The opinion of the bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of PigProgress.net. Comments welcome.
The vitamin C question
This is a quite old question, which has yet to receive a definitive answer! Despite the fact that pigs, like most animals (excluding humans, primates, and guinea pigs), can readily synthesise enough vitamin C to cover their requirements, many manufactured diets and premixes contain large concentrations of this vitamin. Let’s explore this issue a bit further…
Author: Dr Ioannis Mavromichalis | Tuesday 06 May 2008
Health and productivity – ‘Disease control is king’
‘Disease control is king’ and ‘Pigs are precious’ were two of the remarks made by John Dean, professor at Minnesota State University at a recent conference in Rovereto, N. Italy. Analysis of the major components of production profitability variation were the CDL group (culls, deads and lightweights) which accounted for 55%, followed by feed conversion efficiency (FCE) at 28% and finally average daily (ADG) gain, 17%.
Author: David Burch | Monday 28 April 2008
Enough Colostral Energy?
I continue my aim during the present feed price crisis of only writing about actions you can take which do not involve any additional expense at all – apart from more attention to detail. One such is in the area of colostrum.
Author: John Gadd | Monday 21 April 2008
Making Weaners Eat
Not an easy task, sometimes even impossible.
Pigs weaned without substantial pre-weaning feeding experience are almost invariably suffering from depressed feed intake post-weaning. And, this is a problem. The less weaned pigs eat the first week post-weaning, the less efficient they are throughout the growing finishing period. Plus, or rather minus (!), their health is in great danger during this transition period when stomachs remain empty. So, what can be done? Here’s a short list that may be of some help. Not all recommendations work simultaneously in all farms, but at least one of them should be working in most cases.
Author: Dr Ioannis Mavromichalis | Monday 14 April 2008
Controlling high levels of PRDC mortality with PCV2 vaccines
On a recent visit to Korea, where the average number of pigs finished/sow/year is about 13 and the mortality is caused primarily by the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC), I was asked if the new PCV2 vaccines would solve the problem?
Author: David Burch | Monday 07 April 2008
Autumn infertility
Outdoor sows are very much at the mercy of increasing and decreasing seasonal light patterns. Their hormone system cannot be fooled by controlled indoor lighting to get breeding 24/7. Still, autumn fertility can be resolved.
Author: John Gadd | Monday 31 March 2008
Acid questions
Organic acids are without doubt the most commonly used replacements for antimicrobial growth promoters. As organic acids are quite expensive, questions regarding their correct use never cease to come up in conversations. Here I describe some common recent issues.
Author: Dr Ioannis Mavromichalis | Tuesday 25 March 2008
Another link in the grain price chain – barrels of oil
The link between the price of a barrel of oil, biofuel production and the grain price was described in a recent paper – if the cost of a barrel of oil stays high, don’t expect grain prices to fall sharply.
Author: David Burch | Monday 17 March 2008
Water: the hidden threat
Things on the water front are looking up. Encouragingly, many papers have now been published on water as well. Still, water hygiene is taken far too much for granted. Here are some good advices.
Author: John Gadd | Tuesday 11 March 2008
Lowering lactose
Author: Dr Ioannis Mavromichalis | Wednesday 05 March 2008
