Hog Hub | The Western Producer

HogHub

Canadian farmers' digital resource for hog production information, covering topics such as animal health, barn management, and markets and trade.

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Gene edited pig gets green light in America

Pork made from gene-edited pigs could soon be on supermarket shelves in Canada.

By Robert Arnason ● 2 min read ● Published: May 12, 2025

Pigs have their say when setting the temperature

A recent study, funded by the Saskatchewan Pork Development Fund for the Prairie Swine Centre, shows farmers may be able…

By Greg Price ● 3 min read ● Published: April 30, 2025

Farrowing sow medications receive closer look

When Dr. Lexie Reed of Sunny South Veterinary Services examined studies on several farrowing sow medications, including prostaglandins, oxytocin, carbetocin,…

By Greg Price ● 6 min read ● Published: April 30, 2025

Piglets need close care for the first day of their life

The first 24 hours of a piglet’s life are critical—get it right, and you’re on your way to a healthy,…

By Don Norman ● 5 min read ● Published: April 10, 2025

ASF prep pays off in disease vigilance

DES MOINES, Iowa — There aren’t many silver linings in the cloud of African Swine Fever fear that hangs over…

By Ed White ● 1 min read ● Published: June 19, 2024

PRRS hog virus now tougher to control

DES MOINES, Iowa — Today’s PRRS isn’t yesterday’s PRRS. That means pig producers and veterinarians should mutate their approaches in the…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 19, 2024

European pigs to eat only waste and byproducts?

WINNIPEG — Pigs once ate a lot of slops.  Today, feeding pigs human food waste is banned in some countries…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: June 17, 2024

Fragile pigs an unexpected risk of past breeding efforts

DES MOINES, Iowa — Years ago, when Mark Soleta of Lakefield, Minnesota, brought in a load of freshly weaned Canadian…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: June 12, 2024

VIDEO: Bland outlook for rest of 2024 hog market

DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s better than losing a lot of money, but hog producers are facing razor-thin profitability for…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 11, 2024

VIDEO: MacAulay boosts Canada at expo

DES MOINES, Iowa — Federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay gave Canadian farmers and agriculture a big boost at this year’s…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: June 11, 2024

Hog industry encouraged to focus more on nutrition

Some basic areas of pig nutrition are still poorly understood, Prairie Swine Centre nutrition researcher Dan Columbus told the Animal…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 10, 2024

VIDEO: MacAulay stresses importance of integration

DES MOINES, Iowa — On his visit to Des Moines and the World Pork Expo, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay stressed…

By Ed White ● 1 min read ● Published: June 6, 2024

VIDEO: Quiet on ASF front doesn't mean danger is gone

The North American hog industry has gone quiet on the ASF front, but that isn't because the risk of infection…

By Ed White ● 1 min read ● Published: June 5, 2024

Issues loom over hog farmers as they gather in Des Moines

North America's hog industry is grappling with multiple issues these days, but is presently feeling better than some of the…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 5, 2024

VIDEO: GPS-enabled light strengthens biosecurity

DES MOINES, Iowa — If you look at them, nothing seems new with these red rear lights for hog trailers.…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 5, 2024

VIDEO: World Pork Expo underway

Western Producer reporter Ed White is in Iowa this week attending the World Pork Expo at the Iowa State Fairgrounds…

By Saskatoon newsroom ● 4 min read ● Published: June 4, 2024

Mobile data in sow barns can lead to better decisions

Glacier FarmMedia - When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Erin White and her swine barn staff were sending data to an…

By John Greig ● 3 min read ● Published: April 11, 2024

Challenge dogma to change industry: prof

WINNIPEG — Pig management will be radically different in a few years, but the nature of that difference is up…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: March 28, 2024

Heat control more than air temp

To a pig, heat is about a lot more than just air temperature. Unfortunately, many hog producers don’t realize that.…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: March 28, 2024

Loose housing options vary

There are many options when choosing a loose sow housing system and the decision mostly depends on hog farmers’ confidence…

By John Greig ● 5 min read ● Published: March 14, 2024

Smart tech can identify sick pigs

A sick pig doesn’t want anyone to know it’s not well, and that can stop even the best barn staff…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: March 14, 2024

Money will be the chink in Canada’s ASF armour

Glacier FarmMedia - If African swine fever arrives in Canada, a lot of things will happen. Response plans will be…

By Alexis Stockford ● 5 min read ● Published: March 14, 2024

Detective work solves swine sickness mystery

WINNIPEG — When a multiplication barn had a streptococcus zooepidemicus outbreak in March 2019, Maple Leaf staff scrambled to find…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: March 14, 2024

VIDEO: Load-out risky time for hog farms

WINNIPEG — What if the truck driver asks to enter the hog barn to use the toilet? Does the operation…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: February 22, 2024

VIDEO: ‘Split milking’ recommended to prevent piglet crushing

A problem with crushed piglets and a problem with hungry piglets might be aspects of the same problem.  So suggested…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: February 22, 2024

New and emerging swine diseases deserve close watch

Veterinarians are taught that when we hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras. This is sage advice to help maintain…

By Blaine Tully, DVM ● 4 min read ● Published: February 22, 2024

Batch farrowing is a strategy that can improve hog health

Conventional farm health wisdom focuses on vaccines, antibiotics and other medical interventions. In addition to these hallmarks of pig health…

By Blaine Tully, DVM ● 4 min read ● Published: November 16, 2023

Hog industry prepares for ASF

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. — Whenever African swine fever hits North America’s hog farmers, it will shock and shake everybody…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: November 30, 2023

Be able to prove your work, hog producers told

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. — Manitoba hog farmers are being told to embrace and live the Manitoba Pork Council’s prevailing…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: November 30, 2023

Seneca Valley virus causes headaches for pork sector

A mild virus masquerading as a more serious disease caused frustration in the hog sector this summer, but it could…

By Geralyn Wichers ● 2 min read ● Published: December 14, 2023

Carcass competition spices up Man. hog show

BRANDON — Anyone who wanted to meet a young, competitive, chatty hog producer last week just had to hang outside…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: December 21, 2023

Industry leads efforts to fight wild pigs in Man.

HOLLAND, Man. — Manitoba’s wild pig-busters have moved fast to find, trap and destroy the monsters since they got set…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: January 18, 2024

Big futures trades harder in all-electronic world

WINNIPEG — Who were the winners and losers when Chicago shut its live trading floors for livestock futures and sent…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: January 18, 2024

Too early to say 2024 will be stronger year for hog prices

Canadian pig producers are happy to put 2023 and its financial losses behind them, but will 2024 be any better? It…

By D'Arce McMillan ● 4 min read ● Published: January 18, 2024

New hog processing plant deserves celebration

There was a time not that long ago when the opening of a large hog slaughter plant in Saskatchewan would…

By Kevin Hursh ● 3 min read ● Published: November 9, 2023

Signs that speak to a wild pig problem

HOLLAND, Man. — You’re not likely to find them snorting, squealing, rooting and pooping in your pastures and fields. They’re…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: December 7, 2023

‘Intelligent nutrition’ promoted for livestock sector

DES MOINES, Iowa — Nutrition isn’t an easy or fast way to make money in the livestock industry. But that…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: July 28, 2023

Ukrainian hog producers cope with long power cuts

DES MOINES, Iowa — Like most farmers at the World Pork Expo, Yaroslav Bondar was there to pick up the…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: July 28, 2023

Manitoba meat plant expansion to keep more sows in Canada

The Manitoba and federal governments are investing $2.4 million in the Winkler Meats project, for new harvesting and processing equipment…

By Robert Arnason ● 3 min read ● Published: July 25, 2023

Activists target hog farm with ransomware

A ransomware on a small Ontario hog business is something a cybersecurity expert says needs more attention from the agriculture…

By Matt McIntosh ● 4 min read ● Published: July 19, 2023

Traceability gaps hurt regionalization

With regionalization, rather than a whole country or continent being banned from the world market, only the region in which…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 29, 2023

Discovery of African swine fever would shut down movement

Regardless of anybody’s needs, all parts of the hog and pork industry need to be prepared for a 2020-like shutdown…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: June 29, 2023

Dogs put to work in fight against animal disease

Beagles are employed in U.S. and Canadian airport passenger areas to catch food products that can’t be imported. Labrador retrievers…

By Ed White ● 4 min read ● Published: June 29, 2023

Manitoba devises strategy to reduce PED

The Manitoba Pork Council has launched a PED elimination campaign for the southeast region, where wave after wave has hit…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: June 22, 2023

World Pork Expo 2023: Hogs in flux

Follow this page today and tomorrow for posts from the WPX, where I'll try to bring you what's happening, what's…

By Ed White ● 4 min read ● Published: June 7, 2023

Profitability risks that threaten your farm require action

You’d think it’d be easy to spot an enormous balloon floating over your sensitive bits, threatening your security and welfare.…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: February 16, 2023

Exports only upside in dismal hog market

Canada has some of the lowest-cost pork in the world, signalling poor returns for hog producers but opportunity to increase…

By D'Arce McMillan ● 4 min read ● Published: June 1, 2023

Low birth-weight pigs can cause wider problems in the barn

Low birth-weight pigs are a problem for hog producers. “Gilts born to these sows with a low birth-weight phenotype carry…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: March 23, 2023

Preparing for the inevitable

The wave of African swine fever continues to wash across the world, growing ever closer to Western Canada’s pig herds.…

By Ed White ● 3 min read ● Published: March 9, 2023

Vaccines not best option for ASF

In the last three years, the African swine fever virus has killed millions of pigs and forced producers to cull…

By Robert Arnason ● 4 min read ● Published: August 19, 2021

War against wild boar being waged in Alta.

RED DEER — There is an undeclared war against feral hogs in Alberta. “When they are contained on a farm…

By Barbara Duckworth ● 2 min read ● Published: November 14, 2019

Vaccine dream for PED not dead yet

Hog farmers sick of fighting porcine epidemic diarrhea virus have dreamed of having a vaccine to protect their pigs. But…

By Ed White ● 2 min read ● Published: March 9, 2023