The past couple of days I’ve been doing some comparisons on lighting options for swine facilities. As part of the comparisons I’ve had to examine our current lighting expenses in our research barns. All of the swine industry is currently … Continue reading
I’ve been tracking USDA SEW and feeder pig pricing reports since 1999. Beginning in 2003 I’ve also been tracking both the source and destination of the pigs cited in the report (http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/nw_ls255.txt). This morning I did some quick graphing and … Continue reading
The demand for good quality weaned pigs and feeder pigs is heating up several weeks earlier this year than compared to historic records. In the past 10 years (2003-2012), weaned pig prices as reported by USDA (http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/NW_LS255.txt) bottomed during week … Continue reading
Summer heat arrived this weekend in the upper Midwest. Relatively high dew point temperatures (67F dew point at 8:30 am as I write this) mean pigs are having trouble dissipating heat. I continue to walk wean-finish and grow-finish sites that … Continue reading
The National Retail Federation just released its ranking of the top 100 retailers in the US for 2013. Not surprising – Wal-Mart was the largest by a wide margin. In 2012 Wal-Mart had US sales totaling $328.7 billion dollars. Worldwide … Continue reading