Have you ever considered what actions would need to be taken if ASF found its way into the US swine population? This virus continues to be a looming threat to the country as it would bring enormous economical losses along with it. Today we discuss what measures are necessary to prevent the entry of ASF into the country and what plans are in place if the virus does manage to find its’ way into our herd:

''Swine producers must think about what they would do in the worst-case scenario If they c...

''We do so much work on the gilt and sow side, and sometimes we forget the other half of the equation, which is the boar side.'' - Dr. Karl Kerns

What you'll learn:

     1. The importance of the boar

     2. Understanding their sperm cells

     3. Semen pool 

     4. The future of animal breeding

     5. Boar nutrition

     6. Heat stress

     7. Tips on genetics

     8. Semen transportation

     9. Third-party evaluation

    10. Health side

    11. Sow side

Meet the guest: K...

 ''Companies must embrace new technologies to tackle the swine industry problems that have existed for decades and people have just accepted.'' - Chris Bomgaars

What you'll learn:

     1. Biosecurity

     2. Telemedicine 

     3. Diagnosis

     4. Merging data

     5. Data management system

     6. Challenges with telemedicine

Meet the guest: Chris grew up in Orange City, Iowa, and in 2008, he saw an opportunity to join the family pork production business. As he began to buy and r...

''Whatever you change in pig diets, make sure you can measure the outcomes you are expecting.'' - Dr. Pedro Urriola

What you'll learn:

     1. Alternative ingredients

     2. Different phases of production

     3. Finding the digestibility coefficient 

     4. Steps to improve digestibility

     5. Enzymes

     6. Response to different nutrient requirements

Meet the guest: As a Ph.D. student at Dr. Stein's lab at the University of Illinois, Pedro Urriola gained experience in swine...

''Sharing, integrating, and extracting valuable information from swine industry data is a big challenge today.'' Dr. Guilherme Rosa

What you'll learn:

1. The challenges of incorporating precision technology

2. Inputs and outputs

3. Amounts of data needed

4. Types of information

5. Small producers and big data

6. Next steps

Meet the guest: Guilherme Rosa obtained his M.S.in Animal Sciences from Sao Paulo State University (UNESP) - Brazil in 1994, and a Ph.D. in statistics and Agric...

''We are asking a lot of our sows. The sows don't produce enough milk to sustain maximum growth of the piglet. They don't produce enough colostrum in a lot of cases, so now we need to change our focus. We need to put our focus not only on litter size but also on the milking capacity of the sow.'' - Dr. Chantal Farmer

What you'll learn:

1. Mammary tissue development

2. Soybean meal in the diet

3. Types of fiber that influence milk and colostrum yield

4. Amounts of colostrum

5. Colostr...

"When we speak about PRRS, the only thing we can really be sure of is its variability." - Dr. Giovani Trevisan

What you'll learn:

1. The new PRRS virus strain     

2. Is the virus lasting longer?

3. Progression of this strain

4. Biosecurity measures

5. Trends and patterns with other diseases

6. Online information

Meet the guest: Dr. Trevisan obtained his DVM diploma in the veterinary faculty of Lages, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2009, and his MBA in Rio Grande Do Sul,...