Last week I wrote about the changes in synthetic amino acid supplies that will be impacting our industry in the coming months. Since then I’ve talked with several producers and suppliers about the impact of the change. One obvious impact … Continue reading
Last week I wrote about the exciting happenings in swine nutrition research. This week my comments are still about swine nutrition, but now I’m talking about upcoming ingredient price hikes and their impacts on diet formulation. Soybean harvest has begun … Continue reading
This past week I participated in both the Leman Swine Health Conference and the Minnesota Nutrition Conference. At both meetings one of the major topics was ‘gut health’ and the impact of nutrition on health. It was exciting to listen … Continue reading
As we move forward with SWAP and packer on-farm audits for animal welfare and drug residue safety, many producers are now facing 3rd party audits. In the case of SWAP, these audits are randomly chosen sites where an independent auditor … Continue reading
One of the magazines that I receive is Food Processing (www.foodprocessing.com). This is the National Hog Farmer magazine for the food processing industry. I find it really interesting to learn of their challenges/opportunities as they convert our products into consumer … Continue reading
I’ve had 2 contacts this morning asking about soybean meal availability and options for diets in late September and early October. If you haven’t been paying attention, the ‘trade’ fears that the upper Midwest will run out of soybeans (and … Continue reading
Sale weights for the first 3 weeks of August typically are 96.8% of early January sale weights in the Iowa-Southern Minnesota market. When I average the Iowa-Southern Minnesota weekly live weight at slaughter data (www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/NW_LS720.txt) for the past ten years, … Continue reading
The most popular topic for me this summer and fall at producer meetings is managing propane expense in swine facilities. When combined with the supply side concerns, producers have taken on a new awareness of how heating systems work in … Continue reading
It is late Friday afternoon as I write this weeks blog. In the past 2 weeks I’ve been on a number of farms for several clients reviewing ventilation systems along with feeder and drinker needs for wean-finish flows. Once again … Continue reading
I belong to a lot of international pig information sites. One that I use quite a bit (and have even written articles for) is www.pig333.com. This site is headquartered in Spain and lets me see the European perspective (with an … Continue reading