Last week I visited a sow unit that was about 10 days into a PED virus outbreak. While I was there to examine ventilation settings and GDU options, it was hard not to have a discussion with the employees about … Continue reading
Yesterday I received a lesson in snow sleds. This lesson is important since many producers use the red plastic sleds for dead pig removal in their production facilities. With winter weather upon us, now is the time to shop for … Continue reading
My post a couple of weeks ago about the lack of corn piles in prompted quite a few personal responses. Most agreed with my assessment of the corn grain sales situation in SW Minnesota and NW Iowa and the conclusion … Continue reading
Today I will be attending the annual meetings of the Minnesota Pork Producers Association and the Minnesota Pork Board. Topics of discussion that I expect to hear in the hallways and even from delegates and presenters include the EPA decision … Continue reading
Regardless of your choice of radio stations, this week you can’t avoid commentaries regarding America’s Thanksgiving traditional protein source – turkey. As we have come to expect, HSUS and other anti-animal agricultural groups have weighed in with their own versions … Continue reading
Driving to a site visit this morning in Northwest Iowa I went past quite a few country elevators. In the past with ‘normal’ yields there have been huge piles of corn stored on the ground at these locations, often 1 … Continue reading
I have tracked the Iowa-Southern Minnesota live weight at slaughter (www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/NW_LS720.txt) for many years. My original interest was in defining the impact of summer heat as measured by the significant annual decline in sales weight for barrows and gilts that … Continue reading
If you drive anywhere in the upper Midwest where there are pig production facilities you are bound to occasionally sense an ‘aroma’ in the air as producers apply a year’s worth of manure to agricultural lands. While there is still … Continue reading
The flow of feeder pigs from Canada continues to slow in reaction to MCOOL legislation and the terrible economics of pig production for many Canadian producers this past year. For the week ending October 12, 2013, 61,330 live pigs weighing … Continue reading
The weather in Southern Minnesota this week is typical for the middle of November and the calendar says October 21. For many producers in the region, their management focus remains the corn and soybeans still standing in the fields rather … Continue reading