Samaneh Azarpajouh Iowa State University, Department of Animal Science

Publish Date: October 17, 2022

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious, viral disease manifesting differently in wild and domestic pigs. Its impact depends on the virus virulence, the infectious dose, and the infection route. African swine fever is not a health or foodborne risk to humans as it only affects wild and domestic pigs. Mortality rate of peracute and acute clinical forms of ASF can reach 100% and in subacute or chronic forms, ASF mortality ranges from 30-70% (Galindo-Cardiel et al., 2013; Sánchez-Vizcaíno et al., 2015).

Publish Date: July 1, 2020

It is estimated that by the year 2050 the world population will be over 9 billion people and food production will need to increase up to 60% more to meet demand (FAO 2009). Therefore, livestock production would likely intensify increasing animal density and lowering the stockperson per animal ratio. This will result in less time available to monitor and manage individual animals properly, jeopardizing animal health and welfare. Currently, there is a growing interest to automate swine welfare assessment using precision livestock farming (PLF) which increases the farmer’s ability to keep contact with individual animals in the growing livestock production intensification.

Publish Date: December 21, 2017

Feed is the largest cost in pork production; therefore, improving finisher pig feed efficiency can increase producer profitability. Improving feed efficiency can support industry competitiveness, decrease the demand on global feed resources, and complement environmental sustainability. Selective breeding for residual feed intake (RFI) shows promise in meeting these increased demands. However, it is important to balance the benefits of feed efficiency selection with the pig’s feeding behavior and performance. Therefore, this factsheet will discuss feeding behavior and performance research on RFI selection conducted at Iowa State University.

Publish Date: March 7, 2016

Feed is the largest cost in pork production; therefore, improving feed efficiency can increase producer profitability. Furthermore improved feed efficiency can support industry competitiveness, decrease the demand on global feed resources, and complement environmental sustainability. Genetically, selective breeding for residual feed intake (RFI) shows promise in meeting these increased demands. However, it is important to balance the benefits of feed efficiency selection with the pig’s ability to cope with stress and its welfare. Therefore, this factsheet will discuss physiological and behavioral stress research on swine selected on the basis of RFI.