Kenneth J. Stalder Iowa State University

Publish Date: September 24, 2007

Air quality issues continue to receive increasing attention at local, state and national levels. As a result, producers are under increasing pressure to find ways to reduce air emissions. Following completion of the EPA Air Consent Agreement we will have a better idea of how much an animal feeding operation (AFO) needs to reduce the emissions of a specific gas, if at all. At that time producers will need to know what options are available and how much of a reduction in emissions they can anticipate for the various options. It will be useful to producers as they consider options to have an idea of the relative cost of the various emission mitigation practices. An electronic decision aid for producers who want more information on management practices can assist in improving air quality from AFO has been developed*.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

The way that sows are housed during gestation and lactation has moved towards more intensive systems so that sows can be more easily managed and production maximized. At a minimum, some of these factors have contributed to a decline in the productive life of sows in commercial pork production systems. A sow remaining in the breeding herd for fewer parities is likely to produce fewer pigs in her lifetime, compared to a sow that remains in the breeding herd for a longer period of time. This reduces the opportunity of a sow to be sufficiently productive (pigs weaned and sold per lifetime) to achieve a return on the replacement gilt investment cost.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Longevity of the breeding female has both economic and animal welfare implications for the swine industry. High culling levels lead to increased replacement rates and reduce lifetime productivity for individual breeding females and the breeding herd. Greater replacement rates increase production costs related to purchase (or development), isolation, and acclimation of replacement females. PigCHAMP® [1-5] summaries (Table 1) from 1998 through 2003, report annualized replacement rates of > 50% and average herd parity of only 2.5 litters. Breeding herd productivity and economic sustainability are compromised when females are culled early in life and prior to achieving a positive return on investment. Breeding program design and genetic selection decisions clearly influence sow longevity and establish the base for a profitable, sustainable breeding herd.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Estimating the genetic merit of all individuals in a herd is required before a comprehensive selection and genetic improvement program can be successful. Performance records need to be collected on as many animals as possible, ideally on every animal in the herd. Since animals have relatives and progeny in the herd, the records on these relatives or groups of relatives can be used to improve the estimation of the genetic merit of an individual animal. Animals are related when they receive some identical genes from a common ancestor. When they have genes in common, the performance of one individual for a given trait can be used to help estimate genetic merit for other related individuals.

Publish Date: September 23, 2019

A pig can become non-ambulatory anytime on-farm due to injury, illness or fatigue (Benjamin, 2005). Hence, caretakers may be required to move non-ambulatory pigs into or out of pens, alleys and load out areas. The National Pork Board provides guidance about humane swine handling of healthy and non-ambulatory pigs through their Pork Quality Assurance Plus and Transport Quality Assurance programs (NPB, 2019, 2017). This factsheet provides information related to handling tools that are options to move a non-ambulatory pig on-farm.

Publish Date: December 1, 2015

The performance of pigs is the result of two influences: genetics and environment. Because the genetics of a pig plays an important role in its performance and meat quality, all pig producers should be familiar with the potential and application of genetic selection. This factsheet provides an introduction to genetic principles and selection strategies for beginning pig farmers.

Publish Date: September 21, 2015

The performance of pigs is the result of two influences: genetics and environment. Because the genetics of a pig plays an important role in its performance and meat quality, all pig producers should be familiar with the potential and application of genetic selection. This factsheet provides an introduction to genetic principles and selection strategies for beginning pig farmers.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Inbreeding is the mating of individuals that are related. In the strict sense, all members of a breed are related. As a result, any seedstock producer is practicing some inbreeding. Therefore, we generally reserve the term inbreeding for the mating of animals that are more closely related than the average of the breed.