Mark H. Whitney University of Minnesota

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

The market for natural, organic, and other “niche” produced foods represents a small, but growing segment of the food market. Organic food is produced using methods aimed at enhancing the environmental health of the farm ecosystem. The philosophy of organic farming is that farmers work with nature and natural systems to enhance soil, plant and animal health, which leads to a better environment and improved human health. One of the driving forces behind the fast growth of niche food markets is increased public concern over the safety and quality of foods produced from conventional food production systems and an interest in buying locally-produced products. Niche foods are perceived by some consumers as foods that are safer for consumption, better in nutrition, or healthier to the human body than foods produced by conventional production, and having a reduced environmental impact. Regardless of the reasoning for purchasing, these products garner higher prices in the marketplace due to the increased management and production costs required for their production.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Efficient and profitable swine production depends upon an understanding of the concepts of genetics, environment, herd health, management, and nutrition. These areas interact with each other, and their net output determines the level of production and profitability (1). Many factors affect a pigs requirement for specific nutrients, impacting subsequent performance. Taking these factors into account, which differ across various production units and systems, will allow the development of farm-specific diets and feed programs that more closely meet nutrient needs of the herd while optimizing performance and economical return.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

The ability to properly formulate diets to achieve production goals and optimize profitability is essential for the success of any pork production operation. Swine diets are increasingly more complex with the emergence of improved nutritional technologies and greater availability and use of alternative feed ingredients. This factsheet is intended to teach key practical concepts and principles of swine nutrition and diet formulation through the presentation of diets made for various classes of swine.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Providing adequate consumption of all essential nutrients is central to maintaining good health of pigs. Animals that are fed properly are more resistant to many bacterial and parasitic infections, which may be partially due to better body tissue integrity, increased antibody production, improved immunity to diseases, or other factors. Additionally, proper nutrition is essential for rapid recovery from all diseases [1]. Optimal herd health requires that all parts of a production program fit together in a complementary system. Herd health programs can be fully effective only if pigs have adequate nutrition, while nutrient utilization can only be optimized if pigs have high health status. High health status increases productivity and efficiency, but also increases nutrient requirements. Therefore, diet and health are intricately connected and dependent upon each other.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

The nutritional program for replacement gilts has a direct effect on sow lifetime productivity. How females are fed in development affects prolificacy and consistency of future reproductive cycles and can predispose them to feet and leg problems during later parities. Increased culling of breeding females due to problems with reproductive performance, health, or structural soundness can be very expensive. Purchasing premium-priced replacement gilts adds to the cost of production, while producing and raising gilts from within the herd takes considerable time, management, and an investment of resources.

Publish Date: April 17, 2012

Team building is a constant process that helps work groups evolve into an organized unit. The team members not only share expectations for accomplishing group tasks, but trust and support one another and respect one another's individual differences. The managers role as a team builder is to lead employee teams toward cohesiveness and productivity. With good team-building skills, managers can unite employees around a common goal and generate greater productivity.

Publish Date: April 17, 2012

Many diseases that negatively affect a herd are carried into the farm through fomites (items that can carry a disease organism), introduction of infected pigs, contaminated supplies, trucking and even via aerosol spread (through the air). For example on the financial impact of a disease, the introduction of the Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive virus (PRRSv) costs producers upwards of $560 million dollars due to disease related production losses. However, PRRSv is not the only disease that can cause significant production losses. Disease prevention can be achieved by having an effective biosecurity plan outlined for all aspects of farm operations.

Publish Date: April 17, 2012

Modern health practices in swine production require numerous injections which provide pigs with antibiotics, vaccines, bacterins, hormones, drugs, vitamins, and iron compounds, and other products. To minimize the pig’s pain and avoid illegal residues of the products, proper injection techniques should be followed.

Publish Date: April 17, 2012

An important factor associated with animal welfare is the proper movement and handling of pigs. Pigs can be hard to move if frightened or not accustomed to being moved. Improper handling decreases animal welfare by causing stress and fear, may increase safety risks for both the pig and handler, and also results in a decrease in meat quality (i.e. bruising; PSE pork, a meat that is pale, soft, and exudative; or DFD pork, a meat that is dark firm and dry) that can cost the industry millions of dollars each year.. In short improving animal handling improves animal welfare, safety, meat quality, and may improve your bottom line.

Publish Date: March 25, 2010

Animal production involves the feeding and care of animals to obtain usable end products, such as meat or milk. Since the efficiency with which animals use nutrients is less than 100%, a portion of the nutrients supplied to the animal is excreted as feces. The end/byproducts of metabolism are excreted in urine. Traditionally, these excreta were used as fertilizers for crops and thus were an integral part of the nutrient cycle. Over the last decade, animal production has expanded significantly in areas without adequate local feed production. To sustain expanding animal agriculture, feed ingredients were shipped in from major crop producing regions, initiating the import of nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus into animal producing regions. Due to the bulk of animal manure relative to its weight, shipping it to the feed producing regions for use as a fertilizer was not economically viable. Alternative methods to deal with manure were thus sought. Some are focused on different processing and storage techniques after manure production, while others deal with reducing the excretion of nutrients in manure. This factsheet outlines some of the underlying principles for modifying pig diets with the objective of reducing nutrient excretion and ammonia and odor emissions.