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Latest Blogs (191-200 of 249)
The second most cause of enforced culling - Legs!
Foot and leg problems together with lameness are still a major reason why
sows have to be removed from the herd in the first 3
parities.
Feeding sorghum
Sorghum has re-surfaced recently as an alternative cereal, especially in
Western Europe, where imports, particularly from the US, are more economically
feasible. Of course, there is nothing new about sorghum, as many farmers in
Kansas will readily attest. I recall diets in this state based entirely on
sorghum, with no problems at all in growth performance or carcass quality. But,
let's start from the beginning!
Enzootic pneumonia - is it a good time to consider eradication?
With costs rising rapidly due to increases in feed
prices, is it a good time to focus on improving health and considering
eradication of such production depressing diseases as enzootic
pneumonia?
How to prolong sow productive lifetime
Last time I showed that Sow Productive Lifetime (SPL) was far too short these
days. I have been on farms recently where the replacement rate of breeding sows
was 45% and even 50% - a huge waste of investment in their superb genetics.
High cereal prices II
In my last blog, I discussed non-nutritional ways of
addressing the problem of high cereal prices. Now, it's time for nutritional
suggestions. After all, feed used to make up at least 60% of the cost of raising
a pig. Now, it is even higher!
Future availability of antimicrobials in pig medicine
There is a joint FAO/WHO/OIE expert meeting on the
17-21st November on critically important antimicrobials and their use in human
and animal medicine - what will they do when these two lists
overlap?
Staring you in the face!
Supposing you were running a haulage business and the
cost of fuel suddenly rose by 36% in six weeks, which you could do nothing
about. Would it be putting your business in severe danger? This analogy might
help to create a better insight in sow management.
High cereal prices I
High cereal prices are here to remain. At least, for some time, or until
fuels stop competing against humans for food and feed energy! So, after
accepting we have to deal with high cereal prices in animal feed, what is left
to do?
Hospital Pens - Objections and Possible Solutions
Recently I discussed how hospital pens were frequently
overcrowded, and to compound the error are usually sited in a spare pen right
next to the healthy pigs. Almost universally the excuse is "But we haven't
enough spare room anywhere else!". Very often I find on touring the farm, that
with a little bit of thought and imagination - you have.
Piglet castration with anaesthesia - what are the Dutch doing?
It was announced earlier in the year that Dutch supermarkets said they would
only sell meat from farms where the male piglets have received anaesthetics
prior to castration - what are the Dutch farmers actually
doing?
