Exercise good for digestion | Specialist advises using a grazing muzzle to extend eating time and prevent wood chewing
RED DEER — Horses left to their own devices spend most of their time eating. About 70 percent of a 24 hour period is spent either foraging or eating, said equine specialist Lori Warren of the University of Florida. Unlike other livestock, they will also eat at night. “These meals might last a few minutes, […] Read moreNews
Make horses work for food to avoid boredom
Tyson fears PED will reduce pork supply by two to four percent
(Reuters) — Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. meat processor, said it expects pork supplies to drop two to four percent this fiscal year, raising wholesale prices, as a deadly pig virus spreads through the U.S. hog belt. Heavier hogs will offset some of the loss in headcount, Jim Lochner, Tyson’s chief operating officer, said […] Read more
PED here to stay in Ontario: veterinarian
Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus is probably a permanent disease in Ontario now that there have been five confirmed cases as of Feb. 2, say swine veterinarians. “PED is now endemic in the U.S.A. It is here to stay. I am wondering if Ontario is approaching that point,” Alberta provincial swine specialist Julia Kleenliside said in […] Read more
China urbanization has pork exporters drooling
Meat consumption increasing | The country will account for almost 20 percent of the world’s pork imports by 2022
BANFF, Alta. — China’s urban population outnumbers its rural residents for the first time in its history. It’s one of the reasons why pork processors put the country ahead of some traditionally larger export markets. In addition to its population, which has exceeded one billion, China’s increasingly urban residents are wealthier than their rural counterparts, […] Read moreInvention makes hogs, workers happy
Helmut Janz knows from firsthand experience the physical toll that handling livestock can take. The 20-year veteran of the hog industry has twice had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. Yet it was the pains and strains experienced by others that Janz was looking to mitigate when he dreamed up a new device for handling piglets. […] Read more
Normal production possible with group housing
Transition period | With proper management, productivity will rebound after initial culling to meet new space requirements
BANFF, Alta. — Switching to group housing shouldn’t affect hog producers’ long-term productivity, says a researcher with the Prairie Swine Centre. Increased sow movement, depopulation and culling may affect producers at first, and production costs and management requirements can increase, Jennifer Brown told the recent Banff Pork Seminar. However, she is confident producers can see […] Read morePiglet growth isn’t optimized, says researcher
Milk yields | Ongoing research into mammary development could help hog producers see improved performance
Milk yields from modern pigs are up from previous generations, but that doesn’t mean piglets are necessarily better fed. Today’s sows are responsible for feeding larger litters of piglets, which means the amount of milk ingested per piglet has decreased. “We have nice hyper prolific sows, but we now have to work on increasing sow […] Read moreListening called key to combatting ag critics
Lead a discussion | Take on the critics by plopping your butts down next to them and comparing notes, says rural advocate
Bruce Vincent, a logger and rural advocate, has a piece of advice for Canadian cattle producers: defending industry practices doesn’t work because defence isn’t an effective public relations strategy. Too often, he said, loggers, miners, farmers and others like to play a public relations game that he calls reverse jeopardy, in which industry associations provide […] Read morePark rejects ‘biobullets’
(Reuters) — Managers at Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. have rejected a plan to use air rifles to shoot the country’s last herd of purebred bison with so-called biobullets containing a vaccine against brucellosis. Roughly half of Yellowstone’s 4,600 bison are estimated to have been exposed to brucellosis, a bacterial infection that can sometimes […] Read more
U.S. grain groups ask Syngenta to delay GM corn banned by China
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) — Two leading U.S. grain groups have asked Syngenta AG to suspend the commercialization in the United States of two genetically modified strains of corn not approved in China. The National Grain and Feed Association and the North American Export Grain Association wrote to Syngenta, asking it to hold back on its […] Read more
