"We are slowly but surely generating the tools to understand better dietary fiber and how to utilize it best" - Dr. Tom Weber

What you'll learn:

 1. The use of fiber in the US swine industry

 2. Fiber in gestation

 3. Options for good quality components

 4. Methods of fiber analysis

 5. Ratios for formulating diets

 6. Total Digestible Fiber (TDF)

 7. Mode of action of fiber in sows

 8. Fiber in lactation  

 9. Amino acids in high-fiber diets

10. Fiber in early nursery 

11. Inso...

"The most important thing is clearly stating your objectives, regarding measuring and what you're trying to improve." - Dr. Caleb Shull

What you'll learn:

1. Research that has been published

2. Deciding which product to research

3. Onboarding with farm employees

4. Studying the design process

5. Replication

6. Data collection

7. Handling marketing components

8. Economics 

9. Closeout data vs. Controlled studies

10. Biggest opportunities

Meet the guest: As director of research an...

"We must improve our marketing strategies to minimize weight variation in the packing plants." – Dr. Matt Ritter

What you'll learn:

1. Why body weight variation is a concern
2. Money and managing variation
3. Factors that influence body weight variation
4. Expected level of variation within a population
5. Variation as the pig gets older
6. Variation in a late finishing barn
7. How to mitigate variation
8. The post-weaning body weight coefficient of variation.
9. Recommendations for setting up a barn
10. T...

''The good news is that the pigs are one of the most developed species in terms of biotechnology, genetic modification, and disease detection.'' - Dr Guillermo Ramis

What you'll learn:

1. Xenotransplantation

2. Challenges

3. Components and proteins targeted

4. Achieving a succesful liver transplant

5. Survivability of a litter of modified pigs

6. Survivability of the transplant itself

7. Animal weight vs Receiver weight

8. Public acceptance

Meet the guest: Dr. Ramis rece...

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥." - 𝗗𝗿. 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗮𝗰𝗵

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻:

1. Swine nutrition audit
2. The process of establishing a goal
3. Aligning with the correct goals
4. Performance data
5. Records and information
6. Analyzing ingredients
7. Vitamin and mineral storage
8. Examining formulations
9. Energy
10. How much leeway to give in formulation
11. Feed mill
12. Particle size
13. M...

Click here to listen on Blog

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬." - 𝗗𝗿. 𝗗𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹𝗹

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻:

1. Insights from what was learned in the Netherlands
2. Why we need to know a little about a lot of things
3. What to say when speaking to faculty members
4. Talking to vendors as a production swine nutritionist
5. The function of additives
6. Priorities of the production swine nutritionist
7. The cost of adding fat to the diet
8. Fat to corn price rat...

Here is the one concept that I wish most schools would teach swine industry professionals: space long and space short.

Space long or space short has to do with how is the pig flow from the production system?

Do we need to market the pigs as soon as possible because the nursery pigs are coming? That would mean the production system is space short.

Or, we do not need to rush too much; we can leave the finishing pigs a few days more in the barn to reach target weight since the nursery pigs are...