggest gaps in management

2. Improving the communication gap between employees

3. Progressing technology in the ag field

4. I...

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Main mistakes in swine nutrition - Thoughts on Swine Nutrition Series facts in pig research pig diets pig performance pig production swine diets May 01, 2022

We always talk about “improving pig performance” with “the lowest budget possible”, right?

That is a common topic in the day-to-day of a swine industry professional or graduate student.

However, we often see swine nutritionists (or swine professionals in general) coming up with conclusions or recommendations without considering some key aspects of pig production. So what are the main blockers that may be preventing us from improving our nutrition program? Let’s talk about the top 6 mistakes Cl...

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